suspect me? But I still felt I couldn’t do it. I said he was mad and left him. He was being held in the cells overnight. Unfortunately, I went home to Gloria and Gloria had found the colonel’s robbery plan in my suit pocket.”
The thunder rumbled, but farther away now.
“She went on all night about how this was our chance. I owed it to her. I would be in charge of the investigation. Nothing could go wrong. I pointed out that with such a sum stolen, Scotland Yard would become involved. She shrugged and said as long as I made sure no clues were left and the robbery took place quickly and efficiently, then we had nothing to worry about.”
“But didn’t my…I mean didn’t the colonel guess you had been behind it? That is if it followed his plan.”
“Silly old man. Afterwards, he kept shaking his head and saying, “Bless my soul. What a coincidence.” Never suspected me for a minute. Remember, I was in charge of the investigation. I saw that the charges against Tarry Briggs were dropped. He grinned and said he’d get the others together. He got Johnny Tremp for a start.”
Fell could not restrain himself. “Johnny Tremp! But we were told he had won the lottery.”
“He never had much in the way of brains,” said Rudfern. “He figured out if he gave the local paper the story of his supposed win, he could begin to spend. I said, why the hell didn’t he get out of the country, but he said he’d never been out of England and didn’t intend to start now.”
“But the lottery people must have seen the story and realized he was lying,” said Maggie.
“No, it was only in the local paper and they missed it. That surprised me. I was sure they would have a cuttings agency and that someone would spot it, but with so many lottery winners twice a week, it went unnoticed.”
“And the others?” asked Fell.
“Myself. It was part of the deal that I should put on a mask and take part. Then there were two local villains, Snotty Dug-gan and Harry Finn. When I started the planning, I realized it was simple, just like a police operation. Then that fool, Tarry, had to lose his cool and beat that guard to death. Snotty and Harry, along with every local villain, were pulled in for questioning, but we had all fixed up alibis.
“Snotty and Harry disappeared, God knows where. Tarry legged it to Spain, but fortunately for me, at that time we had no extradition treaty with Spain and by the time we did, he was dead.
“That brings me to your father.”
“What about him?” asked Fell.
“He kept calling round at the police station and making a nuisance of himself. He said his name had been blackened. I told Gloria I was sure he suspected me, but she had become as hard as iron. She had turned into a monster. She wanted to begin digging into the money as soon as possible.
“I forced her to wait until I was retired and warned her to go carefully.”
“Andy Briggs, Tarry Briggs’s son, the one that was killed,” said Fell. “He called on us, saying he knew that my father had been part of the robbery.”
“He came here first,” said Rudfern. “Gloria told me to get rid of him until she thought what to do. He thought Dolphin had been in on the robbery. I didn’t correct him. He was ranting and raving and making accusations all over the palce. I said to give me a day to work things out. God, what a relief when the bastard was murdered. Then you pair started poking your noses in and Gloria freaked. She remembered Dolphin had suspected something. I think she had become unhinged. When I read of the burglary on your place, I taxed her with it, and she said she had masqueraded as a postman and broken in and searched your place to see if you had anything hidden away.”
Maggie hugged her wet body and shivered, remembering the slashed furniture. It had been the work of an insane woman.
“She began to say we had to get rid of you.”
“So you did have some of that Semtex from the raid?” said Fell.
“No, I had no reason to take it. Gloria went to Johnny Tremp. He said he would fix it. He had the criminal connections, and if you’ve got the money, you can get your hands on anything in this country. When that attempt failed, Johnny threatened Gloria. He said she was overreacting. She was to shut up and sit quiet.”
“Someone pushed me in the river and tried to drown me,” said Fell. “Was that your daughter?”
“I don’t know, I can’t see why. Can you swim?”
“No.”
“Well, she wouldn’t know that. Probably some drunk or some of the jolly youth of Buss zonked out on Ecstasy pills.”
Fell then asked the question Maggie dreaded. “Why are you telling us all this now?”
Rudfern relapsed into silence. Maggie wondered if she could dash to the window and unlock it.
Then he said, half to himself, “I had good days in the police force. I had a good record. I liked the camaraderie. But after the robbery, there was only Gloria, getting more and more unhinged. And down at the station, well, I knew there were mutters that I hadn’t worked hard enough on the case. I retired. I bought this house. I began to become increasingly frightened of Gloria. What a silly, stupid thing to have done. I haven’t had a day’s peace since the robbery.”
Fell got up very slowly and walked to the window. He gently raised the blind and then unlocked the French window. He held out his hand to Maggie. “Come along.”
She scrambled to join him. He put an arm around her.
“We’ll need to take this to Dunwiddy,” said Fell.
Rudfern looked at them, his eyes old and sad. “Do what you have to. I’m sick of the whole thing.”
¦
The rain outside was coming down in sheets. Hand in hand, Maggie and Fell ran round the side of the house. Fell suddenly seized Maggie and drew her back into the shrubbery.
“Gloria,” whispered Fell.
They waited until they saw Gloria Lewis get out of her car, unfurl an umbrella and hurry to the house. They waited, huddled together, until they heard her go in and shut the door behind her.
“Now!” hissed Fell. “Let’s run for it!”
They darted across to the car. Maggie unlocked it and they got in. “Let’s go home first and dry out and then we’ll contact Dunwiddy,” said Fell.
Maggie drove off with a hideous grinding of gears. “I’m so frightened,” she said, “I’ve practically forgotten how to drive.”
“Just get us home.” Fell shivered. “I was terrified he was going to shoot us.”
Once safely inside their home, they went upstairs. Maggie took out two large bath-sheets. “We’d better get dried and changed and go straight to the police station.”
Fell went into his room and stripped off. He rubbed himself down briskly and then put on clean clothes.
“Ready, Maggie?” he called.
No reply.
He went into her room. She was sitting on the edge of her bed, naked. She was shaking and tears were rolling down her face.
“Oh, Maggie,” said Fell, sitting down beside her and gathering her in his arms. “It’s all over. We’ll go to the police, and…oh, please don’t cry.”
He kissed her eyes and then he kissed her lips. It was a warm and comforting sensation, so he kissed her again…and again. The surge of passion that shook him was electrifying. He was suddenly aware of her naked body, of the weight of her breasts against his chest.
“Why, Maggie,” he said, his voice full of wonder. “Maggie!”
She gave a choked little sob and collapsed back onto the bed, pulling him on top of her. Her eyes without the shield of her heavy glasses looked wide and vulnerable.
After ten minutes of rising passion and kissing and caressing, Fell whispered, “Maggie, I’ve never before. I mean, I’m…”
“I know,” said Maggie. “Take your clothes off and come to me.”
¦
Fell awoke, a smile on his lips. His arm under Maggie’s body was getting cramped. He eased it out and then he realized it was daylight outside and that they had both fallen asleep after more passionate lovemaking than he had ever even dreamt of.
“Maggie,” he said, “wake up. The police. We’ve got to go to the police!”
