Episode 20 - The white witch

Tuesday cont.

“We’ll need to talk to you again, Miss Knowles,” said Gary, “but if I’m not mistaken, Miss Cartwright made a fool of you and she was trying it on with us.”

“It looks very much like it,” said Knowles. “Aren’t you going to charge me with anything?”

“You were foolish to let yourself in for that soup incident.”

“I thought I was takin her for a ride. I didn’t know what was in that potion.”

“She did not know she was handling poison either, Miss Knowles,” said Cleo.

“We don’t know that, do we?” said Knowles. “I liked the idea of helping the singing by eating soup laced with some kind of vocally improving substance. Phillis really believed that, or said she did. I just went along with it for fun.”

“You’ll know better next time not to underestimate apparent stupidity. It took me quite a long time to understand that such people either have no reasoning at all or it is too perverted to be taken seriously,” said Gary. “Suicide bombers are made of such stuff. You can’t argue with them that they are taking their own lives at the behest of people who would not dream of taking theirs. They believe in a heaven full of innocent assassins – people who have given their lives to a groundless cause.”

“There won’t be a next time, I promise you. I’m going to come out as a lawyer. I can see that I’m not clever enough to be a criminal.”

“Which brings me to something I have to ask you about the past, Miss Knowles,” said Cleo.

“Go ahead.”

“Did you kill Laura Finch?”

“What makes you ask that?

“You were seen nearby.”

By Betjeman?”

“Yes,” said Cleo.

“Laura Finch was haunted by that mad person. She and I did not really get on, but Mrs Finch knew I was lawyer and had asked me to look into Betjeman Crighton’s activities. He frightened her. I was to find a way of getting him locked up.”

“How did Mrs Finch find out about your profession?” Gary asked.

“She had been worried about her nephew. I said I knew someone who might help her. When we were alone, I told her who I was. It was about Jason’s birth certificate, if I remember rightly. She wanted me to make sure the details did not get out, but it was too late to avoid the truth about her relation to the man she had said was  her nephew. I think the main idea was that her own past was not to become common knowledge.”

“Did you know about it?”

“I contacted the shipping company and found out.”

“So what happened when Mrs Finch was murdered?” said Cleo.

“I followed Betjeman when I could, but he was usually on his racing bike, so I needed to know where Mrs Finch was going. She told me she was going to the garage yard that day, to where that nasty little grocer and the organist kept their cars. She would tell them both to get off her back.”

“I wish we’d heard all this sooner,” said Gary.

“You had your killer, so I kept quiet,” said Knowles. “I was too late to stop Betjeman stabbing Mrs Finch and I did not know that Bontemps had already attacked her. I just got away from the scene. Wouldn’t you have done the same?”

“It’s your own fault that you have such a bad reputation, Miss Knowles,” said Cleo. “You cultivated it for reasons best known to yourself.”

“Those weird jobs were amusing. The legal profession is not amusing.”

“Phillis’s action at the hospital was clearly murder. She had confessed. Her motive was jealousy. I don’t know if you did anything to provoke it,” said Gary. “But that would not be illegal, would it?”

“The coast is not clear yet, however, Mis Knowles,” said Gary. “You represent some of the criminal element in this town, don’t you?”

“What if I do?” They pay well.”

“Are you going to stop doing that?” said Cleo.

“No, of course not. Even felons need lawyers and I don’t aid and abet them. Now I’m coming out, they’ll drop me, I should think.”

“Will you keep us posted?” Gary said?

“I’ll use my judgement, Mr Hurley,” said Knowles.

***

Cleo treated Gary to blazing eyes and a sardonic smile.

“I’d better phone Robert and tell him that his assistant will not be returning,” she said.

“Yes, you should,” said Gary.

“Wasn’t that butcher guy married to you, Miss Hartley?” said Knowles.

Gary did not wait for Cleo to answer.

“We’ve all had our moments, Miss Knowles,” he said.” You can go now. Let me know how you get on in your professional capacity as a lawyer.”

“I’ll do that,” said Knowles.

“You will also be called as a witness, even if you decide to defend Miss Cartwright. Think twice about that.”

Dorothy had stood by wordless the whole time.

“Don’t phone Robert, Cleo,” she said now. “I’ll pop into the shop and explain things to him.”

