Cursed Inheritance (46 page)

‘OK. Tony didn’t know I’d come down and I admit I met Evans. I’d asked Gwen to go out so we could have some

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privacy. I made him one of her stupid freezer meals and when I told him I didn’t know anything, he left. I got the impression he’d arranged to meet someone. I don’t know what happened to him. And Dylan killed Gwen when she wouldn’t give him money for drugs. Just like he tried to kill me.’

‘Dylan would never have harmed Gwen and you know it. Evans told you he knew the truth, didn’t he?’

Arbel didn’t answer.

Gerry Heffernan spoke again. ‘Nigel Armley was besotted with you, wasn’t he? You dragged him in so deep that he couldn’t escape. What did you promise him for murdering your family? A share of the spoils? How did you get him to do it, Arbel? Jocasta Childs told us you kept a picture of him at school. Why did you kill him?’

The solicitor leaned over and whispered something in her ear.

‘No comment,’ she said, staring ahead. ‘Can I see my husband? I want to see Tony.’

The solicitor cleared his throat. ‘I’m afraid Mr Jameston’s gone back to London. The Prime Minister wanted to see him.’

Wesley saw tears well up in Arbel’s eyes, the first genuine emotion he’d seen her display.

Emma lay in bed. In some ways she felt better, like a weight had been lifted from her. Barry was sitting by the bed, holding her hand. Sometimes she wondered if he needed her more than she needed him.

There was a knock and a disembodied bunch of flowers appeared round the door followed by the comfortable bulk of Joe Harper.

Emma tried to sit up as Joe lumbered in, beaming, holding the flowers in front of him. When Barry relieved him of his burden and went off in search of a vase, Joe bent and kissed Emma on the cheek. ‘How are you, Em? Me and Barry have been worried sick about you.’ He took her hand

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and squeezed it. Have the police got who did it yet?’

Emma nodded. ‘It was that Arbel. She nailed the crows to the doors at the Hall.’ She hesitated and caught hold of Joe’s hand. ‘I’ve remembered other things too, Dad.’

Their eyes met and Joe understood.

‘I haven’t told anyone. I promise I’ll never tell.’

He kissed her forehead gently. ‘I didn’t want you to see, Emmy. That was the last thing I wanted.’

When Barry returned with the vase full of bright pink carnations, Emma let go of her father’s hand.

Half -an hour later Joe Harper was on his way to Tradmouth police station.

Wesley stood beside Joe, who was staring down at the tree root.

‘This is the place. I reckoned nobody would suspect me if 1 put him here … where he’d killed all those people.’

‘How did you know he’d killed them?’

‘I didn’t. Not until he came for my little Em. She was playing in the garden. We had a big garden in those days. It were a few months after it happened and Em still wasn’t right. She couldn’t talk for a year. Poor little maid, losing her mum like that and seeing things no kiddie should see.’

‘So what happened?’

Wesley stood close to the man, more a companion than a guard. He wanted him to talk freely. He was a decent man, appalled at what he’d done, and if he escaped the retribution of the law that would have suited Wesley fine. Sometimes law isn’t the same thing as justice, he thought sadly. He wished Joe Harper hadn’t turned up at the station to confess. But he couldn’t turn back time.

‘I were on my own. Linda, the wife had gone into Neston shopping and 1 were looking after Em. She went into the garden to see the guinea pig we’d bought her - we spoiled her a bit because of what she’d been through - and 1 started to watch the racing on the telly. 1 thought Em was quite safe where she was.’ He looked guilty. ‘You can’t

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watch them every second, can you? Mind you, I wish I had.’

‘Nigel Armley tried to kill Emma?’

The big man nodded. ‘She was a witness, see. It had been in the papers about her being found there by her mum. He probably hadn’t realised she’d been there until he read about it and I expect he was afraid she might be able to tell the police what she’d seen. When I went into the garden he was trying to take her and she was just frozen with fear like a rabbit in the headlights. Couldn’t even put up a fight. He was dragging her. He had a car waiting. I couldn’t see it just then but I heard the engine start up.’

‘Did you recognise him?’

‘Not at first. But afterwards I realised it was the man in the papers. The man they said had been shot.’

‘So, what happened?’

