Episode 19 - Past, present and future (continuous)

Still Thursday then Friday

The squad car Gary ordered arrived within minutes and Jessie was bundled onto the rear seat to be taken to HQ.

Cleo got away from Mrs Coppins’ questions as fast as she could. She would be able to see her daughter next day, but Cleo could not promise that Jessie would remember what she had done, or, if she remembered, that she had murdered Mrs Oldfield.

***

Gary congratulated Cleo on that incredible scene he had just witnessed.

“You only saw half of it, Gary, and it isn’t the end. There’s something wrong somewhere.”

“Do you have an idea what?”

“I need to talk to Dorothy about it,” said Cleo.

“Do you want me there?”

“I don’t think it’s such a good idea, Gary. I’ll come to HQ tomorrow morning and we can discuss everything then.”

“Will you stay for lunch?”

“I expect I will,” said Cleo.

“I’ll keep you to that,” said Gary.

***

Cleo phoned Dorothy immediately she got home and she was at Cleo’s cottage in what she called ‘the twinkling of an eye’ after hearing a shortened account of why. Robert sat and listened. He was flabbergasted by what he heard Cleo reporting to her fellow sleuth. Cleo switched the phone on loud so that he could hear Dorothy’s reactions.

“And that is the not the end of the story, either,” said Cleo.

“But Gary is satisfied, isn’t he?”

“Yes. He has arrested a murderer for each homicide. That alone is a feather in his cap.”

“But he should get it all right,” said Dorothy.

“He won’t do that on his own.”

“Then we’ll have to do it for him.”

“I told him I wasn’t satisfied that we had solved everything. There’s something wrong with my reasoning,” said Cleo. “It’s troubling me that I’ve overlooked something vital.

“Let’s talk about it when I get to your cottage,” said Dorothy.

“I’ll make coffee,” said Robert. “That’ll help those little grey cells.”

Robert lit a log fire. The two sleuths sat on the sofa and shared the plaid over their knees to keep the worst heat off.

Robert listened.

“So where is the missing link, Cleo,” Dorothy started.

“I can’t believe that Jessie was the only one to want Mrs Oldfield out of the way.”

“I happen to know that Olive wanted to sack her, but needed a replacement first.”

“That ties in, Dorothy. I think Mrs Baines had a hand in Mrs Oldfield’s death.”

That even shook Dorothy.

“I also think that Mrs Baines thought she was the sole killer, so she’s bathing in security right now she because thinks Jessie has been hunted down. Jessie is the perfect scapegoat.”

“But Mrs Baines does not know that Jessie has been arrested, Cleo.”

“Not yet, but I left her thinking I was pursuing Jessie and she would put two and two together.”

“But would  Olive go as far as murder to get rid of Mrs Oldfield?”

“As far as I understand, Mrs Oldfield was pretty horrible, even if that woman in the chorus, Jenny Cambridge, thought otherwise.”

"If I'd killed everyone I thought was horrible, there's be quite a few less on the planet," said Dorothy. “What can we do about your suspicion, Cleo?”

 “Jessie heard Mrs Oldfield quarrelling with Mrs Baines, and I don’t believe for one moment that the two women had made it up and were friends again.”

“So you think that could be a reason for killing the cook?”

“That’s right, but it would have to look like a natural death so the killing would have to be gradual.”

"Olive Baines might even have had a better reason," said Dorothy.

"That's possible, if there's ever a good reason for killing someone, except in self-defence, and even then..."

"Blackmail, for instance."

“For what?”

“We don’t know about Mrs Baines’s skeletons,” said Dorothy. “But Gary might be able to find some.”

"That's certainly something Gary could get his teeth into."

“To sum up, Cleo, it follows that Mrs Oldfield was probably getting double rations of arsenic.”

“Yes. That could be why the dose in the kitchen was deadly. She presumably drank two cups of coffee, and according to Chris there was a deadly dose of arsenic in each of them.”

“But there’s no way of proving that she drank both; she might have thrown some away.”

“No, you can’t prove that both cups of lethal coffee were drunk by the unfortunate cook, but Jessie has confessed to murder even if she thought she was giving Mrs Oldfield vitamins. That’s enough for the law to take its course.”

