Read Online The Ellie Hardwick Mysteries by Barbara Cleverly - Free Book Online Page B

taking whatever it was in there all right. And what was in there—I looked at the label—was a heavy duty heart disease prescription. My aunt had the same thing. So, your grandfather hadn’t pretended—he was genuinely a heart attack victim and there’s no way he could have done what he confessed to! He was owning up to a crime he didn’t commit because he knew who had done it and was taking the blame for someone very dear to him. Paying the bill. For the family. Making sure that Hartest lives if you like.’ I added softly, ‘Ensuring your future, Rupert.’
    â€˜I don’t know what to say. What can I do?’ He seemed suddenly helpless and disarmingly childlike. ‘I thought you’d worked it all out. Could be a bit of a problem . . .’
    He thought for a moment and went on: ‘You know he’s mad, don’t you?’ he said. ‘You’d have to be a bit mad, wouldn’t you to kill like that and be prepared to let an innocent man—two innocent men—take the blame?’
    I considered this. ‘No, I don’t think so. Just very focused and pitiless. You and I couldn’t do it Rupert—we’re the arty type remember. But your father could—and did. Who dies? Well, Theo Tindall for a start was a sacrificial victim. He was thrown to the wolves. But, just in case the wolves weren’t having any—and that bright Jennings was beginning to make dissatisfied noises—even his own father . . . Yes, I think so . . . He told his father exactly what he’d done and, using this knowledge, the old chap cobbled together a convincing confession. He didn’t have much time. He wanted to fire the shot while Jennings was in the house, I’d guess—a police witness right there on the spot. He hurried to write the confession and then thought of a corroborative detail—he got out of his pyjamas, leaving them in a heap, and dressed himself up in camouflage gear to make it look credible. But his pyjamas were still warm. He’d taken them off only a few minutes before he shot himself.’
    I paused for a moment, mind racing. ‘Would we be really mean, Rupert, if the thought crossed our minds that this was just what Edward calculated would happen? You know your father best—would he consider it no more than right and just that the old should sacrifice themselves for the young? I think that was in his philosophy and your grandfather’s. They saw you couldn’t find the strength to extricate yourself from what they considered an impossible situation and they acted. I can’t say they were doing it for you because in their thinking the individual is only a link in a chain. They were making sure a six hundred year old chain wasn’t broken.
    â€˜So that’s what I come down to?’ said Rupert unhappily. ‘The weak link in the family chain! Thanks!’
    Lightening my tone I went on, ‘As for what you do now . . . well, you go out and find yourself a respectable girl with a good name, marry her, have several male offspring and you’ll find he need never kill again.’
    I spoke flippantly but his reaction was unexpected.
    Rupert smiled a devastating smile, reached out a forefinger and gently stroked my cheek. ‘Eleanor’s a good name,’ he murmured, leaning closer.
    I managed to fight down a shudder of fear and even retained my slight dismissive smile. The two Hartest men might have different methods of ensuring my silence—murder or matrimony—and on the whole, Rupert’s method was to be preferred, but in the end they shared the same compelling family motto and the next victim they had in their sights was me. ‘Who dies?’ It wasn’t going to be me. I’d decided some hours ago to adopt a motto of my own.
Semper vigilans
wouldn’t be bad, I’d thought . . . always on the alert.
    â€˜And I think you’re very attractive,’ Rupert was