Chadwick and Sergeant Eldridge showed up punctually at three o’clock and Jamie joined them in the living room, apologizing for keeping them waiting.
‘Whatever that is you’re baking in there smells frightfully good,’said Chadwick.
‘Just cookies,’ Jamie replied. ‘They’ll be ready in about ten minutes. We can have some with tea, later.’
Chadwick settled into the couch and crossed his legs. ‘Well, at last I’ve got some good news for you.’
‘Really?’said Jamie, glancing at Kingston.
‘Seems that our man, Fox, is a bit of a chameleon. From what we’ve found out so far, he’s gone by at least a couple of other names—one that you’ll both recognize.’
Kingston was frowning, at a loss to come up with a name.
‘Mainwaring,’ said Chadwick.
Kingston’s eyebrows shot up. ‘Mainwaring?’
‘That’s right. Faced with two possible murder charges and the incarceration and attempted murder of you and Jamie, he’s been most cooperative over the last couple of days.’
‘Two murder charges?’ Kingston inquired.
‘Are you talking about Jack?’ Jamie asked.
Chadwick nodded. ‘Dorothy Parmenter, too.’
‘So it wasn’t suicide?’ Kingston interjected.
‘No, it wasn’t. We don’t have a full confession yet but it seems that Dot had had enough of Mainwaring—particularly after Jack’s questionable death which she probably linked to Mainwaring—and was going to tell Jamie her suspicions about what was going on. Mainwaring decided to put a stop to that by doing her in and making it look like a suicide.’
‘Poor Dot,’ Jamie murmured.
‘What about Jack?’ Kingston asked.
‘He’s claiming that he had nothing to do with Jack’s death. He admits to having gone to Jack’s house a couple of times but swears innocence.’
‘That could’ve been him I saw the day I went to Jack’s. Silver BMW.’
‘I’m pretty sure that’s the car he drove here,’ said Jamie.
‘Right,’ Chadwick cut in. ‘He knew, too, that Jack had money and drug problems and had become involved with some unsavoury characters. He befriended Jack at a pub in Spaxton and Jack agreed to help him spy on you two. He wouldn’t say how much he was paying Jack but neither did he deny paying him. Mainwaring obviously couldn’t keep you under surveillance himself; he needed people who were around the estate on a day-to-day basis. Someone on the inside.’
‘Enter Dot,’said Jamie.
‘Exactly,’ Chadwick sniffed. ‘It’s still speculation but I think it’s a reasonable assumption that, at one point, Jack came to realize that he wasn’t getting anywhere, on top of which he was starting to arouse suspicion—particularly with you, Lawrence. It became obvious that if he were going to find out anything about the paintings, he would need somebody close to you. Who better to eavesdrop than Dot? Jack was probably able to rope her in without much trouble because they knew each other from the old days, when they were both in Ryder’s employ. They may have been more than simply friends, if you know what I mean.’
‘She was being paid, too?’ asked Jamie.
‘It looks that way. When we checked out her cottage there were a lot of new things laying around—brand-new wide-screen TV, DVD player, lots of jewellery and new clothing. Some items still had the price tags on them. It all suggested that she’d recently come into money.’
Chadwick uncrossed his legs and leaned forward. ‘We’ve been keeping tabs on Mainwaring for a long time. I couldn’t tell you at the time, of course, but what we uncovered as we went along dovetailed into everything that was going on here. The big break came when we tracked down Mainwaring’s employer before Ryder.’
Chadwick sniffed. ‘By the way, Mainwaring’s not his real name. He’s actually Reginald Elliot. Before he went to work for Ryder, he was employed by a private nursing home in Surrey. He’s a registered nurse by profession. While he was at the home—about twenty years ago—there was a big scandal. Some of the elderly patients were being bilked out of their savings, on top of which there were two suspicious deaths. You know, shortage of breath and suffocation are pretty much one and the same thing. Our friend Elliot was under suspicion of causing both deaths but there wasn’t enough evidence to make a case. Mainwaring had been very clever in his modus operandi and in covering his tracks. He got the job with Ryder some time later through an employment agency that specializes in placing nursing personnel.’