“That would let Mrs Baines get away with her share of the blame! That’s not fair,” said Dorothy.

“We’d have to prove that she had a hand in poisoning the cook, and I can’t see how we can do that,” said Cleo.

“It’s the perfect murder, Dorothy,” shouted Robert.

“I suppose you could say that,” said Dorothy. “It might help to know where Olive Baines found the arsenic.”

“Not quite perfect, Robert,” said Cleo. “Baines probably knew about the insecticide in the garden shed.”

“I thought poisons have to be locked away safely,” said Robert.

“I don’t think all gardeners bother,” said Cleo. “It would be interesting just to look inside the garden sheds in this village. I expect we’d find enough insecticide to kill a regiment.”

“So what are we going to do about it, Cleo?” Dorothy asked.

“Get Baines to confess,” said Cleo.

“You are not going back the school on your own,” said Robert. “She might poison you, too.”

“Not if we don’t eat or drink anything.”

“But she may have some other means of getting rid of her enemies,” argued Robert. “If you challenge her, she has nothing to lose.”

“I’ll take Greg along,” said Cleo. “He’ll definitely support us.”

“What about Gary?” said Robert.

“Not Gary. There are enough rumours going around about Gary and I having an affair.”

“How do you know that?” said Robert.

“Does that matter?” said Cleo, trying not to admit to herself that she was being deceitful.

***

Dorothy volunteered to go to the school with Cleo, but Cleo did not want that.

"You and Mrs Baines were acquainted, Dorothy. She might appeal to you for clemency. You'd hate that."

"You're right. This is one mission you'll have to go on without me!"

***

Cleo phoned Greg and told him what she was planning. This time he would not register his exact intention on the duty rota. He would be in a squad car anyway, and traffic patrol was always part of a patrol team’s duties. On Friday morning, he drove up to the entrance of Huddlecourt Manor School with a Barbara Fielding, who had been due to be part of his team that day. They met up with Cleo, and together the three of them went round the back of the building and into the kitchen via the kitchen door, but the patrol team stayed out of sight for the time being.

“Jessie isn’t here, Miss Hartley. She didn’t come in for work and she didn’t phone in to say she wasn’t coming,” said Mrs Baines, who was resenting having to assist Ali.

“She won’t be coming again, Mrs Baines,” said Cleo.

“Why not?”

“Because she has been arrested for the murder of Mrs Oldfield.”

“She has?”

Mrs Baines could not hide her relief.

After a short pause she said “I thought as much.”

“But it took two to kill Mrs Oldfield.”

“I suppose you mean the stabbing,” said Mrs Baines. “Mrs Coppins is a vicious woman.”

“No, Mrs Baines. I mean the double quota of arsenic the dead woman was getting.”

Mrs Baines became flustered.

“There’s only one way that could have happened, isn’t there?” Cleo continued.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“The syringe, Mrs Baines.”

The woman leapt towards one of the cupboards.

“So that’s where you keep it, is it?” said Cleo, going swiftly to the cupboard and retrieving the syringe by holding the needle. Greg moved fast. He took a plastic bag out of his pocket and Cleo dropped the incriminating exhibit into it.”

“I expect forensics will find traces of arsenic on it,” said Cleo.

“It’s Jessie’s syringe.”

“We already have that one. It was in her handbag.”

Barbara Fielding moved to the door leading out of the kitchen into the hall.

“Why don’t you come quietly?” Greg said. He had not known exactly what Cleo was planning, but he trusted her to. “The game’s up.”

It only took a moment for Barbara Fielding to slip the cuffs around Mrs Baines’s wrists. She was led out cursing and deposited on the back seat of the patrol car.

“Amazing,” said Greg, “But Gary won’t be pleased that he didn’t think of it first.”

“All a day’s work, Greg. It’s a topsy-turvy world.”

“That’s true,” said Greg. “Usually it’s one killer and two murders, but here it’s one murder and at least two killers!”

“Coppins stabbed the woman after death, Greg.”

***

“I’ll follow you down to HQ and we’ll present the case to Gary together,” said Cleo.

“He won’t be pleased,” said Greg. “I think he still harbours doubts about private eyes, Cleo.”

“He is seldom very pleased when the Hartley Agency beats him to it!”

“And I thought you were a pair,” said Greg, looking sternly at Cleo.

