Close to Death

‘There was a tap and a bucket in the garage. All Strauss had to do was pour a certain amount of water in the right place to complete the illusion that Browne had locked himself in. Most of the water drained away, but unfortunately for him a little puddle was left and I noticed it the moment I went in.

‘So. Back to the night of the crime.

‘The up-and-over garage door is locked. The door into the house likewise. Now Strauss climbs onto the Skoda and exits through the skylight. Of course, it would have been hard work doing that with a badly sprained ankle, but he’d faked that ahead of the game too, pretending to fall down the stairs at Richmond station. He pulls himself onto the roof, with no Kylie Jane to spot him, and fastens the screws using glue, which he’s brought with him. It was never rust. Stainless steel doesn’t rust. Then he climbs down the ladder and goes home to bed.

‘That’s pretty much it. The one question you might like to ask, Detective Superintendent, is how much Teri Strauss knew about all this. I’m surprised she wasn’t woken up when her husband tiptoed in sometime around midnight – and there was definitely someone behind him at Richmond station wearing a hoodie when he was “pushed” down those stairs. She seems quite a feisty little number. Maybe her oriental brain even came up with some of the plot.’

‘You are a racist!’ Teri snapped.

‘Better a racist than a murderer,’ Hawthorne retorted.

‘Wait a minute!’ Khan cut in. ‘You’ve said all this and I suppose it makes some sort of sense, even if it’s hardly very likely. But there’s one thing you haven’t explained. Why would Mr Strauss have wanted to kill Giles Kenworthy in the first place? If it wasn’t his chess set and it wasn’t any of the other complaints, why go to all this trouble?’

‘That’s the biggest misdirection of them all,’ Hawthorne replied. ‘The whole “Nightmare Neighbour” thing – it had nothing to do with it. You’ve got to ask, what was the one big change that happened at the time of the first meeting?’

‘The swimming pool,’ Dudley said.

‘Exactly. Kenworthy was going to dig up the garden to build a pool. Now, the evidence is a bit circumstantial, but let’s put it all together. First, there’s the magnolia tree with its amazing blossoms. Even Lynda Kenworthy was impressed by that. And Mrs Winslow’s dog was always sniffing around it . . . so it must have been attracted by something. Then we come to Wendy Strauss, Adam’s first wife, who divorced him and disappeared from the scene. What do we know about her? Only that she didn’t like chess. She wasn’t happy in the close. And she and Adam didn’t get on. We also know that Adam was having financial difficulties, so it probably wouldn’t have helped him to lose half his savings in a divorce.’

‘What are you suggesting?’ Strauss asked. He seemed completely relaxed, half smiling.

‘That she’s under the magnolia tree,’ Hawthorne said. ‘If Kenworthy had gone ahead and built his pool, her skeleton would have been the first thing they discovered. The moment he got planning permission, that was when he had to die.’

There was a lengthy silence in the room. It was broken, at last, by Detective Superintendent Khan.

‘So, Mr Strauss,’ he said. ‘What have you got to say?’

3

‘I don’t even know where to begin,’ Adam Strauss said. ‘It’s one of the most extraordinary things I’ve ever heard. It’s quite brilliant in its own way – and I ought to congratulate you, Mr Hawthorne – but it’s also fantastical, conjectural and full of holes. It wishes on me almost supernatural powers and it would be wonderful if I possessed them, but, unfortunately, I do not.’

He turned his attention to Detective Superintendent Khan.

‘I have to say, I’m a little surprised that the police have taken to hiring . . . what? Private detectives? I even wonder if it’s legal.’

‘We haven’t hired anyone,’ Khan said. ‘Right now, Mr Hawthorne is working under his own aegis, but we have a responsibility to respond to information provided by any member of the public.’

It was half a lie, wrapped in police officialese to make it more palatable.

‘What part of it did he get wrong?’ Ruth Goodwin asked. This drew an ugly glance from Khan.

By way of an answer, Strauss turned to his wife. ‘Can you get the postcards?’ he said. ‘One of them came in April or May. The other’s more recent.’

Teri rose out of the sofa, transported by rage. ‘Everything he says is a lie,’ she insisted. ‘Why do you let him come here to tell these lies?’

She went into the kitchen.

‘And the Chinese New Year card,’ he called after her.

‘We don’t have it.’

‘Yes, we do. It’s in the letters drawer.’

While she was looking, he turned back to Hawthorne, examining him with something close to sadness.