Close to Death

‘You live with your parents?’ Hawthorne asked.

‘With my mum.’

Hawthorne waited until Damien had left. Then he turned to Khan. ‘It’s interesting,’ he said. ‘Roderick Browne is going to kill himself. But first of all he does a bit of spring-cleaning. And you’d have thought he’d have warned his wife’s carer not to come in.’

‘You heard what he said, Hawthorne,’ Khan returned. ‘Damien spoke to him after Giles Kenworthy died. He was frightened. He wasn’t making any sense. That was because he knew what he’d done and he’d decided to take the easy way out.’

‘When did you interview Roderick Browne?’ Hawthorne asked. ‘You told us he was your prime suspect.’ A thought occurred to him. ‘Did you take him into the station?’

‘I interviewed him the morning after Giles Kenworthy’s body had been discovered.’ Khan looked guilty. ‘That was here – in his own home. Based on what he said, I decided to interrogate him more formally the next day, so I had him taken to Shepherd’s Bush.’

‘Was that before or after he dropped his wife in Woking?’

‘It was in the afternoon, when he got back.’

‘How long did you keep him?’

‘Two hours.’

‘Under caution?’

Khan was becoming increasingly uncomfortable as the consequences of what he had done became apparent to him. ‘Yes.’

‘Poor bastard,’ Dudley said. ‘He must have been terrified. If he did kill himself, at least we know why.’ He shook his head reproachfully. ‘You scared the living daylights out of him, Detective Superintendent. It may be that you didn’t give him any other choice.’

2

‘I cannot tell you how upset I am,’ May Winslow said.

‘He was a lovely man,’ Phyllis agreed. She pulled a tissue out of her sleeve and touched it to her cheek.

‘Always friendly, always ready to lend a helping hand. We moved into the close at the same time as him and we hit it off straight away. He helped us move some of the furniture and he always asked us if we needed anything when he went to the shops. He never minded us knocking on his door if something went wrong.’

‘The oven,’ Phyllis reminded her. ‘Do you remember that?’

‘It was so embarrassing.’ May sighed. ‘It was only the timer. Phyllis had turned it on accidentally. I’m not blaming you, dear! Why do they have to make these things so complicated? But we ate salads and cold food for a week before he came and sorted it for us. Nothing was ever too much trouble.’

The sitting room of The Gables had not been designed for five people. It was too small, with too many ornaments, too many pictures on the wall, and furniture that was a little too big for the area in which it stood. An old-fashioned television set took up rather too much space in one corner and the only empty space in the room told its own sad story: it was where a wicker dog basket had once been placed. A wooden cross stood on the mantelpiece and a Bible sat prominently on an otherwise unnecessary side table. There was no other indication of the ladies’ religious past.

May and Phyllis each had an armchair that was most definitely theirs, moulded to their exact shape over the fourteen years they had lived there. Hawthorne and Dudley were pressed together on a floral-patterned sofa while Khan perched on a stool brought in from the kitchen. The front windows looked out onto the close, but May had drawn the curtains to blot out the sight of the police cars and all the activity taking place next door. As a result, the air in the room was warm and stale. It still smelled of Ellery.

‘Did Mr Browne ever talk to you about his animosity towards Giles Kenworthy?’ Khan asked, shifting uncomfortably on his stool. He didn’t want to be here – he had already interviewed both women and he was sure that they had nothing more to say – but he hadn’t been keen to let Hawthorne continue on his own. If any further information presented itself regarding the death of Roderick Browne, he wanted to be the first to hear it.

‘I’m not sure that “animosity” is the right word, Detective Superintendent,’ May replied. ‘He didn’t really have feelings towards Mr Kenworthy. Of course he was upset about the pool. Mrs Browne hardly ever leaves her bed these days and it mattered to her, the view from the window.’

‘A view is important,’ Phyllis agreed.

‘I’m sure we all know that, dear.’ May gave her friend a pinched smile. ‘All I’m saying is that Mr Browne was a very kind and very gentle man who didn’t harbour grudges and I find it impossible to believe that he killed anyone.’

‘Then why do you think he committed suicide?’ Khan asked.

‘You should never use the word “committed” in that context, Detective Superintendent. Suicide may be a sin, but it is not a crime! As to your question, I’m afraid I have no answer. I saw him with my own eyes, sitting in that car with a bag over his head. I wish I hadn’t. It’s something I will take with me to the grave. All I can say is, he was questioned yesterday at Shepherd’s Bush Police Station for two whole hours and he was terribly upset.’

Khan squirmed, avoiding Hawthorne’s eye. ‘He told you this?’