The Electrician's Code by Clarissa Draper

work with him. You did work for him?”
    “Yes.”
    “Were you aware that he has included you in his Last Will and Testament?”
    It took a few moments for Mrs. Henderson to reply, she sat there silent and stunned, when finally she spoke it came out in almost a whisper, like she was speaking to herself, “I always thought he would die of old age or boredom, but murdered? Are you sure? How?”
    “He was stabbed outside his home,” said Theo.
    “Who would stab him? He only had one leg.”
    “Yes, there are a lot of questions. Were you aware you were left some money as part of his Will?”
    “I think I knew. Yes, yes, I was aware, but it is not much is it? A few hundred pounds, that is not much to get all excited about, is it?”
    “It may actually be close to a thousand pounds when everything is settled,” remarked Theo.
    Mrs. Henderson just stared at Theo, letting his words sink in.
    “Still, a thousand or so, really not worth anything is it. What can one buy with that? Can’t even buy a settee with that nowadays.”
    “You are trying to sell books or something, not quite sure. It seems to me that you may be in need of funds at the moment,” said Theo, aware that his remark may be somewhat offensive.
    “Anyway,” Dorland stepped in, “have you seen Mr. Tipring lately?”
    “No. Not for many years.”
    “Where were you yesterday morning around seven?”
    “Whatever you are trying to imply you can take back this moment or I will make sure your superiors know about this sort of . . . questioning. You can’t come in here and accuse me of something. You don’t even know me.”
    With that, she stormed off into her house, leaving the two detectives sitting in the yard.
    “What was that about?” Dorland asked. “Seems a bit touchy if you ask me. Guilty conscience perhaps?”
    “Let’s not assume that.” Theo led his partner around the side of the house and they made their way toward their car. “For a moment, she looked genuinely surprised and grieved. Everyone handles grief differently. Perhaps it’s a sensitivity toward money than anything else. Many who have quickly inherited power and money haven’t had enough time for their humility to catch up. She probably doesn’t think she deserves the money she has so she has to work harder at convincing us she does.”
    “You think she married Mr. Henderson, for his money?” Dorland asked.
    “No, I would like to think that she married him because she loved him but money is a hard thing to handle properly. I know of Mr. Henderson, he’s a scientist who has made a great deal of money on pharmaceuticals.”
    “I wonder how the two of them met?”
    “Mrs. Henderson was a nurse; she could have worked in a clinic or known the man for a long time. Who really knows? We will have to confirm what she says but I suspect that our Mrs. Henderson had nothing to do with the death.”

Chapter Nineteen
    E xactly at eight, Sophia arrived at the Connell Road address. She could see Theo’s Jeep sitting in front of the house. As she approached, Theo opened the door to his vehicle and stepped out. He looked exactly the same. She didn’t know why she thought he would look different, older maybe. She felt she had aged many years in the last few months. In fact, she had started to notice gray hairs growing in. All of a sudden she began to feel conspicuous.
    “Thank you for coming,” he said, putting out his hand.
    She accepted it, feeling flustered as soon as she did. “I-I don’t know if I can help, but I’ll try.”
    “Even if you can’t, at least I tried another angle.” He patted down his pockets and reached inside his right trouser pocket. “I have the key so we can go in.”
    “I hear you’re investigating the Maddock Tipring murder,” she said.
    “Yes. How did you know?” He held up his hand. “Never mind, I know. It only happened yesterday but we don’t have a single suspect. It’s like the killer just randomly picked our victim and stabbed