“Nigel, can you drive Dorothy to Upper Grumpsfield?” Gary said. “I’ll take my wife out to lunch when we’ve checked back at home.”

“Will do,” said Nigel.

“Take my car,” Gary said, giving him the key.

***

Cleo wondered if Gary was serious about lunch since their relationship now seemed to be on trial and it was her fault. Apart from that, he still had to question Ed Fargo while the iron was hot. His interview was set for three. Cleo planned to be home by then. She would not take part in that interview.

***

“When is Dr Fargo coming here, Gary?” Cleo asked when she was at last alone with Gary. “Are you mad at me?”

“Dr Faro is coming tomorrow. Greg sent a text to that effect. And no, I’m not mad at you. I’m rather flattered. I don’t mid women scrapping over me. Let’s go to Romano’s. We have plenty of time.”

“I thought you’d order something to be sent here, like in the old days.”

“Before we got together, I suppose you mean,” said Gary. “I’m glad we got all that sorted out. Ordering was really a ruse to keep you near me for a bit longer.”

“And I did not really notice the way things were going,” said Cleo. “Upstairs or downstairs?”

“Both, since you are obviously not angry with me any more,” said Gary.

“I’m not angry with you, but I’m angry with myself. Why didn’t I ask Knowles to explain things before now?”

“Because it was all one of Dorothy’s famous hunches, Cleo.”

“That’s true. I’m not hungry yet. Upstairs sounds more like my kind of thing.”

“A wise decision under the circumstances.”

***

After an hour in Romano’s guestroom where it all began and was still sensational, the lovers ate glorious pasta with Romano. He had made it specially and called it “lovers’ lasagne”.

***

“How is your love life,” Gary asked, knowing that his friend had suffered greatly from Cleo’s mother’s episode with Romano’s younger brother.

“She came to see me,” said Romano. “Gloria is still the best thing that ever happened to me. I was not passionate enough. She found another.”

“She wants to give you a second chance, Romano,” said Gary. “You must take it and show her that you are really a Latin lover as well as a great cook.”

“Do you think she would believe me?”

“I’m sure, Romano. Give it a chance. You’ve nothing to lose.”

“I’ll think about it.”

***

Cleo drove home in the red sports car that had been Gary’s until he was obliged to get a van to accommodate his growing family.

Gary went back to the office, where Nigel was waiting for him. Ed Fargo was brought to the office by a security guard who was instructed to stay. As a precaution, Gary had locked the door between his office and the observation room and pocketed the key.

“Good news, Mr Fargo,” Gary started, not knowing if Fargo already knew that his uncle had reappeared.

“The only good news I want to hear is that I’m going to be released,” said Fargo.

“I’m not sure you’d want that if you knew that your uncle has reappeared.”

“Has he?”

“He has.”

“Then you know that I didn’t kill him.”

“You didn’t kill him, but you killed someone else, didn’t you?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Let’s talk about Miss Cartwright, shall we?

“Who’s that?”

“She’s the lady who advertised her skill at making pills and potions, Mr Fargo. You contacted her.”

“Did I? I don’t remember.”

“Let me jog your memory,” said Gary.

“Where’s my wife?”

“Somewhere else, Mr Fargo.”

“I want to talk to her.”

“She’s not around. Talk to me instead. For a start, tell me why you contacted Phillis Cartwright.”

“Just for fun.”

“So you do know who that is, after all,” said Gary.

“I wanted to see what kind of person would claim to be a white witch.”

“And then you gave her a try, didn’t you, Mr Fargo?”

“What if I did?”

“Making potions out of amatoxins is not very nice,” said Gary.

“I don’t know what you are talking about.”

“Mushrooms, Mr Fargo.”

“Sally picked them. We looked them up and they were harmless.”

“All of them?”

“I think so. Then I gave them to the white witch.”

“What happened next?

“She made up a translucent potion and sold it to me.”

“What did you do with it?”

“I don’t remember,” said Fargo.

“As far as I’m informed, you decanted it into a bottle of wine and gave it to a tramp. Why did you do that?”

“Sally did that.”

“You told her to, Mr Fargo.”

“I don’t remember.”

“You wife remembers everything,” said Gary.

“She makes things up,” said Fargo.

What she did not know until now was that the tramp you picked on because you needed a corpse was possibly her father.”

