to confess that I’ve never had to investigate a murder in all my years in the force. Perhaps I should call in Scotland Yard. Chief Inspector Pride would, I don’t doubt . . .’
‘Yes,’ Edward said hurriedly, ‘we will need to brief him after I have seen Mrs Booth because I am quite sure his investigation into Eric Silver’s death is linked to these murders. The quotations found on all four bodies can by no stretch of the imagination be coincidental.’
‘If we assume that they were all left by the same person, do they tell us anything about our murderer?’ Treacher asked, almost meekly.
‘Apart from my family motto which was left on Silver’s body, they’re all quotations from Shakespeare. The General’s is from King Lear , as I’m sure you know . . .’ The Inspector nodded unconvincingly. ‘Herold’s is from Hamlet and the offering left on Hermione Totteridge is from Sonnet 146 – a particularly gloomy poem. Shakespeare urges us not to worry about earthly wealth when death is so close but, instead, concentrate on building up spiritual riches.’
‘Can’t argue with that, I suppose,’ Treacher said morosely. ‘But what message is the murderer sending us or are they just – how would you describe them? – taunts?’
‘Hard to tell but, if they do mean anything, I would suggest that the General was being accused of killing someone quite wantonly – as flies are killed for sport by little boys. Presumably, in the army, he must have been responsible for a number of deaths and that’s something we need to look into. Miss Totteridge was told she was feeding on death and the only way to stop her was by killing her. There’s no more death then, as the sonnet says.’
‘Someone objected to her spraying poison on living things?’ Treacher suggested.
Edward shrugged his shoulders. ‘Possibly.’
‘And Herold’s “buzz, buzz”,’ Treacher continued, ‘could mean, as I understand it, that someone thought he talked a lot of nonsense, like Hamlet thought Polonius talked nonsense. Could that be a reference to his political views? I gather he admired Sir Oswald Mosley.’
‘A good thought, Inspector. Of course, it might just refer to his bees.’
Treacher sighed. ‘And I thought they said dead men tell no tales! I’ll borrow my wife’s Complete Works of Shakespeare when I get home and think about it.’
‘Do that, Inspector!’ Edward said encouragingly.
Treacher shook his head sadly. ‘I never had any doubt about Herold’s death. We all took it for granted – even his widow – that he had more or less committed suicide by disturbing his bees and getting stung to death. He had been a prisoner of his bad heart for so long and, after the life he had lived, it seemed obvious that he couldn’t stand it any more.’
‘But – reading your notes – you don’t appear to have asked how, in his condition, Herold managed to knock over several heavy hives. And, in any case, he died some fifty yards from the nearest one – or so I gather from your description of the scene.’
Treacher looked uneasy. ‘If you want to know the truth, Lord Edward, I suspected his wife had helped him commit suicide and – perhaps wrongly – no, quite wrongly, I decided to let sleeping dogs lie. I thought there was no point in stirring things up.’
‘Like the bees had been stirred up?’
The Inspector ignored his flippancy. ‘What would it have meant if we had got Mrs Herold to confess that she had pushed over the hives? She would have gone to prison for a long time for helping her husband out of his misery. It just didn’t seem right. It’s not as though she’s going to kill anyone else – if she did do it.’
‘Yes, but what about the piece of paper on his body? Surely, that must have made you think someone else was involved? I mean, Mrs Herold found it. She would hardly have written it and then “found it” unless she were mad.’
‘She’s certainly not mad,’ Treacher said unhappily.
‘Yes,’ Edward said hurriedly, ‘we will need to brief him after I have seen Mrs Booth because I am quite sure his investigation into Eric Silver’s death is linked to these murders. The quotations found on all four bodies can by no stretch of the imagination be coincidental.’
‘If we assume that they were all left by the same person, do they tell us anything about our murderer?’ Treacher asked, almost meekly.
‘Apart from my family motto which was left on Silver’s body, they’re all quotations from Shakespeare. The General’s is from King Lear , as I’m sure you know . . .’ The Inspector nodded unconvincingly. ‘Herold’s is from Hamlet and the offering left on Hermione Totteridge is from Sonnet 146 – a particularly gloomy poem. Shakespeare urges us not to worry about earthly wealth when death is so close but, instead, concentrate on building up spiritual riches.’
‘Can’t argue with that, I suppose,’ Treacher said morosely. ‘But what message is the murderer sending us or are they just – how would you describe them? – taunts?’
‘Hard to tell but, if they do mean anything, I would suggest that the General was being accused of killing someone quite wantonly – as flies are killed for sport by little boys. Presumably, in the army, he must have been responsible for a number of deaths and that’s something we need to look into. Miss Totteridge was told she was feeding on death and the only way to stop her was by killing her. There’s no more death then, as the sonnet says.’
‘Someone objected to her spraying poison on living things?’ Treacher suggested.
Edward shrugged his shoulders. ‘Possibly.’
‘And Herold’s “buzz, buzz”,’ Treacher continued, ‘could mean, as I understand it, that someone thought he talked a lot of nonsense, like Hamlet thought Polonius talked nonsense. Could that be a reference to his political views? I gather he admired Sir Oswald Mosley.’
‘A good thought, Inspector. Of course, it might just refer to his bees.’
Treacher sighed. ‘And I thought they said dead men tell no tales! I’ll borrow my wife’s Complete Works of Shakespeare when I get home and think about it.’
‘Do that, Inspector!’ Edward said encouragingly.
Treacher shook his head sadly. ‘I never had any doubt about Herold’s death. We all took it for granted – even his widow – that he had more or less committed suicide by disturbing his bees and getting stung to death. He had been a prisoner of his bad heart for so long and, after the life he had lived, it seemed obvious that he couldn’t stand it any more.’
‘But – reading your notes – you don’t appear to have asked how, in his condition, Herold managed to knock over several heavy hives. And, in any case, he died some fifty yards from the nearest one – or so I gather from your description of the scene.’
Treacher looked uneasy. ‘If you want to know the truth, Lord Edward, I suspected his wife had helped him commit suicide and – perhaps wrongly – no, quite wrongly, I decided to let sleeping dogs lie. I thought there was no point in stirring things up.’
‘Like the bees had been stirred up?’
The Inspector ignored his flippancy. ‘What would it have meant if we had got Mrs Herold to confess that she had pushed over the hives? She would have gone to prison for a long time for helping her husband out of his misery. It just didn’t seem right. It’s not as though she’s going to kill anyone else – if she did do it.’
‘Yes, but what about the piece of paper on his body? Surely, that must have made you think someone else was involved? I mean, Mrs Herold found it. She would hardly have written it and then “found it” unless she were mad.’
‘She’s certainly not mad,’ Treacher said unhappily.
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