‘That never even crossed my mind.’
‘It should have, Inspector. Do I have to do your work for you?’
‘It never crossed my mind because it would be a ludicrous supposition,’ explained Colbeck. ‘Mrs Tarleton was killed by a shotgun fired at close range. Where would a farm labourer get such a weapon from? He’d have to steal it. More to the point, where would he acquire the trap that brought the dead body miles from the location of the actual murder? Then there’s the farmer who employs him. I think that Mr Higginbottom would surely notice the absence of one of his men for a length of time, especially if he’d been last seen walking towards a trap he didn’t own with a stolen shotgun under his arm.’
Tarleton was surly. ‘Very well, I was wrong about the fellow.’
‘Do you have any other theories to offer, sir?’
‘I just want the killer caught and the case cleared up.’
‘I’ll endeavour to do just that,’ said Colbeck, ‘and, as part of my investigation, I’d like to question you and your sister. Would you have any objection to my accompanying you back to the house?’
‘Is it really necessary, Inspector?’
‘I’m afraid that it is, sir.’
‘What can we possibly tell you?’
‘You might have some idea who could have done this. I know that you moved away some time ago but you must have kept in touch with your mother. Did she hint at any tensions with neighbours?’
‘Mother and I had no contact whatsoever for the last two years,’ said Tarleton, ‘so I can’t help you on that score. Everyone liked her, I can tell you that. Those who visited us were mostly her friends. My stepfather was a prickly character. He was better at making enemies than friends.’
‘Can you think of any particular enemies?’
‘Why should I? He wasn’t the murder victim – Mother was.’
‘Of course,’ said Colbeck, ‘but it’s not beyond the bounds of possibility that she was killed in order to get back at the colonel. All reports confirm that he doted on your mother.’
‘Then why did he control her life so closely?’ snapped the other. ‘Why did he treat her – and me, I should add – as if we were lowly members of his regiment? He couldn’t seem to remember that he was no longer in the army and was always issuing orders of one kind or another. It’s the reason I left home.’
‘What about your sister?’
‘Eve was the exception to the rule,’ recalled Tarleton. ‘If he doted on anyone, it was her. She was his favourite.’
‘I look forward to meeting her. I was impressed by the way she bore up under questioning at the inquest yesterday.’
‘She’s still quite frail, Inspector. Can’t you delay your visit?’
‘I’m afraid not, sir. I’m not merely coming in order to talk to you and to Mrs Doel. My visit to the house has another purpose.’
‘Oh…what’s that?’
‘I want to establish something once and for all,’ said Colbeck. ‘I need to find out if your stepfather should be our prime suspect.’
CHAPTER NINE
Madeleine Andrews was thrilled to receive the letter from Colbeck but her delight was tempered by disappointment when she heard that he might be away from London for a considerable time.
‘It could take us an eternity,’ admitted Leeming.
‘Do you have no clues at all, Sergeant?’
‘Well, I certainly don’t – but I think that the inspector does. That’s not unusual, mind you. No matter how puzzling a case, he always manages to find a way to solve it in the end.’
‘What sort of a place is South Otterington?’
‘It’s a pretty little village with countryside all round it. That’s why I couldn’t wait to get back here. I didn’t take to it at all.’
‘Why ever not?’ she asked. ‘It sounds rather attractive.’
‘It’s a bit too quiet for my liking, Miss Andrews. It’s too isolated and nothing ever happens there.’
Madeleine smiled. ‘You’ve had a murder and a suicide in just over a fortnight. What else do you want?’
‘I’d like more action,’ said Leeming, ‘and we get that every day here in London. Yes, there’ve been two violent deaths, I grant you, but that’s exceptional in a backwater like South Otterington. It might never happen again for years. When I was walking my beat in uniform, we’d have a murder at least once a week, not to mention a string of other serious crimes.’
They were in the house in Camden and Leeming had a cab waiting for him outside. Madeleine was very fond of him. Though they’d met infrequently, she liked the way he’d accepted her and was touched by his habit of talking so affectionately about his wife and two children. Leeming was also very discreet. If it became known that Madeleine had actually taken part in some criminal investigations, Superintendent Tallis would have gone berserk. He believed that women had no place at all in law enforcement. Colbeck thought otherwise and Leeming had been grateful for the contribution Madeleine had made in some of the cases they’d handled.
For his part, the sergeant felt honoured to have been the first person to know of their engagement. It had pleased him beyond measure. Over the years he’d worked very closely with Colbeck and had noticed the subtle changes brought about in the inspector by his friendship with Madeleine Andrews. Now that the friendship would blossom into marriage, Leeming knew that, in Madeleine, he’d be acquiring a new colleague, albeit one whose work behind the scenes had to be kept secret. The thought contented him.
‘I have to go,’ he said. ‘I must report to the superintendent.’
‘I don’t suppose…’
Madeleine’s voice tailed off but he read the question in her eyes.
‘No, Miss Andrews – the superintendent still hasn’t been told of your betrothal. So far Inspector Colbeck hasn’t managed to find him in a receptive mood.’
‘I know that Mr Tallis has a jaundiced view of marriage.’
‘That’s because he’s never experienced its joys,’ said Leeming. ‘I only started to live properly when Estelle and I wed. Until then, my life had been narrow and selfish. It had no real purpose. Suddenly, everything changed. I knew where I was going and what I wanted to do. And when the children came along, that made it perfect.’
Madeleine said nothing. She harboured dreams of becoming a mother one day but that time, she’d realised, might be distant. She envied Leeming and his wife. They’d married within months of meeting each other and were parents within a year. She and Colbeck were destined to have a longer engagement. Madeleine understood why Tallis had not yet been told.
‘The superintendent will never approve of me,’ she said.
‘Any normal man would approve of you, Miss Andrews,’ said Leeming with clumsy gallantry. ‘It’s just that Mr Tallis takes a strange view of these things. It’s not personal. If the inspector announced that he was about to marry a royal princess, Mr Tallis would still try to talk him out of it. And in my view,’ he went on, emboldened to pay a second compliment, ‘you are the equal of any princess.’
She almost blushed. ‘Thank you, Sergeant.’
‘In any case, now is not the time to raise the topic.’
‘No?’
‘Look at what’s happened,’ he told her. ‘The one marriage that the superintendent held up as a success was that between Colonel Tarleton and his wife. Yet both of them died in the most frightful ways. Now, that’s hardly likely to endear Mr Tallis to the institution of holy matrimony, is it?’
Colbeck arrived at the house to find that Eve Doel was being consoled by Agnes Reader. Introduced to the bereaved daughter, he hoped that she’d be more forthcoming than her brother. On the journey there in the trap, Adam Tarleton had been less than helpful. All that interested him were the details of his inheritance. After giving his sister a brief description of his visit to Northallerton, he went off upstairs and left the two women alone with
