‘Was there an inquiry?’
‘One day she disappeared, all her clothes left in the house. Mr Lawrence, he was frantic, and the police dredged the river, organised search parties, put up posters, but nothing.’
‘Did they eventually find her?’
‘Never. She was a delicate woman, subject to going a little crazy sometimes, but don’t we all. Well, not as crazy as her. Two weeks confined to her room, and then she’d be fine. In time, Mr Lawrence came to accept that she had come to some harm due to her craziness, and that was that. And such beautiful children, two of them, although I’ve not seen them in a long time.’
‘We’ll check the records,’ Isaac said. ‘It’s before our time.’
‘What about the bolted door in the house?’ Larry said.
‘You’ve seen how he lives?’ Molly Dempster said.
‘We’ve seen it.’
‘After Mr Lawrence’s wife vanished, he started to become morose. Can’t blame him, but before that he had been sociable, and always generous at Christmas. I had a room out the back of the house, above the garage.’
‘You were permanent?’
‘They needed someone full time.’
‘After his wife disappeared?’ Isaac said.
‘He changed. As though he could never get over it, that close they were. I started to see him less and less, and when I was in one room, he would be in another.’
‘Did he go out?’
‘Rarely. And then one day…’
‘What happened?’
‘It was five, maybe six months after Mrs Lawrence had gone. There were men in the house, builders.’
‘Doing what?’
‘They were installing the bolted door and converting the dining room into a bedroom. There was already a toilet and a small bathroom off to one side of the kitchen. The men were there for five days, and then they left. That was the last time I went past the bolted door.’
‘But you still work there.’
‘There was a letter on the kitchen sink when I arrived one day. I opened it.’
‘What did it say?’
‘It was from Mr Lawrence. He thanked me for all that I had done for the family, but he no longer needed a full-time housekeeper, although he needed someone twice a week to clean and tidy up, and to prepare meals for him.’
‘Your reaction?’
‘Stunned. But what could I say? The man had always been generous to me, and his family were my family. He gave me the address of his solicitor and a time to visit him.’
‘You went?’
‘Mr Dundas, a stern man, I never liked him. Well, he was polite, asked me to sit down, and made sure I had a cup of tea. Earl Grey, not my favourite.’
It was clear to Isaac and Larry that the woman was glad of the company and wanted to talk. They had a body waiting to be transported to Pathology and a crime scene team at Lawrence’s mansion. They wanted to be elsewhere.
‘What did Mr Dundas have to say?’
‘He was acting under the instructions of Mr Lawrence. I was to be given a house to live in for perpetuity. It was to be furnished to my satisfaction, and I would not be required to pay for anything. Also, I would continue to receive my salary.’
‘You accepted?’
‘What else could I do? It was all a little strange, but Mr Dundas explained that Mr Lawrence wanted a life of solitude and that he wished to retire from the world. From that day on, I’ve never paid anything for my house, my salary has been paid weekly, and I’ve only ever communicated with Mr Lawrence by messages on the kitchen sink.’
‘He used to go to the off-licence. You could have seen him there.’
‘I never attempted to talk to him, and if I saw him outside the house, I walked the other way.’
‘Did anyone visit him?’
‘Mr Dundas would come, but it was sporadic. He was in the house three weeks ago.’
***
Back at Gilbert Lawrence’s house, the crime scene investigators were still busy. Isaac and Larry arrived back to see the body of the dead man being removed.
‘Not much to tell you,’ Gordon Windsor, the crime scene examiner, said.
Isaac knew that Windsor would tell him as much as the pathologist, but without the detailed report.
‘It’s murder, but I suppose that’s obvious with a knife protruding from his back.’
‘Fatal?’ Larry said.
‘Not immediately, but the dead man was in his eighties, not in great health. The cold ground would have finished him off.’
‘He was reclusive. We’ve just spoken to the housekeeper.’
‘We’re checking where he lived. Functional, but not very agreeable. Beautiful building,’ Windsor said, looking up from where he was stooped over a broken pot in the garden.
Isaac and Larry had to agree. It was unique for the area in that the mansion was detached and it had a substantial garden.
‘There’s a couple of cars in the garage, although neither has moved for a long time.’
‘What type of cars?’
‘Expensive. We’ve opened the door that was bolted inside the house. Be careful of the dust and the cobwebs when you go in.’
‘According to the housekeeper, it’s been unused for thirty years,’ Isaac said.
‘All that money, and mad as a hatter,’ Windsor said.
‘Was he?’
‘What else could he have been. How did he make his money, any idea?’
‘We’re off to see his solicitor, no doubt he had an accountant. We’ll find out, but it appears to be property speculation.’
‘We found a filing cabinet inside.’
‘We’ll need to check it out.’
‘We’ll leave it where it is for now. Apart from that, the main part of the building hasn’t been used, although Lawrence had been in there.’
‘Proof?’
‘Upstairs, you’d better have a look before you leave.’
Chapter 2
There were not many sights that Isaac and Larry could not deal with, but a dead body propped up in bed,
