Page 79 of A Curious Ending

‘How did he die?’ Lara asked.

‘He succumbed to pneumonia but he was suffering from Huntington’s disease.’

‘Which is why you told me that day you could not have saved him, which of course with pneumonia you might have done,’ Lara commented.

‘Could you have saved Lady Porter,’ Sarah asked, ‘if you had known?’

Dr Patil was openly crying now. ‘No, but she should have had proper care.’

‘You say that, now,’ Richard declared.

‘This is all very interesting,’ Julian said sarcastically, ‘but I don’t see what this has got to do with me. Or for that matter the Honeybourne business.’

Lara shot him a withering look. How could she ever have fallen for this man? She glanced at Pinky who was also watching him. She wondered if she was thinking the same thing – it was difficult to tell. ‘Do you want to explain, Dr Patil?’

Dr Patil said very softly, ‘I preferred it when you called me Mo,’ and Lara thought despite his distress something had eased for the doctor. He turned his attention to the rest of the room. ‘I was sure that Jason Honeybourne had taken advantage of Elizabeth’s state of mind, but of course I couldn’t prove it. So I found an excuse to consult Mr Honeybourne and during those visits I pretended to be suffering from early-onset dementia. Sadly, I have a lot of experience of this through my work. It was easy to appear confused about my financial affairs and about what I actually owned.’

Ah, the consultations about the paintings, Lara nodded.

‘It was not long before I was being encouraged to sign documents that to my mind were clearly fraudulent and Jason was inviting himself into my home. After one visit, I realised that some onyx artefacts I inherited from my grandmother were missing.’

Lara distinctly heard Abby murmur with satisfaction, ‘I have said it once and I will say it again, a leopard does not change its spots.’

‘So you were trying to catch him out?’ Kate asked.

‘Yes, and it worked. At this point, I put my evidence in front of the police, explaining my concerns regarding his dealings with Lady Porter and they helped me install hidden cameras in my home. It seemed they had been suspicious about Mr Honeybourne for some time and were working with neighbouring forces on a co-ordinated investigation.’

‘You’d think the man might have told me it was fraud, not murder,’ Kate exclaimed to no one in particular.

Dr Patil turned to Lara. ‘I have to say at one point I wondered if you were working with Mr Honeybourne.’

‘Me?!’

Dr Patil coughed. ‘A matter of you spilling a drink and taking a photograph of a painting while I was out of the room? It was caught on camera.’

‘Aah,’ was all Lara (or Abby) could think of to say. Independent of Abby, Lara asked, ‘What made you realise I wasn’t involved?’

‘I’m almost certain that Jason Honeybourne was the person who pushed you out of the box at the theatre.’ He wrinkled his nose. ‘I could smell his hair oil. He would hardly do that if you were working together. I believed you had made him nervous by asking too many questions.’ He smiled at her. ‘Then there was Elizabeth. She spoke so highly of you.’

‘That’s it! That’s it!’ Richard Porter exclaimed.

Lara thought he had been unusually quiet. She heard a ‘Here we go,’ whispered in her ear.

‘That’s it. If my mother knew she was ill, of course she would choose suicide. There is no doubt about it! All these questions, all this nosying around.’ He glared at Lara. ‘It’s plain and simple. My mother took her own life.’

‘And now,’ Abby said quietly.

But Lara didn’t need to be prompted. She breathed in the faint, reassuring scent of gardenia and turned to the room, her gaze taking in those seated at the kitchen table and Julian on the edge of the armchair. All, even Dr Patil, looked as if they agreed with Richard’s reasoning.

Lara said quite calmly but with absolute conviction, ‘Lady Porter did not commit suicide. She was murdered. And it was by somebody in this room.’

Chapter 40

Lara felt tension and fear flood the room. She was in no doubt that at least two people were holding themselves rigidly in check. She smiled a little grimly, maybe she was developing a knack for this sort of thing.

Her eyes flicked to Kate who on cue said, ‘That’s all very well, Lara, but you can’t just say something like that without explaining it.’

This had the effect of damming what was clearly going to be an outburst from the rest of the room. Although was Joe rushing into speech? To Lara’s eye he seemed more interested in the sausage rolls and cheese straws. Could he really be that detached?