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

She turned back to speak to Bella. “I have a warrant here, Mrs Fellingham,” she said, holding up a document in front of Bella, “to search the studio here and your home. We will be taking away any material that we think will be of use to us and the computers, yours and your mother’s.” The three uniformed policemen strode into the house and started disconnecting the computer in the studio and putting documents in the cardboard boxes they had brought with them. “One last thing Mrs Fellingham. Were all the people I’ve mentioned at the funeral?” Isabella thought for a moment or two and then replied, “Yes, I think so... Yes, I’m sure of it.” “Thank you for your help, I’ll be getting in touch with you.”
Anna returned to the office but Gerrard was not there. A note had been left on her desk to the effect that Gerrard was in a meeting but would be back later. She was sitting and thinking of her interview with Isabella Fellingham when Gerrard came through the door. “What have you found out?” he asked before he had had time to sit down. “All the people I contacted said that the relationship between Isabella and her mother was very poor. Mrs Fellingham admits this but it is not a strong enough motive for murder.” “Isn’t it,” asked Gerrard. “Mrs Fellingham doesn’t think so. But if Laura Fellingham also fell out with her daughter over a personal matter, like her relationship with her husband on the one hand and Michael Fellingham on the other, that might constitute a motive for murder,” suggested Anna.
“Is it feasible?” asked Gerrard. “What, sir?” “Could she have carried out the murder? Was it practically possible for her to do so?” “If we go through it logically, sir, I would have thought yes. First of all, the timing. Her arrival at the Sydney Gardens main gate she put at 7.40. But we have no evidence to corroborate that statement. She could have arrived at 7.30 or earlier. She could have gone towards the side-entrance. She could have witnessed the car accident from a distance, seen Tommy carry the body into Sydney Gardens and watched him run away. She could have run back to the main gate and pretended to her brother-in-law that she was still waiting for her mother.”
Gerrard pondered this speech from his sergeant for some time before he replied. “In his defence Tommy has claimed that he saw Isabella Fellingham at the main gate when he ran away from the scene.” “Yes, I know sir, but he could have been mistaken.” “She has corroborated his story. She identified him, didn’t she?” asked Gerrard. “Yes, but sir, if she had seen him at the side entrance, she would be able to identify him.” “There’s no reason for Tommy to lie is there?” “No,” said Anna, “that’s why I think he made, or could have made a mistake.” “Is that possible or probable?” “There is one possibility that we haven’t considered yet.” “I think I know what you’re going to say,” said Gerrard. “It’s possible that Rita Fellingham was at the scene, at the main gate and Tommy saw her, not Isabella Fellingham at all,” suggested Anna. “She was on night duty at the hospital. That didn’t start until eight o’clock. Did she have time to get to Sydney Gardens and then get to work on time?” “I don’t think so,” said Anna. “It looks like Isabella is in the clear then, doesn’t it. We need to find out Mrs Margherita Fellingham’s exact movements on the night in question.”
“There is another possibility,” said Anna. “That Michael and Isabella Fellingham were working in collusion?” asked Gerrard. “Yes, if they were having what amounts to an affair, they might be in a plot together to finish off Laura Fellingham.” “It all sounds a bit fanciful to me,” commented Gerrard, “but we need to interview Michael Fellingham as a matter of routine so we’ll go there later. We’ll strike while the iron is hot.”


CHAPTER TWENTYTHREE

Monday, Oct 30: evening

Michael Fellingham returned home. He put his bike in the empty garage and went inside to get himself something to eat. He was alone once again. It was a quarter past seven when Gerrard and Rossi came to see him. He was expecting them. If they had been to see Bella earlier in the day they would be sure to arrive on his doorstep sooner or later. “We would like to go over the statement you gave us earlier to check up on a few things,” said Anna when they had sat down together. “Fire away,” said Michael. Gerrard thought he looked bright and breezy, not the mien of somebody complicit in a murder but he let his sergeant conduct the interview. “Mrs Isabella Fellingham told us that on the night of Saturday, October 21st she was meeting her husband for a meal, but it later transpired that she was in fact meeting you. That’s correct isn’t it?”

“Yes.” “It has also later transpired that she and her mother did not get on. That’s also correct isn’t it?” “Yes.” “Now, the plan was for Mrs Fellingham to meet her mother at Sydney Gardens. The purpose of the meeting was for Isabella Fellingham to answer her mother’s ultimatum, either give up the affair with you or face disinheritance. Is that correct?” “Yes.” “Do you know what your sister-in-law proposed to say to her mother?” “Yes, she would not have her mother interfering in her private affairs.” “On the face of it,” explained Anna, “there seems to be a motive for murder. Would you agree?” “No, I don’t think Bella had any intention of murdering anyone.” “That’s not quite the same is it? A motive is not an intention. A motive is a reason or ground for a course of action, whereas an intention is a plan or aim. All I am suggesting at this stage is that Mrs Fellingham did have a reason for killing her mother namely, her intense dislike of her.”

