Destroying Angel (14 page)

It was an interesting theory, which fitted my own suspicions regarding the photographs’ presence in Hubert’s study. I wanted to know more about those visits, but Vince held up his 
hand. ‘I say no more than that, Rose. I have said quite enough.’ And changing the subject, he continued, ‘How do you get along with Hubert?’

‘Very well. As a matter of fact, he has asked me to marry him.’

‘What?!’

‘Yes. He says he is in love with me—’

Vince seized my hands. ‘That is not hard to understand, dear Rose.’ He shook his head, suddenly speechless, then asked, ‘And you have really just met?’

‘Just a few days ago.’

He laughed delightedly. ‘By Jove, such a conquest – that’s wonderful!’

‘No, it isn’t, Vince.’

He stared at me, wide-eyed. ‘You mean – you mean you have turned him down?’

‘Exactly that. Even if I imagined I could ever be in love with him, I would certainly need more time for such a decision.’

Vince gripped my arm. ‘Dearest Rose, I beg of you, think of the advantages before you say no. Hubert’s a great fellow, a splendid ancient family. You couldn’t do better, a great future, the prospect of a knighthood, a lovely home—’

I listened patiently. No mention of my career, or the vital matter of my feelings for Hubert. Alas, my stepbrother, in common with most men, regarded marriage as a woman’s proper, and indeed, only valid role in life.

Vince was still eulogising as he put me on the train, and I promised him that I would do nothing rash, that I would think over carefully all those advantages he had painstakingly put before me.

It had been a remarkable day, one to remember. However, 
on the way back to Staines, Mr Windsor’s remarks concerning Hubert’s ‘ladies’ were my main preoccupation.

Was the tearaway Bertie, Prince of Wales, also included in Hubert’s images?

Wolf was waiting at Morpeth Station. I told him about my day and he didn’t seem particularly impressed at my meeting the heir to the throne. His day’s activities had been curtailed when Mrs Robson, cleaning a high cupboard, fell off a step ladder. She was in great pain, certain that her arm was broken, so Wolf had driven her to the doctor in Alnwick.

‘A fractured right wrist, was his diagnosis. Unfortunately she’s right handed, so the whole household is going to be disrupted. Hubert was very cross.’

‘Cross – he hadn’t hurt his arm!’

Wolf smiled, shook his head. ‘Hubert is not very high on sympathy for others when it inconveniences him personally,’ he said candidly.

We reached Staines village at five o’clock and I said I would walk back up to the house to collect Thane and then take him for a walk.

‘Thane has been with me today. Kate didn’t want him for some reason.’

There was no sign of Thane at the bothy. Tom’s work on the roof was finished and he had also disappeared.

Wolf said, ‘I expect he’s gone with Tom. He likes company. I never restrict his movements, you know. If he wants to wander about, that’s in his nature.’ And seeing my anxious expression, he added, ‘Don’t you worry, he’ll be back.’

And so I climbed the hill and since I had a lot to think about, reviewing the day’s events, I was in no hurry to return 
to the house, nor had I any wish to encounter Hubert at that moment.

I reached the rustic seat with its splendid overview of the village and, to my relief, confirming Wolf’s reassurance, there was Thane, far below in the kirkyard, dancing around Tom, who was busily digging.
A grave for Cedric
, I thought.
How sad
.

Idly I watched the pair of them. Thane at Tom’s side, getting between him and his digging. Tom trying to shoo him off, Thane barking and Tom obviously getting angry.

Such odd behaviour from the usually biddable Thane. It was obviously exercise he was needing, so I decided to remove him from getting in Tom’s way by taking him for his walk.

Hurrying downhill, it took only a couple of minutes to reach the burial ground. Among its sad, lichened tombstones, a glimpse of Thane standing motionless by a mound of upturned earth.

‘Thane!’ I called, but he ignored me. Not so Tom, who came rushing over to the gate.

‘That dog, missus, that dog of yours,’ he panted breathlessly. ‘He’s just dug up a corpse.’

Tom looked pale and shaken. He gulped; ‘I was trying to dig and he just wouldn’t let me. Now he won’t come away. He’s back there, on guard like. I’ll have to go to Alnwick, fetch the police.’

