Chapter 38
Both Abby and Lara gave a deep sigh as they headed back across the park, their breath misting together in the cold night air.
‘She sent me flowers once,’ Lara commented quietly.
‘So I gathered,’ Abby responded. ‘A thoughtful woman, with a kind heart.’
‘She was. I wish you could have met her. She was also really funny, and so full of life. I think that’s why I’ve found this so…’ Lara could not finish.
‘I understand,’ Abby replied softly.
After a while, Lara continued, ‘If I’m honest though, I have absolutely no idea what went on back there. Are we really going to gather a whole load of people in Gillmore House?’
‘Possibly,’ Abby replied.
Lara murmured quietly, ‘You may wonder why I have gathered you all here.’
Abby (who really did have exceptional hearing) replied, ‘Oh, you have been watching far too many films, Miss McGregor.’ But she was glad to hear that Lara’s tone had lifted.
Before Lara could respond, she felt Abby stiffen beside her – if, she thought, a ghost could stiffen. She certainly heard her sharp intake of breath and her, ‘Now this will speed things up nicely.’
Lara followed her gaze. Across the square she saw a police car being driven with purpose towards the front of Honeybourne Antiques.
By now, it was early evening and the shop was shut.
The car drew up abruptly in front of the window and immediately someone emerged from the passenger seat.
It seemed PC Rod Doherty was not one to waste any time.
He was knocking smartly on the door before his partner had stopped the engine.
Lara and Abby hurried forward into the square to watch.
At first Lara thought the antique shop was empty, but after a second rap on the door, Lara saw it open an inch.
This was enough for PC Doherty. He jammed the door open with his foot and with his left arm he pushed it fully open, holding out what looked like a document.
A warrant? By now, Rod’s colleague had joined him and his broad frame was obscuring Lara’s view.
He was in Abby’s way too. ‘Do you think we should get closer?’ Abby asked, standing on tiptoes. ‘I feel it would be a shame to miss this.’
Lara did not have time to reply before the officer stepped aside and they both got an excellent view of Jason Honeybourne being escorted to the patrol car by Rod Doherty.
To make room for Jason on the back seat, two plain clothes officers climbed out of the car and made their way into the shop.
They carried large black bags containing, Lara presumed, equipment of some sort.
Rod looked back at his colleague who was still standing at the shop door and said something that neither Lara nor Abby could hear.
The next moment, a second figure appeared in the doorway and Rod held the car door open as his colleague escorted him to the vehicle.
There was no mistaking the tall form of Dr Patil.
No longer bent and shuffling, he crossed to the car, shaking off the police officer’s hand that was holding his elbow.
He looked across the square and at that moment he caught Lara’s eye.
He gave a kind of shrug which she couldn’t interpret and bent his head to join Jason Honeybourne on the back seat.
The car left the square at a more sedate pace than it had arrived and the door to the antique shop closed. They heard the lock being turned as lights appeared in the interior.
‘Whoa!’ Lara exclaimed. ‘Whoa!’ she repeated. ‘So that was what Rod was talking about.’ She then followed this up with an inarticulate stream of, ‘What? How? Really?’ before turning to Abby. ‘So that is it?! The two of them? But have the police got it right? Have they got the right men?’
Abby looked inscrutable for a moment. ‘I would say that the police have got the right man.’
Before Lara could jump in with questions, Abby started striding out across the square towards Lara’s cottage. ‘Now come along, we have work to do.’
Once it had been firmly established that Abby was not willing to expand upon who ‘the right man’ was – and this took some time as Lara tried every ploy to persuade her – Lara retreated to the kitchen to get something to eat, ignoring Abby’s pleasantries and attempts at conversation.
Lara found she could not keep this up for long as she recalled Abby’s comment about the investigation drawing to a close and she wondered how much longer she would have with her Kindred Spirit.
In the end, she gave in and the rest of the evening was spent by the fireside with Lara following Abby’s instructions about what to look for online.
This appeared to be ‘the work’ that Abby had in mind.
Initially, Abby asked Lara a number of penetrating questions about what could be sourced by googleying.
Some of these Lara knew how to find, others she researched on Google and YouTube.
