Silent as the Grave (10 page)

I saw the look of dawning horror on her face and pressed home my advantage. ‘Your course of action is quite clear. First I want an apology. Second, your sister needs an apology. After that, you'd better seek out Polly Jardine and warn her to keep out of my way. And if I hear of one more malicious rumour that's originated from her, I'll slap her with a writ for slander. If you don't do that,
I'll
speak to her and by God she won't enjoy that.'

Harriet was crying by the time I'd finished. ‘I'm sorry, Adam; I've fouled everything up, haven't I?'

‘Perhaps you were led on, Harry,' I consoled her. ‘Now come on, give me an apology and we can be friends again.'

She managed a watery smile. ‘Nobody but you ever called me Harry,' she said. ‘Oh, Adam, I am sorry, it was everything at once, you see. I've been so worried about Tony and this madness that infects their family; then with Beaumont's murder on top. But to think that about you and Eve was inexcusable. Is she very upset?'

‘Harry,' – I put my arm round her – ‘you're a lovely girl but sometimes you're as daft as a brush. Your husband is one of the gentlest, nicest, sanest people I've ever met. I know the Beaumont thing's a worry, but we'll sort that out. As for Eve, I'd go in waving a white flag if I was you, her language could be a bit salty otherwise. Now hop it or you'll be getting a bad reputation; that's what happens to women when they hang around my bedroom.'

Chapter Nine

Lady Charlotte occupied what was in effect her own apartment on the first floor of the east wing of the castle. There was a calmness about Charlotte Rowe that I found relaxing. ‘I feel rather strange about this,' I told her when we were seated in her drawing room. ‘I came here to help with the problem Tony and Harriet wanted solving but this business of Beaumont's murder has thrown me completely off track.'

‘Do you think the two are in any way connected?'

‘That's a lot harder question to answer than it sounds. I can't honestly say one way or the other. To be honest I don't know enough about either to form a judgement yet. If you were to pin me down to some sort of decision, I'd probably say there was a link, but I've no idea what it might be.

‘When and where do you intend to start looking?'

I smiled. ‘I've already started, that's why I wanted to talk to you. I can't do much regarding Beaumont's murder at present. I've done all I'm really qualified to do in that respect. The investigative side of it is down to the police. They're the professionals. I'm only a reporter, and a retired one at that. I'm certainly not a detective.'

‘Don't you think reporters and detectives are similar? They both call for someone with an enquiring mind, surely?'

‘Possibly so, but I'm not really sure where to start looking for Beaumont's murderer. I'm a little hesitant to go ahead in case I mess things up for the police.'

‘What information do you want to grill me for?'

‘I hardly think grilling is going to be involved. I'm told you know more about Rowe family history than anyone else.'

‘That may be true but it's not saying a lot.'

I raised my eyebrows questioningly.

‘The Rowe family,' Charlotte told me, ‘have made secrecy into a fine art. I'm not talking about just one or two of them; I'm talking about generation upon generation. There must be centuries of unknown, unrecorded events. It's almost as if they had a pact whereby they would live out their lives in some sort of self-created Dark Ages. Things have been different recently of course. Both my husband George and his father were extremely open, as is Tony, but before them,' – she cast her eyes heavenwards – ‘anyone would think they'd all signed the Official Secrets Act.'

‘When you talk of them being secretive, do you mean there are no diaries or personal journals or anything of that nature?'

There was a fractional hesitation before Charlotte replied. ‘If there was I've certainly never seen one, and I've lived here over forty years.'

‘Doesn't that strike you as extremely odd?'

‘Yes and no,' she smiled. ‘I realize that's no sort of a reply but there are certain facts you need to understand. Yes, I agree on the face of things it must seem obsessive, which is what I assume you mean by odd, but that obsession has its roots in the persecution the family undoubtedly underwent because of their Catholic faith.'

‘Did they suffer much?'

‘Most certainly they did. Their lands were threatened with confiscation and they were stripped of some of their titles. Only the baronetcy survived.'

I stared at her in surprise. ‘I didn't realize that. I wasn't aware that sort of thing went on.'

Charlotte smiled. ‘Yes, it is a little difficult for us to grasp, isn't it? That's probably because we have been brought up in a parliamentary democracy. However, at the time we're talking about the rule was that of autocratic monarchs, and what they could give with one hand they could just as easily take away with the other. Sometimes they did it to the same people within the space of a few years. Henry VIII was probably the prime example but there were plenty of others.'

