‘Feel responsible for his death,’ Bess interrupted. ‘There’s a difference - if you don’t mind me saying?’
‘Yes, there is a difference,’ Inspector Masters said, smiling at Bess. He turned back to Maeve. ‘You didn’t kill David Sutherland, Miss O’Leary, nor did Miss Hawksley, so there is no need for either of you to hand yourself over to anyone, especially not to Sergeant McGann at Lowarth. Maeve looked up at the inspector, her forehead creased in a frown. ‘The sergeant is on sick leave until he leaves the force officially at the end of the month.
‘Myself and Henry Green have taken over the Sutherland case - and it’s a great deal more complicated than a drowning. If it’s all right with you, Mrs Donnelly, I would like to leave Miss Hawksley in your care until Mrs Green gets back from--?’
‘Yes, of course. And Maeve?’ Bess turned to the receptionist. ‘If you would like to take the rest of the day off, Frank will cover your shift while I’m with Katherine.’
‘I’d like to take a break and freshen up. Then, if it’s all right with you, Mrs Donnelly, I would prefer to carry on as normal. Being busy stops me from dwelling on what happened that night.’
‘Work is a great way of distracting yourself,’ the inspector said, standing up. Crossing the room, he took his notebook and pen from the desk and dropped them into his briefcase. ‘I don’t think there’s anything else,’ he said, walking to the door. ‘Ah, there is just one thing.’ He looked at Katherine and then at Maeve. ‘Do not discuss any part of the conversation that the four of us have had today with anyone. What has been said in this room must stay in this room. Is that understood?’
Both women nodded. ‘Henry and Mrs Green are involved in the enquiry, so if you need to speak to anyone other than Bess, speak to them. And on no account must you say anything, even if you are asked, to Sergeant McGann. He has no jurisdiction where this or any other case is concerned.’
Bess gave Maeve the keys to her and Frank’s rooms. If she insisted on working the rest of her shift, she needed to have a rest.
Bess then took Katherine to Ena’s room. She asked for a sleeping draught. Ena had given her a sedative the day before, which Bess didn’t feel qualified to administer. Katherine begged her saying she was exhausted. She said she wanted to sleep but daren’t without the draught, because she would have nightmares, so Bess succumbed.
When Katherine had fallen asleep, Bess slipped out of the bedroom, locking the door behind her, and ran along the corridor to her and Frank’s rooms. She turned the doorknob, but the door was locked. Thinking Maeve was still resting, she tapped gently and waited.
It was Frank who opened the door. Seeing him, Bess fell into his arms. ‘Katherine’s asleep. I gave her a sedative, but I don’t know how those things work, so I can’t stay long.’
‘Did you lock her door?’
‘Yes. I didn’t like doing it, in case there’s a fire, but I did it anyway.’ Bess followed Frank into the sitting room. ‘I saw you talking to Inspector Masters in the dining room when I was taking Katherine upstairs. Did he tell you Katherine and Maeve have both confessed?’
‘Yes, he told me everything.’ Frank looked more than sad, he looked worried. ‘He said you’d agreed to have Nancy live with us.’
‘I had to. Maeve was frantic. She was adamant Katherine wasn’t going to be hung for a crime that she’d committed. She said before she confessed that she needed to be sure Nancy would be looked after. She begged me, so I said yes. She didn’t actually kill Sutherland, neither woman did, but--’ Bess struggled to keep her emotions in check, ‘Katherine was the reason he fell into the lake, and Maeve, when she could have helped him, didn’t. She watched him drown. So, if Maeve does go to jail for her part in Sutherland’s death, Nancy will have to live somewhere.’
‘She won’t go to jail,’ Frank said.
‘You can’t possibly know that, no-one can.’
‘Inspector Masters can. He told me as far as he is concerned, both women acted in self-defence. He said the reason they hadn’t helped Sutherland when he was drowning was because they were terrified, panicked, and froze. His findings are conclusive.’
‘And they are?’ Bess asked.
‘Accidental death. Sutherland was drunk, fell onto the blade of his own knife - and it was his knife - stumbled into the lake and drowned.’
Bess lifted her head and laughed. ‘And is the inspector coming back to put Katherine and Maeve’s minds at rest?’
‘Yes, but he has to wait until McGann has gone. He said he’ll include Sutherland’s accidental death report with the report on Gerald Hawksley, which he’ll send to the Yard to coincide with Henry’s findings for MI5 - and McGann’s departure.’
Bess relaxed back into the soft fabric of the settee and closed her eyes. ‘It’s over.’
‘Or it’s just beginning,’ Frank said.
Bess’s eyes shot open. ‘There can’t be anything else, can there?’
‘Well, these rooms aren’t big enough for three.’ Bess held her breath. ‘Nancy is eight. She won’t want to sleep in here, she’ll want her own bedroom. And we won’t want her trotting though our bedroom if she gets up in the night to go to the toilet, will we?’
Bess threw her arms around Frank. ‘No,’ she said, laughing and crying at the same time, ‘no we won’t.’
‘There’s an adjoining door in this room somewhere.’ Standing up, Frank pulled Bess to her feet and led her across the room to the far wall. ‘It leads to what they called a nurse’s wet-room in the old days.’ He began to tap
