Page 81 of The Hollow of Fear

“Lord Ingram, if we could have a word alone,” said Fowler. “We have a somewhat delicate matter to discuss.”

“Lord Bancroft is well versed in the situation,” Lord Ingram answered firmly. “There is nothing here that needs to be kept from him.”

“Very well, then, my lord—”

The door burst open.

“Chief Inspector! Inspector!” cried Sergeant Ellerby. “We found another body on the estate, a man’s body!”

17

“It wasMr. Holmes’s idea. Remember he told me that I should be on the lookout for the body of an indifferently dressed man?” gushed Sergeant Ellerby, as excited as a child who had discovered a cache of sweets. “He also told me that the body could very well be located not that far from the icehouse. So this morning, as the fog cleared, I thought to myself, why not conduct a search? And lo and behold, we found it within the hour.”

The dead man’s clothes were shabby, not so much those of a vagrant but more those of a ne’er-do-well. He had been strangled, the marks on his throat still vivid. And though the smell was fading, he had indeed soiled himself before he died, as Charlotte Holmes had predicted.

The spot he lay on was fifteen minutes’ walk from the icehouse, longer if one were pulling a body—his still-damp trousers showed tears consistent with having been dragged.

Chief Inspector Fowler’s expression was unreadable. He sent a constable to inform the London pathologist to delay his departure. Then he examined the body and the surrounding area. Lord Bancroft walked about slowly, taking in everything. Lord Ingram leaned against a tree, smoking, seeming to pay no attention to the goings-on.

Half an hour later, they were back in the library.

Fowler wasted no time. “Lord Ingram, why don’t you tell us who that man was.”

“He told me his name was George Barr.”

“Why did you kill him?”

“Last I saw him, he was perfectly alive. I had nothing to do with his death.”

“Very well, then. Tell us how you came to know him at all.”

“It was the day before Mrs. Newell’s guests came to my house, or perhaps I should say the day of, since it was approximately one o’clock in the morning. I was in the tunnel going toward the glass house boilers when he appeared at the end of the tunnel. The electric lights were on and the entire tunnel was lit. He saw me and immediately turned around and started up the ladder.

“I chased after him. Near the icehouse I caught up with him, overpowered him, and tied him up.”

“You carried rope on you?”

“Some good cord.”

“Why?”

“Perhaps you’ve learned from my staff that there had been a fire at Stern Hollow some time ago?”

“I was made aware of that.”

“I am almost entirely certain the fire was started as a distraction—that same night there was an attempt to kidnap my children, which I managed to foil only because I didn’t run toward the fire but in the direction of the nursery.”

“You didn’t tell me, Ash,” said Lord Bancroft, his voice low.

Lord Ingram shook his head. “You had enough to worry about. I didn’t want to add to your burden.”

“So you were already concerned that your children might be abducted?” asked Fowler.

“I did not think Lady Ingram was above such machinations.”

“And that was the reason you sent them away with Lord Remington. You thought they would be safer away from Stern Hollow,” said Treadles.

“Yes. I trusted Remington to be able to evade anyone Lady Ingram might send after him.”