‘In effect, what you're saying is there is nothing by way of a family history in existence?'

Charlotte paused and looked at me for a moment. ‘I'm not really sure how to answer that. If you mean have I ever seen such a volume, as I said earlier I would have to say no. As to whether one exists that I haven't seen, all I can say is I have heard rumours about a book, nothing more.'

‘I think you're going to have to explain that.'

‘All I know is what my father-in-law told George when George was a boy. Apparently, George's grandfather used to read extracts from a book to George's father, but George seemed to think it was as much a history of the castle as of the family. That's about all I know.'

‘Hang on, Charlotte; I'm getting a bit confused. Can you give me a quick rundown on recent family history so I'll know who's who?'

‘Right, let's start with Sir Frederick and Lady Amelia. If you remember, she was the one who disappeared with her lover. Sir Frederick and Lady Amelia had two sons before she skedaddled. Henry, the elder son, was my father-in-law. In other words, Henry was Anthony's grandfather and Albert, Henry's younger brother, was Russell Rowe's grandfather.'

‘I thought Tony and Russell were first cousins?'

‘No, Colin Drake is Tony's first cousin. His mother Edith was George's elder sister.

‘Right, I'm with you now.'

‘When Sir Frederick died, the title and estate passed to Henry. The two go together, always to the eldest male. So from Henry it passed to George – and when George died Tony inherited both the baronetcy and Mulgrave Castle and all the estate that goes with it.'

 ‘Do you believe a journal exists; or if it ever existed?'

‘I have grave doubts. If it does it has been very well hidden. So much so, I doubt whether you would find it.'

‘Did your husband ever say anything about it?'

‘If I remember correctly, all George said was that his father was a “secretive and cantankerous old bastard”. And I didn't know George's father very well at all, as he died not long after we got married, which I don't think helps you much.'

‘No, not a lot,' I agreed. ‘But my thought is that if we are to get to the bottom of those disappearances we might find some clues in that journal.'

Charlotte smiled. ‘That's quite possible, if you could locate it.'

‘One possibility occurs to me: that the journal may have been hidden precisely because it does contain information that would give a clue to the truth, and that someone was desperate the truth should remain hidden.'

When I wandered into Tony's study shortly before lunchtime, Eve had finished typing the statements and was removing the carbon paper from between the pages. She greeted me with a wide, welcoming smile that did my pulse rate no good. ‘I've got these ready for the police. I don't think there's anything more I can do.'

‘You've had a busy morning,' I said mildly.

‘Not half,' she replied, ‘and that's not all. I don't know exactly what you said to Harriet but she came to see me about half an hour ago. She was very apologetic. So much so, she finished up in tears. That shocked me, I have to say. I've never seen Harriet so upset. You must have really gone to town on her. What exactly did you say?'

‘I told her she had grossly insulted you. I said she had implied you were a tart, and that in passing, she had been rather less than complimentary to me. I told her that unless her attitude improved immediately I was going to leave here as soon as road conditions allowed. After that I told her I was disgusted by her behaviour and that I expected better from her.'

‘I think I'm beginning to see why she was so upset,' Eve said dryly. ‘Did Harriet offer any explanation for the way she behaved?'

‘Yes she did and that's when I guessed it wasn't all her fault. I didn't go into the finer details but I think she's been fed some scurrilous propaganda. She certainly had some gossip about me that I found highly offensive, and it made me wonder if you'd been the subject of similar disinformation.'

‘What was the offensive gossip or would you rather not say?'

I thought about this for a few seconds. I've never been one for letting the world know about my most private and personal business but I felt it important not to keep anything back from Eve. ‘I wouldn't tell anyone,' I said eventually, ‘but I don't mind you knowing. The gist of it was that when I was living and working in New York I was unfaithful to my wife Georgina, on a regular basis. That I was a serial adulterer in fact.'

Eve stared at me in astonishment. ‘You don't mean to tell me Harriet was naïve enough to believe such a load of claptrap?'

I nodded. ‘Apparently so, it must have been quite convincing.'

‘What a load of bollocks. I gave my sister credit for more sense than that. After all the time she's known you, she still believes a bullshit tale like that. I only met you a couple of days ago and you couldn't convince me to believe it.'

‘Thank you for the testimonial.' I bowed slightly. ‘It must have been very persuasive; either that or Harriet's not thinking straight at present.'

