Page 47 of Needs Must
‘Somewhere away from your estate where we can get to him and hear what he has to say,’ Jules added, speaking for the first time. ‘Here, for instance.’
‘He will not come here,’ Donna said, shaking her head. ‘He will be aware soon enough that I dined with you last night and will smell a rat.’
‘Then where?’ Bagshott asked.
‘How about Denmead Cottage?’ Donna suggested.
‘No!’ Cal and Miriam cried in unison. Jules simply grinned and winked at Donna.
‘It makes perfect sense. If, as I suspect, he was directly or indirectly responsible for your wife’s sad demise, Mr Bagshott, he will see a certain irony in returning to the place where it happened.’
‘He will know you have taken the lease, pet,’ Miriam said. ‘Aykroyd will have told him, so he won’t fall for it.’
‘Ah!’ Donna deflated, looking disappointed. It was obvious to Cal that she was thirsting for a confrontation with a dangerous and unpredictable man. The dog that Cal had heard her address as Willow was on her lap. She smoothed his back so firmly that he squirmed, his tail thrashing against the arm of her chair like a military drumbeat.
‘You will have to see him at your home then, Bagshott,’ Cal said.
‘Perhaps he will abandon his ruse once he’s aware of Mrs Harte’s presence in the area and that she has your protection, Cal,’ Jules suggested.
‘I beg your pardon, my man!’ Miriam planted her fisted hands on her hips and glowered at Jules. ‘My mistress does not live beneath any man’s protection, thank you very much.’
Donna smiled. ‘It’s fine, Miriam. I understand perfectly what Mr Hardy is implying, and what everyone will think.’
‘That don’t make it right.’
‘I don’t see that there’s anything much I can do.’ Bagshott’s voice broke the tense silence. ‘I have no means of contacting the rogue. I shall just have to wait until he gets in touch with me again.’
‘If he does,’ Jules added.
‘I’m at a loss to understand how you will get him to confess to committing murder, even if you do get to see him,’ Miriam said. ‘It’s not as if you can just ask him to kindly confirm that he killed your wife on his brother’s instructions.’
‘Oh, I don’t know,’ Donna said musingly. ‘Ian has no conscience and will find it amusing that he got away with his crime. He will want to boast about it, to drive a stake into a festering wound. As long as he’s sure you are alone and that there is no one to witness his confession, he willwantto brag about it, Mr Bagshott, you just mark my words.’
Willow jumped from Donna’s lap and chased the tassels on Cal’s boots as he paced the length of the room.
‘Willow, stop that at once!’ Donna cried.
Cal laughed, picked the squirming bundle up and handed him back to Donna.
‘I am sorry,’ she said. ‘He has yet to learn any manners.’
‘Do you really think Harte will go through with it?’ Jules asked. ‘Especially when he realises that you are Cal’s friend and Cal’s estate adjoins Bagshott’s.’
‘I am absolutely sure of it,’ Donna said with conviction. ‘Mr Bagshott’s reputation as a recluse will persuade him. No one has seen hide nor hair of you, sir, since the death of your wife, so I am persuaded that he will take the chance. None of your servants socialise with the villagers, so there is no one to report on your activities.’
‘True,’ Bagshott said, tugging at his beard.
‘I am sure that Ian will have already made considerable inroads into my late husband’s fortune, attempting to portray himself as a gentleman of means. He will be turning his attention to his future comforts now.’ She glanced over her shoulder at Miriam, and they nodded in unison. ‘He will do it,’ she said with conviction.
‘Well,’ Bagshott said, lumbering to his feet. ‘Nothing can be done until he communicates with me again. When he does so I will tell him to come to the house to discuss whatever it is that he thinks he knows.’
‘But how will you do that?’ Miriam asked before Cal could. ‘He would be a fool to leave a forwarding address.’
Donna bit her lip. ‘I agree. He is far more likely to knock at your door late at night and take you completely by surprise.’
‘Then we will have to watch the lane that leads to your door, as well as the woods that separate our estates,’ Cal said briskly. ‘My instructions will be to not intercept your caller, but rather to inform me at once. We will need a means of getting into your house, Bagshott, and at a moment’s notice too.’
‘That is the most ridiculous plan I have ever heard!’ Donna cried. ‘It could be weeks before he acts. How can you be sure that you will actually be around when he does? You have other responsibilities to attend to, I imagine, and cannot wait idly about indefinitely.’
