All Passion Spent - Bergotte (great books to read TXT) 📗

I was alone.” “You didn’t meet anyone on the way.” “No, why should I?”

“I am asking the questions,” said Gerrard, “tell me, how long does it take you to get to work?” “It depends when I’m starting.” “How long does it take you to get to work when you are doing a Saturday night shift?” “I would allow forty minutes for that. I have to get to the other side of Bath.” “But depending on the traffic it might take you less time to get to work?” “Yes, it might.” “But it didn’t on October 21st, ten days ago?” “No.” “You’re sure of that?” “Yes.” “Thanks very much Mrs Fellingham for your help. We’ll let you get back to work now.” Rita rose to leave. “Oh! one last thing Mrs Fellingham again, if you don’t mind. You are still living in Weston village at the home of Miss Stoneham?” “Yes,” said Rita and closed the door behind her.

“We don’t know whether Rita Fellingham is telling the truth. I’ve interviewed Sally Stoneham already but I think, as we are here in the hospital it could be useful to talk to some of the other staff who work with Rita Fellingham and try to find out whether she is telling us the truth or not.” “Shall I see if I can have a word with one of the doctors she works with?” asked Anna. “That seems like a good idea.” Anna left the room. Meanwhile Gerrard sought some nursing colleagues of Rita with the help of a ward sister. “Come in,” he said when he heard a knock on the office door. "You wanted to see me?” said the young nurse standing before him. “Yes. I’m Chief Inspector Gerrard. I’d like you to tell me if you can, something about Mrs Margherita Fellingham. I believe you have worked together.”

“Yes, quite a lot really. She’s a bit older than me and she’s helped me to find my feet here.” “You get on well with her?” “Yes, very well.” “Is there anything that you can think of, since you have known her that might suggest she is in any way unreliable?” “No, she’s totally reliable.” “In your experience she always tells the truth?” “Yes, as far as I know. Is this to do with the death of her mother?” “Yes, it is. I can’t say any more than that. Is there anything you can tell me that might help me in my inquiries?” The girl hesitated for a moment and then replied, “No, there’s nothing that I can think of.” Gerrard thanked her for her answers and let her go.

He sat back, his hands behind his head, deep in thought. Anna returned bearing two cups of coffee and some information that she had gleaned when talking to one of the doctors who had worked with Rita. “The doctor I spoke to said that Rita Fellingham didn’t always cope well under pressure. He said that she had been under a great deal of pressure during the last few months. They are short staffed here. When Mrs Fellingham is on night duty she is often here on her own. Effectively she is in charge. She has had some difficult situations to deal with. Earlier in the month, in the first week of October, they lost a patient on this ward. The man was not expected to live but Mrs Fellingham took it quite badly all the same. She blamed herself.” “That’s interesting,” said Gerrard, “anything else?” “Yes, he talked about her psychological condition, and he didn’t beat about the bush. He referred to her manic-depression,” said Anna

“The question is, does her manic-depression have any bearing on the case?” said Gerrard. “The doctor did not say that she was unreliable. He said that Margherita Fellingham is unpredictable.” “Perhaps the nurse I spoke to is protecting her in some way. I got that feeling from Sally Stoneham, that she was telling me what she thought I ought to hear.” “Is there anything, sir, in the idea that Rita, like her sister did not get on with their mother?” “Sally Stoneham said as much. Let me look at what she did say.” He opened the leather document case and extracted his notebook. After flicking through several pages he read out loud. “Here it is… ‘she has got it into her head that her mother disliked her. Rita wouldn’t speak to her on the phone. She would pretend that she wasn’t in or if Sally answered the phone would tell her to say that she wasn’t available to take the call.’ So, it would seem there was tension between mother and daughter.”

“The question is, are the two daughters in some kind of plot together? If not, do we try and break Rita’s alibi or account of events and show that she is not telling the truth?” “What reason do we have for doubting her?” “None whatsoever. We need some evidence that casts doubt on her story or we have to prove that she and her sister are in it together.” “But it could be that Isabella and Michael are in it together.” “What possible benefit can Rita Fellingham derive from her mother’s death?” “Freedom.” “So why did she kill her mother?” “Because she is mad, a mental case and if she is a mental case she doesn’t have a reason. That’s why she is a mental case. She does things without reasons. She is irrational.” “It should still be possible to prove her innocent or guilty.”

“There ought to be more witnesses. But no matter how many witnesses there are they are all going to confuse Rita and Bella, likewise Michael and Paul. We need some other kind of evidence like a fingerprint or a footprint, something like that. Let’s go through the forensic evidence again.” The detectives left the hospital and returned to the police station.

