Blood on the Sand dah-5 Read online

  Cantelli flashed him a glance before putting his eyes back on the road. 'Eat too much, drink too much and-'

  'Apart from that,' Horton said impatiently. 'You're away in sunny Italy, or in Blackpool, and you want to tell your sister you're having a great time-'

  'I'd text her,' Cantelli said with a grin. Horton knew he was being deliberately obtuse. He'd got the point all right.

  'In 1990?'

  'Yeah, I know. How on earth did we manage? I'd send a postcard,' Cantelli grinned.

  'Precisely. And Helen could have sent a postcard to her son and daughter; here we are having a great time at The Needles type of thing.'

  'So what if she did? That doesn't tell us anything. And Owen was at Southampton University so she'd hardly send a postcard to him when he was just across the Solent.'

  Cantelli was right. The postcard idea was crap. But Cantelli had sparked another idea. He said, 'Owen could have travelled here to see his parents, or even to stay with them.'

  'And? I don't get what you're driving at, Andy.'

  'Nether do I,' Horton said, deflated, but for a moment he felt there was something there. Something his subconscious had caught but which had slipped away. He tried again. 'Let's say Owen was told about the break-in by one of his parents. He comes rushing over here after it had happened to console them.'

  'I doubt a twenty-year-old student would have given it a second thought.'

  'OK,' Horton grudgingly admitted. 'But his parents didn't live in England and they were practically on his doorstep. Even if he didn't come because of the break-in he wouldn't have missed the opportunity of seeing them.'

  'Maybe not. But the Carlssons could have visited their son on their way here, in Southampton. You're not thinking he could have something to do with their death?' Cantelli said, clearly bothered by the thought.

  Horton hadn't but now that Cantelli had mentioned it he said, 'Children have killed their parents.' The thoughts tumbled their way through his mind like leaves in a hurricane and he didn't much like where they were taking him.

  Cantelli said, 'Why would Owen do that?'

  After a moment Horton answered. 'Money. Perhaps Owen was in debt and saw an easy way out. Or perhaps he's mentally disturbed.' The picture of Owen's house flashed before Horton's eyes, the neatness of the place except for that chaotic study. Did that portray a personality in conflict? He said, 'We don't know enough about Owen Carlsson. In fact we know nothing.' But that wasn't true. He recalled what Peter Bohman had said about Owen. Owen had never asked Bohman about his parents' death or had seemed worried or curious about it. He said it was the past, best to forget it. He was like his father, focussed on the present. Maybe he'd never asked because he already knew what had happened.

  He said as much to Cantelli.

  'If Owen did have a hand in his parents' death and Thea found out then she-'

  'Could have killed him, or arranged to have him killed, yes.' Horton's heart sank. He knew it was highly probable given Bohman's information about Thea's disturbed background. And that was one more feather of doubt fluttering down on the scales against her. He much preferred Bella Westbury and Danesbrook as their killers.

  Quietly Cantelli said, 'So we could be back to thinking Thea got Anmore to kill Owen and then she killed Anmore.'

  Horton gazed up at the black-clouded sky through the windscreen, not wishing to examine his feelings. This was looking bad. If Thea had sought revenge on her brother, then where was she now? How had she known about Owen's part in his parents' deaths, if he had killed them? Had he finally told her? Horton recalled what Strasser of the Luxembourg police had said about Thea being distracted on her return to work in the New Year. And who had ransacked her apartment? Had she done that herself to make it look as though an outside force was at work? Did it mean Arina Sutton's death was an accident? Why had Owen visited Dr Nelson?

  There was an answer to that last question at least. Nelson could have been Owen's GP in Southampton, and all that stuff he'd spun Horton was a lie. They needed more information on Nelson's background, and they needed to dig deeper into Owen's past employment record, university career and medical background.

  Depression settled on Horton and stayed there while he briefed Uckfield. He could tell instantly that Uckfield warmed to the idea of Owen being involved in his parents' death and Thea's subsequent quest for revenge.

  Uckfield sat forward but a cry of pain stalled his further comments.

  'Back still giving you jip?' asked Horton.