‘Was it very hurtful, Adam? I don't know enough about your wife, except that she died, and I can imagine that was a very nasty reminder of things you might be trying to forget.'

If Harriet's behaviour had been out of character mine was scarcely less so. For the first time I found myself able to relate my story. ‘Georgina was an actress; a very good actress at that. Unfortunately, after we married she got less and less work. Then I got shipped off to Ethiopia. I was wounded covering the war and finished up in hospital. Whilst I was recuperating I got a visit from a British Embassy official. He told me Georgina had thrown herself off the balcony of our apartment. Loneliness and depression they called it; the two things Georgina wasn't able to cope with.'

‘And you've been blaming yourself ever since?'

‘Of course I have. I know it isn't logical but I can't help it.'

‘I'm not sure logic enters into a situation such as that.'

I realized as she said it that Eve was thinking of her own situation as much as mine. ‘I think Harriet may have been fed the same sort of rubbish about you as she was about me,' I suggested gently. ‘She hinted that there were reasons you might be vulnerable.'

‘Did she suggest that I'm an emotional cripple perhaps? That I'm hopeless with men? That I'm no stranger to a police cell? That I'm a dab hand with a carving knife?'

‘Something of that nature,' I agreed. ‘But then, I already knew you to be a woman capable of extreme violence. After all, I have such a wide experience of women, and you're the first to regard a punch in the face as an essential part of foreplay.'

I was lucky; my absurd remark stemmed the rising tide of anger I could sense growing within Eve. She giggled. ‘Did it hurt a lot?' she asked.

‘Just a bit,' I smiled, ‘but I forgive you, we're friends now, aren't we? Do you want to talk about what happened to you or is it a forbidden subject?'

‘I don't go around bragging about it but neither do I run away from it. It's still painful and I guess it always will be. It happened a long time ago but I've never been able to forget for long. I met John when I was doing an MBA in London. He was one of those golden boys, bright, talented, and handsome. He was also, as I found out far too late, a serial womaniser with a drink problem and a propensity for violence. He put me in hospital three times in the year we were together. I left him twice and went back home to my parents but he turned up and made a scene,' she paused and I could see there were unshed tears in her eyes; but whether they were tears of regret or anger, I couldn't tell.

‘My father was very ill,' Eve continued. ‘In fact he was dying from cancer. So I had no choice but to go back with John. It wouldn't have been fair to Mum or Dad otherwise. Mum was nursing Dad at home, you see.'

‘So you chose to go back in spite of the danger; that was brave of you.'

‘Brave or foolish, I'm not sure which. Anyway, I'd only been out of hospital just over a week and still had my arm in plaster. He'd broken it when he came home pissed and angry one night.'

Eve rolled up her sleeves and displayed large areas of mottled, discoloured skin. ‘He'd found a new game he really enjoyed. The rules were quite simple. You play it by boiling a kettle full of water. After that you hold Eve's arm over the sink and scald her with the water from the kettle until she screams or passes out. He was good at it too; a real expert. Only this time I cheated. I didn't scream and I didn't faint. I picked up the carving knife and stabbed him with it.'

She smiled grimly. ‘Of course I was arrested. I was convicted of attempted murder because he gave evidence that the attack was unprovoked. He could be very convincing when he wanted to. My injuries weren't mentioned. It was only at the appeal when the doctor and nurses who treated me gave evidence that the conviction was overturned.' She looked at me challengingly; as if my reaction was important to her.

‘I don't see you need feel the slightest degree of guilt. As far as I can see the bastard deserved all that was coming to him and more besides; but as you say logic doesn't come into it.'

Eve was still watching me closely. ‘You're not scared or repelled by what I've told you then? Most people are; but then they seldom get to hear my version. They only hear the gossip together with the embellishments.'

‘More fool them. The only thing that I find repulsive is what that brute did to you, and you certainly don't scare me; not with the lights on anyway.'

Eve grinned; suddenly she seemed more relaxed than at any time since we'd met. I put that down to the improved relations between her and Harriet, but then I'm no expert where women are concerned.

‘So tell me about your chat with Lady Charlotte, did you find out anything useful?'

‘Yes I did. Or at least Charlotte told me something that might prove very interesting. However, there is a major snag.' I went on to tell her about the rumoured existence of the family journal. ‘The problem's going to be in locating it. Charlotte says it hasn't been seen in at least forty years. She reckons there's considerable doubt as to whether it is any more real than the other family legends.'