Ted Jessops couldn’t get out of bed on that last Monday morning; he was severely depressed, so heavy-headed that the rest of his body had become inert. He had no energy and felt in a sort of neutral state, like a car that couldn’t move forwards or go into reverse; he had no means of achieving motion. Anne, his good-natured wife, whose patience had become increasingly tested, was at her wits’ end. Ted had stopped talking and was haunted by the Philip Larkin poem ‘This Be the Verse’. He was facing up to his sins and now knew that you reap what you sow. He kept thinking he should admit Joanna’s existence, apologize and make it up to all concerned. He was not the first man to father a child out of wedlock, for goodness’ sake, he kept repeating to himself. But he was like a politician issuing statements of innocence while in a downward spiral. He had denied paternity with regard to Joanna so many times that to admit it now would leave his credibility in tatters. He suspected that Tom, through Ivan’s evidence, might incriminate him and felt that ultimately he had let all three of his children down.
Anne watched as Ted lay in bed staring at the ceiling. She noticed he had a sheet of paper next to him, picked it up and read the Larkin poem. It made little sense to her, but she was distressed at its effect on her husband. He had added his own line underneath: ‘I have reaped what I have sown.’
Anne, who by her own admission had little interest in poetry, was completely disoriented by this. She placed the piece of paper back on the bed and took another uncomprehending look at her husband, whose eyes resembled clear glass. Then she left the room, placing a ‘Do not disturb’ sign on the outside of the door. She went down in the lift and in the lobby bumped into Bob Silver’s wife, Margaret. She asked to speak to her in private. The two women withdrew to a small lounge where they found themselves alone. Anne poured her heart out about Ted over a coffee. Margaret then suggested they should invite Richard Hughes-Webb, of whom she was rather in awe, to join them. As if on cue he walked into the lounge carrying a copy of The Lancet, looking for a quiet place to read. He listened to Anne’s anxieties about Ted and suggested they summon a local GP as soon as possible and offered to brief the GP. Anne, who was very distressed, readily agreed to this. It didn’t take Richard long to take charge and, on ascertaining from reception the name of the local doctor on call, arranged to meet him on his own. For this Anne was extremely grateful.
Meanwhile the police had been busy. Bill Treverney received a visit at eight on the Monday morning, just as he was rejoining the human race after his Sunday excess. Initially he was grumpy and told the police to bugger off, which didn’t go down too well. Inspector Higham, PC Stobart and a small team of officers got heavy; doors were slammed, officers shouted and Bill found himself being knocked about a bit. He soon revealed all. Apart from incriminating Ted Jessops, whose story was beginning to become familiar to the police, he revealed details of Paul Galvin’s failed property development in Penzance, Richard Hughes-Webb’s activities at his cottage in Zennor, Arnie Charnley’s stockpile of cash taken from Tom’s cottage in Zennor and Justyn Silver’s angst at discovering his father’s presumed homosexuality. Tom had clearly breached Justyn’s confidence by telling all to his colleague Bill.
The police interviewed Tom’s nephew, Ivan, that afternoon and took Arnie Charnley into custody that evening. It was at this point that his daughter, Jenny, had rushed into the disco in a panic. It was the following afternoon, on the Tuesday, while Danny Galvin was driving his friends to the beach at Sennen Cove, that warrants were made for the arrests of Richard Hughes-Webb, Ted Jessops, Bob Silver and Paul Galvin. Arnie Charnley was released on bail, paid for by his wife, who declared it most odd that he claimed not to have any money. This was to precipitate the collapse of the marriage of Arnie and Lucy ‘the Duchess’ Charnley; it was to prove a permanent marital breakdown.
The police started reviewing staff records at the hotel and, following a detailed conversation with Simpkins, set up some interviews: one with a sous chef with an attitude problem and another with a former linen porter, an itinerant Kiwi who had started a fire in one of the outbuildings and been sacked. He was tracked down living rough in St Ives. These were routine interviews with a few people with whom Tom had crossed swords and didn’t produce any strong lines of inquiry. Tom never minced his words but was generally a popular figure with the other staff, even though he wouldn’t talk to any new members of staff until they had been there for three months, dismissing newcomers as ‘just passing through’ until they proved worthy of his consideration.
‘Motive and opportunity, Police Constable. Motive and opportunity,’ Inspector Higham impressed on his subordinate PC Stobart. The police concluded that there were five suspects staying in the hotel, all of whom had secrets – some darker than others – known to Tom. They had established that he had consumed the toxic substance at around ten on Sunday morning, some two and a half hours after he had returned home from his night shift. Any one of the five suspects could have visited his cottage at that time. Not one was in church at that precise time, and as the Sunday papers hadn’t arrived that day several guests had gone into town to buy their own. So, on the face of it, none of the five suspects had an alibi and all of them had the opportunity. Furthermore they all had reasons to want Tom to keep his mouth shut.