‘I had to save Em so I picked up a spade I’d left stuck in the flower bed and I hit him. And I kept hitting him. Then I shouted at Em to get in the house and I took his pulse. ‘

‘And he was dead?’

Joe looked at Wesley gratefully, as though he was glad that he understood.

‘So you waited until it was safe and drove the body to the Hall? Why here?’

‘I knew every inch of those woods. I’d played in them as a kid - trespassing, I suppose it was. I buried him with the spade I’d killed him with then took it home and scrubbed it. When Em could talk again she never said nothing about it. It was like it was our secret. Never mentioned in all these years.’

‘You say you heard the car engine start up. I don’t suppose you saw who was at the wheel, did you?’ It was a long shot but Wesley thought it was worth asking.

‘Oh aye. When I’d dragged him to the shed I could still hear the engine so I crept round the corner to look, just in case there was someone else there who was going to come

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after Em. 1 would have killed them too if I’d needed to.’

‘I understand, believe me, Mr Harper. I’m a father myself. Who was driving the car?’

‘A young woman. They must have been in it together.’

‘You’re sure about that?’

‘Oh yes, 1 got a good look at her. 1 recognised her from all the photos in the paper. But if I’d told anyone it would have been me who’d be done for murder. But 1 kept a close eye on Em after that. 1 always thought she might come back and … But she didn’t. I suppose after all that time she thought she was safe. Until that Evans turned up and Em went to that place.’

‘Do you think Patrick Evans guessed the truth?’

‘About me killing Armley? Probably not. But 1 reckon he was on to that bitch Arbel. But 1 suppose she’ll get away with it: she’s married to some MP: friends in high places probably.’

‘Oh she’ll be charged, don’t you worry about that.’

‘What about me?’

‘I’m sorry, Joe. 1 really am,’ Wesley said. And he meant it.

‘MP’s heiress wife in murder quiz.’

‘Tragic Arbel in massacre charge.’

‘Jameston denies knowledge of wife’s massacre involvement.’

‘Jameston says marriage to killer heiress over.’

‘PM backs Jameston.’

‘I never thought we’d get her, Wes,’ said Gerry Heffernan as he perused the headlines lined up in the newsagents.

‘There were times when 1 thought she’d wriggle out of it myself. Why did she do it, a girl like that?’

‘Jocasta Mylcomb said she bore the Harfords a grudge. They adopted her, then sent her away: it must have seemed like a rejection. And Jack Harford tormented her; broke the news to her that she wasn’t his real sister and relished every

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minute of it. But I think what pushed her over the edge was when he told her he was going to persuade their father to change his will so that she’d get nothing because she wasn’t a real member of the family. Jack Harford wasn’t a nice man. Arbel’s virtually admitted that she was the brains behind the massacre. She had both Bleasdale and Armley wrapped round her little fmger. All that about Gwen having affairs with them was nonsense. It was Arbel who was having it off with them in the potting shed. She persuaded Armley to do her dirty work for her, promising that he’d get her and her money. But if Joe Harper hadn’t disposed of him, I’m sure she’d have done the job herself.’

‘Why the crowsT

‘She knew that old legend about the curse. She added the crows to muddy the waters. Or perhaps she was putting her own curse on the house.’

‘Do you believe in evil, WesT

‘Haven’t got much choice in this job,’ Wesley replied softly.

Gerry Heffeman picked up the local morning paper and paid the thin girl behind the counter.

The shop was just around the corner from Emma Oldchester’s house. The two men walked silently down Emma’s neat garden path and rang the doorbell.

They were rather surprised when Emma herself opened the door. Somehow they had expected to find a cowering invalid, protected by her husband. But there seemed to be a new confidence in Emma’s eyes.

She led them into the living room. It was hot, too hot. A coal fire was glowing in the grate, giving the room a cosy feel. Wesley looked around and noticed a large doll’s house standing on the stripped pine table in the corner. He recognised it at once. It was Potwoolstan Hall, just as it had been at the time of the massacre. Dolls lay splashed with red paint to represent blood. It was a horrible thing. It took his breath away.

‘Bit grim that, love,’ Heffernan said gently. ‘Don’t you

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think you’d be better getting rid of it?’