Grabbing his bicycle, parked against the railings, he shouted, ‘See what you can do with him, missus, if you’re not scared of skeletons. I’ll tell Mr Rider.’ And off he went.

Dead bodies were one thing and skeletons of the long dead quite another. I felt sick. Sick with apprehension as the full enormity of the situation struck me. Who could he have unearthed?

‘Thane,’ I called.

He looked briefly in my direction and then riveted his attention once more on the grave, standing stiffly, unmoving, like gun dogs I had seen ‘pointing’ at the shoot.

The grave wasn’t very deep. Only his legs were hidden, and when I reached him and called again, he wagged his tail and jumped out to greet me, eager to share his discovery.

I had no desire to look any closer. Putting my arms around his neck, I whispered, ‘Who have you found?’ as if he could provide the answer.

Wolf appeared, running swiftly towards us, jumping the fence, taking the short cut from the direction of the bothy. 

Thane immediately ran to his side.

‘What is it, Rose?’

‘Thane has dug up a corpse.’

‘I met Tom.’ And pushing Thane aside he looked into the grave. ‘A corpse – without a coffin.’

I shuddered. ‘That sounds like murder, Wolf.’ I felt nauseated, although the smell was not of death but only of freshly turned earth. Steeling myself for the worst, I glanced nervously over Wolf’s shoulder. A skull, teeth showing.

Wolf, lacking my sensitivity, bent down and a moment later he picked up the skull. I didn’t want to look closely as he shook off the loose soil and held it up.

Thane also lacked my sensitivity. Delighted, he watched, circling Wolf eagerly, I thought in dismay, for all the world like a dog being offered a juicy bone. And that it certainly was not.

‘You’ve gone quite pale, Rose. Are you all right?’ Then Wolf laughed and I felt angry. No need to make a joke of this horrible business.

‘No need to be scared. This isn’t a human skull. Don’t you see?’ He put it down and, as Thane sniffed at it, tail wagging excitedly, Wolf took one of Tom’s tools and removed the rest of the soil.

‘Look, Rose. This is an animal’s skull. In fact, to be more precise, it’s a dog.’ He held it out for my examination. ‘When we dig out the rest, I think you’ll find we have the bones of a very large dog. A deerhound, like Thane here, perhaps.’

And we both turned and looked at Thane, who was sitting down listening, head on one side, regarding us with a proprietary look of triumph.

‘Tom said he wouldn’t let him get on with the grave, kept 
getting in the way,’ Wolf said. ‘How did he know there was a dog buried here – in the kirkyard?’

And without one doubt, I knew the answer.

‘Roswal.’ I whispered. ‘It’s Roswal.’

Wolf looked up towards the house and whistled. ‘Hubert’s missing deerhound. Of course.’

‘How long do you think he’s been here?’

Wolf shrugged. ‘Hard to say. A year or two, anyway.’

As he examined the skull, I asked, ‘How did he die, I wonder?’

‘Wonder no more, Rose. The answer is here.’ And turning the skull towards me, he pointed. ‘See, a bullet hole. Someone shot him.’

My mind was racing ahead. How was I to tell Hubert and Kate that someone had killed their beloved Roswal and buried him, in the hope that he would never be found, in the disused kirkyard?

‘I’ll deal with this, Rose.’ Wolf had shrewdly guessed my thoughts. ‘You go back to the house. Take Thane with you. I’ll wait for Tom to come back with the policeman, who won’t be pleased to know the corpse has turned out to be a dead dog.’

Thane was happy to accompany me. He had the air of a job well done, an almost human swagger as he trotted ahead, while I was left to consider the enormity of his discovery and to find the right words to tell Hubert that someone had shot Roswal, the beloved deerhound he believed he had lost on Arthur’s Seat three years ago.

It was not yet supper time. The door of Hubert’s study was open. Sandeman was sitting alongside him at his desk; their heads were together, their voices low. They looked conspiratorial. 

Hearing my footsteps, Hubert looked up, smiled, and called, ‘Come in, Rose. Mr Sandeman is just leaving.’

The old man slid past me with an oily smile as Hubert pointed to the pile of papers. ‘A lot of legal matters we are sorting out.’

Then, laying down his pen, he smiled. ‘Welcome back, my dear. Had a good day? How was my old friend Vince – have you managed to persuade him to come and see us?’

