Because the bar was too full and noisy to allow a private conversation, the detectives adjourned upstairs to Colbeck’s room. Leeming was eager to hear about the dramatic confrontation at the rectory and sorry to have missed the sight of such an outwardly respectable married couple exposed as the authors of malign letters. Colbeck described what had happened and how the rector had been compelled to accept that resignation was his only course of action. He also told the sergeant about his visit to the house to pass on the welcome tidings that the Reverend Skelton would not be taking the service next morning. Colbeck recalled that Adam Tarleton had made no effort to conceal his selfish preoccupation with the wealth he was due to inherit.
‘The young man may have a shock coming,’ he said.
‘Why is that, Inspector?’
‘He’s working on the assumption that he’ll get half of whatever has been bequeathed, and that may not be so. Instead of looking to the future, Mr Tarleton should remember the past. A stepfather he consistently defied is unlikely to be overgenerous to him. Nor will his mother have looked kindly on a son who became estranged when he could no longer have such ready access to her purse. Mr Tarleton may end up with far less than he anticipates.’
‘That would serve him right,’ said Leeming. ‘Well, it sounds as if your evening was more interesting than mine.’
He went on to talk about his abrasive few minutes with the railway policeman and how Hepworth had withdrawn rather hastily when the poison-pen letters were mentioned. Colbeck was curious about the way the man had reacted.
‘Did you see any guilt in his face?’ he asked.
‘I didn’t see a thing with that beard of his, sir. It just about covers everything. He looks like a large dog staring through a bush.’
‘What was your feeling?’
‘He was uneasy,’ said Leeming, ‘and that set me thinking. I wondered if Hepworth had also been sending the colonel some nasty, unwanted mail. Do you think we should challenge him about it?’
‘There’d be no point, Victor. He’d only deny it. Mrs Withers was told to burn the earlier letters so the evidence has gone up in smoke. However,’ Colbeck said, thoughtfully, ‘there may be another way to find out the truth. Let’s bear the egregious fellow in mind, shall we?’
‘I do my best to forget him, sir.’
Leeming recounted his meeting with Kinchin and bewailed the fact that it had not provided the breakthrough for which he’d hoped.
Colbeck listened without interruption and made a mental note of the date when the colonel had abruptly ceased to visit Doncaster. He then went off into a trance for a few minutes. Leeming wondered if anything was wrong with him. Eventually, he tapped the inspector on the arm.
‘Excuse me, sir.’
‘Oh,’ said Colbeck as if waking up. ‘I left you for a while. I’m sorry about that. There was something I was trying to remember.’
‘And did you recall it?’
‘Yes, I did. It made me think that, in retrospect, Mr Kinchin’s visit may not have been as unprofitable as you feared.’
‘He told me nothing of real use, sir.’
‘Yes, he did. You learnt that the colonel loved brass bands.’
‘What use is that?’
‘Well, it’s something the superintendent didn’t know about him and he was the colonel’s close friend. He didn’t tell Mr Tallis because he was aware – as we both are – that the superintendent hates music of all kinds. The only instrument for which he has the slightest time,’ said Colbeck, ‘is a church organ. The prospect of a brass band would probably make him run for cover.’
Leeming laughed. ‘I’d love to see him doing that.’
‘What you confirmed is what we’ve already found out – namely, that the colonel was very guarded.’
‘He seems to have told Mr Kinchin nothing about his home life.’
‘Their only point of contact was a brass band.’
‘It’s a very good one, I’m told,’ said Leeming. ‘Not that it matters. I just felt rather embarrassed at having dragged Mr Kinchin all the way from Doncaster on a fool’s errand.’
‘But it wasn’t a fool’s errand. Without realising it, the gentleman gave us a golden nugget.’
‘Did he?’ Leeming was perplexed. ‘I didn’t see any nugget.’
‘The date, Victor,’ said Colbeck. ‘He gave us a vital date.’
‘That’s news to me, sir.’
‘Wait until tomorrow and all will be explained. If I ask him about it when he’s off duty, so to speak, I can catch him unawares. I may get the truth out of him.’
‘Who are you talking about?’
‘I’m talking about the colonel’s banker – Bertram Reader.’
When she finally came downstairs that morning, Agnes Reader moved unsteadily and held onto the banister for support. She was in full mourning wear and had pulled down her veil to obscure her tears. Her husband was waiting for her at the bottom of the stairs.
‘How do you feel now, Agnes?’ he asked, taking her hand.
‘I feel a little queasy.’
‘You don’t have to go, you know. I can represent both of us.’
‘I have to be there,’ she insisted. ‘What would the family think if I didn’t turn up at the service?’
‘But it will be such an ordeal for you.’
‘It will be an ordeal for all of us, Bertram.’
He nodded sadly and released her hand. She lifted her veil so that she could see herself properly in the hall mirror. After making a few adjustments to her clothing, she lowered the veil again.
‘I’m not looking forward to this,’ she confessed.
‘Neither am I,’ he said, ‘though I’ll be interested to hear what happened at the rectory last evening. Inspector Colbeck went off to question the rector about that letter.’
‘I still can’t believe that Mrs Skelton wrote it.’
‘The handwriting was identical to that on the card. Thanks to your kindness in providing those flowers, two guilty people have been exposed. Not that we ought to talk about it in public, my dear,’ he warned. ‘The inspector was very firm on that point. People are coming to the church to honour Aubrey and Miriam. We don’t want them distracted by rumours about a poison-pen letter sent from the rectory. That would really blight the whole service.’
‘I won’t say a word,’ she murmured.
‘Then promise me something else as well. If you have a change of heart on the way, it’s never too late to turn back.’
‘That won’t happen, Bertram.’
‘The option is always there,’ he said. ‘My concern is that the service will stir up too many emotions for you.’
‘I’ll pull through somehow.’
‘It will be worse for Eve, of course, because she’s lost two beloved parents. I’d like to say the same of Adam,’ he went on, ‘but we’d look in vain for any genuine sorrow there. The best that we can hope of him is that he turns up and behaves himself.’
‘Adam will surely have been sobered by what happened.’
‘Well, there’s no hint of it so far, Agnes. After he’d been in the town to identify his mother’s body, he called on Clifford Everett and more or less demanded to know what his inheritance would be. As a good lawyer should,’ he said, ‘Clifford told him that he was unable to disclose any details of the wills. He’s bracing himself for another clash with Adam when he attends the service today.’
‘I see.’
Reader opened the front door and let in a breeze that made his wife’s veil dance before her eyes. When he offered his arm, she didn’t take it. Instead she stayed where she was, surveying the outside world with trepidation