  'Yes, and so are you,' Uckfield gasped. 'I've already asked to see Thea Carlsson's medical records, which after what you've just told me sounds like a smart move. I'll request her brother's. Even if Owen Carlsson didn't kill his parents then Thea could still blame him for neglecting her after their parents' death. That architect man in Sweden, Bohman, said as much.'

  'She's had a long time to think about getting even,' Horton growled.

  'Yeah, and maybe hearing her brother singing Arina Sutton's praises over Christmas and New Year really got up her nose. Then, seeing how upset he was following her death, Thea feels rejected once again when he won't let her comfort him. Especially when she's come home to take care of him.'

  Despite not wanting to believe it, Horton knew that it sounded plausible.

  Uckfield said, 'DCI Birch is looking for a past connection between Anmore and Thea Carlsson.' Uckfield held up his hand to staunch Horton's reply and winced as he did so. 'It's possible that Owen told Thea at Christmas that he was planning to marry or live with Arina Sutton, which was why he went to Luxembourg on his own leaving his newly bereaved girlfriend in that big house. When Thea Carlsson came here to stay with her brother over New Year she could have met up with Jonathan Anmore while visiting Scanaford House with Owen. If we can establish a link between Thea Carlsson and Anmore then it's possible that she could have arranged for Anmore to kill Arina in the place her parents died-'

  'Why would she do that?'

  'Because she's sick. She's got a warped mind. Then she rushes home to comfort her brother.'

  'That's a bloody big if.' But even as he said it, Horton knew he had been thinking the same and had said as much to Cantelli earlier.

  Uckfield continued, 'Anmore kills Owen after Owen rejects Thea. Then Anmore and Thea Carlsson arrange that neat little performance at the Duver that you happened to stumble upon.'

  Horton didn't like this one little bit. In fact he hated it and judging by Uckfield's expression he had been considering this for some time.

  Eagerly Uckfield went on. 'Anmore tries to kill Thea Carlsson by setting fire to the house because he's scared she'd confess. Then Thea gets out of the hospital, finds Anmore and plunges a pitchfork in his back.'

  'So where the hell is she?'

  'That's what I want you to bloody well find out.'

  Dismissed, Horton headed for the canteen tormented by the knowledge that the woman he had thrown from that burning house could have killed her own brother and Jonathan Anmore.

  'Any news on Anmore's boat?' he asked grumpily, sitting between Cantelli and Trueman.

  'It hasn't been in the sea for some months,' replied Trueman, shovelling fish and chips into his mouth as though he'd not eaten for days. 'So he couldn't have been meeting gun runners or drug dealers.'

  'He could still have met them on shore,' Cantelli said stubbornly.

  'He could,' agreed Trueman, 'but if your theory that Owen killed his parents and Thea killed her brother with Anmore's help is correct then it's of no significance anyway. At least not to this case.'

  Cantelli had obviously been updating Trueman while Horton had been in with Uckfield.

  To Trueman, Horton said, 'I want you to look into Dr Edward Nelson's background. He could have known Owen Carlsson professionally when he was at Southampton University.'

  'I know where he was during his National Service.'

  'Not sure that helps us much,' Horton said with sarcasm.

  'You never can tell,' Trueman replied solem
nly. 'Nelson and Sutton were both in the Royal Army Medical Corps from 1956 to 1959, based at the British Military Hospital in Tripoli. Or at least Nelson was in Tripoli until 1959. Sutton left there a year earlier but there's no trace of where he went. He next shows up as a registrar at Guy's Hospital in 1960.'

  'Don't the army records tell us what he was doing?'

  'Not the ones I've had access to. But I've asked a mate who works there to have a nose around.'

  'Where haven't you got mates?' Horton muttered.

  'It pays to keep in touch. He doesn't know why Sutton's records are missing from 1958 to 1960.'

  'Could he have been abroad on another posting?'

  'Probably, but the records should show that.'

  Cantelli said, 'Perhaps it was hush-hush.'

  Trueman shrugged. 'Could be, which means that someone's conveniently lost that information or destroyed it. Or it could just be incompetence and someone forgot to fill in where Sutton was between September 1958 when he left Tripoli until he was discharged from the army in November 1959 and showed up for work at Guy's in

  January 1960.'

