| |
“Me?” Maggie asked.
“Yes,” Delia said with a firm nod. “I heard about that other murder you solved, the one which happened last month.”
“I didn’t exactly solve it.”
“I think you did. If you hadn’t got yourself involved, the police would have ignored that murder. I don’t know all the details, but I do know you didn’t give up until you’d found the murderer.”
Maggie reached for a biscuit. “It’s more complicated than that. Why do you think your brother was murdered?”
“Because of all the death threats he received. Harvey made a note of them all. I think I will have a biscuit. I need to keep my strength up if we’re going to make a plan of action.” She helped herself to two biscuits.
Maggie ignored the comment about making a plan of action. “What death threats?”
“From the other treasure hunters. You do know about the treasure hunting business? I’m assuming DCI Dexter had the decency to at least tell you that.”
“I do know about the treasure hunting. Death threats from the other hunters? Anyone in particular?” Maggie didn’t want to tell Delia about the man-bun chap, not yet anyway.
“There was more than one source. As much as I love my brother, he did have a tendency to annoy people. He didn’t do it on purpose. I don’t think he was even aware of how much he upset people. You see, Harvey was a stickler for the rules. Rules were there for a reason. They had to be followed. And Harvey stuck to the rules of treasure hunting as if his life depended on it.” Her face fell. “That was an unfortunate phrase to use.” She took a little nibble of one of the biscuits, pulled a face, and then put it on her knee. “I still can’t eat.”
Maggie had already finished one biscuit, but she stopped herself getting another as she had questions for Delia. She started with, “Tell me more about your brother. Did he have a job”
“No. He used to work in a bank, but he took early retirement. He wanted more time to spend on his passion of treasure hunting. He set up his own group. It has lots of members. Harvey first started treasure hunting as a child.”
“A child? I didn’t know it had been going on for so long.” Suddenly realising she’d insulted Delia, she quickly added, “Oh, I don’t mean it that way. Sorry.”
Delia’s smile was brief. “It seems a long, long time ago when Harvey and I were children. More years than I care to admit. The treasure hunting he did then was more of the letterbox type. He loved it. We’d spend hours every weekend searching for those boxes.”
“Letterboxing? I’m confused. Did you look through people’s letterboxes for treasure?”
“No, nothing like that. Letterboxing started in the eighteen-fifties in the south of England. If I wanted to make you fall asleep, I would give you the full history about it. But I’d rather not. Letterboxing involves boxes full of maps, puzzles, quizzes, that sort of thing. It’s still going on today.”
Maggie shook her head. “I had no idea. This treasure hunting thing is like a secret society.”
“I know. They even have their own coded language. Harvey knew them all. He lived for his treasure hunts.” She gazed out of the window, lost in thought.
Maggie said gently, “Tell me more about those death threats.”
Delia snapped out of her trance. “Yes, of course. Sorry. I keep getting stuck in memories. The death threats. Yes. They came from many people, and many places. Harvey ran a treasure hunting website, and he had social media accounts. He used to post updates regularly about his finds, and the finds of other hunters. He made long posts about those who Harvey thought had broken the rules. I told him repeatedly it was a bad idea to do that. To name people online. But Harvey didn’t care. He said rule-breakers should pay the price. Not only did Harvey name the people who he thought had broken the rules, he went into precise detail about where they’d done it, and if they’d done it before.”
“That wouldn’t have gone down well.”
“It didn’t. That’s when the death threats began. Mostly anonymous, or using coded names. Harvey kept a note of everything. All his hunts. All the members of the group he’d created. All their so-called crimes. There must be hundreds of notebooks in his house. I can let you have a look at them if you think that would help.”
Maggie asked, “Have you told the police about these death threats?”
“I have. But they won’t take me seriously. They said they’ve already made their enquiries about Harvey’s death, but they won’t tell me what they’ve done. Is that what they were like with you? When you tried to get them to take that murder on your street seriously?”
Maggie didn’t want to talk about that murder. She was doing her best to forget about it. “Did you show them the notebooks?”
“I told DCI Dexter about them, but he didn’t want to see them. He said Harvey’s death was accidental.” Spots of colour came to Delia’s cheeks. “That made me furious. I shouted at the inspector. I told him he was useless and that he wasn’t doing his job right. DCI Dexter didn’t like that.”
Maggie smiled. “I bet he didn’t. Was there any name in particular which came up often in Harvey’s notebooks?”
“Oh, I don’t know. I haven’t had a good look at the books yet. We should go through them together and make notes. See who the major suspects are. Shall I go and get them now? I meant to bring some with me, but I forgot. I’m forgetting everything lately.”
Maggie was torn about what to do next. She forced herself to say, “I don’t think I can help you. I’m sorry. If the police said Harvey’s death was accidental, then I think you should accept that. As hard as that is.”
Delia’s eyes welled with fresh tears. “But I know in my heart he was murdered. I just know it. I have to do something. The police won’t help me, no matter how much I plead with them. The last police officer I spoke to looked at me as if I were mad, and as if I were wasting their time.”
Maggie nodded in understanding. “I know that look. That’s how they looked at me.”
“So, you understand what I’m going through. I knew you would. Maggie, I’m desperate. I know my brother was murdered. I have to do something to prove it, but I’m not strong enough to do it on my own.” She swallowed nervously. “Please, can you help me? I don’t know what else to do.”