They reviewed all the forensic evidence including the pathology report and the evidence given at the inquest but nothing could put Rita F at the scene of the crime. “If Rita is the culprit she has committed the perfect crime,” observed Anna. “Or she has been very, very lucky. I still think it’s her and I think she was working alone.”


CHAPTER TWENTYFIVE

Tuesday, Oct 31: afternoon

When Gerrard and Rossi arrived back at the station they had to admit defeat. There were no new leads and the case was getting colder by the hour. They seemed to be forced to the conclusion that Laura Fellingham must have been killed by a passer-by, someone who was a complete stranger with no motive. There were no witnesses either. Something however niggled away at Gerrard’s mind. He was reluctant to throw in the towel. He told Anna that he would see Tresillian as soon as possible and put all his cards on the table. First of all though the two of them must go through all the evidence once again to make absolutely sure that they had not overlooked anything. Gerrard left that job to his colleague while he tried phoning Tresillian. Eventually, the Chief Superintendent agreed to see his DCI at three o’clock that afternoon.

“Sir,” began Gerrard, “Tommy Mattheson is in custody in Wiltshire awaiting trial for the car crimes. He has not been granted bail. We can still charge him if we can find the evidence. At the moment we think there is not enough. We have investigated the family of Laura Fellingham, which as you know, consists of Isabella Fellingham and her sister Margherita and their husbands Paul and Michael. Isabella, who was in business with her mother, did not get on with her terribly well. She may have killed her out of hatred, but personally I don’t think her animosity was enough for her to contemplate murdering her own blood relation. There doesn’t seem to be any financial gain from killing her either. Isabella is capable of running her own business. She did not feel threatened by her mother’s possible winding up of their partnership. Neither did she feel threatened by her mother’s vow to disinherit her if she maintained her liaison with her brother-in-law, Michael. She expected her mother to live into old age and therefore Isabella would not have had any inheritance for many years. She was seen by Tommy Mattheson at the front gate to Sydney Gardens at the time of death of her mother.”

“This brings us to Isabella’s husband Paul Fellingham. He is in debt to the tune of £100,000. He has had an affair with a girl in London where he works. She has tried to blackmail him but he told his wife about it and therefore the blackmail threat ceased to have any effect. He has tried to borrow money, some of it from his mother who refused him. He lost the money through playing the stock market. He is a very bright man, has an entrepreneurial spirit and therefore I would suggest not a potential murderer. In addition to that he has an alibi. At the time the murder was being committed he was withdrawing money from an ATM in Widcombe. Therefore, he is in the clear, unless he gave someone his card and told him or her his PIN so that they could get the money and receipt on his behalf. I doubt that he did this.

Paul Fellingham’s brother Michael was involved in that he had arranged to see Isabella after she had seen her mother. He cycled into Bath on the Saturday evening and at the time of the murder, just after 7.30 p.m. was seen by one of his sixth form students at Cleveland Bridge. We have checked with her and she confirms that she saw him. Sergeant Rossi thinks she has a crush on him but we don’t have any evidence for that, hearsay really. I think we can trust Lucy Banks to be telling the truth. That leaves Rita. She says she was on her way to work, she had a night shift at the RUH. She is a nurse. According to her she was nowhere near the crime scene at all that evening. We have no means of verifying what she says other than she did arrive for work at eight o’clock and it does take half an hour or so to get there from where she lives.” “That’s everyone accounted for then, isn’t it? All the family members I mean.” “Yes sir, but I don’t believe her.” “You don’t believe Margherita Fellingham?” “I don’t.” “Why not?” “I don’t really know.”

“She is a manic-depressive sir.” “That doesn’t make her a murderess does it?” “No sir. What do you suggest we do?” “It’s ten days since Mrs F was killed, which is not long. I suggest you get a search warrant and search everywhere that has a possible connection with Margherita Fellingham. Let’s see if anything turns up.” “Yes sir, I’ll get on to it right away.” Gerrard told Anna the outcome of his meeting with Tresillian and immediately set up search teams to visit various locations. “What are we looking for?” asked a young constable in the briefing room before the operation commenced. “Any blood stained clothing, anything that will connect the owner to Sydney Gardens on October 21st. Diaries, notes, even a post-it might put the suspect in that place,” said Gerrard, the grim determination showing on his face.

Their first call was the house of Michael and Margherita Fellingham. There was no one in when they called. They obtained a key from a neighbour and conducted a detailed search of the lounge. They found nothing. They turned the kitchen upside down and then the dining room. Still they found nothing. Gerrard told them not to lose heart. The chief suspect had moved house