Unfortunately the Northangers of Jesmond were not home. The neighbours to the left confirmed that they still lived there but that Mr Northanger only got back from work after six and they didn’t know where Mrs Northanger was. Possibly shopping. Possibly visiting an elderly relative… Poppy wrote a note and slipped it through the letterbox, asking Mr and Mrs Northanger to contact her as soon as they could. She left both Aunt Dot’s telephone number and address. Then Delilah drove them back to Heaton.
As they pulled up, they noticed DI Sandy Hawkes sitting in his car.
“Ooooh, there’s your tennis partner, Popsicle. Wonder what he wants?”
“I don’t know. But go in; I’ll join you in a minute. Pop the kettle on, will you? I’m dying for a cuppa.”
Delilah agreed, gave a flirtatious wave to the detective inspector, and went into the house. Poppy waited on the pavement while Sandy got out of the car.
“Good afternoon, Poppy. I’m glad I caught you. I have some news for Mrs Rolandson and Mrs Wilson. But I wanted to talk to you first. And – well – to thank you for –” Sandy stopped talking and raised his hat as Maddie Sherman crossed the road from the park with her two poodles. Poppy smiled and waved at the woman, who nodded a greeting in return.
“She’s going to be in for a shock today, I’m afraid,” said Sandy, quietly.
“Oh, why’s that?”
“Because as we speak my men are arresting her son.”
“Good heavens!”
Poppy’s heart wrenched as she watched Maddie open the door and take her dogs in. But then the implications of Sandy’s statement hit home. “Does that mean you no longer consider Grace a suspect? Is that why you’re here?”
“I’m afraid not. We have found no further evidence to tie Mrs Wilson to Agnes’ death, but the Stanley knife that was left in this house and then used to attack Agnes is still unexplained. As is Mrs Wilson being seen wandering around the back entrance of the gallery on the night of the murder.”
“I was wandering around the back entrance of the gallery on the night of the murder, and I was on the roof! But you haven’t arrested me. And as for the knife, lots of people could have taken it. This house is like King’s Cross Station. There have been workmen and decorators in and out of here for weeks. And then all of Aunt Dot’s, Grace’s, and Delilah’s visitors, not to mention me! If the only thing linking Grace to Agnes’ death is that she had access to the Stanley knife – and was seen on the back staircase – then I should be just as much a suspect as she is. But I’m not.”
Sandy pushed his hat back from his forehead, and with a quirky smile asked: “Do you want me to arrest you, Poppy?”
Poppy was not in the mood for flirtation. “Of course not,” she snapped. “I’m just pointing out the lack of logic in your case, which I believe Yasmin already did at the bail hearing yesterday.”
Sandy sighed. “Yes, she did. And I would have expected nothing less from a professional like Mrs Rolandson. But I wish you would see that I’m just being professional too. You know it’s nothing personal against Mrs Wilson. And you know I was just doing my job. We’ve been over this before, Poppy. I thought you understood. Grace and Agnes were known to have bad blood. Grace had done prison time before, linked to the death of Delilah’s mother.”
“But she didn’t kill her – Delilah’s mother, or Agnes! She was charged with withholding evidence linked to a death, not the death itself. And if you’d done your homework properly, DI Hawkes, you would know that!”
Sandy raised his hands and took a step back. “Whoa, hold your horses Miss Denby. Don’t forget I’m actually here to tell you that we have no further evidence linking Grace to Agnes’ death. And that we’ve arrested someone else.”
“But if you’ve arrested someone else then you need to drop the charges against Grace!”
“I’m afraid that’s not my decision to make. I’m sure Mrs Rolandson will tell you the same thing.” The handsome detective cocked his head, waiting for Poppy’s response.
Poppy took a deep, calming breath. “Yes, I’m sorry. It’s been a long day. And when I left here this morning, poor Grace was nearly comatose with misery. I had just hoped you were here to tell us she had now been exonerated.”
