The Thornthwaite Inheritance Page 16

  ‘No, an evil man would have told your father that his wife was dead and that his children would soon follow her. I allowed your father a moment of hope and relief before I pushed him off the cliff. I’m not evil. I’m just greedy.’

  ‘You’re a wicked man, Mr Crutcher,’ said Hazel, walking slowly over to the chessboard.

  ‘Stay still,’ said Mr Crutcher, his finger twitching on the trigger.

  Another flash of lightning illuminated the world outside the window.

  ‘One, two, three,’ counted Mr Crutcher. The sound of thunder reverberated. ‘It’s almost time.’

  ‘No,’ said Hazel, stretching out her arm and sweeping the chess pieces off the board, knocking away the twins’ hands.

  ‘You silly girl,’ snarled Mr Crutcher.

  ‘Hazel, no!’ Lorelli grabbed her and dragged her to the ground as Mr Crutcher pulled the trigger.

  The gun made an ear-shattering BANG that was followed by the tinkle of broken glass. Lorelli looked up to see that the bullet had shattered the window. A strong wind blew into the room, causing the black curtains to flap violently.

  Before Mr Crutcher could take aim again, Ovid was in front of him, holding the barrel in one hand and the butt in the other, grappling to take it off the wiry servant.

  ‘Let me finish this,’ said Mr Crutcher.

  ‘You murdered our parents,’ said Ovid. ‘You would have turned us into murderers too.’

  ‘You were born murderers. You’re Thornthwaites. It’s in your blood.’ As he said this, Mr Crutcher kicked Ovid’s bad ankle, causing him to howl in pain and fall to the ground. Mr Crutcher had his back to the window now and the curtain flapped behind him like black wings. He levelled the gun at Ovid. ‘I wanted to make this neat, but if you will insist on making it messy . . .’

  ‘Shoot me and they’ll send you to prison,’ said Ovid. ‘You’ll get nothing.’

  ‘No. I’ll blame Mrs Bagshaw.’ Mr Crutcher smiled at the thought. ‘I’ll say that after confessing to killing your father she then found the gun and killed you . . .’ He paused then added, ‘before turning the gun on herself.’

  ‘No,’ said Hazel, jumping to her feet and shoving Mr Crutcher’s chest.

  He staggered back and the gun went off, hitting the curtain rail, bringing it down on to his head, knocking him on to the chessboard.

  What happened next would haunt Ovid, Lorelli and Hazel for the rest of their lives and become the subject of countless nightmares.

  Lightning struck and thunder sounded simultaneously. Mr Crutcher let out a strange animalistic howl. The noise died away and the lights went out.

  Ovid got to his feet and found his sister’s hand. She reached for Hazel and the three of them stood, trembling in the gloomy room. In front of them, Mr Crutcher’s body lay still on the chessboard, his face horribly contorted with pain.

  ‘He’s dead,’ said Ovid.

  ‘Yes,’ said Lorelli.

  ‘It’s my fault,’ said Hazel.

  ‘No,’ said Ovid. ‘He killed himself.’

  Who knows how long they would have stood there had it not been for a new danger in the corner of the room? The derailed curtain had blown into the fireplace and caught on fire. Fanned by the wind, eager flames licked the walls, spreading across the room. The fire alarm sounded.

  ‘We need to get out,’ said Lorelli.

  ‘We can’t leave him here.’ Hazel pointed to Mr Crutcher’s body.

  ‘Yes, we can,’ said Ovid.

  ‘No we can’t,’ said Hazel.

  ‘She’s right,’ said Lorelli. ‘Even the dead need caring for.’

  The door opened and Tom Paine entered the room. ‘Come on, it’s time to get out,’ he said.

  ‘Alfred’s dead,’ said Lorelli.

  Tom surveyed the room. ‘I’ll bring the body,’ he said, ‘now please, hurry up and get out.’

  .

  FIRE AND RAIN

  Outside in the dark, the rain was easing off but the wind was still blowing bitterly. Ovid, Lorelli and Hazel were joined by Mrs Bagshaw, Nurse Griddle and Adam Farthing.

  Seeing Hazel, Mrs Bagshaw threw her arms around her. ‘What’s happened, my love?’ she said.

