The Lady of the Lake by Peter Guttridge

Author:Peter Guttridge
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781448303632
Publisher: Severn House Publishers
Published: 2019-09-29T16:00:00+00:00

EIGHT

As they parked outside the main door of the house, Heap said: ‘DC Wade told me everybody who had been staying at the house on Sunday night has been interviewed. Nobody admits to seeing Rabbitt later than mid-afternoon, when a couple of long weekenders from Rawtenstall, wherever that is, saw him tinkering with the Lego.’

‘He wasn’t putting a Lego dead body in the Lego lake was he, in an act of clairvoyance?’ Gilchrist said.

They went into the house and stopped to survey the scene in the reception hall. ‘It looks like someone else has been tinkering with the Lego,’ Gilchrist said.

‘I’d say so, ma’am.’

The model village Rabbitt had constructed was scattered in big and small pieces all over the floor. They looked up. Rhoda Knowles was standing at the top of a flight of stairs, in front of a portrait of Richard Rabbitt. Gilchrist raised a questioning eyebrow. Rhoda Knowles shrugged and started down the stairs.

‘Mrs Rabbitt is back in residence,’ she said by way of explanation as she joined them. ‘She felt her place was here to comfort the children, who have been taken out of school.’ She gestured at the plastic debris. ‘She suggested to them it would be helpful for them and her to express their sorrow by destroying Rabbitt’s pride and joy, which they were never allowed to touch.’

‘She hasn’t had a go at his magic lantern stuff as well, has she?’

‘I think she has other plans for that.’

‘Is she in the left wing now?’

Knowles shook her head. ‘The boys are, with a private tutor the major employs now and again. Mrs Rabbitt is in Ditchling. Doing a yoga class, I believe. Or possibly having a coffee with a friend in the museum there.’

‘She doesn’t strike me as the museum type,’ Heap said.

‘They do excellent coffee there,’ Knowles said. ‘And I think she’s hoping the museum might want to buy the magic lantern and slides.’

‘Is that hers to sell at this stage?’

‘A moot point but Tallulah is saying nothing.’

‘She’s back then?’

Knowles nodded.

‘Any joy with the diary or the computer?’ Gilchrist said.

Knowles shook her head. ‘Ms Granger told me of her theory that someone staying in the right wing was an opportunist thief but I’m not sure I agree. I always keep the left wing locked and Major Rabbitt was even more security aware.’

‘I don’t suppose he had CCTV fitted inside the house?’ Heap said.

‘Although he was considering it, Major Rabbitt was reluctant to enter the twenty-first century. Actually, he had not long moved into the twentieth.’

‘No CCTV cameras on the outside of the house?’ Gilchrist said.

‘Actually there are but they are never switched on.’

‘Can you remember if Major Rabbitt had any appointments in his diary for Sunday?’ Gilchrist said. ‘For lunch perhaps? Or in the evening with Ms Grace, for instance?’

Rhoda Knowles pursed her lips. ‘As I believe I’ve already told you, he kept his weekends free from appointments. Especially Sundays. If he had an appointment with Ms Grace – which would surprise me – that would come under the heading of his social life.

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