Inspector Masters walked from the back of the desk to the front and took Maeve by the arm. ‘Why don’t you sit down, Miss O’Leary, and tell me what happened.’
Maeve let the inspector guide her to the chair by the fire. He sat opposite. ‘Now,’ he said, ‘will you tell me why you think you are responsible for David Sutherland’s death?’
‘On New Year’s Eve, I left the hotel just after Mrs Donnelly and Mrs Burrell. I was worried about the girl Sutherland was with, Miss Hawksley. She looked so frightened. She reminded me of my young cousin, Goldie, who… who Sutherland knew in London.’
Maeve inhaled deeply and, as if she was remembering the order of events, exhaled slowly before relating her movements. ‘I left by the back door of the hotel. I spotted Sutherland and Katherine along the drive and, later, crossing the lawn to the small wood. Mrs Donnelly and Mrs Burrell were walking towards them, so I went around the east side of the lake. I saw Sutherland grab hold of Katherine and pull her to him. He was mauling her, trying to put his hands up her clothes. I saw her push him, but he just laughed a horrible, guttural--’
‘Take your time,’ the inspector said.
‘Katherine hit him with something. It looked like a handbag, but I’m not sure. Anyway, he stumbled backwards. The terrain is rough on the south side of the lake, by the trees, and he lost his balance. I heard the ice crack.’ Maeve put her hand to her mouth, caught her breath and began to choke.
Bess got up and went to the water jug. She poured a glass of water and took it over to Maeve. Trembling, she took a sip. She put the glass on the shelf at the side of the fire and resumed her story. ‘I heard a car screech to a halt. Katherine turned at the sound, by which time Sutherland was crawling out of the water. He tried to shout. I think the water was so cold it had affected his vocal chords, because all I heard were hoarse curses. Katherine must have heard him too, because she turned back as he was heaving himself out of the water. He was clinging to the bank, but Katherine was unable to move. She just stared at him, as if she was paralysed with shock. Then she slowly walked towards him and when she was within a foot or so of him, he gave a hoarse groan, lunged at her, and she ran.
‘A car stopped on the drive and a man jumped out of the passenger door. Mrs Donnelly and Mrs Burrell ran over to him. At first I thought it was someone with Katherine’s father, then I remembered he would be driving away from the hotel, and this car was going to it. Anyway, Katherine ran towards the drive. It was snowing by then and I can only think that, as she neared it, she saw it wasn’t her father’s car, because she turned and ran back.
‘She would have run into Sutherland, but a car screeched to a halt on Shaft Hill and she stopped. I saw its lights through the trees. Katherine must have too, because she turned and made a bolt for it through the wood by the lake.’ Maeve looked at Katherine. ‘You were right, Katherine, there was someone in the wood watching you. It was me. I wasn’t going to let him hurt you the way he had hurt my cousin.’
Inspector Masters had listened carefully, first to Katherine and then to Maeve. When Maeve had finished speaking, he asked her the same question that he had asked Katherine Hawksley. ‘Why do you think you’re to blame for David Sutherland’s death?’
Maeve took another sip of water. ‘It happened so quickly, and it’s been almost a year, not that what I did on that night has become any easier to live with.’ She looked across the room at Katherine and smiled warmly. ‘When Miss Hawksley ran away from Sutherland, and he lost his footing and fell--’ Bess could see the pain etched on Maeve’s face as she fought to make sense of what had happened that night.
Maeve looked away from Katherine and stared into mid-distance, as if she was recalling the horror of what had happened. Then she turned her gaze on the inspector. ‘Sutherland had a knife in his hand. When he lunged at Katherine he fell on it. As he slowly slipped down the bank into the lake, he saw me and he reached out to me with his other hand. He begged me to help him.’ Maeve shook her head. ‘His eyes… When I didn’t move, he looked at me as if he knew I wasn’t going to help him.
‘I shall never forgive myself. I don’t know whether it was shock, or because he was responsible for my cousin’s death and leaving my niece without a mother. I suspect it was the latter. Whatever the reason, I stood and watched Sutherland slowly disappear beneath the ice.’
Maeve took a deep breath and exhaled loudly. ‘Then I struggled through the snow as quickly as I could back to the hotel. I took off the fisherman’s sou’wester and waterproof hat, which I had taken from the lost property cupboard, changed from my boots to my shoes and combed my hair.
‘While Mrs Donnelly and Mrs Burrell were speaking to Sergeant McGann I went to the kitchen, made tea and coffee, and brought it to the office. By then I had calmed down and as far as everyone was concerned, except for a brief visit to the kitchen, I had been on reception all night.’
The inspector ran his hands through his hair, and