“We are, Greg, but that does not make us Siamese twins.”

“I suppose you have a good reason for having Mrs Baines arrested,” said Greg.

“Yes,” said Cleo. “But between you and me, it’s more of a hunch than a reason. I’m betting on Mrs Baines filling in the blanks.”

“Judging from her manner, she will probably have a few good reasons for not being a suspect,” said Greg.

“Acting indignant is one of the ploys, Greg. I’ve seen them all”

***

A few days later, Cleo and Dorothy were at the office celebrating their latest achievement when Gary phoned.

“Can I come round?” he asked.

“We’re celebrating Mrs Baines. Join us for a glass of genuine fizzy wine.”

“I’ve got a better idea.”

“Is there one?”

“We could celebrate with genuine Champagne,” said Gary.

“Wow. That’s awesome!” said Cleo.

“Brilliant, Gary,” Dorothy said. “Are you going to congratulate us, or shout as us for jumping the guns?”

“Both, Dorothy. I’ll be over in half an hour.”

“True to his word, Gary turned up with the precious bubbly, quite cold because it had come straight out of the fridge at the off-licence.”

“It’s really remarkable,” he said. “You solve the crimes and I get promotion.”

“Promotion?” the two sleuths said in unison.

“Well, it is for me. I’m going back on the beat.”

Cleo was sceptical.

“Was that Roger’s idea?” she simply had to ask.

“Not exactly. He actually offered me his job again. He’s definitely retiring and needed someone he trusted, I presume!”

“But you hated standing in for him, didn’t you?”

“Yes, it was a big mistake.”

“So you talked him into letting you drive a patrol car again,” said Dorothy.

“That’s about the size of it.”

“It’s brave of you to take a step backwards, Gary. I’m proud of you,” said Dorothy.

“I’m not sure it is backwards, I was not the world’s best detective, was I?”

The two sleuths were polite enough not to answer.

“But before we all get tiddly, tell me how you cottoned on to Mrs Baines?” said Gary.

“To be truthful, it was something she said to Dorothy the day after Mrs Oldfield’s murder. I could not get that out of my head.”

“I know the feeling,” said Gary.

“I forgot about it for ages, then started to wonder how the arsenic could have worked so fast if it had only been given by Jessie in small doses,” said Dorothy.

“But the poor woman had died of a massive dose. We know that,” said Gary.

“Exactly, so how did it all happen?” said Cleo.

“There had to be a logical explanation and it had to include Mrs Baines because she had a motive and opportunity,” said Dorothy.

“Jessie had only had access to the arsenic for a few weeks, Gary, and thought it was some kind of vitamin product.”

“Never,” said Gary.

“She said that the ants liked the powder so they took it away to eat later.”

Gary laughed heartily at that idea.

“She probably didn’t even know it was there until Tom Crowe offered her some to kill the ants,” said Cleo, “and I doubt if she would have read the user instructions after Tom Crowe had told her it was really harmless vitamins.”

“But DANGER was written in large letters, Ladies. I’m sure she could read that.”

“And ignored it since from the view Jessie presumably had,  it was only dangerous to ants. She did read that you diluted the powder,” said Dorothy.

“She actually said it worked like vitamin C.”

“From the start of the symptoms of arsenic poison, at least six months ago, we deduced that Mrs Oldfield had been getting doses over a much longer period of time. So it became clear that someone else must have been poisoning Mrs Oldfield as well,” said Dorothy.

“That makes sense,” said Gary.

“Mrs Baines even spoke about the symptoms Mrs Oldfield had. She obviously thought she was directing our attention away from herself,” said Cleo. “A sort of double bluff.”

“Bear in mind that Mrs Baines was planning to eject the cook and was looking for a replacement,” said Dorothy.

“Jessie got arsenic for Tom and then helped herself to more. She diluted it and applied it through a syringe,” said Cleo. “She told us that and you found the syringe in her handbag, Gary.”

“So far so good,” he said.

 “But Mrs Baines didn’t need to buy any arsenic,” said Dorothy.

“How do you know that?” Gary asked.

“Because she kept all her winter bulbs in the garden shed at the school. She went in regularly to make sure they were all right, so she knew the poison was there.”

