The Inheritance. Simon Tolkien

Otherwise there’s a high brick wall surmounted by broken glass and electric wiring surrounding the estate. The wiring is connected to an alarm system operated from inside the house.’

      ‘I see. The professor must have been very worried about the possibility of a break-in. Would you agree that the system would have cost a lot of money?’

      ‘Yes. I’d say so.’

      ‘And what about the main gate? How is that opened?’

      ‘It’s also operated electronically either from a unit beside the gate or by remote control from inside the house.’

      ‘Was the gate open or closed when police arrived?’

      ‘Officers Clayton and Watts were the first to attend. It’s my understanding that they found the gate closed.’

      ‘And what about the doors of the house itself?’

      ‘I entered through the main front door, which was half open when I arrived. All the other exit doors of the property were locked except for the French windows in the professor’s study, which were also partially open, and the door at the front of the west wing, which was closed but not locked.’

      ‘These French windows to the study. There are thick, floor-length curtains in front of them. Isn’t that right, Inspector?’

      ‘Yes. They were half drawn.’

      ‘And there would be space between the curtains and the doors for a person to hide if he wanted to?’

      ‘I suppose so.’

      ‘Making him invisible to a person inside the room.’

      ‘Yes.’

      ‘Thank you. Now Mr Thompson asked you some questions about my client’s interview …’

      ‘One moment, Mr Swift,’ interrupted the judge. ‘I’m sure you want the members of the jury to have a full picture of this security system. Isn’t that right?’

      ‘Yes, my lord.’

      ‘Well, perhaps the inspector can help us with whether there is any record of the alarm going off on the night of the murder.’

      ‘No record, my lord,’ said Trave.

      ‘And is there any forensic evidence of anyone breaking into the house or the grounds? Any disturbance to the broken glass on top of the perimeter wall that you were telling us about? Any cut wires?’

      ‘No, there was nothing like that.’

      ‘Thank you, Inspector. I just wanted to clear that up, Mr Swift.’

      ‘Of course, my lord,’ said the defence counsel, trying not to allow his irritation to creep into his voice. ‘Now, Inspector, you will recall that my client told you that he walked up to the main gate twice that evening.’

      ‘Yes. Once before his interview with his father and once afterwards.’

      ‘And on the first occasion he told you that he found the main gate open.’

      ‘Yes. He said that he closed it. And that it was still closed when he went back there after seeing his father.’

      ‘Thank you. Now, what else did my client tell you about his first visit to the main gate?’

      ‘He said that he saw a black Mercedes parked on the verge a little further down the road on the opposite side from the gate. It was parked beside a public telephone box, and the door of the kiosk seemed to be wedged open. He said that he saw the same thing when he went back there an hour later.’

      ‘Did he say that he saw the driver of the car on either occasion?’

      ‘He said he could see the figure of the driver but nothing more than that.’

      ‘Why are we hearing about all this now, Mr Swift?’ asked the judge. ‘Your client’s interview can be read to the jury at the appropriate time, and he himself can give evidence about what happened if he chooses to.’

      The judge’s tone of voice made it clear that he thought the defendant might have very good reasons for not going into the witness box and exposing himself to cross-examination. But Swift was ready for the judge this time.

      ‘It’s a matter of timing, my lord.’

      ‘I know that. That’s what I just said.’

      ‘No, I don’t mean that. I believe that the inspector will have something else to say about the Mercedes car on the night of the murder, and it’s important that my client told the police about it before the further information became available to them.’

      ‘All right. Well, get on with it then.’

      ‘Thank you, my lord. Inspector, were there any other relevant reports of a black Mercedes in the vicinity of Moreton Manor on that night?’

      ‘Yes. There was a car of that type stopped for speeding on the road from Moreton to Oxford. It was stopped at 11:15 p.m. The driver gave his name as Noirtier and provided an address in Oxford, which subsequently turned out to be false. He did not respond to a summons to attend court, and there has been no trace of him since. The record of the stop says that he was aged about thirty and spoke with a thick foreign accent.’

      ‘Did you notice the black Mercedes when you arrived at the manor house, Inspector?’

      ‘No. But I wasn’t the first to arrive.’

      ‘Yes. Officer Clayton may be able to help us. Returning to my client’s account of events in interview, Inspector, he told you that he wore his hat and coat on his first visit to the main gate. Isn’t that right?’

      ‘Yes.’

      ‘But he then left them in the study after his interview with Professor Cade.’

      ‘Yes, that’s what he said.’

      ‘The weather conditions on that night are going to be relevant here, Inspector. Would you agree that there was some light rain in the early part of the evening?’

      ‘Yes, it died out about eight, and it was dry after that.’

      ‘And the temperature was in fact quite warm.’

      ‘I’d say it was average for the time of year. There was some wind, as I said earlier.’

      ‘Thank you. Now, there’s just one other area that I want to cover with you, Inspector. My client, Stephen Cade, told you in interview about somebody else with a motive and desire to kill his father. That’s right, isn’t it?’

      ‘He talked about certain events involving his father that occurred in northern France in the summer of 1944.’ Trave spoke slowly, as if he were choosing his words carefully.

      ‘Basically, Stephen told you that he and his brother Silas discovered about two years ago that their father and Sergeant Ritter, as he then was, had killed a French family and their servants at a place called Marjean, in order to obtain a valuable medieval manuscript known as the Marjean codex.’

      ‘Yes. That’s what he said.’

      ‘And that the professor was subsequently shot and wounded in his left lung during a visit to France in 1956, which was the cause of the serious ill health that he suffered from during the last three years of his life.’

      ‘I believe so.’

      ‘And finally that the professor received a blackmail letter the following year, threatening to expose him if he did not go to London and hand over the codex.’

      ‘Yes.’

      ‘Is that a fair summary of what the defendant told you in interview about this aspect of the case, Inspector?’

      ‘Yes, I suppose so.’ Trave looked uncomfortable.

      ‘Well, then, I’m sure you know what my next question is going to be. Why didn’t