The Riverboat Mystery (Jenny Starling #3)(63)

Jenny felt, in fact, rather sick. And she was obviously not the only one to feel that way.

‘Olney deserved what he got,’ Graves suddenly said. ‘My granddad was a fighting man too, in the last war. He told me what it was like out there in the thick of it. You had to rely on your officers. You had to keep faith with your mates and trust that the bigwigs knew what they were doing.’

Rycroft shook his head. ‘Olney abused his power,’ he grunted. ‘No two ways about it.’

‘Couldn’t Arnold Leigh have refused to go?’ Jenny suddenly asked. ‘If Olney didn’t give him any papers, but just ordered him across the lines . . .’ She trailed off as both men looked across at her. It was not a scornful look they gave her, but rather a sad one.

‘Olney could have had him court-martialled for disobeying orders.’ Rycroft took it upon himself to educate her.

‘Or had up on charges of cowardice,’ Graves added. ‘And that would have haunted him for the rest of his life. No, poor Arnold Leigh was finished whatever he did. In the end he did the only thing he could. The thing that I would have done if I’d been in his place.’ Graves shook his head, with infinite pity for the dead soldier. ‘He told a good mate what was happening, and wrote a letter home.’

Jenny shivered. ‘No wonder David Leigh hated him so much.’

‘And killed him,’ Rycroft said, glancing at Graves, who looked as unhappy as his superior. ‘We have proof that he wrote the suicide note — or as much proof as we need. A jury will believe our Brasenose don all right — he makes an impressive witness in the stand. And David Leigh was on board the boat when it happened. He had both motive and opportunity.’

Graves withdrew a long document from his pocket and handed it over. ‘I took the liberty, sir, of getting a warrant for Leigh’s arrest.’

But he didn’t sound happy about it and Rycroft took the document looking equally miserable. ‘Right,’ he said reluctantly.

Jenny coughed. ‘I think you’re forgetting something,’ she said quietly.

Rycroft, who’d had just about enough for now, turned on her angrily. ‘Look, Miss Starling, I know you’re used to being the centre of attention whenever somebody’s been murdered, but this time you’ll just have to accept the fact that we, the police, have solved this case, and not you. Now, I’ve got to make arrangements to arrest a man who, in my own personal opinion, was fully justified in doing what he did. So give me a break, will you?’ he snarled, and took a deep, shaky breath.

The Junoesque cook was silent for a moment. She was very much aware that Rycroft was genuinely upset, as was Graves. But they were thinking with their hearts and not with their heads, and might be about to make a very costly mistake.

‘Inspector,’ she said patiently. ‘I think it’s obvious that David Leigh came on board this boat determined to kill Gabriel Olney. I think it’s also obvious why. We also know he forged a suicide note and put it in Olney’s room. I think he did it yesterday morning. I myself saw him coming out of the Olneys’ room. I’d had a bath, and noticed him leaving.’

Rycroft nodded. ‘That’ll be useful evidence, Miss Starling,’ he said flatly. ‘The case against Leigh is building up nicely. He could have killed Olney any time between four and four fifteen. We only have his wife’s word that he stayed with her, and that’s less than worthless. They’re devoted to each other, that’s perfectly obvious to anyone who sees them together — either one of them would lie their heads off to protect the other.’

Jenny sighed. ‘I agree. But answer me this. If David Leigh planned to kill Gabriel Olney and fake it to look like suicide, why did he put Olney’s body in my cupboard? What kind of suicide is that?’

Rycroft, who’d risen to give orders to a constable to take him to Carswell Marsh to arrest David Leigh, suddenly sat down again. He stared at the cook, his face a mixture of relief, bewilderment and, lastly, sheer frustration.

‘Only an idiot would do something that so obviously pointed to murder,’ Jenny carried on ruthlessly. ‘If David Leigh had killed Olney, he would have simply let his body fall overboard and be taken away by the river. What evidence would there be then to say that Olney hadn’t committed suicide? That, surely, must have been his plan, yes?’

‘But Leigh had the perfect motive,’ he finally said mournfully.

‘So did Mrs Olney, sir,’ Graves put in. Like his superior, he too felt a certain relief that the cook was standing up for David Leigh so strongly. He himself would have been tempted to kill Olney, if he’d discovered that the ex-colonel had deliberately sent his own father to his death. And like Rycroft, he also hadn’t felt any of the usual pleasure and satisfaction that normally came when you were about to arrest a murderer.

Now Rycroft looked at Graves. ‘You have something else for me?’

Graves nodded. ‘The Olneys were well off, but not rich. Olney knew that Lucas wouldn’t part with the boat unless Olney offered him a good price for it. Lucas wouldn’t value his reputation to that extent! But Olney wanted the Swan, and he was prepared to wipe out his bank balance to do it.’

Graves handed over the banking material that clearly showed the amount of money Olney had been worth, and Rycroft pursed his lips in a silent whistle. ‘Olney would have been wiped out,’ he said, surprised.