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“The farm would sell for less than it was worth because few would want to buy it given that a murder had taken place there,” Mark reasoned.
“What about Mrs Girdling? Why did she have to die? I mean, once Tuppence was behind bars, surely the man didn’t need to kill Mrs Girdling,” Harriett cried.
“Apparently, Mrs Girdling looked suspiciously at Mrs Gregory when she saw her later that day. Mrs Glover went into Tipton Hollow to try to find out what the villagers were saying about the murder, and if anyone suspected that Tuppence hadn’t murdered Mr Lewis. Mrs Glover was unnerved at how Mrs Girdling was staring out of her window at her as she passed Mrs Girdling’s house. Apparently, Mrs Girdling promptly closed the shutters when Mrs Glover looked at her. Mrs Glover took this as a warning that Mrs Girdling suspected that Mr Glover was the killer. He decided that he had to silence her.”
“But it was Mrs Glover who was seen in the village the morning Mrs Girdling was murdered,” Isaac added.
“Indeed, so we think Mrs Glover is trying to place the blame for Mrs Girdling’s death on her murderous husband. I mean, he has killed Mr Lewis and Mr Richmond. Few people would question whether he could kill Mrs Girdling as well.”
“Do you think he did it?”
“I have asked Mrs Glover when she last saw her husband. She said it was yesterday, so he is still in the area. Moreover, one of the villagers saw him leave the tavern last night, so he was in the area last night too, and most probably drunk. Mrs Girdling died by strangulation just after dawn. I think that the evidence of the struggle that took place in her kitchen indicates that her death wasn’t as swift as it would be had Mr Glover murdered her. He is a farmer who is brawny and used to lifting heavy weights. Despite Mrs Girdling being a rather large lady, she wouldn’t be strong enough to fight with a murderous killer long enough to destroy her kitchen during the struggle, especially one like Mr Glover. The fact that the entire kitchen was smashed to pieces indicates that there might have been more of a struggle take place, and that Mrs Glover was the one who killed Mrs Girdling.”
“Good Lord,” Gertrude whispered, unable to take her riveted gaze off Mark.
Now that he had everyone’s attention, Mark made one last attempt at defending himself and explained why he had arrested Tuppence.
“As soon as I saw Tuppence, I knew that she was too shocked and distraught to have murdered Mr Lewis. She was in shock and couldn’t have been that way all night. Mr Lewis had been dead for some time. Tuppence hadn’t been outside for that long. Until I could find out what had really happened to him, I had to put Tuppence somewhere nobody could reach her. I know a lot of people won’t agree with it, but the knife in Mr Lewis’s back was warning enough that whoever killed him is brutal. I knew that someone like Tuppence, as shocked as she was, would have insisted on staying at the farm to look after the animals had I not arrested her, but she was in danger. The quickest and safest way of protecting her was to get her in the station and keep her there. My boss has not ever nor would he ever allow me to just arrest someone because they found a body. Tuppence had to be questioned, that is standard procedure, but only because she found the body. However, Davies agreed with me that Tuppence was in mortal danger because she had found the body and was staying at the farm by herself.”
“He didn’t say as much to me,” Reginald scowled.
“He had no idea why you would want to so staunchly defend someone like Tuppence. I mean, she is a farmer, a local, and you are a world-famous Barrister from London,” Mark shrugged.
“I work to free innocent people. While I love this country, and think the justice system is a fine institution, it has its problems and isn’t infallible. I had the biggest lesson of my career when an innocent man died because I didn’t defend him properly, and I bitterly regret that. When he received a guilty verdict, and the death sentence, it was the most humbling moment of my life. From that moment on, I decided that my efforts would be rewarded far greater if I defended people who were innocent. I knew as soon as I saw Tuppence that she is the exact opposite of a killer in every way.” Sir Reginald slid a sly look at Isaac. “Besides, if Isaac was prepared to stand by her, Tuppence had to be innocent.”
“My boss knew it too, but he had to protect her. We would have been strung up ourselves had we allowed her to go home and she had been murdered too. While our men searched the entire area, and we found footprints, we lost them in the muddy fields because it rained heavily.”
Harriett glared hatefully at her husband. “She could have stayed with us.”
“But then that would have put you and the children in danger,” Tuppence interrupted. “While I can think of better places to stay than a jail cell, it was the safest place I suppose.” It galled her to have to say it because sitting in that cell was the worst moment of her life.
“You shouldn’t have allowed her to stay there thinking she was going to hang for a crime she hadn’t committed,” Gertrude growled.
Isaac nodded.
“But if I had told her that we didn’t suspect her she would have accused us of false imprisonment and would have demanded to be released. That would have thwarted our reason for putting her behind bars in the first place.”
“But it was false imprisonment,” Sir Reginald snorted.
“It was witness protection,” Mark insisted.
Isaac rolled his eyes.
“Can we get back to the investigation, please? Why did Mr Glover murder Mr Richmond if he wanted him to buy Hilltop Farm?” Tuppence demanded impatiently.
“Mr Glover tried to tell Mr Richmond that he owned Hilltop Farm just as soon as you were arrested. He knew that nobody could talk to you about it and prove him wrong. Mr Glover went to see Mr Richmond and offered him the opportunity to purchase Hilltop Farm from him. Mr Richmond, having recently met with you, refused to buy it. I don’t know where Mrs Richmond was, but Mr Glover was livid when he returned to the farmhouse. He told his wife that Mr Richmond hadn’t believed that he owned it. Apparently, her husband was extremely agitated, but Mrs Glover eventually got him to admit to having had an argument with Mr Richmond, who had threatened to report him to the police. Mr Richmond had made it clear that Glover wasn’t going to get another penny out of him, and that he was to leave him alone. Apparently, there was a scuffle of some sort and Mr Richmond fell over, hitting his head on the ground when he fell. Of course, Mr Glover couldn’t allow him to wake up because of the repeated demands for money, and the injury. It can only be assumed that Mr Glover shot Mr Richmond before he woke up to stop the attack being reported.”
“The fiends thought they could steal what Tuppence had because she would hang for Glover’s crimes. God, I think I have heard everything,” Sir Reginald muttered in disgust.
“We don’t know how far they would have gone in their theft of Hilltop farm, but they knew it had value they could make use of, especially given that Tuppence didn’t have any family to leave the farm to, and wasn’t around to prove they were stealing her property.”
“Mrs Glover knew that I don’t have family in the area,” Tuppence whispered. “Everyone in the village knows that I was living up there alone.”
“Well, the Glovers realised that if they could get their hands on the farm either by scaring you away or letting you swing for their crimes, they could sell it and make more money
to go with what they already had. Mr Richmond somehow learnt what Glover had planned and offered Tuppence the lower amount to warn Glover that if he succeeded in his scheme to steal the farm out from under Tuppence, Richmond wasn’t prepared to buy it. Whatever the case, Richmond made it clear that he wasn’t going to pay Glover any more money and was murdered by Glover because of it.”
“Good Lord, does this man murder everyone he comes into contact with?” Gertrude whispered.