  Hazel didn’t reply, so Lorelli spoke. ‘Alfred confessed to everything he has done,’ she said. ‘He killed our parents; he tried to kill us.’

  Mr Farthing and Tom appeared from the building, carrying Mr Crutcher’s body between them.

  ‘Mr Crutcher. He’s . . .’ began Nurse Griddle.

  ‘He’s dead,’ said Ovid.

  ‘What an afternoon, what an awful day,’ wailed Mrs Bagshaw.

  Tom and Mr Farthing laid Mr Crutcher down on the grass.

  ‘The fire’s spreading through the building,’ said Tom.

  ‘The fire brigade are on their way,’ said Mr Farthing.

  The twins stepped away from the others and looked back at the manor. One by one, each window was lighting up, with a reddish glow.

  ‘I don’t care about the house,’ said Ovid.

  ‘Nor I,’ said Lorelli.

  ‘I have something else to say,’ said Mr Farthing. ‘It’s about your mother.’

  Lorelli looked up at the large lawyer, the red flames of the fire reflected in his glasses. ‘What is it?’

  ‘It wasn’t a wrong number that killed her. It was me. Someone had left a note asking me to call Ruth on your number. I didn’t know why but when I heard that the call had killed Lady Thornthwaite I became scared of what Ruth had got herself involved in. I lied to the police. I’m sorry.’

  ‘It wasn’t your fault. Mr Crutcher tricked you,’ said Lorelli. ‘He tricked us all.’

  Mr Farthing let out a loud sob. ‘Such a terrible waste . . .’

  ‘What are you crying about now?’ said Adam, hobbling over on his crutch.

  ‘Your mother . . .’ began Mr Farthing. ‘She . . .’

  ‘What?’

  Lorelli patted Mr Farthing’s hand kindly. ‘He’s trying to tell you that you were right, your mother didn’t kill herself. Alfred killed her too. He pushed her off Devil’s Leap,’ she lied.

  Adam stared at Lorelli for a moment before turning to Mr Farthing. Then, father and son fell into each other’s arms, crying.

  The twins walked away to leave them in peace. Without a word between them, Lorelli and Ovid sat down on the damp grass to watch Thornthwaite Manor burn.

  .

  A SHELL OF HOPE

  By the time the firemen had finished putting out the fire, all that was left of Thornthwaite Manor was an empty shell.

  Adam asked for permission to write to Lorelli. She gave it, providing that he only wrote the truth in his letters, and then Mr Farthing took his son home.

  The twins didn’t know what would happen next in their lives but as Tom Paine led them through the charred remains of their family home they felt full of hope.

  They hoped Tom would become their new guardian.

  They hoped they would be able to attend the village school.

  For Nurse Griddle’s sake and their own, they hoped Hazel would stay with them and travel with them every day to school.

  They hoped Mrs Bagshaw wouldn’t have to go to prison.

  They also hoped she would learn to cook tastier food.

  They hoped that when Thornthwaite Manor was refurbished it would be painted colourfully, with brighter light bulbs, a TV, a computer and all those other things that normal people had.

  Ovid hoped that he would make friends in the village and that he and his sister would never try to harm one another again.

  Lorelli hoped that she might see Miss Wilde every day after school, and talk to her about books, and that one day she might sit down and write her own story. Most o
f all, she hoped that, unlike Franciska Toth, her life wasn’t a prewritten tragedy, doomed from its first sentence, and that she and her twin brother could live happily ever after like characters in a fairy tale.

  That’s what they hoped for.

  .

  Also by Gareth P. Jones

  .

  The Dragon Detective Agency:

  .

  The Case of the Missing Cats

  The Case of the Wayward Professor

  The Case of the Vanished Sea Dragon

  The Case of the Stolen Film

  .

  Bloomsbury Publishing, London, Berlin, New York and Sydney

  First published in Great Britain in 2010 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

  36 Soho Square, London, W1D 3QY

  Text copyright © Gareth P. Jones 2010

  The moral right of the author has been asserted

  This electronic edition published in 2010 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

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  A CIP catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library

  ISBN 978 1 4088 1301 0

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