THE WELSH MURDER MYSTERIES: Detectives Havard and Lambert box set (Books 1-3) by Pippa McCathie

Author:Pippa McCathie [McCathie, Pippa]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: The Book Folks Welsh crime fiction publisher
Published: 2022-04-26T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12

Matt and Dilys followed Rodric into a large room. Every inch of three of the walls that weren’t occupied by bookcases, contained portraits – many with a distinct resemblance to the present-day family members – most of them in need of straightening on their hooks. In a bay window stood a shabby leather-topped desk. The opposite wall was occupied, in large part, by a grey marble fireplace, where sluggish flames flickered round stacked logs, giving little heat to the chilly air. Threadbare rugs covered the wooden floor, and in front of the hearth was an assortment of armchairs and a leather Chesterfield sofa. The whole place smelt of a mixture of wood smoke, damp and furniture polish.

Without offering them a seat, Rodric turned to the two police officers. “So, what is all this about?” he demanded.

“I’m sorry to say that the post-mortem on your father has revealed that he was injected with a strong animal tranquiliser which induced heart failure,” Matt said, watching the man’s face closely as he spoke. “The drug is only licensed for use by vets, but there’s no doubt in the pathologist’s mind that this was the cause of his death and we are, therefore, treating it as murder.”

The blood drained from Rodric’s face. He said one word, “No,” then was silent.

“Do you know if any drug of this sort could have been stored anywhere at the Abbey?” Matt asked.

“No, no, of course it hasn’t.”

“In the stables perhaps?”

“No! Why would we keep such stuff on the premises? None of us is a qualified vet.” There was an almost imperceptible emphasis on the word ‘qualified’.

Interesting, thought Matt. “We understand,” he went on, “that by law a vet must always have the antidote to hand in case of accidents. The post-mortem has shown that this was almost certainly no accident and, since it was used to inject your father, we’re assuming it was acquired illegally; it was obviously used illegally.”

Rodric didn’t say anything further, he just glared at the police officers from under his brows.

“We will need to make a thorough search of the stables.”

“But my wife won’t allow–”

“The officers we have chosen for the task are experienced with horses. We’ll also be searching the house and we’ll need to take all computers, laptops and mobile phones for examination, including the ones used by your father. I have a warrant.” Matt held out a piece of paper, but Rodric ignored it.

“Why on earth do you have to do all this?” Rodric demanded.

“Standard procedure, sir, in a case like this,” Dilys said.

“And we’ll be interviewing everyone individually,” Matt said, “including Garan Price, who, I believe, is related to the family.”

“He’s my half-brother,” Rodric said shortly.

“I would be most grateful if you’d inform everyone in the household that we need to talk to them,” Matt said, “and ask them to make themselves available tomorrow morning.”

“If you insist.”

“So, perhaps we could get going,” Matt said firmly.

For a few moments there was a silent stand-off but, in the end, Rodric gave in.

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