I just stood there shaking my head.

‘What is wrong, Rose? You must be tired, of course. Do sit down.’

I did so and he said patiently, ‘Not time for supper yet. It may be delayed. You’ll have heard from Rider about Mrs Robson’s accident. Most unfortunate,’ he sighed.

No sympathy, of course, I thought, as he added, ‘I have to finish these, if you’ll excuse me.’

Taking a deep breath, I said, ‘Hubert, sorry to interrupt, but there is something I have to tell you – now, this moment – before we meet later.’

He threw down his pen, eyes gleaming. A look of triumph. ‘You’ve decided!’

‘Decided what?’

‘To accept my proposal, of course.’ He was about to spring to his feet and embrace me when I shouted: ‘No, Hubert. This is about Roswal.’

As Thane was with me, he eyed him sternly and sighed. ‘What has he been up to this time?’

‘He dug up another deerhound – in the kirkyard.’ And I stammered out the story.

Hubert listened silently. At the end I paused, out of breath, and he threw down the pen he had picked up again. 

‘Yes, Rose. It is Roswal. I know. I shot him.’

I stared at him open-mouthed, horrified! ‘You did – what?’

‘I shot Roswal,’ he said patiently. Then with a shrug. ‘He was injured, sick—’

I yelled at him. ‘Wait a minute – you killed Roswal. Then you tricked me – and Thane, pretending that you had lost him on Arthur’s Seat and all the time you knew it was – a damned lie! That he was dead, here at Staines, buried in the kirkyard—’

‘Where I knew he would be undisturbed,’ Hubert interrupted calmly. ‘Unlikely to be found, or so I believed,’ he added regretfully. ‘This is very unfortunate, Rose.’

‘Unfortunate!’ I screamed. ‘Is that all you can say about it? You tricked me, Hubert Staines, lied to me. I’ll never forgive you and what is more, I am leaving right now and taking Thane with me.’

Hubert held up his hand. ‘Wait a moment, Rose. If you go now in a fury you will never know my reasons – and you will always wonder.’

That was true. ‘They had better be good,’ I said.

‘Then please sit down and calm down. Right? Kate was very ill three years ago, not expected to survive. Roswal had an accident – he got onto the railway line and his back legs were broken. I carried him home in the carriage. I knew he would die and I couldn’t let anyone else do the job for me, so I shot him and buried him at night in the kirkyard, the day before I left for Holyrood.

‘Kate had no idea about any of this and I didn’t know how to tell her when I came back, so I invented this story about him having run away. She was so ill, believe me, I thought she was dying, and during the past months I believe we have 
Rider’s treatment to thank that she is still alive.’

He paused, sighed deeply. ‘One day, believing her days were numbered, I asked if there was anything, anything she wanted that I could do for her. She said all she had ever wanted after her mother and sister died was Roswal.

‘Then I met Vince again. We had got along splendidly at Balmoral and when I visited him in London, I saw the painting of your deerhound, Thane. He had told me all about you being a private investigator. I was at my wit’s end, being blackmailed about the photographs. And there you were, Vince’s stepsister, who by a miracle also had a deerhound. It seemed such a marvellous coincidence that I got this mad idea.’

He paused. ‘You know the rest. Roswal was my excuse for bringing you here—’

‘Luring me here on false pretences, you mean,’ I interrupted angrily.

He shrugged. ‘Whatever you say. But can you blame me for taking advantage of such an amazing series of circumstances? However else was I to get someone here that I could trust to find my blackmailer without raising any suspicions?’

Then, with that smile I had thought so endearing, he leant over, took my hand, and said softly, ‘How was I to know that I would fall in love with you? I vowed that, one day, when we were married, when I was sure of your love, I would tell you the truth of my little deception.’

Wrenching my hand away, I said furiously: ‘A little deception, is that what you call it?’

He ignored my interruption. ‘Please, dearest Rose, tell me you forgive me. I cannot let you go now; you mean the whole world to me. My whole future, the future of all you see 
around you here at Staines, depends on you becoming my wife.’

I stood up, lengthened the distance between us and said coldly: ‘Hubert, you were being blackmailed. I believe I have solved that. Your blackmailer was Cedric. He is dead. Hopefully that is the end of the matter. If you receive any further threats, then you will have to find another private investigator. I am finished with you. That is final. And I am now free to go. Was that not our bargain?’

