Chapter 27
Juliet and I walked quickly down to the rectory while I filled her in on what had happened.
‘So, it’s all over and no one had a fight or anything good then?’
‘No one has had a fight yet, Juliet. There’s still time.’
‘What now then? Granny gets her painting back, Leonard goes to prison and everyone else lives happily ever after?’
‘I don’t know about that. I have to say, though, Harry said the thief of the painting is one of the family group. I just wanted you to prepare yourself.’
‘I bet it’s Rufus. He seems mad and sad all the time.’
‘Well, I don’t know about that, but it would be a big shame if it was him. And I don’t know what Leonard could have on him.’
‘He cheated in his uni exams or something like that – I know that.’
‘What? How do you know that?’
‘I heard him talking to his mum. I didn’t catch all of it, but she was saying something about how he’d shamed the whole family and that there were far-reaching consequences or something. Leonard’s name was mentioned, but the sound quality wasn’t great on the recording. I kept it, though. And to be honest, I thought it was pretty cool.’
‘Cheating on your exams is absolutely not cool!’ I said, horrified.
‘No, I know that, but getting away with it is,’ Juliet said.
We had reached the rectory at this point and I leaned forward and knocked on the door. It was a few minutes until Peter opened it and I had begun to wonder if he was in the church. His hair was a little dishevelled where he’d clearly been asleep.
‘Gina, Juliet, you’ve caught me having a nap. It might have been those lovely refreshments at the reception,’ he said running his fingers through his hair and laughing. ‘Everything okay?’
‘We’ve found the painting and I’ve hidden it behind the wooden plaque with the hymn numbers in the church. Dorothy is currently telling her son and daughter and Harry has gone and he’s left us with the news that the original thief of the painting is one of the group,’ I garbled.
‘And I think it’s Rufus,’ said Juliet.
‘Goodness, it’s all going on then. How long have I been asleep exactly?’ He glanced at his watch, but I knew it was a rhetorical question.
‘We wondered if you could come and mediate for us?’ I asked him. ‘Not sure how Leonard will react and when might be the best time to phone the police. But then, that really isn’t an issue for me to worry about; that really is for the family to sort out, I suppose.’
‘You’ve been such a good friend to Dorothy this week. I’m sure she is ever so grateful.’
‘Granny will be delighted,’ Juliet said. ‘I bet she’ll leave that painting to you in her will.’
Juliet laughed, but I suddenly felt uncomfortable. Leonard was unpredictable and had now been cornered in his own home.
‘I think we should get back, but what should we do about the painting?’
‘We can’t confront him without it,’ Juliet said.
‘You won’t be confronting anyone, young lady,’ I said.
‘God, you sound just like my mum.’
‘Where are we with what’s going on? What does Leonard know?’ Peter asked.
‘So far, Dorothy has just hinted that she’s found the painting, but only a slight mention and Leonard went dashing off into the house saying he was looking for Harry. But of course he won’t find him because we know he’s gone.’
‘So it’s likely he’ll be looking for Harry, find him and his things gone, and then may go and check on the painting. He may well think that Harry has taken it. He might even think that Harry has taken it to protect himself. Is that too much of a stretch, do you think?’
‘Yes,’ Juliet and I both said at the same time.
‘Let’s leave the painting where it is for now – it’s a great hiding place, Gina. Leonard won’t look there. Let’s get back to the house and see how things stand.’
We left the rectory and walked back towards Walstone Hall. The gathering clouds were becoming darker and angrier-looking and I didn’t think we’d be in the garden for long.
Everyone was exactly as we had left them, but now they were animated and arguing. Leonard was nowhere to be seen.
‘You’ve been doing what this week?!’
Miles had his voice raised and Dorothy was standing with her hands on her hips.
‘I didn’t want to tell you because we’ve been through this before and firstly I didn’t want to get your hopes up if we couldn’t find it and also because, if you’re honest, you didn’t really think Leonard had taken it,’ Dorothy said. ‘You thought I was being a silly, grieving old woman and I do understand that.’
‘Of course I didn’t think he’d taken it! Do you think I’d be merrily using his house as a wedding venue if I thought for one minute that he had been responsible for the death of my father! Oh, Mum,’ Miles said, stepping forward and folding Dorothy into his arms. ‘I’m sorry we didn’t listen to you. I’m going to bloody kill him.’
‘Uncle Len has always taken whatever he wanted,’ Rufus joined in then, but he seemed to struggle to get out his words with the amount of alcohol he’d consumed. I glanced at Sandra and she looked stricken. Then, she sat down next to Paul, poured herself a glass of champagne and drank the lot down in one go.
‘Dorothy,’ Sandra said as she poured herself another. ‘I think it’s time to?—’
‘Celebrate,’ Dorothy said. ‘Yes, we should be celebrating. Leonard is a nasty and manipulative man and I am so glad we have him at last.’
I had my eyes on Sandra as the woman drank down the contents of a second glass. She was going to be catching up with her son at that rate. I watched as Rufus put his hand on her arm and gave her a nervous glance. I felt that things were going to take an unpleasant turn, if they could even be more unpleasant. Was Rufus the thief? Did Sandra know and was she about to reveal his secret? But no, I suddenly realised the truth.
‘So, where is this painting then?’ asked Sandra.
‘Don’t tell her,’ I blurted out.
‘Why ever not?’ Dorothy asked.
‘Because—’
‘Please don’t, Gina, please don’t,’ Sandra said in an anguished whisper.
‘Because I think she’s the thief.’
There was a moment of stunned silence with the whole group staring at me and then Sandra collapsed into a chair with her head in her hands and all eyes turned to her. I walked over to stand next to Dorothy who looked troubled and then I helped her into a chair too.