“Respect and applause, Ladies!” said Gary. “And three cheers for your phenomenal memory, Dorothy!”

“I used to know her quite well, Gary, and she told me in those days that she always found somewhere suitable to over-winter her spring bulbs. She was quite fanatical about them. She had routines for everything, so it occurred to me when I heard about the arsenic in this case that she might have kept to her annual routine and simply helped herself to arsenic when she checked the bulbs. That would mean she had plenty of time to stockpile the poison.”

“Dorothy suggested that to me,” said Cleo, “but it took me until last week to connect the two. That was a grave oversight.”

“Only as an afterthought, Cleo. The murders appeared to be solved didn’t they?”

“We did not ask Mrs Baines enough questions, Gary. I’m at least as guilty as you of that negligence,” said Cleo.

That was an exaggeration. Gary had not asked any questions at all.

“...although she would not have admitted anything and would certainly have been put on her guard,” added Dorothy.

“So Jessie admitting to administering the arsenic was perfect timing,” said Gary.

“Yes.”

***

“But I have news for you, Ladies.”

“We’re all ears,” said Dorothy.

“Jessie had some interesting pills in her bag,” said Gary. “She said they were left over from the pills Mrs Baines had given her to give to the cook to pep her up. Jessie and started taking them but said she did not feel well after them. I confiscated them, and they also contained traces of arsenic.”

“What?”

“So Mrs Oldfield was getting arsenic with her vitamins,” said Dorothy.

“And Baines had a mind to rid herself of Jessie, as well,” said Gary. “I’ll get her for that, too.”

“Did you ever find out if Mrs Baines has a criminal record, Gary?” said Cleo.

“To be honest, I thought that was just a Hartley Agency whim. She seemed very concerned to find Mrs Oldfield’s killer.”

“She was anxious to get Jessie blamed. That’s all she was concerned about,” said Dorothy.

“But she must have had a clean slate to get the job at the school,” said Gary. “They would have vetted her. That’s probably why I forgot all about her.”

***

Cleo could read Gary’s body language like a book and was in no hurry to let him entirely off the hook. She felt a bit sorry for him, however. He was extremely uncomfortable with his shortcomings, especially the one of not really getting into the job of solving the case.

***

“I could check,” said Gary.

“You’ll have to when you prepare your report. Why don’t you get Colin onto these little problems, Gary? He’s on HQ staff now and he’s a very bright guy.”

“To be honest, I’ve always wanted to get the credit for everything and I’m lousy at delegating.”

“Will you get all the credit this time?” 

“No, Dorothy. I’ve told Roger who really got to the bottom of these murders.”

“And that was also a good argument for not taking the better job, I take it.”

“That depends what you mean by ‘better’, Dorothy.”

“Stop the innuendoes, you guys. You’re friends, remember?” said Cleo.

“Sorry. I didn’t want to lay into Gary,” said Dorothy. ”A confessional to go with the bubbly is bad timing and a waste of good Champagne!”

“But you are getting credit for the Coppins case, Gary,” said Cleo, anxious that this little meeting would not turn into an autopsy to end all autopsies. “Without your squad we’d all still be at square one.”

“And without you, Ladies, our friend Coppins, Jessie and the awful Mrs Baines would still be scot free.”

“So let’s just settle for enjoying the knowledge that they are all behind bars, and drink to our next case,” said Dorothy, raising her glass.

“Which is ...?”

“We could find out what Mrs Mitchell is up to,” said Cleo.

“Want some help, Ladies?”

“Support, Gary,” said Dorothy. “We rely on you for support.”

“Now you are on the beat you could probably do with investigative practice,” said Cleo.

“What’s that? I’m not on the beat yet. I haven’t decided.”

“You’ll find out, Gary. Maybe at dinner tonight, if you’d like to come.”

“Can Robert stand having me at the cottage?”

“Of course he can, and we need you.”

***

Gary was moved by the attempts of these two nice people to comfort him for what had really been the most chaotic few days in his whole life.  Cleo phoned Robert to make sure he brought enough steaks to feed a battalion. Dorothy waved her empty glass around.

“Is there any more bubbly in that bottle?” she said.

“I’d just like to know how you can drink so much and stay sober,” said Gary.

“Practice makes perfect,” said Dorothy.