“Rubbish.”

“It’s true. We’ll get a DNA test done and that will settle the matter.”

“So she killed her father,” said Fargo.

“What makes you say she killed him?”

“She gave him the wine.”

“You had prepared it with poison, Mr Fargo.”

“You’ll have to prove that.”

“We will. We know you wanted to be rid of your uncle. Identifying the tramp as your uncle was the first part of the plan.”

“Blast you. I did not even know where my uncle was.”

“But you moved into the villa and dressed a doll in his clothes so that people would think her was at home. That was before the idea of the tramp occurred to you, Mr Fargo. If your uncle was dead, you could inherit the villa. No one could prove it wasn’t your uncle if he had been cremated. If or when he turned up, you would dispose of him, probably in that freezer in the cellar.”

“You can’t prove anything,” said Fargo.

“I think we can,” said Gary. “We know you gave Miss Cartwright  dried toadstools to make her anatoxin enriched potion, and we know what Miss Cartwright did with the rest that she had kept for her own use as a beautifier and restorer of singing voices.”

Fargo laughed.

“It isn’t funny. It cost two people their lives, three, if you count that tramp. Forensic science can prove that the poisonous mixture was unique – the fantasy of a woman who thought she was a white witch.”

“You don’t believe that woman, surely.”

“We’ll also have your wife’s testimony, Mr Fargo.”

“She is lying, Inspector.”

“About what? Explain that!”

***

Ed Fargo realized that anything he said would incriminate him. There was nothing left of his plan to become rich on the inheritance from his uncle.

“Oh, and there’s also the business of your first wife, Mr Fargo. I’ll have to get that case reopened. And you wife will tell the truth this time. How did you get her on your side?”

“Mind your own business,” said Fargo.

“Take him back to his cell please,” Gary ordered the guard.

Nigel declared that Fargo was one of nastiest characters he had ever witnessed.

“We’ll talk to Dr Fargo tomorrow morning,” said Gary. “I don’t suppose Fargo will be in line to inherit anything when he knows what has been going on.”

“I can’t wait,” said Nigel.

“We’ll go home now, Nigel. Thanks for helping me with that little crisis Cleo had. I’ve never known her to be jealous.”

“You’ve never flirted with a suspect before,” said Nigel.

“I wasn’t flirting.”

“But the mutual attraction was unmistakeable, Gary.”

“She was just interesting. That’s all.”

“You don’t have to convince me.”

“What do you suggest, Nigel?”

“Flowers and jewellery. They always work.”

“Thanks for the advice.”

A sapphire ring and a huge bouquet of roses later, Gary arrived at the cottage to find Cleo cooking dinner.

“You have a clever assistant, Mr Hurley,” she said.

“I have wonderful wife, Mrs Hurley,” said Gary.

“Make sure you don’t forget that again, Mr Hurley.”

***

When all the children were asleep, Cleo and Gary chatted over their espresso nightcaps in front of a blazing log fire about what was in store the following day, when Dr Faro, Eve Fletcher, Sally, Ed Fargo and Phillis had to be ‘processed’.

Gary thought Phillis had burnt all her boats already and would be passed on to the public prosecutor without delay.

“We didn’t ask Miss Knowles why she visited the Crightons, Gary.”

“Can you think why, considering she is not guilty of any crime,” said Gary. “She knew Betjeman was guilty, too. That surprised me. You would have thought the lawyer n her would have made her come forward.”

I expect the stalker in her held her back,” said Cleo. “Anyway, you are assuming she has no skeletons in her cupboard, and I can’t go along with that.”

“Your female instinct, Cleo. It has already let you down today my love.”

“Leave the gender out, please. The truth is that you don’t want her to be guilty of anything.”

“I would not have let her go if there had been any doubt in my mind, Cleo.”

“That’s what I thought until a few minutes ago, but what if she did have an ulterior motive? Would she go all that way to visit Betjeman for the hell of it? She didn’t know the Crightons. I wonder if she had sex with Betjeman. He seems to have been around women quite a lot, and so has your Miss Knowles.”

“For a start, she isn’t ‘mine’ and I don’t want her to be,” said Gary.

“I’m not even sure I believe you and I won’t be bought off, Gary.”