“That doesn’t mean she killed her.” “No, it doesn’t. Let’s now consider the means by which she may have carried out the murder. She knew your mother-in-law carried a nail file, she probably saw it in the handbag she had with her. She also has the physical strength to use it. So, given the motive and the means, did she also have opportunity? If you are both telling the truth the answer is no. She didn’t have time to get from her car to where your mother-in-law was killed at 7.33. But, if you are not telling us the truth, she had motive, means and opportunity of killing her mother. That makes her a prime suspect. So, I ask you, is the account of the timing of the meetings accurate?” “Yes, as far as I know.”

“The women were due to meet at quarter to eight. She phoned you at nearly eight o’clock and you said wait until quarter past?” “Yes.” “Laura Fellingham was knocked down at 7.33 and killed minutes later. It’s possible that she didn’t park at 7.40 but some time before. She walked from the main gate to the side-entrance in order to meet Laura Fellingham coming the other way. By chance, Laura Fellingham was knocked down and brought into the gardens by Tommy Matheson. She then killed her and phoned you at the time she said she did. In fact she would have had ample time to get to the main gate and still phone you from the main gate. She could have run to the canal, dumped the file and still reached the gate.” “But, said Michael, “Tommy Matheson saw her when he ran out of the gardens.”
“He could have been mistaken. The question I have to put to you is, if Mrs Fellingham killed her mother, did she have an accomplice or was she acting alone. If she had an accomplice you are a likely contender.” “No, I’m not an accomplice.” “Can you account for your movements in the half hour or so before Mrs Fellingham’s death?” “I was on my bike, cycling in to the city to meet Bella.” “It’s possible though, isn’t it that you could have killed your mother-in-law and then met up with your sister-in-law?” “But why should I want to kill my mother-in-law?” “I don’t know your motive, sir, but one possibility that comes to mind is that you did it on behalf of Isabella Fellingham.” “That’s ridiculous!” “Is it? Did anyone that you know see you as you cycled in?”

Michael thought for a moment and then decided that he would tell the truth. “It was sheer coincidence, but yes, someone did see me.” “Who was that?” “One of my students, Lucy Banks was standing at the junction of the London Road and Cleveland Bridge. I was stopped at the traffic lights. I saw her wave and call to me and I acknowledged her with a nod, but I couldn’t speak to her. There is a filter at that junction and I was going straight on into the city.” “That was out of your way wasn’t it?” “Yes, but if I had ridden over the bridge I would have come out in sight of Bella and her mother.” “Do you have an address for this Lucy Banks?” “I don’t… the college will have… you can check with them.” “We’ll do that first thing tomorrow morning,” said Anna. “Is there anything else Chief Inspector?” Michael asked. “No, I think we’ve covered everything thank you.”

There is another way of looking at the case, sir, said Anna as they were travelling back into the city. “What’s that?” asked Gerrard. “I checked out a message that Paul Fellingham left for his mother-in-law. He is deeply in debt. He is trying to raise money,” replied Anna. “I know it’s late but we ought to try and see him tonight,” said Gerrard. “I did phone earlier today saying we would call on him if time allowed. So let’s go now.”

Paul Fellingham was not expecting to see police officers on the evening of his mother-in-law’s funeral. He had agreed to it and then promptly forgotten it. He was not in a good mood when he answered the door. Isabella had already gone to bed. “My wife tells me that you have taken away our computers,” he said to them. “Yes, that’s right,” said Gerrard. “We will check all the documents on them and let you have them back as quickly as possible.” “Are we suspects in this case?” “Everybody is a possible suspect who we think might have a motive for murder, sir,” explained Gerrard. “Do you think I have a motive for murder, chief inspector?” “That’s what we’re here to find out, sir.” “May we sit down?” asked Anna.
“I’ll come straight to the point,” said Gerrard, when the three of them were seated. “If you thought that the death of your mother-in-law would assist you in paying off your debts that would constitute a motive for murder.” “And how may my mother-in-law’s death assist me in paying off my debts?” asked Paul. “You knew that she was a rich woman. You also knew that under the terms of her will, made long before she was murdered, you would have inherited a quarter of her estate. I know that you are one of the beneficiaries, because I heard the will read out myself.”

“How do you know I need to pay off debts?” “Because your mother-in-law had two messages on her mobile when she died, both of them from you, the first of which reads as follows, In dire straits, need money urgently, can you spare £5000? I don’t think there is any doubt that you are in debt.