Quickly replacing his boot, he continued with his journey. At this time of the early evening, when the paths were free from walkers, and the sun was setting, he began to feel that the quiet eerie peace of the hills above him would suddenly overwhelm and engulf him. A man could fall to his death out here, he thought, or lie injured all night beneath the stars and no one would ever know of his plight and his loss. He drew his coat closer to him as he felt a cold shiver run down his back.
He walked faster now, knowing all the time that the other would be gaining upon him, and that their meeting would be inevitable.
In the distance he could see the rock of the Ivy Scar coming into view. He increased his pace so that he might reach the seat near its summit in good time. He looked behind him and saw that the figure had stopped also, and was looking in his direction. Dressed entirely in black from head to toe, Ravenscroft was unable, however, to make out the features of his pursuer.
He gained the seat, near the edge of the rock, where the land fell away sharply, and stared out at the landscape below him, waiting for the other to join him — knowing that shortly he would be able to confirm everything he had suspected.
‘Good evening to you Mister Ravenscroft,’ said the figure in the black cloak sitting down beside him.
Ravenscroft said nothing, as the other continued, ‘A fine view up here, I think you would agree? So isolated, and yet you feel you have the world at your feet, so much so, that you could almost feel you could achieve almost anything. You have done well Mr. Ravenscroft. I gather you have received the replies to your telegrammes?’
‘I did indeed receive these, late this afternoon’ said Ravenscroft reaching deep into his coat pocket, and taking out some sheets of folded paper.
‘The first reply confirms that Charles Lambert was a medical practitioner in Grange-Over-Sands, for many years, until his death five years ago. The second confirms the birth of his child, a child who joined his father in the medical practice when it grew up, becoming in fact a partner in that same concern. When Charles Lambert died, the practice was sold, and his son who also went by the name of Charles Lambert, moved to Malvern where he changed his name — becoming the proprietor and chief medical officer of the Tudor Hydropathic Establishment! You did well Doctor Mountcourt — or should I say Doctor Lambert — to conceal your identity, — but not well enough.’
‘I really must congratulate you on your fine detective work,’ said Mountcourt smiling, ‘May I ask when it was you first suspected me?’
‘As soon as I discovered the true significance of the walking sticks this morning, I recalled that other morning when we encountered each other outside St. Ann’s Well. Your stick made a tapping sound on the path, and I remember looking up and seeing the silver handle.’
‘Yes that was rather foolish and vain of me. I inherited the stick from my father, and as it was such a fine stick, I could not resist using it.’
‘Then there was the morning after my illness, when you were quite put out when you learnt that I was staying on at the Tudor, and in Malvern, to continue with my investigations into the case. You had hoped that there had been enough suspicion put on Old Penny to warrant an end to the matter. You were not very good at disguising your feeling Doctor Lambert.’
‘I see I have underestimated you Inspector Ravenscroft.’
‘From my first hand observations I could also see that the Tudor had seen better days,’ continued Ravenscroft. ‘The premises must have been costing you a lot to run and maintain, and yet the half empty dining room and treatment rooms suggested that you had not been successful in attracting a sufficient wealthy clientele.’
‘You are correct inspector in your observations,’ replied Mountcourt calmly.
‘Tell me one thing. Did you come back to Malvern with the intention of removing the other members of the tontine, or did the idea take root once you had arrived here?’ asked Ravenscroft.
‘My father told me about the legacy of the tontine shortly before he died, and urged me to seek out my claim. When I heard that the Tudor was up for sale, I decided to return to Malvern and purchase the establishment, a rash act which was to prove costly for me. The first thing I did upon my arrival here was to visit the bank to see if I could find out more about the surviving founders of the tontine, but of course they knew nothing. Then I thought that perhaps the original papers had been lodged at the Library and Reading Rooms, so one day I went there to view them. It was an easy act to remove the original foundation document from the file, whilst Clifford was attending to another client. Now that I knew who the other members of the tontine were, I was prepared at first to wait for each of them to die — they were after all quite elderly, and would be sure to die in the coming years. I also learnt that none of them had any surviving heirs, which made my own claim all the stronger.’
‘But you found after a while that you could not wait?’ interjected Ravenscroft.
‘My debts at the Tudor were mounting. I had little funds available to improve the facilities, and the clientele began to go elsewhere to the more fashionable establishments in the town. I was heavily mortgaged and knew that another few months would have seen the end of all my hopes,’ continued Mountcourt in a dry matter-of-fact tone of voice. ‘So I decided to kill Pitzer. I wrote him a letter saying that I had some important confidential news concerning the railway company, that might be of some financial benefit to him, but that I could not be seen conversing with him, as I had interests in a rival concern. I knew that he could not resist such a meeting, being the greedy man that he was. I arranged for a boy from the town to deliver the letter, and then kept my rendezvous with Pitzer in his study. Here it was easy to pour the poison into his glass, when he was not looking, but as he fell forwards he dropped the glass on the floor, and the maid called out. I was fearful that she might enter at any moment, so I only had time to pick up the glass and remove my letter before hastily leaving the room.’
‘Leaving the door slightly ajar behind you, and not having time to rinse out the glass,’ added Ravenscroft.
‘I suppose you would have noticed that. If you had not been there that night Ravenscroft, I would have succeeded in my plans. I knew that stupid man Gladwyn would have declared that Pitzer had died of a stroke, or some such like, and no one would have guessed that he had been poisoned — but then you had to interfere,’ said Mountcourt a note of annoyance creeping into his voice.
‘Then you killed Sommersby,’ said Ravenscroft.
‘That was easy. All I had to do was to wait until all the pupils were engaged elsewhere, and slip into the library from the quadrangle when he was alone. Yes, inspector I hit him on the head, and then pulled the bookcase over on top of him to make it look like an accident — but again of course you were there on the scene to prove the case. You were in danger of becoming a nuisance inspector Ravenscroft! I resolved to low lie for a while and hope that Gladwyn and Touchmore would soon die — and that you would eventually become frustrated trying to solve the case and leave for London.’
‘But then Gladwyn guessed the terrible truth and recognized you as the son of his former colleague,’ suggested Ravenscroft.
‘Right again inspector! I had become friendly with the old tramp, Penny, and could see how he could be useful to me. I instructed him to watch Gladwyn’s house — yes his eyesight was not as bad as everyone had supposed — and that was where he saw you and your assistant. I knew I had to act quickly before Gladwyn worked out who had killed Pitzer and Sommersby. I gave Old Penny instructions about how to make up a story about his dying wife, and how he was to lure Gladwyn out to the Raggedstone, where I could confront and kill him without others seeing — but then you arrived shortly on the scene and I had to hide in the undergrowth. I was so close to you I could hear every word you said. Is that not frustrating to learn now inspector — that you were within yards of catching your quarry! I had told Penny that he was to make his way back with all haste, to the old cave, where he was to hide until I could join him later. As you and your constable set off in pursuit of the old tramp, I was given enough time to make my way along the lower slopes of the hills, until I saw my opportunity to meet up with him — ‘