A Wreath of Red Roses: Heathcliff Lennox Investigates by Menuhin Karen Baugh

Author:Menuhin, Karen Baugh [Menuhin, Karen Baugh]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Little Dog Publishing Ltd
Published: 2022-12-24T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 17

Once they’d got over the shock and stopped protesting their innocence, I made them sit at the table and told them to write down every detail of their whereabouts between the hours of ten o’clock this morning until they arrived in this room for the meeting shortly after one.

They were provided with ink, pens, and paper, and once they finally quietened down, I walked about the table with my hands clasped behind my back, as my teachers used to do in school. It became tedious after a while, so I went to sit in a fireside chair to think about things.

Wainwright’s written confession? I didn’t believe it. It was too pat, too contrived. The perfect solution to what was beginning to look like a perfect crime. Whoever was behind it was intelligent; a killer without compunction, and with the arrogance to believe they were clever enough to get away with it. Swift’s and my presence hadn’t stopped them – or perhaps they’d killed Wainwright just to give us a culprit? That was a terrible thought… What would they do if we didn’t accept their ‘solution’?

Swift came in with Kirkham and Foggy at his heels.

‘Nice little dog you’ve got, Major Lennox. He was sitting in the hall watching the world go by,’ Kirkham said as Foggy rushed over, yipping for no reason.

I picked the dog up to stop him disturbing the scribblers. ‘They’re writing their statements.’

‘I’ll take their fingerprints when they’ve finished.’ Kirkham nodded.

‘And we need shoe prints,’ I reminded him.

A couple of the siblings’ heads jerked up at that.

Kirkham grinned. ‘That’ll give them something else to complain about.’

‘Lennox.’ Swift had paused to peer over Konrad’s shoulder, then walked toward the door. ‘Come with me.’

He was in full police mode, I was half a mind to ignore him, but went anyway. He led out onto the landing and closed the door behind us.

‘The doctor’s finished and we’ve just carried the body to his car.’ Swift spoke in an undertone.

‘Really?’ I raised my brows, having visions of the doctor driving Wainwright’s body in the passenger seat, complete with the noose still about his neck.

‘He drives a shooting brake; we laid him in the back.’

‘Ah…’ I nodded. ‘Did he find anything?’

‘No, but he thought Wainwright may have been hit in the stomach.’

That made sense. A stomach punch would have caused Wainwright to lower his hands, making it easier to drop the noose around his head. ‘So it was murder.’

‘It would be consistent with murder yes.’ Swift agreed.

‘Was there any sign of bruising?’

‘Not that we could see – it’s one of the few parts of the body that doesn’t bruise easily, but the stomach felt firmer than normal. I asked Dr Harris to check if there was any internal bleeding.’

‘When will we have the results of the post-mortem?’

‘Tomorrow, probably. They aren’t exactly overwhelmed with suspicious deaths in the town.’ He gave me a wry glance. ‘Look, I’m not going to let anyone know we suspect murder. I think it’s better to lull them into a false sense of security.

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