‘You are turning me down?’ His voice was cold, as if my response was incredible.

‘That is right. I am turning you down. I am afraid, in view of all you have revealed regarding Roswal, I could never trust you again. Surely you realise that. You have destroyed any belief I had in your word. This monstrous deception, Hubert! Nothing but lies all along the line. You cannot imagine the agonies I suffered – that you put me through – believing that Thane was your Roswal and that I was about to lose him for ever, returning him to you here at Staines.’

‘He is only a dog, Rose.’ He sounded amused, contemptuous even, and that was the last straw.

‘I came because you told Vince a lie. You told him that Kate was dying and allowed him to use that lie to persuade me. And what do I find? Another downright lie. Even Wolf says that although her lungs are delicate, it is possible that with care she should have a long and healthy life.’

‘Rider doesn’t know what he is talking about.’

‘And nor do you, Hubert. As for me, I have had enough of Staines. I am leaving and taking Thane with me, and you can keep the fee for my professional services as an investigator.’

‘I insist—’ 

‘No. I do not wish to accept that either. You can consider it payment for your hospitality, my board and lodging here. The matter is ended. I wish to be free of any further obligation to you.’

As I stood up, ready to make a dignified and indignant exit, he seized my arm. ‘That you will never be, Rose. I will never let you go. You belong to me.’

I laughed. ‘Please don’t be absurd, Hubert. I don’t belong to anyone and certainly not to you.’

‘So you think. But I will never release you.’

I laughed again, sprang away from him and said, ‘Just try to stop me, that’s all, and you’ll soon see whether I belong to you or not.’

As I headed for the door, I heard a sound of scuffling and, flinging it open, saw Collins racing upstairs. She had probably heard every word and I thought that at least my decision to leave should make her feel happy. Her rival gone, Hubert could be hers now.

How wrong could I be? I was soon to find out the truth of the old adage, that two wrongs can never make a right.

It would be too late by the time I had packed and bicycled to Alnwick to catch a connecting train to Edinburgh. Besides, I could not go without seeing Wolf Rider again and telling him about Hubert’s deception.

The more I thought of the devious way I had been tricked, the more indignant and angry I became. Too upset to face Hubert and Sandeman across the supper table, for the first time I was not even hungry. Thane had been waiting in the hall while I was in Hubert’s study, and I decided to keep him in my room that night. 

I felt safer in his presence.

As we went upstairs I caught a glimpse of Mrs Robson in the kitchen looking very woebegone, her arm in a sling. Normally I would have rushed to her assistance, but as far as I was concerned now, Collins would have to help with meals, with fetching and carrying, as well as caring for Kate.

I did not really care what happened to them. Staines and Hubert and my brief sojourn here were already part of the past, for tomorrow at first light, I would leave before anyone in the house was awake. I would get my bicycle and go to say goodbye to Wolf Rider, who would have moved back into his bothy but, I suspected, would not be alarmed by an early morning visitor. Then I would head for the railway station and a train home to Edinburgh.

I felt quite jubilant at the prospect of being in my own home in Solomon’s Tower and, despite some inevitable hunger pangs, I fell asleep only to be awakened by a fierce argument and a noisy banging of doors. It was still dark but the commotion suggested that perhaps Collins had not been so reassured after all by overhearing my rejection of Hubert’s proposal.

At last there was silence and when I opened my eyes again it was to a happier sound, the dawn chorus. I packed hastily all I could take in my saddle-bag; the heavier items went into my travelling trunk. I struggled downstairs and deposited it in a corner of the gunroom. I would ask Wolf to take it in the cart to Alnwick Station and put it on an Edinburgh train for collection later.

With Thane at my side, and an unnecessary warning to silence, I opened the front door, where a spider had woven a gossamer web across the entrance overnight. It was like breaking out of a silken prison. 

For a moment I hesitated. There was something else I must do before I left Staines for ever. That hundred guineas. I would never forgive Hubert for tricking me, however valid his excuses, and to take his money would be utterly repugnant.

So I took out the roll of notes, intending to leave them in his desk drawer with a note for him to find, but as I reached the study door, sounds from the kitchen warned me that I was too late.