A Particular Eye for Villainy: (Inspector Ben Ross 4) (24 page)

I WAS right about Jonathan Tapley’s imminent appearance at Scotland Yard. He was there first thing in the morning.

‘I am required later today in court, Inspector. I therefore have little time to discuss the situation now, but it is imperative that you understand what a disaster this is! So I have made time to come and ask what you mean to do about it.’ He struck the floor with the metal ferrule of his cane. I had half thought he was going to raise it and point it straight at me.

The thump of the ferrule on the floorboards caused Biddle’s alarmed face to appear round the door. I signalled him away.

‘We are investigating the lady’s claim, Mr Tapley. We are asking the French police to confirm that a marriage between the two parties was properly conducted and registered at the place and on the date given on the certificate. I think Superintendent Dunn also intends to ask someone at the French Embassy to take a look at the marriage certificate today, and give an opinion as to its genuine appearance. I have to tell you, Mr Dunn and I are both pretty sure that it will turn out to be in order. Its authenticity is so easily checked that Mrs Victorine Tapley would be very foolish to come here and produce it otherwise.’

Tapley’s appearance grew alarmingly choleric. ‘
Mrs Victorine Tapley
. . . It is out of the question that the woman can be genuine!’ The ferrule struck the floorboards again, but Biddle didn’t appear this time.

‘No, sir, it is not,’ I repeated mildly. ‘You told me yourself that your cousin had made a practice of finding good-hearted ladies to take care of him.’

‘I would not,’ snarled Jonathan Tapley, ‘describe that woman as “good hearted”! In the past the women who took it upon themselves to care for his wellbeing were all utterly respectable! His wife – his
first
wife, if we are to accept this second marriage – was of very good family. I doubt that is true of the female who appeared yesterday at my chambers.’

‘I’m inclined to agree with you, sir. But you also explained to me that your cousin’s first marriage was the result of necessity, to disguise his true inclinations. I suggest to you that this second marriage was also made from necessity. Not because the law in France disapproves of the activity of which your cousin stood accused, as our law does here; but because your cousin had grown older, his health was no longer so robust, and he needed a settled home and a woman to take care of his day-to-day comforts; nurse him when sick as this lady did. A younger, more dashing fellow might have got that without offering marriage. Your cousin could not. The lady would have insisted on it.’

‘The certificate produced by the lady appears to be in order,’ I ventured to remind him. ‘Although we have not yet heard from the French police—’

He interrupted me curtly. ‘The document, in itself, may be genuine, as a piece of paper. But was the ceremony a valid one? Were both parties free to make such a contract? Tom, we can assume, was free to take a wife, but was he somehow coerced? As for Victorine Guillaume, what do we really know of her history? There is the question of Tom’s state of mind. Was he even fully aware at the time of what he was doing? That woman has told us that, after they were “married” – I use the word until I can show that it is not the case – Tom fell ill; and on recovery rambled and was forgetful. Had he ever done that before? Was his mind wandering when he went through a marriage ceremony?’

I feared he might be grasping at straws, but at the same time the possibility existed. Thomas Tapley might have been muddled or coerced at the time he signed the register of marriage. Aloud I only said, ‘I am sure the French police will check thoroughly. They have access to the necessary records.’

He leaned towards me. ‘From where has she her knowledge, eh? I cannot imagine my cousin telling her every financial detail. We speak of a man who, throughout his time abroad, regularly sent home to his solicitors in Harrogate all his business correspondence. He did that because he meant it to be private! A man who made no new will providing for his new wife. A clear enough indication, I think, that he intended her to have nothing. This is not a man who would have taken her into his confidence concerning his personal wealth. So, then, how does she come to know so much about it, eh?’

He sat back again. ‘We shall fight, Ross! We –
I
shall fight it vigorously, on Flora’s behalf, taking it through any court necessary. Thank goodness there was no prenuptial contract made in France, before Tom embarked on this mad undertaking. My cousin was at least sensible enough to avoid that. He clearly did not intend her to have anything, and I shall make sure that she doesn’t!’

‘My second point is that I believe your cousin did not take the opportunity he had in Harrogate, to make a new will, because he didn’t want anyone to know about his second marriage.
I stress we don’t yet know why
. He must have realised his original will had been invalidated. Perhaps, as you say, he did not want to leave anything, or very much, to his second wife. Perhaps he simply did not want her to know where he was. He was not planning on dying just yet. Perhaps he had persuaded himself he had time to think of a way out of the predicament.’

Tapley rested his hands on the ivory skull pommel and raised his eyebrows. ‘And your conclusion from that is?’

‘My speculation, sir, not my conclusion, is that it does look as if your cousin was avoiding his wife. Was that simply because he had tired of the marriage, or was there another reason? We have to find out.’

Tapley gave a dry chuckle. ‘I told you I thought you were in the wrong branch of the law, Ross!’ He leaned forward, a gleam in his eyes, and added quietly, ‘I believe – and you clearly suspect – Tom was in fear of his life when he fled to England from France.’

