Close to Death

‘Adam was very upset when he arrived home,’ Teri volunteered. ‘His leg hurt him very much. He was tired. But if you say he had anything to do with the death of Roderick Browne, that’s disgusting. You have no right to come here and say these things!’

There was a tone of dismissal in her voice. The three men stood up and made their goodbyes and Teri escorted them out of the house. Strauss stayed where he was, too exhausted to move. His wife stood there on the doorstep for a moment, glaring at Hawthorne as if all this was his fault. ‘My husband has to prepare for Chennai,’ she said. ‘This business – murder, suicide, policemen, all these questions. We’ve had enough. You have to make it stop.’

She closed the door.

4

Andrew Pennington confirmed Strauss’s story.

‘I was playing bridge,’ he said. ‘My Wednesday-night game. I’ll be honest and say that it was a relief to take my mind off what’s happening here. There are two groups I like to play with, but that evening I was in Richmond.’

‘Can you provide an address?’ Khan asked.

‘Of course. The Leggatts in Friars Lane. A very pleasant couple. We always meet at seven, have a quick supper and then play a few rubbers . . . usually three or four. I try to be home by ten and read for an hour before bed. You must think me a very dull old stick, but I’m afraid that’s what happens when you live alone. Everything falls into a pattern. Radio 4 in the morning. A stroll before lunch. A quick nap in the afternoon. That sort of thing.

‘I heard the two of them as I came through the gate. Adam Strauss was standing in the doorway. I didn’t see Roderick, but I heard him speak. He was thanking Adam. “You’ve always been so kind to me. I’m very grateful to you.” Or words to that effect. I wasn’t close enough to hear them exactly. The lights went out, the front door closed and Adam walked away. I assume Roderick must have turned in. As for Adam, he went round the other side of the driveway, past Gardener’s Cottage, so we didn’t talk to each other. I stood outside in the fresh air for a moment, looking at the stars. I saw him go into The Stables and that was that.’

‘Did you see anyone else?’ Dudley asked.

Pennington stiffened. ‘Why are you asking me that? I understood that Roderick’s death was self-inflicted.’

‘It almost certainly was,’ Khan said. ‘But this is still a murder investigation.’

‘You’re treating Roderick’s death as murder?’

‘No, sir. I’m referring to the murder of Giles Kenworthy – to which, I’m sorry to say, your friend Mr Browne confessed.’

Andrew shook his head. ‘It’s terrible. Just terrible. I never thought he would take it this far.’

For an experienced barrister, Andrew Pennington had made an elementary mistake. He had offered up more information than he had intended and Hawthorne jumped straight in. ‘Are you saying you knew what Roderick Browne was going to do?’ he asked.

‘No, no. Not at all. I had absolutely no idea.’ Andrew searched for the right words, desperately trying to find a way to escape the implications of what he had just said. ‘Obviously, if I had known anything of his intentions, I would have contacted the appropriate authorities.’

‘You must have known something. That’s the only way you might have been able to stop him.’ Hawthorne sounded completely reasonable but at the same time he was merciless. ‘And what exactly was the “it” that you didn’t think would go so far?’

‘He did, on one occasion, express a very strong – indeed, a violent – dislike of his neighbour. He even went so far as to say that . . .’

‘What?’

‘. . . that he wanted to kill him.’

‘What occasion was this?’ Khan demanded. ‘And why didn’t you tell me any of this when I spoke to you yesterday?’

‘Because I’d forgotten all about it! It was just an evening we’d had together a while ago . . . over a drink. You know how it is. You have a couple of glasses of wine, you say stupid things. Everyone does it!’

‘I’ve never threatened to shoot a crossbow bolt through somebody’s throat,’ Dudley remarked.

‘I’ll ignore that comment, if you don’t mind, Mr Dudley. What Roderick said wasn’t a serious death threat and at the time I thought nothing of it. Obviously, in light of recent developments, it’s only now that I find myself forced to reconsider.’

‘I’m frankly amazed that a man with your experience would keep this sort of information to yourself, Mr Pennington,’ Khan said. ‘I may have to ask you to come in and make another statement.’

‘Of course. I’ll help you any way I can. But as I’ve already explained, Roderick had drunk a bit too much wine and he made an off-colour remark. That’s all there was to it.’

Khan stood up. The four of them had met in Pennington’s sitting room and he had heard enough. But Dudley hadn’t finished. ‘You never answered my question,’ he said.

‘What question was that?’ Pennington was also on his feet.

‘If you saw anyone else in the close when you got back from bridge.’

‘I don’t feel comfortable implicating my neighbours.’

‘If Mr Browne really committed suicide, you’re not implicating anyone.’