  Horton could feel his curiosity rising. He didn't like gaps of any kind, although Trueman could be right and this was probably just a piece of slipshod work. Even if it weren't, he didn't think it had any bearing on the case, except for one thing that still irked him: Owen's visit to Nelson.

  He stretched and rubbed his face. 'What was going on in the world in 1958 and 1959?'

  'The Cuban crisis,' Trueman said, promptly. 'Fidel Castro took over as premier on the sixteenth of February 1959 and brought the world to the brink of nuclear war as his alliance with the USSR provoked a missile crisis.'

  'Our Man in Havana,' muttered Cantelli.

  'It's a book,' confirmed Trueman to Horton's raised eyebrows.

  'And a film,' added Cantelli. 'By Carol Reed, starring Alec Guinness and Maureen O'Hara. 1959.'

  'If you say so,' Horton said. Cantelli was an expert on these things. 'But I can't see Sutton being in Havana or anywhere else in Cuba.'

  'Probably not,' Trueman agreed. 'But Our Man in Havana is a good book.'

  Suddenly something connected in Horton's tired brain. Book.. Sutton… Of course! Trueman, you're a genius.'

  With a smile, Trueman said, 'I know that.'

  Horton leant forward. 'Bella Westbury, ex British Army Military Intelligence, shows up on the Isle of Wight and becomes housekeeper to Sir Christopher Sutton just when the man has been diagnosed with terminal cancer. And what do some people do when they discover they haven't got long left for this world?'

  Cantelli said, 'They confess.'

  'There's a Catholic for you.'

  Trueman caught on. 'Or they write a book — their memoirs.'

  Horton smiled triumphantly. 'Exactly! Bella said to me that she was leaving because her job was done. I thought she meant killing Arina, Owen and Jonathan Anmore and maybe even Thea Carlsson, but that wasn't her job, and neither has it anything to do with Owen's environmental project. Bella Westbury was here to stop Sir Christopher blabbing about where he was and what he was doing during 1959. My God, it makes sense.'

  He threw himself back in his seat and watched the expressions on Trueman's and Cantelli's faces before adding, 'By being in Scanaford House as housekeeper, she was able to field Sutton's calls, sift through his post and his possessions and make sure he wasn't about to break the Official Secrets Act, which he must have signed when doing National Service. She was also able to conduct a thorough search of Scanaford House after Arina Sutton was killed in case Sutton had left a written confession.'

  Cantelli said, 'So she did kill Arina.'

  Horton chewed it over. 'Only if Sir Christopher had told his daughter his secret on his deathbed.' And he could have done. Confession being good for the soul and all that. But he still couldn't see where Helen and Lars Carlsson came into it. Maybe they didn't and the fact that their deaths had occurred in the same place as Arina's had been just one of those weird coincidences. Or perhaps Owen had killed his parents and Arina really had been killed by a hit-and-run driver. Her death in Seaview had been the catalyst which had unlocked Owen's secret and set up a tragic chain of events ending in his death and Anmore's.

  He leant forward. He didn't much like what he had to say but there was no way round it. 'OK, theory number one. Bella Westbury is here to stop Sutton from blabbing about where he was in 1959 and to make sure he's left no written evidence when he dies. She can also check that Arina knows nothing about her father's secret, whatever it is. By some strange and tragic fluke Arina gets killed by a hit-and-run driver in the same place as Owen killed his parents. Because Owen loves Arina and was planning to marry her he believes her death is a punishment for him killing his parents. He calls on Nelson because he saw him at Sutton's funeral and is now worried he might have recognized him from 1990, when Nelson had treated Owen Carlsson, or knew something about his medical background. Thea comes home to comfort her brother. Owen by now is filled with guilt and remorse, and confesses to her what he did in 1990. She kills him, either with a gun Owen had, or she's teamed up with Anmore and used his gun. Then Thea kills Anmore and has gone into hiding.'

  'Or killed herself,' added Cantelli sorrowfully.

  Horton took a breath. He had to admit it was possible.

  'What's theory number two?' asked Trueman, pushing his plate away.