‘I don’t harbour your generous thoughts towards her, Inspector. She has something to do with his death and I expect you to establish her guilt.’ A wolfish gleam came into his eyes. ‘Naturally, if she is guilty in any way, as an accessory to his murder or as the moving force, she cannot benefit from his demise. Her claim upon the estate falls away.’ He rose to his feet. ‘And now I must go. But we’ll speak again, Inspector. Good day to you!’

‘He wants Victorine Guillaume to be guilty,’ I said to Dunn later, when I reported this conversation. ‘Because then she no longer has any claim on the estate. We have to bear in mind that his anxiety to prove her guilt is greater than a desire for justice. This is a murder case, however, and if a list of suspects is to be drawn up, her name must be on it.

‘So is his. I have not ruled him out, sir, or his wife. They were quite ferocious in their desire to protect the interests of Miss Flora, even before they learned of the existence of this Frenchwoman. Thomas Tapley had broken his agreement never to return to this country. He’d become a danger. From the moment they learned from Fred Thorpe that Thomas Tapley was back here, they will have been living in dread he’d turn up on the doorstep.’

‘We must take care, he’s a man of influence,’ observed Dunn. ‘What’s your next move, Ross?’

‘Good luck,’ said Dunn.

‘Thank you, sir.’

It was a little before noon when I arrived at the small hotel where Victorine Guillaume (to call her that for ease of reference) had established herself. The smell of boiling vegetables permeated the air. A maidservant was sent upstairs to fetch the lady.

I waited in the lobby at the foot of the staircase. Suddenly she appeared at the head of the flight, on the mezzanine. I confess I was so startled I took a step backwards. She was dressed in full mourning of black crêpe. The only item she wore that was not of sombre hue was a white ‘widow’s cap’ with dangling ribbons around her ears. Her hair was as elaborately coiled as before, like a thick nest of shining jet-black serpents about her head. As her dramatic and handsome figure descended the staircase towards me, an idea occurred to me. It was quite equally startling; but it was also quite possible. Did the lady wear a wig? Was she, perhaps, a little older than she would have us believe?

I babbled an apology for coming just before a mealtime and hoped not to keep her long from the table.

She waved a hand in a graceful gesture that swept away either my apology or the smell of boiled greens.

‘It is of no matter. I have little appetite. The hotel has a parlour through there.’ She pointed with a hand encased in a black lace fingerless mitten. ‘It’s seldom occupied and perhaps we could use it.’

The parlour had that slightly musty unaired atmosphere that such places have in hotels. The furniture looked uncomfortable. The only painting on the wall was a gloomy Highland scene of cattle in a mist. Guests would not be encouraged to linger here and probably that, and the stale smell, was why the parlour was generally unused. It did, however, boast a copy of today’s newspaper on the dusty table. The widow subsided on to a chair in a rustle of silk crêpe; and I identified an aroma of Parma Violets. Lizzie has a bottle of that scent.

‘How are you otherwise today, madame?’ I asked politely, as I took the opposite chair.

‘Apart from the lack of appetite and my grief?’ she returned sharply. ‘Otherwise, as you put it, I am well. I slept but little.’

‘That is understandable. May I ask, madame, where you learned to speak such excellent English?’

‘Mr Jenkins,’ I said calmly, ‘thought you had little command of the language.’

That checked her, but only for a moment. ‘Mr Jenkins’, she said drily, ‘is not an intelligent man. The fact that I spoke good English probably never occurred to him. He insisted on addressing me in his appalling French. Where he learned
that
, I have no idea, although from the words he used I suspect it was in dockside bars.’

‘You do not deny, then, madame, that you know of whom I’m speaking? That you engaged Mr Jenkins to look for your husband?’

‘No, Inspector, I do not deny it.’

‘You did not mention this yesterday.’

‘
Yesterday
we did not go into great detail of my search here, Inspector. Had you asked me, I should have given the same reply. Why should I deny I engaged Mr Jenkins?’

‘How did you come to know of his detective agency?’

She shrugged. ‘There is a little board by the hotel reception desk, on which people leave messages. His card was pinned there. I thought it worth trying. But he turned out to be a rogue.’

‘A rogue who found your husband, nevertheless . . .’ I pointed out.

Her eyes flashed. ‘No, Inspector, he did not! If he had done so, I should not have gone to Mr Jonathan Tapley in my desperation. As for Jenkins,
pah
!’ She threw up her hands. ‘I did not like the look of the man, or of his office, when I called there. However, having taken the trouble to seek him out, I explained I was looking for someone of the name of Thomas Tapley. I even gave him a photograph of my husband. A photograph he has failed to return, by the way. He asked for some money in advance, to pay for his expenses. I paid him a good amount. When I called back later to find out if he had made progress, he had the impudence, and the stupidity, to ask for more. I refused. I could see he was little more than a confidence trickster. I demanded my original money back. He said it was impossible. I demanded my photograph. He said he did not have it in his office. I told him his agency was no longer employed by me and he should send my photograph of Thomas to me at this hotel. He has not done so.’

‘Mr Jenkins’, I said, ‘is dead.’

She was silent for a moment. ‘How did he die?’

‘He was murdered.’

‘Ah . . .’ Another silence. Then she said, ‘Well, I am not surprised to hear it. Such a man would have enemies, other people he has tricked, no doubt!’