Harriett (40 page)

“
Thieves. That ties in with Harriett’s brooch. Why Tipton
Hollow though?”

“
Who knows? It may be somewhere quiet where they can hide for
a while until the heat is off.”

Both men
were quiet as they joined the busy main street.

“
Are you going back to the station?” Isaac glanced up and down
the road. He really wanted to go back into the tea shop and sample
some of the delicious cakes that had been on the kitchen table. His
stomach rumbled loudly but, from the far too intent way that Mark
stared at the doors to the coal merchant’s yard, Isaac knew that it
would be some time yet before he got the opportunity to
eat.

“
Let’s go and see if we can find our mysterious Miss
Smethwick. We need to find out what she has done with the original
Miss Smethwick everyone in the village has come to know and
avoid.”

Minutes
later, they walked steadily down the narrow country lane toward the
solitary house that sat a little back from the road. Miss Smethwick
was busy pruning roses and had her back to them. She didn’t notice
their arrival until they stood on the neatly tended lawn behind her
and Isaac’s discrete cough broke the silence.

Mark
watched her for several moments. For a seventy year old woman there
was strength in her movements that hinted at an age that was
considerably younger than seventy. Mark studied the freshly dug
garden next to the lawn and wondered if it contained hidden
secrets.

“
Miss Smethwick, good morning to you.”

He
watched the woman spin around; her eyes wide with shock. The shears
fell to the ground but she made no attempt to pick them up. There
was a look of dismay followed by acceptance in her eyes. It was as
though she had half expected them to appear and, now that they had,
knew that her life was about to change. One smooth, unlined hand
lifted to poke at the mop of grey curls on her head.

“
I wouldn’t bother if I were you. We both know that it needs
to come off.”

Mark
watched her lips twist in a rueful grimace and was grateful that
she didn’t deny it. Instead, with a sigh, she waved them toward the
kitchen door at the back of the house. “Let’s go in, shall we? I am
sure you have questions to ask.”

They
were seated at the large, rectangular kitchen table with steaming
cups of tea at their elbow before Miss Smethwick took a seat.
Several moments of silence settled over them before Miss Smethwick
finally looked up. “Go on then, what do you want to know?” There
was a hint of challenge in her gaze.

“
Firstly, what’s your real name?”

“
Jane Thompson.”

“
Are you related to the original Miss Smethwick?”

“
She is my aunt. The family resemblance is there.” She waved a
hand carelessly to her face. To prove her point, she collected a
small framed drawing of her aunt from the dresser and handed it to
Mark. As soon as he saw it, he knew that it was the truth. He
watched her remove the grey mop of curls and drop the wig onto the
table.

“
Where is your aunt, Miss Smethwick?” He nodded toward the
window. “I take it that you are not digging anything other than
your winter vegetables?”

“
The last time I checked, Detective, my aunt was alive, if not
all that well.”

“
Oh? Where is she then?”

“
Malverdille Sanatorium.”

Mark’s
brows shot up. “Sanatorium?” It was tantamount to Bedlam. As far as
he had been aware, the old woman had been apt to gossip and had
been spiteful, but mad?

“
She wasn’t mad, Detective Bosville. She was distraught to the
point that we considered her a threat to her own safety. She went
to the sanatorium to recover from her distress, but has since taken
ill. I think the stress of being driven to the point of destitution
has twisted her mind. Go and check on her yourself. You will see
what those charlatans have done to her.”

Mark
shared a glance with Isaac. “What charlatans?” He knew before she
said the words that she meant Hepplethwaite and Humphries, aka
Hegedus and Fotheringill.

“
Hegedus and Fotheringill preyed on my aunt’s vulnerabilities
like a couple of vultures, Detective. She is elderly and lives here
all by herself. She was lonely, and wanted to believe that there
was something better for her in the afterlife. What I have managed
to get out of her is that she started to see the ridiculous psychic
demonstrations a few months back, not long after Hegedus and
Fotheringill arrived in Great Tipton. What they did, or how they
did it, I am not altogether sure, but they seem to have convinced
her that her long departed father has remained in the house with
her. She was seeing shadows when there was nobody here, and hearing
noises when she is all alone. She had started to ramble that
nothing was ever where she left it and was often losing things.
Items have been going missing from the house for a long time.” She
glanced around the room and sighed.

“
What makes you think that Humph -, Hegedus and Fotheringill,
are responsible though? What proof do you have?”

“
Although my aunt lived modestly, she was relatively well off.
I came to visit her several months ago. She seemed well in herself;
just as spiteful as always, although she said she had started to
see a wonderful clairvoyant.” Jane glanced ruefully at both
gentlemen. “I have to tell you that I don’t believe for a second
that people can talk to spirits. I think they are frauds and read
the newspaper as much as everyone else. I asked her questions about
the kind of things they told her but she was vague about a lot of
details. I began to ask about how much she was being charged.
Gentlemen, if I ever find myself facing financial difficulties, I
think I will call myself a clairvoyant and ramble on about dead
people because they were charging her a fortune.”

“
I wouldn’t if I were you. It is obtaining money by deception
and will land you in jail.”

“
I know. I am not going to try it, don’t worry. I began to
grow alarmed at the number of times my aunt was going to see them.
It was every other day and they were charging her various amounts
each time. On the times she didn’t have a private reading, she was
going to their demonstrations and ‘donating’ a lot of money each
time. I began to ask around in Great Tipton, and found out that
they had moved into the town a few weeks earlier, but nobody knew
much about them. The disappearance of those two fraudulent mediums
in Charing Cross was all over the papers at the time. It doesn’t
take a genius to figure it out. Anyway, when I left here, I went to
visit friends in London, and made a few enquiries about what had
been going on around Charing Cross. The more questions I asked, the
more I became convinced that the psychic mediums in Great Tipton
were the same ones who were wanted by Scotland Yard.”

