Death Plays a Part

Oliver sighed. ‘Eal has never had much to do here. Just keep an eye out for people poaching, for illegal fishing, for fires made on the beach at night. He also collects the money people have to pay for putting their boats in the harbour. Cornisea hasn’t had any big or shocking crime since he started work here. And he has been here for decades.’

Guinevere nodded. ‘I already thought so. The way he questioned me … He didn’t try very hard to get anything relevant out of me.’

‘Maybe, as you’re an outsider, he didn’t think you could know anything worthwhile?’

‘That’s nonsense. I was there tonight. I saw everything play out. The way people looked at each other, what they said. There was a lot of tension. And not just between your father and Haydock. The way Leah and Kensa went at each other during the re-enactment. There was so much genuine emotion in their statements. As if Leah was really defending her father against Kensa, not some vague medieval figure against a made-up charge.’

Oliver shrugged. ‘I don’t know why Leah wouldn’t like Kensa. Outside of the historical society they have nothing to do with each other. Besides, Eal won’t ask such deep and profound questions. He sees the obvious. It doesn’t look good for my father. He had motive; he had opportunity.’

‘Eal did ask me if I knew for sure where the others were before it started, when you and I were lighting the lanterns and were rehearsing your part. But I couldn’t tell him. I only saw Leah carrying the robe for her father to the dungeons. I suppose she stayed with him while he put it on. He also wanted to put on this ring he had, right? An old ring that was supposed to have a link with Cornisea.’

‘Right, it was on his finger when he lay there dead. I saw it clearly.’

‘Haydock acted like it was something very special but he never told us why.’

Oliver nodded. ‘You’re right. I didn’t have a close look at it but it shone like gold. It also had a signet with engraving. A coat of arms or something.’

Guinevere gestured with her hand. ‘There you go. Maybe it’s significant. You told me Haydock was after the castle. And he turns up here with a ring with a coat of arms on it. Maybe he believed he had discovered something important about the rights to Cornisea? Maybe Kensa was in the know? Why else would she be so sure your father had a reason to kill Haydock? And what did her remark to Haydock mean, about hurting children being the worst thing in the world?’

Oliver shrugged. ‘She referred to the Branok trial. Him being accused of causing the lethal fire.’

Guinevere shook her head. ‘There was more to it. She meant actual children. Her daughter Tegen? Had Haydock somehow hurt Tegen, and was that a reason for Kensa, or for Tegen herself, to get back at him?’

Oliver grimaced. ‘I don’t really want to see my father accused and in trouble, but to go pointing fingers at a schoolgirl … This is a murder case. We’re looking at a long stint in prison.’

‘Even so we must be objective. What do you know about Tegen that can help figure out what really happened tonight?’

Oliver looked her in the eye as if he wanted to ascertain something. ‘Are you serious about this?’ he asked slowly.

‘Of course. We can’t just sit around and wait for your father to be accused. You told me the castle is under threat from people who want to buy it or change it. Your father is the only one who stands in their way of succeeding. What if the murder has something to do with that?’

‘An attempt to frame him?’

Guinevere shrugged. ‘He was the only one who had access to the cage, so someone wanted the police to conclude that he did it. Someone used this re-enactment tonight to set up the murder and your father as the most likely suspect.’

‘The knife was on the table for the taking. Can’t it have been a crime in anger? Grab the knife, go down to the dungeon where Haydock was all alone …’

‘And how to get into the cage?’ Guinevere held Oliver’s gaze. ‘We had the same thing in Well-mannered Murder, the play we are rehearsing. A locked-room mystery. Someone dies in a room that is closed off so how did the killer get in and out? The thing is: there is always a way into the locked room. You just have to figure out what it is.’

Oliver sighed. ‘I don’t feel like playing detective.’

‘Well, with your father under suspicion, we might not have a choice.’

Oliver walked away from her and sat down on the steps leading to the entry door. He rubbed his face with both of his hands, then pulled them away and faced her, as if he had come to some decision. ‘I did see something. Before we started the re-enactment. Something between Tegen and Haydock.’

‘Aha.’ Guinevere came to sit beside him, Dolly still in her arms. The dachshund looked up at Oliver with her head tilted as if waiting for his revelation.

Oliver said slowly, ‘There have been rumours, for years, that Haydock isn’t faithful to his wife.’

Guinevere looked at him. ‘And you think he was betraying his wife with Tegen? He’s old enough to be her father!’

‘I know. And I never believed it before. But tonight there was something between them … Almost like an understanding.’

Oliver frowned. ‘I can’t put a better word to it. She looked at Haydock and he looked at her and … at some point I think Haydock passed her something.’

‘Passed her something?’

‘A note maybe. Something made of paper, I think, but I didn’t look too closely. I don’t want anything to do with his tricks.’

‘If you’ve been away from here for years, only dropping by for occasional visits, you can’t have known much about him.’