  'Bella Westbury is here to stop Sir Christopher Sutton's secret from coming out, but Sutton says something to his daughter before he dies. Arina tells or hints at this secret to Owen. When Arina is killed by Bella Westbury or someone working with her, Owen gets curious, concerned and angry. He starts to investigate if there is any truth in what Arina's told him, which takes him to Edward Nelson GP, Sir Christopher's old friend and colleague. Nelson tips Bella the wink, or someone who is working with her, so Owen Carlsson too has to be silenced.'

  'And Anmore?' asked Trueman.

  'Maybe he overheard something, or saw Bella talking to a colleague.'

  'Danesbrook?' suggested Cantelli.

  'I doubt he's got the intelligence to be working with a sharp operator like Bella, but we might as well haul him in again just in case he's brighter than he looks.' Horton scraped back his chair. To Trueman he said, 'Tell Marsden and Somerfield to pull Bella Westbury in. She could still be our killer.'

  'And you?' asked Trueman.

  'We're going to talk to Dr Edward Nelson.'

  Cantelli looked alarmed. 'We? I'll be no good to you, Andy. If I have to sail anywhere I'll be throwing up all over the place.'

  'OK. Interview Bella. See what you can get out of her.' Cantelli heaved a sigh of relief. To Trueman, Horton said, 'Dave, check out when Sutton was diagnosed with cancer. Has the warrant come through for Scanaford House?'

  'Yes.'

  'Then get a team in there even though we're too late. And another team into Danesbrook's place and Bella Westbury's cottage.'

  'How does this fit with the photograph and Helen and Lars Carlsson's death?' asked Cantelli, following Horton out of the canteen.

  Trueman said, 'Sutton was working in London at the Hammersmith Hospital as a consultant surgeon in 1990.'

  'Yes, but he owned Scanaford House then.' Horton saw it all in a flash. 'It has a ghost and Helen Carlsson was reputed to have been psychic, or at least interested in ghosts, hence the book she bought and inscribed for Thea, which went up in smoke in Owen's house. Maybe Helen went to photograph Scanaford House and saw Sir Christopher Sutton talking to someone from British Intelligence.'

  'Could it be this "girl" that Thea asked Peter Bohman about?'

  'Maybe, Barney. Or it could have been Bella Westbury.'

  Uckfield looked up from the crime board. 'Bloody hell, it's the three musketeers. I thought you lot had gone home.'

  'No, but I am going out,' Horton replied, picking up his helmet.

  'Where?'

  'Sergeant Cantelli will explain; I've got a ferry to catch.'

 
Uckfield looked about to explode but Cantelli quickly interjected. 'I'll tell Dr Nelson you're on your way.'

  'No. I want to surprise him. I might catch him off guard. He must know more than he's told me.'

  'What if he's not in?' said Trueman.

  'He will be,' Horton replied with conviction.

  TWENTY-ONE

  Nelson showed no surprise as he opened the door. This time Horton was shown into a comfortably furnished lounge where a gas fire hissed incongruously in a large brick fireplace. There was no sign of Mrs Nelson and no explanation of where she was.

  Horton took a seat on the floral patterned sofa wondering if Nelson had been warned by someone that he was on his way. He didn't for a moment suspect either Trueman or Cantelli of going against his instructions, which meant he could have been followed, though he hadn't noticed anyone as he crossed on the ferry. And he'd seen no one watching Nelson's house.

  On the crossing, Horton had received a call from Cantelli. Despite Marsden and Somerfield's surveillance, Bella had somehow contrived to give them the slip. Horton wasn't really surprised. He didn't think Marsden and Somerfield had been incompetent but an old professional like Bella Westbury had probably already worked out an escape route. He suspected that she'd climbed over the garden wall into neighbouring properties until she could call a taxi, or meet up with someone ready to help her disappear.

  He told Cantelli to get Marsden to check the boat at Cowes, though he knew she'd be long gone, and to alert Sergeant Elkins of the marine unit to look out for it. Elkins would contact the harbourmasters and marinas around Portsmouth and along the south coast. He gave Cantelli the name of the boat, knowing that Bella Westbury could pull into any harbour, or even motor to London and up the Thames.

  'So how can I help you, Inspector?' Nelson said, switching off the television news and settling himself in the armchair to Horton's right.

  'Did you know Owen Carlsson before he came to visit you here?'

  'I met him at Christopher's funeral.'

  'I mean before then. Was he ever a patient of yours?'