Murder in Half Moon Street: A Redmond and Haze Mystery Book 8 (Redmond and Haze Mysteries) by Irina Shapiro

Author:Irina Shapiro [Shapiro, Irina]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Merlin Press LLC
Published: 2022-06-06T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 20

Micah fell asleep moments after the train pulled out of the station, leaving Daniel and Jason to discuss the case.

“Do you think Stanley Kinniston might have had something to do with the murder?” Jason asked.

Daniel shook his head. “No. Stanley Kinniston sounds like a practical man who was only too happy to take both Miss Grant’s and her brother’s money and use it to improve his family’s prospects.”

“Mrs. Kinniston feared these visits,” Jason said. “Perhaps she thought Sybil Grant might devise a way to reclaim her child.”

“The only way she could have done that was if she married and her husband agreed to take on her illegitimate daughter, but as far as we know, Miss Grant had no plans to marry.”

“But the Kinnistons didn’t know that,” Jason pointed out.

“Let us say, for argument’s sake, that Stanley Kinniston, bricklayer from Southend-on-Sea, decided to do away with his daughter’s natural mother. How on earth would he have gained access to Sybil Grant’s bedroom and escaped after killing her without a single person in the household noticing anything out of the ordinary? And why would he need to resort to such a scheme? Had he wished to kill her, surely there are easier ways of accomplishing that. He knew precisely when Sybil Grant would visit next. He could have lured her somewhere, bashed her over the head with a brick, and then disposed of the murder weapon by making it part of a wall. And he could have hidden her body somewhere no one would ever find it. This theory simply doesn’t fit the facts.”

“No, I don’t suppose it does, but he did have a motive, or at least his wife did,” Jason replied.

“Realistically, there was little chance that Sybil Grant would ever reclaim her daughter. She might have told Davina the truth and tried to establish a relationship with her, but she could never be a true mother to her.”

“Judge Grant was the only person that stood between Sybil Grant and her daughter. Had Judge Grant suddenly died, Sybil could have taken her daughter and gone away somewhere she could either claim to be a widow or introduce Davina as her niece.”

Daniel nodded. “Yes, she could have done that, but as far as we know, Judge Grant is in fine health, so this wasn’t an immediate concern. Likewise, if the Kinnistons felt truly threatened, they could have left Southend and settled in a place where Miss Grant couldn’t easily track them down. I’m sure the allowance is paid through a solicitor, so they could have simply informed the solicitor of their new address and explained the reason for their departure.”

“Might they have contacted the solicitor and told him of Sybil Grant’s visits?” Jason asked.

“I doubt it. Judge Grant would have put an end to the visits if he became aware of them.”

“Perhaps he had,” Jason suggested. “Losing her daughter a second time might have pushed Sybil Grant over the edge. If Judge Grant informed his sister that she would not be seeing her daughter again, the edict might have caused her to reach for that letter opener.

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