“
So you came back here to warn your aunt?” Mark scowled at
her. He was intrigued to know why she hadn’t come to the police
with her suspicions and had instead gone to such lengths to
persuade the village she was her aunt instead.

“
I did, but it was clear that there was something odd going on
with her mind. I could not be sure that she hadn’t pawned anything
of value to be able to continue to pay the psychics. Her bank
account was empty, although a large account that provides her with
a monthly trust payment remains untouched.”

“
You think they were encouraging her to make sizeable
donations and keeping her hooked through fake readings from her
father?”

“
I know that is what they were doing. I think some of the
readings took place here, and they stolen the missing items at the
same time.”

“
Why didn’t you come to the police with your
suspicions?”

“
It was important that I get my aunt away from them. She kept
rambling on and on about putting things down only for them to
vanish. I have been through this house and there are several, quite
expensive, items missing but like I say, I could not be sure she
hadn’t pawned them.”

“
Are you positive that she hasn’t pawned them?”

“
I have been to all the pawn shops in the area. Nobody
recognised me, but a few of the missing items were there. The
description of the person who sold the items matches the
description of the woman who pretends to be
Hepplethwaite.”

Mark
shared a look with Isaac. They were both thinking about Hugo
Montague’s vase and Harriett’s brooch.

“
So why didn’t you come to the police? Why take this upon
yourself? Investigating fraudsters is one thing, but adopting the
disguise of your aunt and living as a seventy year old woman in the
middle of nowhere is a lot of trouble and effort to go
to.”

“
Until I could prove that Hepplethwaite and Humphries had
defrauded her of money, I had nothing other than a few items
missing in the house. I needed to find the items and see if it was
my aunt who had pawned them. Once I had the description of
Hepplethwaite, I needed to see what they were doing at their
demonstrations and readings with my own eyes. I needed to be able
to be sure that what they were doing is fraudulent, so by
pretending to be my aunt, I was able to witness first-hand what
they were up to.”

“
Was it theft?” Mark knew it was and had his knowledge
confirmed by the confidence in the woman’s eyes.

“
Oh, yes. They have attempted to convince me that I should
hand over large amounts of cash but I refused and said that I
didn’t have any money on me. I placed one particular item on the
mantle up there.” She pointed to a spot beside the large, marble
clock. “I went to make everyone tea, unsurprisingly, when I got
back into the room, my
beloved
piece had vanished.”

“
As blatant as that?” Mark frowned.

“
I played my part, Detective. I mumbled and fumbled just like
my aunt does at the sanatorium. Like a couple of vultures, they
couldn’t help themselves. They were convinced that I was a
doddering old woman who was struggling with the bats in the belfry,
if you know what I mean.” Jane eased back in her chair. “I adopted
her disguise essentially to trap them but, to begin with, I had
hoped that once away from those two, my aunt would begin to
recover. However, she hasn’t and has instead started to get
steadily worse. I fear that recovery is beyond her now.” She
studied each man in turn. “All of the medical information on her
condition can be obtained from the doctors at the
sanatorium.”

“
Why carry on with the charade though, if you know your aunt
cannot come back to live here?”

“
Because the fraudsters have to be put behind bars, that’s
why. They must be stopped from playing the same tricks on other
unsuspecting people. In this day and age, money is hard enough to
come by. Nobody who has lived with the hardships life shoves at
them deserves to have their money stolen by a couple of parasites
who cannot be bothered to work.” Her voice rang with conviction.
“By adopting my disguise, I had also hoped to keep the gossips off
my aunt so she didn’t have to live with the scandal of having
resided, even temporarily, in a sanatorium.”

“
So what is the black carriage all about?” Mark eyed Jane
carefully. Now that she had straightened her shoulders and back,
her description matched that given by Mr Brewster, the coal
merchant. His anger bubbled at the memory of just how close the
woman had come to hurting Harriett.

“
I didn’t mean to get so close to Harriett,” Jane sighed as
though she had read his thoughts. “I truly am sorry for that. I
just wanted her to take the threats against her seriously. These
women are thieves and fraudsters. After the vague threat at the
first table followed by Minerva’s death, I couldn’t be sure that
they weren’t killers as well. But when Mr Montague died, and the
direct threat to Harriett was made at the second table, I couldn’t
be sure that it wasn’t Hepplethwaite and Humphries, and they were
trying to extort money from her next.”

“
You mean by giving messages regarding her safety, she might
feel that she has to have a private reading to find out if the
threats are real, and get more information from the world of
‘spirit’.”

“
Exactly.”

“
It’s possible.”

“
I bought the carriage as a way of being able to get up and
down the country roads without having to hail a carriage or walk. I
am just as capable as driving a carriage as the next person and it
worked out well. By mounting the kerb and worrying Harriett, it
stopped her from entertaining any notion of proceeding to encourage
the likes of Hepplethwaite and Humphries that they had an audience
in Tipton Hollow. The threats came from someone at that table, but
it wasn’t from me. You were with her at the time. She needs to turn
to you and stay with you. You are her fiancé, so it is your
responsibility to make sure that she stays alive. Harriett has to
stay well out of the way of Hepplethwaite and Humphries. They are
already wanted by Scotland Yard. They are thieves and fraudsters.
Who knows if they would turn to murder to be able to continue their
lives of crime?”

“
You think that they were involved in Mrs Bobbington and Mr
Montague’s deaths?”

“
I think that it is a possibility that you cannot ignore.
Don’t rule anything out. Get those two off the streets before you
end up with a third body on your hands.” It wasn’t a threat, it was
a calm statement.