Chapter 34
THIRTY-FOUR
Alec took the note from Ruby. As he read, a sort of grim amusement grew on his face.
“Myra?” asked Sybil.
“How did you guess? What it boils down to is, she hadn’t realised yesterday was Michaelmas, which is Quarter Day, when her allowance is due. When it was brought to her attention, she talked Carey into taking her up to town to call on her lawyer.”
“Typical!” said Daisy. “Of both of them.”
“I could skin the pair of them, but it’s hardly worth the effort.
Not worth the effort to try to stop them on the way, either, when we can pick them up easily in town.
” He strode over to the fireplace, where Simon had installed his mother in a chair by the empty grate.
“Mrs. Birtwhistle, I hope you know the name of Miss Olney’s solicitor? ”
“Yes, of course.” She gave the name and address. “Myra won’t get into a lot of trouble, will she? She’s just thoughtless and impulsive, truly.” Ruby was shivering convulsively.
Hardly surprising: Daisy was half frozen, too. She hugged herself.
Simon took off his coat and draped it about Ruby’s shoulders.
“The girls should be here by now, if they’re coming.
I’ll set them to lighting fires, or do it myself if they haven’t turned up.
Come to think of it, I might see if I can coerce that worm MacGillivray into doing it. ” He headed for the kitchen.
“Hot water bottle!” Sybil called after him.
“We shan’t be prosecuting Miss Olney just for leaving without notice,” Alec reassured Ruby, “though she deserves a good talking to. Excuse me.” He returned to the telephone.
Sybil sat beside Ruby and chafed her hands. “What on earth do you think happened this morning?” she said to Daisy. “Apart from Myra and Carey decamping, I mean.”
“I just hope Alec won’t decide not to tell us after all.”
Alec’s phone call was short. He came back to the fireplace and said, “Too much excitement before breakfast!”
“You haven’t had breakfast yet?” Ruby started to get up. “I’m so sorry. I’ll—”
“No, you won’t,” Sybil said firmly. “You’re going back to bed, and someone will bring you breakfast there. The only question is, do you want to stay and hear what Mr. Fletcher has to say before you go.”
“Oh yes!”
Simon returned with a hot water bottle in one hand and a full coal-scuttle in the other.
“The kettle was just on the boil. Betty’s making tea and toast and bacon and eggs.
Etta’s going to light the fire in your room first, Mother, then do this one.
I’d suggest we all move to the kitchen, which is nice and warm, but I expect Mr. Fletcher needs to be within hearing of the telephone. Are you going to reveal all, sir?”
“I can’t promise all, but if you’ll all promise to keep this under your hats…”
Everyone promised.
“Early this morning, a nurse from Smedley’s Hydro went into the Matlock station.
She’d heard—or read, I’m not clear about that—about our hunt for the source of the chloral.
It seems she’s been worried since Tuesday evening about the disappearance of the contents of a bottle of chloral.
The contents, note, not the bottle. It was prescribed by the Hydro’s own doctor for an elderly resident, because he naps so much through the day that without it he was wakeful at night and constantly ringing his bell. ”
“Ilkton’s ancient uncle!” Daisy exclaimed. “Or cousin or whatever he is.”
“So it would appear. There’s a record of Walter Ilkton visiting him on Tuesday.
The medicine is kept in a cupboard in his adjoining lavatory.
When she went to give him his dose at bedtime on Tuesday, she found the bottle just about empty, though it had been nearly full the previous evening.
The old man showed no symptoms of having taken even his usual dose. ”
“Didn’t she report it missing?” Simon demanded.
“Oh yes, she went to the doctor. He gave her another bottle and told her to keep mum.”
“Bad publicity for the Hydro,” said Sybil, “if people knew dangerous medicines were going missing.”
Tears streamed down Ruby’s face. “But why? What had Humphrey ever done to him?”
“That’s a matter for speculation until—” The ring of the bell called Alec back to the phone.
“Yes, why?” said Simon, as puzzled as he was angry. “He knew Father couldn’t forbid Myra’s marrying.”
“I think I can guess.” Daisy turned to Sybil. “More or less the same motive as the police imputed to Roger.”
“That I would marry…” She blushed. “That Myra would marry Ilkton if Humphrey were dead?”
“Myra’s had a safe haven here all these years. I think Ilkton reckoned that Lorna and Norman would not put up with her flitting in and out. Myra had refused time and time again to marry him, but she would be left rudderless and in desperate need of a home of her own.”
“Myra will always have a home with me,” Ruby said quietly.
“Of course, Mother.” Simon took her hand. “She may be a little idiot, but she’s our little idiot. He must be mad!”
“He’s obsessed,” said Sybil, “literally mad with love. Or rather infatuation. It’s a useful trait in a novel, but I hope I never run into it again in real life.” She shuddered.
“Was it his car that woke me?” Ruby asked. “Will they catch him?”
“Alec was on the telephone within a couple of minutes of his roaring off. I don’t see how they can possibly miss—”
The door-knocker banged. Simon ran to the door and opened it. “My God!” he exclaimed.
He stood aside and Roger Knox came in, supporting a sodden Ilkton, whose head was bleeding. As Simon helped get the half-conscious man to the sofa, Roger explained.
“I was coming up to see how Ruby is. The roads are extremely icy, so I was driving very carefully, but apparently this maniac wasn’t. He skidded on the bridge and went into the brook.”
“Yes, bring a warrant,” Alec said into the phone. “And drive carefully, it’s icy.” He hung up and came over to join the others. “Walter Ilkton, I have applied for a warrant for your arrest on a charge of murder. It is my duty to caution you…”