‘Before his company was captured Kershaw was wounded.’
‘And?’
‘He was shot in the knee.’
‘Hence the trauma.’
‘Exactly.’
‘When did you find this out?’
‘The day before yesterday.’
Jamie interrupted. She was frowning and clearly bewildered. ‘What’s all this about, Lawrence? Who is this Kershaw man?’
‘He was a soldier who fought with Ryder in the war. Loftus told me about him. A day or so before the surviving soldiers were captured by the Germans, Ryder and Kershaw got into a fight and Ryder ended up getting shot by his own gun. Kershaw got twenty years in prison for it.’ He paused, choosing his words. Right now, he didn’t want to get into a long explanation.
Jamie looked disturbed but said nothing.
‘It’s a bit more complicated than just that, I’m afraid,’ said Kingston. ‘Perhaps it might be best, to save the inspector’s time, if I tell you the whole story later, Jamie.’
‘That’s fine. I’m just wondering why you didn’t tell me about all this before, Lawrence?’
‘I would have done. In fact, I was planning to but that was about the time you told me you didn’t want me digging any further into Ryder’s past. I thought it best to forget the whole thing.’ He nodded in Chadwick’s direction. ‘That’s when I went to see the inspector—to tell him about my suspicions—what I’d found out from Loftus.’ He looked from Jamie to Chadwick and gestured with open palms. ‘I still don’t know if this has any bearing on what’s been going on here. It’s all speculation, you know.’
Jamie shrugged. ‘Let’s continue, then,’ she said, clearly still confused.
Chadwick looked distracted and was thinking hard. Kingston’s news about Kershaw’s injury had obviously taken the wind out of his sails. Then he launched into the subject of Jack’s death. There was little to report that they didn’t know already, he said. They had now run out of leads, and still had no idea as to who might have killed him. Items found at the house proved that he was in serious debt, some of it credit card loans. Other evidence indicated that gambling and drugs were involved. He went on to quiz Kingston and Jamie about Jack’s work habits. What he did in his spare time, which pub he frequented, whether he had friends, relatives, anybody who had visited Wickersham, whether he had quarrelled with any of his workers. After several minutes of questioning, nothing came to light. It was looking as if Jack’s death had nothing to do with Wickersham.
Next, Chadwick introduced the burglary of Kingston’s London flat.
‘I understand nothing was stolen. Is that correct?’
‘Yes. And there’s quite a lot of valuable stuff lying around, I might add.’
‘So, you think there could have been another reason?’
‘I do, despite the fact that the London police didn’t think it so unusual. They gave me several possible reasons why nothing was taken. But I’m more convinced than ever that it was done to get me away from here.’
Chadwick’s frowned. ‘Plausible, I suppose,’ he said. ‘But why would someone want you off the estate?’
Kingston saw the question coming. ‘That’s what baffles me, inspector. I’ve no idea.’
Eventually Chadwick came around to the subject of Jamie’s accident.
The answer to his first question, whether she knew anyone who might want to harm her, was a quick and emphatic, ‘No.’
Questions about Jamie’s staff followed. Then, Kingston and Jamie took turns telling Chadwick everything they knew about Mainwaring, Fox and Ferguson—the only people they knew, other than the workers and gardeners, who had any direct connection with Wickersham. As Chadwick questioned them about the three men, the DS was busy, head down, scribbling away.
A couple of minutes after the hall clock chimed five, Chadwick posed his last question: ‘Anybody you might know back home who could have done it?’
Kingston shot an ‘I told you so’look at Jamie, who simply shrugged. Then she gave an account of her broken engagement. Soon after that the meeting ended.
‘Well, what do you think?’ asked Jamie after Chadwick and his DS had departed. The two of them were in the kitchen.
‘About what I figured,’said Kingston, taking a bite out of one of Jamie’s cookies. ‘Mmm, these are good.’
‘We don’t seem to be much further ahead.’
‘It looks that way but then Chadwick’s not going to tell us everything that’s going on. With an ongoing investigation there’re bound to be certain things that they’re not going to divulge.’ He picked up another cookie.