‘That is marvellous,’ Abby commented. ‘When you know what you want you can look for it. When you know what you want but don’t know how to find it, you can look for that too.’
For some reason this reminded Lara of her Nanny McPhee comment to Abby when they had first met: ‘While you need me but don’t want me, I must stay. When you want me but no longer need me, I must go.’ It struck her that this seemed like years ago now.
By the end of three hours, Lara had delved deep into obituaries, records of births and marriages, with the odd dip into old newspaper articles.
She had also re-visited the coroner’s report that Lara had photographed when she was in Richard Porter’s office.
What she found she recorded in a notebook that she kept open on the footstool so both she and Abby could study it.
After four hours, Lara found something that made her let out something between a gasp and a sigh.
She looked up at Abby. It struck her that Abby was looking even more self-satisfied than normal.
‘You’ve been expecting this,’ Lara said.
Abby nodded.
‘But I don’t understand about her time in India?’ Lara queried.
So Abby told her what she believed had happened. She knew it was sketchy. But she thought there was one person who would be able to confirm it.
‘And you got all this from…’ Lara was at a loss.
‘An over-large bed, a lace handkerchief and a pile of books. I have also been considering how names have been leading us astray.’
Lara sat in silence for some moments. ‘But what do we do next?’ Lara eventually asked.
Abby had no hesitation in telling her they would need to gather everyone together.
After she finished speaking, Lara commented, ‘You would almost think you had done this sort of thing before.’
Abigail Rossmore (deceased) busied herself re-reading Lara’s notes. This had the added advantage of hiding her smile.
When Lara rang Mrs M the following morning she only appeared mildly surprised at Lara’s request, she had clearly been expecting something of this nature since they last spoke.
It also seemed that word had spread about the arrest of Jason Honeybourne and Dr Patil, although at this stage details were very sketchy.
Mrs M asked abruptly if this request had anything to do with ‘that business’ and Lara said, truthfully, that it did.
Lara went on to explain how she would like Mrs M to invite some people to come and have a Christmas drink with her that afternoon; a goodbye before she left Gillmore House for good.
Most of those mentioned on the guest list Mrs M met with silence – which Lara took to be acceptance.
One made her sniff. Another made her grumble, ‘Well, I don’t know why you think he would come.
A bit beneath the Honourable Richard to be hobnobbing with the staff. ’
Abby who had been listening in said, ‘Tell Mrs M to ask Pinky to insist that her husband attend. And if this fails, and she has trouble with either gentleman…’ her voice rich with irony, ‘I suggest she indicates that she has something to say that would be greatly to their benefit.’
When Lara relayed this, Mrs M said caustically, ‘But I don’t.’
Lara found herself pleading, ‘Will you trust me, Mrs M?’
Mrs M sighed. ‘Is this all to do with her Ladyship?’
‘Yes,’ Lara confirmed.
‘Oh, Lara… if I must.’
Lara thought Mrs M sounded exhausted.
Abby thought Mrs M was crying.
The rest of the day was spent in preparations for the evening.
This involved a visit to the potting shed via the back gate.
Abby spent some time inside with Thomas, but Lara had no idea what was said.
Abby had just muttered something about wanting to give Thomas some tobacco as a thank you for helping the previous evening.
Lara wasn’t deceived. Abby never muttered.
As Lara stood outside waiting, she looked around for any more china.
There was none, but there was the strong smell of pipe smoke.
After that, Lara called Sarah and Kate. Neither had heard any more news about the fate of Jason Honeybourne or Dr Patil, despite Kate using her not inconsiderable powers of persuasion on PC Doherty.
All he had said was that it was to do with Lady Porter…
and others. This led to speculation about serial killers preying on rich older women.
Then Lara remembered Abby’s comment about the ‘the right man’, but she didn’t think she could explain to her friends why she believed only one of those carted off by the police was involved.
They were both intrigued by the very sketchy plan she outlined to them about drinks with Mrs M. Both claimed that Lara was keeping them in the dark. But as Lara was in the dark herself there was little she could say in response to this.
It was Kate who ended her call by impersonating Hercule Poirot, ‘Ladies and gentlemen, you may wonder why I have gathered you all together this evening.’