Mingled With Venom

any expectations. That goes for Diana, too, and their kids are much too young to have carried out this kind of murder, apart from being away at school at the time. Then there’s Fiona Bute. Surely she must have had expectations under the old lady’s Will.’

‘Expectations which have been realised, although perhaps not to the extent for which she may have hoped. Five per cent of Mrs Leyden’s fortune is not so very generous a share. However, I do not propose to eliminate the Bosse-Leydens. There is one thing of which I can make certain, although I am sure I know the answer. George will be here with the car shortly to get his orders for the day. He shall be our witness.’

‘To what?’

‘To where Gamaliel, Mrs Leek and Mr Porthcawl spent the fateful Friday and Saturday.’

‘Of course! You sent them to London and they spent a night in Exeter on the way back. George took them in the car.’

Confirmation of this was readily obtained as soon as George appeared. ‘Oh, yes, madam,’ he said at once. ‘Following your instructions I drove the party under advisement to London on the Thursday and we put up at the Kensington hotel you had booked for us and, of course, the car keys were never out of my possession. On the Friday I took the party shopping on behalf of the young West Indian gentleman and we spent the night at the same hotel. On the Saturday, again according to your instructions, I took the party to Exeter and on the Sunday, which was the day when Mrs Leyden had her fatal seizure, we left Exeter at ten in the morning and I set the party down at their home in time for lunch.’

‘So Gamaliel, Mrs Leek and Mr Porthcawl are definitely out of it,’ said Laura.

‘And so is Miss Aysgarth, as we have said. She also was in London. It is useful to be able to remove four people from our list of possible suspects. Let us give our attention to those who remain.’

‘I still don’t see why we can’t eliminate the two Bosse-Leydens as they had no expectations under Mrs Leyden’s Will.’

‘Their children are to benefit, although, from what Mrs Leek has told me, I gather that this came as a surprise to the parents.’

‘Well, then?’

‘The motive assigned by the police to the girl Denham could apply equally well to Mr and Mrs Bosse- Leyden.’

‘Revenge?’

‘Exactly. It cannot have been pleasant for either of them to know that Mrs Leyden despised Mr Bosse-Leyden for his illegitimate birth, a thing which he was utterly unable to help.’

‘You do seem to be in Mrs Leek’s confidence! I suppose it is from her that you get all your information.’

‘Some of it, although she is discreet. I get more, in fact, from George, whom I have asked for reports of gossip at his public house.’

‘Oh, yes, of course.’

‘Besides, I can assign another motive to the Bosse-Leydens. It seems to be common knowledge that Rupert Bosse-Leyden has been deeply attracted to Miss Fiona Bute for some years and also that if a divorce between the Bosse-Leyden couple had ever been arranged, Diana Bosse-Leyden and Garnet Porthcawl would have married.’

‘But while the strait-laced old lady was alive, I suppose a divorce was out of the question unless Garnet was prepared to be cut out of the Will.’

‘I gather from Mrs Leek that it is still out of the question unless the couple wish to deprive their children of that portion which is to come to them when they are of age.’

‘So their only plan is to patch up their differences and make the best of matters.’

‘Which is what they seem to have done.’

‘So the old lady has had the last word after all. What about Fiona Bute?’

‘Well, she had quarrelled with Mrs Leyden and she went to live for a time with the Leeks and Mr Porthcawl, so she must be on our list. Mrs Porthcawl also quarrelled with her mother, but she remained at Headlands where she and Miss Bute have now joined forces to the extent that Miss Aysgarth has been finally banished.’

‘You don’t suspect Mrs Porthcawl, though, do you? The quarrel doesn’t seem to have been serious enough for that, if Mrs Porthcawl could still stay on in the house. Besides, matricide has always seemed to me the most horrible of crimes.’

‘Nevertheless, it has been known, and we must not lose sight of the fact that, of all the suspects, Mrs Porthcawl had perhaps the best opportunity of anybody for the commission of this particular crime. She was on her own ground, she had unquestionably the right to visit the kitchen and she had a great deal to gain, in the material sense, by her mother’s death.’

‘But could she have been sure of that?’

‘You have touched upon the weak spot in my argument.

I do not know what she knew. At any rate, we may take it, I think, that she expected to be left the house and the estate. How much of the actual money she hoped to get is problematic. I shall go and ask her to grant me another interview. I am still bearing in mind that the police may have made no mistake in fixing upon Margaret Denham as the guilty party, but nobody wants her condemned if she is innocent.’

‘Except the murderer, perhaps.’

‘As ever, there is reason in what you point out.’

‘You might tell me—strictly off the record, of course— who did it. You’ve fixed on someone, haven’t you? I can’t decide upon any particular party, but I’ve a hunch that you’ve got one of these people very much in your mind.’