Close to Death

‘He and his wife, Felicity, had been the most vocal opponents of Giles Kenworthy – along with Dr Beresford, of course. The death of his patient, Raymond Shaw, was a bonus . . . I doubt even a chess grandmaster could arrange a heart attack, so we’ll put that one down to real coincidence. Tom Beresford was onside anyway. Roderick Browne was the actual target. He and Felicity were hopping mad about the pool. For them it was almost a matter of life and death. And they had the murder weapon, right where they needed it. Everything was set up.

‘My guess is that you’d taken the crossbow before the trick with the drinking straws. That was always your method. Ten moves ahead. You knew that the Kenworthy kids would be boarding. You probably even knew about Lynda Kenworthy and her French teacher. You slipped round to the house when Giles Kenworthy was on his own, shot him and generously left the crossbow complete with Roderick Browne’s fingerprints, even making sure it was pointing at the right house for the police to find. As for that chess game you told us about, the one you were playing online with your Polish friend and which provided your alibi – my guess is that you were doing it on your phone at the same time. Talk about multitasking!

‘What’s the end result of all this? You’ve created the perfect conspiracy. What was a joke, a drunken game of “let’s pretend”, has suddenly become a reality. Roderick Browne has told everyone he’s going to kill Giles Kenworthy and he’s even been generous enough to name the murder weapon. How you must have laughed! Because the following morning, Kenworthy is found with a bolt in his throat and of course everybody assumes that Roderick went through with it, that it must have been him.

‘At the same time, they’re terrified. Like it or not, they were all part of it. Andrew Pennington is quick to warn them. It’s a classic “conspiracy to commit murder” and Roderick won’t be the only one to go down. They all will! Nice, respectable people: a doctor, his posh jewellery-designer wife, a retired barrister, two old ladies . . . they were all there. Before the police even arrive, they’ve all taken a vow of omertà. Nobody can say anything that might incriminate them. Don’t mention the second meeting! Everyone has to lie. What was the first thing Roderick said to me when I met him? “Has anyone said anything?” He was terrified that one of his neighbours would land him in it.

‘And things only got worse for Roderick. You talked to him once on Tuesday, Detective Superintendent, and then on Wednesday, after he’d taken his wife to Woking, you pulled him into Shepherd’s Bush. By the end of a heavy session, he was convinced he was going to be arrested and charged – and that was why he ended up writing that letter. Read it again! It’s not a confession! All he meant was the public humiliation of being taken away in handcuffs. “We will see each other again on the other side.” Did you think he was talking about the Pearly Gates? He meant the other side of the arrest, the trial, or even the prison sentence. But once the letter was sitting on his lap and he had a bag over his head and a tank of nitrous oxide, it wasn’t surprising that you should think otherwise.’

‘So he killed himself because he was afraid of going to jail,’ Goodwin said.

‘You haven’t been listening, love. Adam Strauss killed Roderick Browne just like he’d always planned.’

‘This is all lies,’ Teri hissed.

Adam Strauss squeezed her hand. ‘We’ll have our chance to respond,’ he said, speaking quietly.

‘I examined that garage,’ Khan said. ‘It was impossible to get in or out. Are you going to explain that?’

‘Of course. But let’s start with the set-up. Strauss deliberately made it look like suicide. In fact, it screamed suicide. You’re right! Two locked doors. A skylight securely fastened. The only set of car keys in his trouser pocket. Suicide note in his lap. Nobody in their right mind goes to so much trouble unless they really, really want you to accept the obvious. And surely by now you understand that, all along, Strauss was playing with your mind. He even left the supposed reason for the suicide sitting there for you to find. There’s no reason on earth why Roderick Browne would have slipped the cut-off piece of drinking straw in his top pocket. He didn’t mention it in his letter. Right to the end, he was protecting his neighbours. No. Strauss put a new straw in there. And if Detective Superintendent Khan had stuck with the idea that Roderick was taking cocaine – as he suggested – I’m sure Strauss would have found a way to drop another clue to lead us all back to the second meeting, which was what he wanted all along.