Death on the Lake by Jo Allen (early reader books TXT) 📗

‘I thought you understood why I gave you those instructions.’

He had understood, though he’d disagreed. ‘I’ve you to thank for it, as it happens. It was something you said about Robert never being there, being out of the way, that made me wonder. It was pretty obvious Miranda couldn’t have killed Ryan on her own. It needed someone else to do it. She sticks to her story about having walked him to the churchyard, but she says she called Robert for help and he insisted they had to kill him. She wanted to call us.’ Or so she’d said.

‘He had his identity to protect. Ryan would have known who the paymaster was, perhaps. Or not, but either way he couldn’t risk it.’

With distance, everything was clear. Robert had made sure he was out of the dale at crucial moments, but time must have over-run him. When criminals made mistakes it was because their plans didn’t work and they couldn’t adjust. ‘I think I first suspected there was something about him when she said she hadn’t told him about Elizabeth but he knew. That was odd. He must have planned it for a long time.’

‘He must have had hundreds of opportunities. Why wait five years?’ Faye fidgeted. she was still clearly irritated, but she must know Jude’s position was defensible. If Miranda had been the victim of an accident while they were waiting for Robert to walk into some trap spun from years of paperwork, there would have been a lot of questions to answer.

‘I can think of a couple of reasons. One is that the longer he left it, the less suspicion there would be. It took with years to kill Elizabeth, assuming she was actually murdered and assuming that the murderer was working on Robert’s instructions. The second is that he might have enjoyed being married to her. She struck me as nice enough, she’s a good looking woman, and she clearly loved and respected him.’ He made a face. Maybe Robert had loved his wife, in his way, and it had taken five years for the balance of his feelings for her and his thirst for revenge to tip against her.

‘I take it you have people trying to unpick the background to that?’

‘Of course. It may take a while to find everything, but we have Miranda’s confession and Robert’s attempt at killing Miranda. That’s enough to leave him locked up for a long time. In the meantime I expect we’ll be able to fill in a lot of background. I imagine we’ll find Robert knew George had a nephew he’d never seen, in Australia. He probably made inquiries over several years, in the guise of polite chat, and established no-one else knew him, either. He’ll have recruited Kyle Falkland, had him kill Elizabeth — high risk, but he got away with it. Then he brought him over, had him hang around in the dale, and the idea was he’d do away with Miranda and disappear. If anyone saw him, they’d think nothing of it. I imagine the plan was that he’d stay with George and people would get used to seeing him around. But it all went wrong when George wouldn’t play ball.’ He frowned. George’s death was certified as natural, but he was sure that Ryan, either accidentally or deliberately, had scared the old man into his fatal stroke. Some time, when he had a little more courage, he’d have to break that to Becca. ‘We’ll never know what happened between Ryan and Luke, but obviously Ryan felt he had no choice but to kill him, and after that Robert must have decided he couldn’t afford to wait any longer. So Ryan had to move quickly if he was to kill Miranda and get away without anyone realising he was about.’

‘Hmm. That sounds far-fetched.’

‘You think so? I’ll tell you what the clincher was, for me. Ollie’s phone.’

‘Oh?’

‘Yes. According to Miranda, the calls that lured her into the trap were made from Ollie’s phone, which he’d lost. Ryan wouldn’t have risked going anywhere near the property. I thought Aida was involved.’

‘So you did.’ A smile played on Faye’s lips.

‘Yes. But no-one had a better opportunity to take it than someone in the family. Robert. He might even have sent the messages himself.’ The phone would probably be at the bottom of the lake, alongside the other one on which Robert might have relayed to Ryan the details of his own, and his family’s, movements.

Faye sat back and regarded him thoughtfully. ‘It’s fortunate for you Aida was there.’

‘I’m amazed at what she did. Extraordinary. A PA. She acted like she was a police officer.’

‘Jude.’ Faye’s expression had been irritated, then pensive, and suddenly became smug. ‘Really? You hadn’t guessed?’

‘Guessed what?’

‘Robert isn’t the only person who takes a long view. Aida’s a serving officer with the Met. She’s been working with Robert for the past three years. I don’t think she’s blown her cover, although he’s bound to sack her after this. But she’s probably done enough already to implicate a lot of other people, along with Robert himself, in major fraud. But of course, I didn’t tell you that.’

Jude felt suddenly light-hearted. There had been a moment when he’d feared for Ashleigh and he didn’t know what he could have done for her if Robert had had the nerve of an executioner rather than an executive. Aida’s intervention had been the difference and they all owed her a debt of gratitude, even if they’d never get the chance to repay it. ‘Someone will be getting a bill for the damage to my car, that’s for sure.’

‘That’s what your insurance is for.’ She fidgeted a little. ‘Off you go. You’ve got a hell of a lot of work to do on Robert Neilson, and I have a hell of a job to explain it. So let’s just get on with it.’

‘Are you all right?’ Jude placed his empty glass on the table. Around them the group