‘And do you think that this anger will ever be abated?’ asked Ravenscroft looking into her sad eyes.
‘I have spoken too much, and too freely, Mr. Ravenscroft. You have unfinished business to attend to here in Malvern. In your heart, you know that. When you have completed your mission, we will meet again, and I will explain everything,’ she said quickly rising from her seat.
‘I am sorry for your loss Mrs Kelly,’ said Ravenscroft, desperately trying to think of other questions he could ask. She smiled briefly, before walking away from the seat. ‘You will have no need to seek me out Mr. Ravenscroft. I will know where to find you.’
He watched her walk across the graveyard, and down the path that led to the Assembly Rooms, until she turned the corner, and was no more. Resuming his seat, he went over their conversation in his mind and began to wonder what terrible events had caused the death of her husband and son — ‘through his own stupidity and negligence’ she had said, as if her husband had committed some act of outrage which had caused such loss, such distress. What that act had been, he could only guess.
‘‘I will know where to find you’ — she had said, as if she knew his every move, everything that he was thinking about, and all that was about to happen in the future. The more he considered her words, the more it seemed to him that she knew more about him, than he could ever hope to discover about her. Part of him had been satisfied that at last he had spoken with the woman who had occupied his thoughts for so long, but another part of him wanted to know more about this strange woman and her tragic circumstances.
The more he sat there, feeling the warm sun on his face, the more he began to wonder if she had really been there at all, and that perhaps he had imagined the whole encounter? The quiet peace of the graveyard seemed to contrast too deeply with what he had heard and seen.
He rose from his seat, and began to make his way back to the Tudor. ‘You have unfinished business to attend to… in your heart you know that’ — he heard again those words of reproach and certainty.
As he entered the Tudor he found Stebbins and Doctor Mountcourt conversing together in the entrance hall.
‘Mr. Ravenscroft. It appears that you are about to leave us,’ said Mountcourt in that official formal manner that Ravenscroft had grown used to. ‘I’m sorry that we will not be able to affect a full cure, but I fully understand if you wish to depart.’
‘I have changed my mind,’ replied Ravenscroft, ‘I will be staying after all.’ Mountcourt looked slightly taken aback by this change of heart. ‘There are some matters that need resolving.’
‘As you wish, sir, we will, of course, be more than pleased to continue with your course of treatment,’ said Mountcourt recovering his professional composure.
Ravenscroft made his way back to his bedroom, and stood looking out of the window, towards the churchyard and the seat where he had sat some minutes previous. How could a blind man enter a study and place poison in a glass, and also kill two people by hitting them on the head? He, and others, had been too easily swayed by this flawed assumption. Perhaps Old Penny had not been really totally blind at all, but had just pretended to be so, but even if this was the case, why would such a poor wretched, half blind tramp want to kill three of the town’s prominent citizens? There appeared to be no reason behind such an outrage.
No, the case was far from closed. There was still a killer out there, and Ravenscroft now knew that he would find no rest until he had brought the murderer to book.
CHAPTER SEVEN
‘Good to see you looking like your old self again,’ said Crabb as the two men met outside the Tudor the following morning, ‘Rumour has it that you might be leaving us today sir?’
‘Then rumour is incorrect Crabb. We have a crime to solve, three crimes in fact, and our murderer is still out there,’ replied Ravenscourt, a new urgency in his voice.
‘Good to hear you say that sir. I never had that old Penny fellow down for these murders. There would be no purpose for him to have killed them.’
‘Exactly! No reason at all. Whoever our murderer is, he used Penny to lure Gladwyn to a remote spot on the hills, so that he could kill him undisturbed and undetected. He was probably there out at Hollybush all the time we were there, watching us from the undergrowth, until he considered it safe to slip quietly away. He had probably arranged to meet up with Old Penny at the cave afterwards, and I would not be surprised if he pushed him over the top of the hill as well!’
‘That would have been quite difficult sir. One of my men could easily have seen him,’ suggested Crabb.
‘Not if he was making his way along the lower slopes of the hills, hidden in the undergrowth. He would have waited for Penny to return to the cave, killed him, and then disappeared into the wood once more, and made his escape once we had recovered the body and gone back to Malvern.’
‘So what next sir?’ asked Crabb.
‘We have to find out why these three men were killed. Once we have found the answer to that question, we will have our killer. There is something which links the three men together. Let us consider what they all had in common. They were all a closely knit group, having known each other for nearly thirty years. They were all members of the Town Council, with Pitzer due to become mayor sometime in the near future. They were all trustees of Old Lechmere’s Almshouses in Colwall. They all dined together, mixed socially and appear to have got on well with each other. Now let’s see what they don’t have in common, and here we come back to the railway company. Pitzer was not only a director of the new company, he was also one of its major shareholders — and yet the other two had no connections with the new venture at all, so we have no common motive there. No, we are missing something. There has to be something else which binds these men together; something for which an outsider was prepared to kill for. We must discover what that is Crabb. I think we will begin by going through the late Doctor Gladwyn’s personal affects and see what we can discover there, after which I think we have need to pay our Mr. Troutbridge another visit, but this time we will be prepared. Can you get some of your men to come with us? No news of Armitage I suppose?’ said Ravenscroft striding away from the Tudor.
‘No sir. I went out to the almshouses yesterday, but he had not returned, and no one has seen him for days. I’ve also asked the Ledbury constabulary to keep an eye on his sister’s cottage but there has been no activity there,’ replied Crabb trying to keep up with his superior officer.
‘You seemed to have thought of everything Crabb. On to Gladwyns! Let us see if we can secure a cab, but no, I see the prospect of a fine day. We should walk. The exercise will do us good, and help us clear our thoughts!’
‘As you wish sir.’
Twenty minutes later the two men arrived at Gladwyn’s house. Crabb rang the doorbell, which was answered by the maid.
Ravenscroft explained their business and they were shown into Gladwyn’s study.
‘This is where Doctor Gladwyn keeps all his papers sir.’
‘Thank you. I would be obliged if you would be kind enough to explain to Mrs. Gladwyn the nature of our business. We will ring if we require anything,’ said Ravenscroft.
The maid left the room, and the two men set to work to go through Gladwyn’s papers.
‘Still that awful smell sir,’ sniffed Crabb.
‘I’ve known better physician’s rooms,’ remarked Ravenscroft.
‘What are we looking for sir?’
‘We are looking for anything which can link Gladwyn with Sommersby and Pitzer. Ah, here is the almshouses document appointing Gladwyn as a trustee. It appears to be almost identical to the one we unearthed in Sommersby’s rooms, so there is nothing particularly startling there. I’ll go through the rest of the drawers of the good doctor’s desk, while you have a look in that cabinet.’