‘You were not worried about the death threats?’
‘No. Not really. I couldn’t see how Eleanor Merchant would possibly be able to find this place,’ Jonson said. ‘I thought it a virtual impossibility -’
‘Eleanor Merchant was meant to come here,’ Antonia interrupted. ‘She was given the Chalfont address and phone number.’ She looked at Jonson. ‘It was all part of the plan.’
‘Sorry, old thing, but I’ve got to ask my aunt a very important question.’ Major Payne leant towards Lady Grylls. ‘Aunt Nellie, did you hear exactly what Maitre Maginot – I mean Corinne – said to her maid when she phoned her?’
Lady Grylls blinked behind her glasses. ‘What Maginot said to her maid? I have absolutely no idea.’
‘I am sure you have. Your French is perfect.’
‘You aren’t suggesting I eavesdropped?’
‘You know you always do, darling, especially if you are curious about the person.’
‘It’s important,’ Antonia said. ‘Extremely important.’
‘Oh nonsense. It wasn’t in the least important.’ Lady Grylls stared. ‘Goodness, Antonia, you can’t possibly know what Hugh means, can you?’
‘I can – I was about to ask you the very same question.’
‘You were? Goodness. One of those telepathic thingies, eh? All right. Let me see… Maginot spoke in French. I had shown her to her room and I was back in the corridor. The door was ajar. I didn’t mean to listen, you understand, but I couldn’t help overhearing. It was something exceedingly trivial. Maginot said, Imelda, c’est toi? Then she asked whether there had been any phone calls for them. Then she said, When was that? And you gave her both? Good girl. Words to that effect. She said it all in French of course. She seemed jolly pleased with Imelda’s answers… Oh yes, she also said she would cover Imelda in gold, or words to that effect, which I took to be a jocular exaggeration. Well, that was it.’
‘Thank you, darling,’ Payne said. ‘You’ve just solved the conundrum for us.’
‘What conundrum?’
Antonia said, ‘Thanks to you we now know the identity not only of the killer but of the intended victim as well.’
‘What are you talking about?’ Lady Grylls frowned. ‘There’s no mystery over the victims’ identities. We know it was Maginot and the Merchant who got shot in my greenhouse. Or are you saying Maginot and the Merchant weren’t Maginot and the Merchant?’
Antonia turned slowly towards Jonson. ‘It was you, wasn’t it?’
He bowed his head. ‘Yes, it was me.’
‘What do you mean, it was you, Andrew?’ Lady Grylls boomed, her voice like the thunder of waters from a subterranean cave. ‘You aren’t confessing to being a double murderer after all, are you?’
Jonson said, ‘No. I am not the murderer. I was… the intended victim. It was I who was meant to die in the greenhouse last night.’
33
Appointment with Death
There was a silence. All eyes were on him.
‘You’d better explain,’ Lady Grylls said.
‘The phone call, which came last night, while we were having coffee -’ Jonson’s voice sounded very hoarse. ‘Maitre Maginot – Corinne Coreille – went to speak to the woman who had introduced herself as Tricia Swindon. Corinne suspected at once that it was Eleanor Merchant, so after the woman rang off, she dialled 1471 and obtained the number from which the call had been made. It was a mobile phone number. She wrote it down and later, after you’d all gone to bed, she asked me to ring it.’
‘She asked you to phone the Merchant?’ Payne said.
‘Yes. Corinne Coreille had a brainwave. She thought she could trick Eleanor into revealing her whereabouts. She knew I was a good mimic, so she asked me to put on an American accent, muffle my voice and pretend to be Eleanor’s dead son. Griff… She got the idea from one of Eleanor’s letters. Eleanor had written that she expected her dead son to appear to her.’
‘Of all the diabolical wheezes!’
Jonson passed his hand over his face. ‘I am not proud of what I did, but the trick worked. Eleanor did fall for it and revealed her whereabouts. She seemed to have no doubt I was Griff. She asked me where I was – was I in the greenhouse? Corinne Coreille was standing beside me, listening.’
‘That was how she knew where to find Eleanor,’ Antonia said.
‘Yes… I said I would go but she said no, she wanted to apprehend Eleanor herself. She asked me to make sure all of you were in your rooms. She didn’t want people milling around the house. She told me to keep my mobile switched on – she’d give me a ring on her mobile when it was all over, or if she needed help. She was going to the greenhouse by herself. I thought that unwise – dangerous – utter lunacy in fact. I decided she’d had too much wine. Her eyes were extremely bright and she kept referring to the “capture”. She gave the impression she regarded it as some kind of adventure. The only weapon she seemed to have was the niblick -’
‘You didn’t know she had a gun?’ Antonia interrupted. ‘She didn’t show it to you?’
‘No. I had no idea.’ Jonson swallowed. ‘I went on arguing with her for some time. I insisted that it was my job – my duty – wasn’t that why she’d hired my services? She gave me a look of such malevolence, it froze me. She spoke to me very slowly – like to an idiot child. You needn’t be concerned on my account. I shall be fine. I can cope. After that I – I did as asked. I had a word with Provost – told him not to leave the house. I checked on each one of you. Then I went to my room. I sat and waited… I didn’t wait long. Her call came about midnight.’
There was a pause. Payne said, ‘She didn’t tell you she’d shot Eleanor, did she?’
‘No. She said Eleanor was there all right – she’d got her trapped in the greenhouse. She did need my help – she said she didn’t think Eleanor Merchant was armed, but she couldn’t tell for certain – would I go to the greenhouse, at once?’ Jonson looked round at their eager faces. ‘I immediately suggested I call the police but she said, On no account. Again, she sounded angry. She told me not to breathe a word to anyone. She didn’t want any fuss. She wished this done as quietly and efficiently as possible. We’d call the police after we’d done the job. She asked me to get some rope – to tie Eleanor up. She seemed to be – she seemed to be enjoying herself.’ He paused. ‘I found some rope in one of the kitchen drawers, then I slipped out of the house. I had my torch with me, but turned it off. I started walking across the lawn. It was a very clear night. I saw the greenhouse door was open
… It was very quiet… There wasn’t a sound…’
‘There was a full moon,’ Lady Grylls said.
‘Yes. It was so bright, it felt like day. I then stopped. My eyes were fixed on the greenhouse. I tried to make out what was inside. At first I couldn’t see a thing. Suddenly I caught sight of a tiny flash, bobbing up and down – like a firefly.’
‘The silver brooch on her beret… It must have caught the moonlight,’ Antonia said.
‘It was a Cartier,’ Lady Grylls said.
‘Yes. The brooch gave her away. I suddenly saw her, standing very still, her shoulders hunched forward – extremely tense-looking – furtive. She didn’t move – she was waiting – that’s what it looked like. Nothing else stirred inside the greenhouse… I too stood very still. I didn’t dare breathe. I had no idea whether she had seen me or not. A minute passed, then another. The more I waited the less I liked it… I had come to Chalfont unarmed. Stupid of me, but I never thought of bringing a gun. It just goes to show you how seriously I was taking the Eleanor Merchant menace.’ Jonson shook his head. ‘I went on looking at Corinne Coreille. I was afraid to blink. Then I realized she was holding something in her hand.’