‘Barry thinks I shQuld just redecorate it and sell it. But I’m going to bum it. It’s an evil place. Cursed.’ She picked up the two figures in black: the man with no face and a smaller figure carrying the tiny birds and stared at them for a few seconds. Then suddenly she flung the dolls towards the fire. The man went straight in and was rapidly enveloped in a flare of orange red flames. When the doll with the crows landed on the hearth, Wesley bent down, picked it up and threw it on to the coals where it too was consumed until all that was left was ashes.

‘They’ve gone,’ Emma whispered.

Gerry Heffernan, standing behind Emma, put a hand on her shoulder. ‘That’s right, love, they’ve gone. They can’t hurt you any more.’ . ‘I’m giving evidence at my dad’s trial.’

‘I wish it hadn’t had to go to court but … ‘

‘Surely nobody would ever send him to prison for killing a murderer and saving my life.’ Emma spoke with a confidence that showed she wasn’t altogether familiar with British justice.

Gerry Heffeman gave a sad smile. ‘I hope so, love. I really do.’

‘What’s happened to Arbel?’

‘She’s awaiting trial.’

‘I keep thinking she’s going to be let off. She’s so plausible. People would believe her … ‘

Gerry looked her in the eye. ‘Look, love, even with the best lawyers money can buy she’s not going to get away with it.’

Emma smiled. ‘I didn’t tell you I was going to have a baby, did I?’ -

‘Good,’ said Wesley with a forced smile. ‘You look after yourself now. ‘ .

They wished her luck as they left the house.

Neil had rung three times, Rachel told Wesley with a slight

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air of disapproval. But then she had always disapproved of Neil.

Wesley wondered what he wanted. He hadn’t seen him for a week or so. He had called round most nights until he had started work up at Tradington Hall. Wesley had even begun to suspect that Neil was developing a secret longing for the joys of domesticity and dirty nappies. But now it seemed things were back to normal. Wesley punched out the number of his mobile and waited for an answer.

Neil had never been one for long phone conversations. He asked Wesley to meet him at Potwoolstan Hall. There was something he needed to do.

Wesley looked at his desk. A quick trip to Potwoolstan Hall wouldn’t take long and the paperwork could wait. Besides, there was a loose end he wanted to tidy up at the Hall. He told Rachel that he wouldn’t be long and slipped out of the office.

There was more traffic on the Devon roads than there had been a couple of weeks before. Better weather had arrived and with it the tourists. In spite of a chilly breeze it was a fine day and the River Trad sparkled under a clear blue sky.

When he reached the Hall he parked in the car park provided for the Beings, the one near the main gate, some distance from the house. He fancied a walk. And besides, he couldn’t see Neil’s car so he probably had all the time in the world.

But Neil’s car was there all right, parked in front of the Hall in the forbidden spot. Wesley wondered how he had got away with it. But in his experience, Neil seemed to be able to get away with most things.

The man himself was standing on the steps leading to the main door. Wesley looked up at the house and shuddered.

Neil was holding a small video camera. ‘I’m making a video for Hannah and the museum,’ he said by way of explanation.

‘You’re still in touch with her, then?’

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‘I rang her yesterday. I woke her up at five in the morning. I can never get the hang of the time difference. She’s saying she might come over in the summer.’

‘That’s good. I’d like to meet her.’

Wesley was unable to read Neil’s expression. He couldn’t tell whether he was pleased or not about Hannah’s impending visit. It was almost as if he had something on his mind. ‘Wes, I … ‘

‘What?’

Neil turned away. ‘Nothing,’ he said lightly. ‘Let’s go in, shall we? I asked that bloke who runs it if I can have a look around and he says it’s OK. If you ask me, I reckon he’s past caring.’

‘What do you meanT

Neil shrugged. Wesley could fmd out for himself.

He marched ahead of Neil into the Hall and knocked at Jeremy Elsham’s door. His knock was answered by a weary ‘Come in,’ in a tone that lacked authority; a feeble echo of former times.

Wesley signalled Neil to stay where he was and opened the door. Elsham was sitting at his desk, surrounded by what looked like bills and invoices, probably large ones. Wesley closed the door quietly behind him. This was none of Neil’s concern.

‘I thought we’d seen the last of you.’ Elsham sounded resentful, and well he might. If it wasn’t for the police investigation and the attendant publicity, Potwoolstan Hall would probably have still been doing very nicely thank you. ‘All this business has ruined this place, you know that.’