Page 104 of A Spell of Midlife Mayhem

‘Wilt we place the culprit in the pillory, then? That mercy seems too lenient.’

I shook my head. ‘Once the police have them, they’ll go to court and a judge will determine how long they will spend in prison.’

Charlotte nodded her approval. ‘Chirtlewood is too modern for the purpose, but the Tower’s dungeons art said to be still of such remarkable quality.’

‘Mm hmm. We’ll see.’

Footsteps sounded in the hall. Charlotte vanished like a light being switched off.

Moments later, Melissa entered the room with a family of tourists in tow. She looked around, and seeing no one else there, asked, ‘Who were you talking to?’

‘I was practising my talk for visitors, making sure I remember everything.’

Melissa smiled. ‘Good idea. These nice people from Canada would love to hear it all.’

***

AFTER WORK, I PHONED Inspector Pentecost and asked her if she had made any progress on the investigation into Ronald’s murder. She wasn’t pleased to hear from me.

‘I can’t discuss an ongoing investigation with you, Ms Nicholls.’

‘So, you don’t have any suspects?’

‘There are plenty of suspects, and you’re one of them. Beyond that, I can’t say anything except that we are working on multiple lines of inquiry.’

‘But those are not leading anywhere, are they?’

‘I won’t rest until I apprehend the murderer, Ms Nicholls. Don’t worry about that. Justice will be served in due course.’

I thanked her and rang off. She had nothing. The investigation was stalled.

Solving the mystery was up to me.

Chapter 33

I ATE A QUICK DINNER of lamb chops and chips and talked with Raven about how to handle the meeting with the murderer/thief. We came up with a plan of sorts. Raven would wait in a highly visible spot, his phone audio recording, while I kept out of sight so as not to alert the target about the entrapment. Once they turned up, I would start video recording and approach them both. By then, we should have enough evidence to turn over to Inspector Pentecost.

---