“She might be, in time, but I’m afraid we’re not there yet. We are, though, able to declare Dante Sherman a formal suspect. And that’s all thanks to you. I wrote up a report of what you told me yesterday about your conversations with the professor at the art school. I then formally interviewed him myself. That, and some information given to me by Gerald Farmer – Agnes’s manager – led me to believe that Sherman might have been blackmailing Agnes. I contacted the Met and spoke to our mutual friend DCI Jasper Martin. Then this morning he managed to get a search warrant for Agnes’ flat and studio. He telephoned me at lunchtime to tell me what he had found.”
“Which is?”
“I’m afraid I can’t tell you, yet. I am waiting for the evidence to arrive by special delivery tomorrow. But DCI Martin has given me the gist of it, and we believe there is enough to justify arresting Sherman on blackmail charges, if not – quite yet – murder.”
“Does it have to do with the paintings Gus and Gerald brought up with them? Can you tell me that much?”
“I can and it does.”
“I thought it would.” Poppy then went on to tell Sandy what she and Delilah had learned that afternoon from Sister Henrietta about the Lilies in the Vase painting and Dante Sherman’s attempts to buy it from her. And also about him trying to dig up dirt on Agnes from Mrs Storey in the sweet shop in Ashington, and, finally, about the threatening letter sent to her mother. “So you see, I really believe that Dante was gathering information on Agnes to use against her. And that bringing those two paintings up here – one that linked to her time in Ashington and the other to her time at the home for unwed mothers – was a way of reminding her about it all.”
“To what end?” asked Sandy.
Poppy shrugged. She had been thinking about that all the way home from the Northangers’ house. “I’m not sure, but I’ve got some ideas. Revenge? For what happened to his father? Perhaps he truly believes that Agnes killed his father like the rumours suggest. His mother, yesterday, told me he had been a very angry young man when he first heard about his father’s death. Perhaps that rage is still there. And bubbled over. The letter to my mother was threatening – very threatening. He didn’t want her talking about what happened with Agnes and his father. And perhaps more than that: talking about his father being a pervert, sexually molesting other children. This could all have been done to protect his family reputation.”
Sandy listened carefully and nodded. “Yes, I believe that’s a very good theory. But as I said, we may have evidence of blackmail but not, as yet, of murder.”
“Sherman was seen in the tower looking down to the pavement.”
“He works at the gallery. He had every right to be there. Perhaps he was just going out for a cigarette, just like the stable boy.”
Poppy nodded. She noticed the curtains twitch in Aunt Dot’s front parlour. It was Delilah, checking up on her.
“Then what’s the blackmail all about?” she asked.
“I told you I can’t give you any more details about that at the moment.”
“But it suggests that Sherman was putting pressure on Agnes about something?”
“It does.”
“Was he asking for money? Or putting pressure on her in other ways?”
“I told you, I can’t –”
“Yes, yes, I know. You can’t give me more details about that. But do you think the exhibition was merely a ruse to bring Agnes up to Newcastle?”
Sandy nodded. “Yes, I can give you that. The evidence suggests that the exhibition was part of a bigger plan on Sherman’s part. But what that is, I can’t tell you. In fact, I don’t properly know myself. The evidence is strongly suggestive but not conclusive. However,” and he smiled, “I would like to ask you and Mrs Rolandson to come into the station and listen in to my interview with Sherman. There might be something he says that you pick up on that I don’t.”
“You want me to come too?”
Sandy grinned. “In your capacity as assistant to Mrs Wilson’s barrister, of course.”
Poppy felt chastised. Here she had been giving Sandy a hard time, when actually he really was trying to help.
“Thank you Sandy, thank you. I would love to. But… will Sherman be prepared to talk in front of me?”
“He won’t see you. We’re not a total backwater here in Newcastle. We’ve recently had one of those newfangled two-way mirrors installed in one of our interview rooms. You and Mrs Rolandson will be able to hear the interview, but you will not be able to be seen.”
Golly, thought Poppy, that is exciting! “Then I’d love to.” She saw the curtain twitch again. “But would you like to come in first for a cup of tea?”