“I protest. She certainly isn’t mine. I don’t give her red roses or anything else, for that matter, and if you can prove she is guilty of anything, I’ll be glad to put her under arrest despite her wily lawyer qualities.”

“Now you’re tasking.”

“You suspect that she wanted to make sure that Betjeman was safely behind bars, didn’t you?,” said Gary.

“Bars would not stop him talking about Laura and involving Knowles? He’s had time to think about the reason he is in that mental hospital. He is not manic all the time and he will have been getting treatment. What if Knowles was mixed up in Laura’s murder, after all?”

“We’d never be able to prove it. You saw how clever she is.”

“She certainly had you wound round her little finger.”

“There’s something erotic about her. I admit that, Cleo. But was she being deliberately provocative? I could almost see the vibes. Hookers have tried that on me before, but not a lawyer.”

“She’s a woman first and a lawyer second. That’s how it usually works with sexism, Gary.”

“Don’t scare me!”

“She was not very clever about Phillis, was she? Phillis nearly made fools of all of us,” said Cleo. “Or did Knowles have an ulterior motive for all that performance? Did she want to get at one or the other chorus member? Was someone we have not taken into account blackmailing her?”

“Do you realize that trying to fathom all that out would drag on for weeks and months, and probably end the way it has now.”

“I want you to get Knowles in. I won’t have peace of mind until you do, Gary.”

“OK. I’ll phone her now. Don’t listen in. I may have to get raunchy.”

“I’d like to hear that.”

“It would embarrass me.

“OK. I’ll look in on the kids and take a shower.”

***

A male voice answered the Knowles phone.

“Can I speak to Miss Knowles, please?”

“Mrs. I’ll ask her. Who shall I say is calling?”

“Chief Inspector Hurley.”

“Hold the line. I’ll get her.”

***

Gary assumed that Knowles went in a different room to talk to him. After about two minutes she said

“I’m outside. My husband does not like cops phoning. What do you want?”

Gary made a mental note of that statement. Was Mr Knowles squeaky clean?

“I’m sorry to trouble you, but you’ll have to come to HQ again tomorrow morning. Something has come up.”

“Has it? I won’t read anything into that, Mr Hurley, but I did notice the attraction you have for me.”

“You have an obscene mind, Mrs Knowles.”

“So do you.”

“Can you be at HQ by eleven?” Gary persisted. He could kick himself for phoning her. Cleo should have phoned. It was her idea.

“No trouble, Mr Hurley,  but I thought we’d cleared things up.”

“I expect we have, but you must sign a statement, Mrs Knowles.”

“If you insist. We can take time to make a date for you know what,” said Knowles. She was nothing if not blatant.

“Let’s get the statement over first, shall we?” said Gary.

“We can go somewhere neutral, Mr Hurley.”

“What do you suggest?” he said.

“Not Romano’s,” she said. “You go there with your wife, don’t you? There’s a nice club on the Oxford Road. We could do a threesome if you want to bring your wife along.”

“I prefer twosomes,” said Gary.

“As you wish. See you tomorrow.”

***

Cleo had eavesdropped. She was furious and flung herself into the kitchen, from whence Gary had been phoning on the house-phone, not considering that Cleo would be too curious not to listen in.

“You got off quite lightly, I thought. And so did I. I wasn’t reared to go in for what she suggested. At least you did not let me in for that.”

“I didn’t let you or me in for anything. You don’t seriously think I would want to go anywhere with her, do you?

“I don’t know, do I?. Wives tend not to notice.”

“She’s coming in to HQ tomorrow. That’s what you wanted, isn’t it? I don’t think you’ll get anything more out of the woman. She’ll have had a good reason for going to Oxford. She wanted to see Betjeman and couldn’t. End of story.”

“Sure. She wanted to make sure loony Betjeman does not spill the beans in a fit of sanity.”

“Let’s wait and see, Cleo. I can’t speculate any more tonight. I need my duvet.”

“So do I, Sweetheart.”

“Annoyance abated?”

“As long as Mrs Knowles stays out of our lives.”

“She will, I promise you.”

“I haven’t taken that shower yet.”

“Neither have I. I need a cold one to get over that unambiguous invitation or a hot one to return me to normality.”

“I’m not getting under a cold shower, Gary.”

“That’s settled then.”