Post Script
There had not been much left to be done after the discovery of the note, bar the tidying up of a few loose ends. Bertie was able to make good his promise to Peter by returning the incriminating letter which was discovered hidden among Cliffe's effects before it could be made public. The gun was retrieved with considerable difficulty, but without damaging the valuable statue at the entrance. When the pistol was checked with the bullets recovered from Cliffe's body and the wall below Ginger's bedroom they were found to be a perfect match. The only fingerprints on the weapon were those of Cliffe himself and a check of the serial number showed that it had been registered to the victim. The forensic report on the body was consistent with a suicide, in that he had been shot from close range with no signs of a struggle or coercion.
In view of this evidence the case against Celia, which had been tenuous at best, collapsed and she was released immediately, much to Constable Pearson's chagrin and everyone else's relief.
Algy, Bertie and Ginger went back to London, where they were subsequently able to entertain Biggles on his return with their circuitous uncovering of the truth. There the matter rested until some six months after the coroner's inquest had returned a verdict of "suicide while the balance of his mind was disturbed".
"There's a letter for you, Bertie," announced Ginger one morning, dropping the bulky white envelope on the table as they were sitting down to breakfast. "It's from a firm of solicitors – are you expecting an inheritance?" he joked.
Bertie picked it up and read the name in the top left corner. "Not me, old boy!" he denied. "Not a firm anybody in my family deals with, anyway."
"Aren't you going to open it?" queried Ginger agog with curiosity. "It might be 'something to your advantage'," he grinned.
Bertie slit open the envelope and extracted the contents. There was a sheet of headed notepaper and another sealed envelope with his name in spidery handwriting.
Ginger watched him curiously as Bertie read the letter, frowning. He put it down and picked up the envelope, weighing it in his hand.
Ginger could stand it no longer. "What is it?" he demanded. "Have you inherited a fortune? Or is it someone going to sue you?"
"Neither, old boy," replied Bertie in a curious voice. "Colonel Hitchcott has died. This is from his solicitors – he left instructions that this envelope was to be forwarded to me once he was dead."
"Well, go on then," urged Ginger. "Don't keep us in suspense. Open it!"
Slowly, Bertie slit the top of the envelope and drew out a sheet of good quality stationery, covered in lines of blue ink that crawled across the page in tightly serried ranks. He read it in silence. When he reached the end he sat looking at it so long without saying anything that Ginger began to fidget.
"Well," he demanded at length, unable to contain his curiosity any longer. "What does it say?"
Bertie looked up. "Read it, old boy. It's a bit of a shaker. Read it aloud." He held out the letter.
Ginger reached across and took it from him. He glanced at Algy and Biggles, who nodded encouragingly, then started to read. The calligraphy was shaky and not easy to decipher, but as he continued, engrossed in the content, he understood Bertie's surprise.
The Fordham
Compton Whiles
Oxfordshire
My dear Lissie
If you are reading this, I shall no longer be within reach of mortal justice. I shall have to answer for my actions to that Judge who sees all and knows all. I hope I shall not be found wanting.
I could not let matters pass without setting the record straight. As you probably suspected, your Aunt Adelaide and I were old friends. Indeed, we were more than that; if things had worked out differently, we might even have married, but it was not to be. The War brought us together, but it also changed our destinies for ever.
I had been suffering for some time from a terminal illness; I knew I did not have long left to live and any retribution for my actions could not be long delayed. How could I bear to stand by and let all that Adelaide had sacrificed during the War and all that she and Lady Celia had tried so hard to build up be brought down by a scoundrel so dreadful as Alfred Cliffe?
I planned it all in advance. At least all those years I had spent in Intelligence had not been in vain. I had already discovered that he had a pistol and took it from his drawer while he was absent. After tea, I went to his room and persuaded him to write the suicide note. I spun him some yarn about making money out of it. The man was so greedy and gullible he swallowed it hook, line and sinker. What he did not realise was that I had used a piece of paper that he had already signed earlier in the day, thinking he was adding to the visitors' book. I covered the signature with a piece of blotting paper. Then I took him by surprise and shot him at close range before he could do anything about it. When I was sure he was dead, I put the gun in his hand.
I could not have imagined that Mrs Levy-Strauss, in trying to protect her sister, would nearly ruin my carefully laid plans. They came so close to disaster. When Lady Celia was arrested for the murder I nearly went out of my mind with worry. To my great shame, I admit that I even contemplated murdering an innocent person so that her innocence would be proven beyond a doubt. Thank heavens I did not.
In the end, it all turned out for the best; Adelaide and Lady Celia are secure in their home, Mrs Levy-Strauss has been treated for her problem and is on the road to recovery with the support of her newly reunited family, Peter Fosdyke inherited the fortune from his aunt and has gone to live with Julian in France, where I believe they are more relaxed about these things, the Worsleys are relieved that the South American scandal was not brought up again and a thoroughly evil man has received his just deserts.
I do not excuse what I did, Lord Lissie, but I do beg for understanding. Your cousin Celia, although she is unaware of it, is my daughter. A man cannot watch his only child suffer without trying to do something about it. I was in the unique position of being able to remove the cause of her distress and I took it.
I remain,
Your obedient servant
James Hitchcott Colonel (Rtd)
Ginger stopped reading, astonished. "Crikey!" he ejaculated as his audience remained silent.
Bertie nodded. "Absolutely, old boy. Absolutely!"
