‘Or Stanley Montgomery had beaten her into submission,’ Goddard said.
‘We’ve no proof of violence against the man.’
‘Constant brow-beating, interminable criticism of whatever she did.’
‘There’s no crime against him for his wife’s death, but I’ll go along with your assessment. It still doesn’t explain Matilda Montgomery’s suicide though.’
‘It depends on your perspective.’
Isaac had great respect for his chief superintendent, a man of experience and clear thought.
‘If, as you say, Matilda Montgomery committed suicide, with no other person in the house, then what was going through her mind?’ Goddard continued.
‘We don’t know. There was no letter from her, unusual in a suicide.’
‘Why didn’t she write a letter? Have you considered that?’
‘Statistically, she would have been expected to.’
‘Statistics aside, she took time arranging her death. She may have been under great strain but she was careful to be tidy, and according to Windsor’s report, she had tied the knot in the rope with care and precision.’
‘Cold and passionless, some would say.’
‘Why? I’d say that she was a highly emotional woman who had decided on a course of action, and nothing could dissuade her. You’ve said before that her life was ordered, and that there were no broken romances, no issues at work, and that she had sufficient money in her bank account.’
‘Where’s this going?’ Isaac asked.
‘You’ve interpreted a suicide letter as a possible confession.’
‘But we’ve not accepted it at face value. We still need to prove it one way or the other.’
‘Credit to you and your team for that, but it’s raised a concern. Your focus is now on Stanley Montgomery at the expense of your other suspects.’
‘To some degree.’
‘Not some, a lot. And if I was the senior investigating officer in this case, that’s the approach that I’d be taking. The others who could have done it have alibis, weak motives, or neither the strength nor the malice to commit murder.’
‘There wasn’t a lot of strength required, but you’re right about the malice. A discarded woman, a hotel manager who has proven himself to be a despicable character, a husband who now knows of his wife’s involvement with the murdered man, an ex-husband of the sister who felt that Christine Mason had cheated him of fatherhood. None of them shows the necessary intent to kill.’
‘But Stanley Montgomery does.’
‘An intense man, a man with deep and hidden thoughts, a dark heart.’
‘Yet you say that he loved his family with intense emotion.’
‘His family, he may have, but he had little affection for others, those that had disappointed him.’
‘Barry Montgomery?’
‘Exactly. Stanley felt anger towards him, there was the probability of violence.’
‘Coming back to Matilda. The woman was smart, and from what we know, she had emotional problems.’
‘Everyone has issues, but yes, according to Amelia Bentham, the only person who could claim to know her, Matilda could throw up a wall if anyone got too close.’
‘Matilda, from what she’s read about the body in Hyde Park, is certain that it’s her brother. Possible?’
‘That’s what we believe. In fact, we had placed a photo in the newspapers and on the television.’
‘But no one came forward. Why was that?’
‘The body didn’t look like the Barry Montgomery that Matilda would have known. He had dyed his hair, had it cut short.’
‘A sister would know, and what about Amelia Bentham? Even Christine Mason and the other women he was messing around with?’
‘Amelia Bentham was out of the country, and Barry and Matilda Montgomery’s parents don’t have a television, not even a radio. Stanley didn’t want the wickedness, the licentiousness of the world to enter his domain.’
‘Matilda’s figured out that her brother’s been murdered,’ Goddard said. ‘She doesn’t know about the other people, probably doesn’t know that he’s been prostituting himself. To her, he’s the one constant in her life, the one person who understands, the one person she truly loves. The woman is still struggling with her upbringing, still racked with emotional issues, and there’s her brother, the rock in her life, the one person she can talk to, and now he’s dead.’
‘Are you suggesting that she killed herself because of that?’
‘Why not? Her brother’s dead, and she shuts down emotionally. She doesn’t know what to do, how to react, but then she starts thinking. Remember she doesn’t know about the other people in her brother’s life, apart from Amelia.’
‘Matilda knew that Amelia was in love with her brother.’
‘So she’s not blaming her. There’s only one possibility, her father.’
‘That’s what he had written.’
‘Stanley Montgomery’s letter was succinct and to the point. Matilda’s was non-existent. Other people write pages of semi-coherent nonsense, about life and love and the problems with the world, but with her, nothing.’
‘If she had written anything, it would have been to say that she blamed her father and that he was the murderer.’
‘But she couldn’t,’ Goddard said. ‘Her father was another constant in her life, even if he had not been a constant for good, and he was a man who demanded loyalty, and Matilda had to consider her mother. If she had written that letter, it would have accused her father, and she couldn’t. Detached from reality, her suicide would have been a robotic act. She wouldn’t have felt pain or suffering, just her life slipping away.’
‘It doesn’t make Stanley Montgomery a murderer,’ Isaac said.
‘I’d agree with that hypothesis. I suggest you find out who it is before too long.’
***
Nick Domett, part-time male escort – if you were desperate, Wendy thought – sat across from her and Larry. His escorting activities were not of interest, his position as the principal of Gents for Hire was.
‘We were fellow officers once,’ Domett said. ‘Give me a break.