‘Sandra, please tell me this is a sick joke,’ Paul said in a low voice, his hand on his chest as if he might need to restart his own heart. ‘You didn’t break into Dorothy’s house. You couldn’t have – it’s impossible.’
‘I wish I could say it was a joke,’ came Sandra’s muffled voice from between her hands.
‘But, Philip,’ he said.
‘That wasn’t meant to happen. They weren’t meant to be there,’ she said and she was crying now. ‘I’m so sorry, Dorothy. I hate myself.’
‘Don’t you dare,’ Miles said. ‘You don’t get to cry and be upset about this. My father is dead because of you. How could you!’ Miles’s voice broke at the end of his words and he took deep ragged breaths to try and regain control. Lavinia, who looked traumatised herself, took his arm as much to comfort him as to comfort herself.
I had my own hand on Dorothy’s shoulder and I could feel her shaking under my touch. I hadn’t done what Harry had suggested and prepared her. I had been taken over by the excitement and hadn’t remembered what I’d said to Dorothy before about repercussions.
‘What did he have on you?’ Dorothy asked, her voice quiet and controlled. ‘How did Leonard get you to do it? Not money?’
‘No, not money, I would never have done it for that,’ Sandra said.
‘What then? You’d better start being honest now,’ Miles said, but there was only silence from Sandra.
‘It was because of me,’ Rufus said. ‘Mum did it because of me.’
‘Well, you’d better start talking then,’ Sophie said, her expression furious.
I realised that Dorothy’s family had all moved closer to her in some sort of protective stance and I moved back a little to accommodate them.
‘I had my degree certificate forged,’ he said. ‘So basically I was taken on at the law firm under false pretences. Uncle Leonard knew someone who could help me and to start with he was just happy to have helped, but then he wanted me to do something in return. He told me he wanted Philip’s painting and he wanted me to steal it. I told him I wouldn’t do it, but then he became more and more demanding. I went to Mum because I was out of my depth, with work and then with this. I just wanted it all to go away. Mum went to see Uncle Len and said that she would do it if that would be the end of it all. And then, of course it all went wrong and it’s all my fault.’
‘Yes it bloody is!’ Paul shouted. ‘I don’t know my own family. How could you both have done this?’
‘It’s Leonard’s fault,’ Peter suddenly said. ‘And someone needs to go and find him before he disappears too. We can pick this all apart later, but it stops with him.’
‘Peter’s right,’ Sophie said. ‘Let’s get him out here to give his account.’
‘I don’t want him anywhere near me,’ Paul said. ‘I might actually do him harm.’
They all moved towards the house then, apart from Sandra who’d been told not to move a muscle by her husband. Paul looked as if he was going to say something further, but then, as if he couldn’t bear to be near his wife, he followed the others with a resigned sigh. She began to talk to Dorothy, but Dorothy cut her off before she could really get going.
‘Sandra, I can’t hear another apology, not now. I might be able to tomorrow, but not now please. It’s all a bit raw.’
Sandra nodded and then buried her head back in her hands.
‘Gina, I think you should go and help the others. You have a better knowledge of this house and all its hiding places now. I’ll go to my room.’
I helped Dorothy up to her bedroom and then followed the sound of scurrying steps until I found the rest of the group. I showed them the secret room, but he wasn’t in there, the attic or any of the rooms in his wing. The others had scoured the rest of the place and it was clear very quickly that Leonard was nowhere in Walstone Hall.
The first drops of rain began to fall as we all walked back out into the garden, so we gathered up glasses and bottles and took everything back inside.
‘I’m going to take the golf buggy over to the tower in case he’s decided to hole himself up in there until the morning,’ Paul said.
‘Good idea,’ said Miles. ‘I’ll come with you. He might need persuading to come back, which will be easier with two.’
I thought about a scuffle between the three men and was glad Dorothy wouldn’t be around to witness it.
‘Is it okay if I go to my room?’ Sandra asked.
‘As long as you’re there when I get back,’ Paul said.
‘Of course I will be,’ she said, but Paul just gave her a long look.
After they’d gone, the rest of us decided to sit in the music room and I offered to make some coffee. It was as I walked back up the stairs with the tray that the first flare of lightning lit the sky and it illuminated the darkening hallway as it flashed through the window. It was shortly followed by a crack of thunder and then the rain really came down.
We sat in relative silence as we waited. The coffee was drunk, the biscuits ignored and it was an hour and a half before the men returned without Leonard. They were soaked through and I went to make more hot coffee as Lavinia found towels and dry clothes.
‘He’s not in the tower, nowhere we can see driving around his land. His bike, his car and the minibus are here, so wherever he’s gone is on foot in this storm,’ Miles said.
‘It looks as if he rummaged for some clothes in his room,’ Sophie said. ‘A couple of drawers were pulled out, so I’m guessing he must have left pretty quickly after he realised the painting had been found. He’s had a good head start and, to be honest, he could be anywhere by now.’
‘Should we phone the police?’ I asked tentatively.
I wasn’t entirely sure how I would be received as the person colluding with Dorothy all week. Juliet luckily had kept her mouth shut about her small part in it so far.
‘I think we should leave it until the morning, get some sleep and decide what’s best to do. This is far more than just Leonard being a thief. There’s much more to consider,’ Miles said and Paul looked relieved.
I wanted to point out that the longer it was left the further Leonard would get, but decided that it was their business. We all dispersed then and I was very glad to slip inside the covers of my bed. I was exhausted, but sleep wouldn’t come easily and I lay awake listening to the storm crashing outside for hours before I finally drifted off.