Chapter 6
Charlie Swan was seated in the dinning room at 5:40 in the morning. He was staring into the space because it was too early for the newspaper, so he didn't have anything to read. The reason why he was up so early in the morning, was his gossipy sister Hellen and his promise to comment with her the details of the party.
Charlie was the youngest of the nine Swan children, when at the time of the war, he left to serve in the army. But the war had no mercy with his family and when he came back all he had left was his sister. Hellen, at that time, was already married to vicar Webber, and was making arrangements to move to Forkshire, where vicar Webber was recently assigned. Charlie decided to join them and start looking for a job in the little town. When they moved, the police sergeant offered Charlie the opportunity to become police constable, in hopes for him to take his place in the future. He was proud to see Charlie now, as the inspector of Forkshire.
Charlie heard someone coming down the stairs, and he smiled. He knew Hellen would tell him all the incidents of the party he missed, the same way she would ask about the details of the case that kept him two days out of the county.
Hellen's eyes were shinning with excitement. She had so many things to tell to Charlie, the dresses, who was dancing with whom... wait 'til she tells him about Alice's tantrum! Well, in town they say the quality of the party is measured in the size of Alice's tantrum.
The ringing of the phone kept them from sharing the exciting news.
"Forkshire 536" Charlie answered as he was closer to the phone.
"Good morning Inspector Swan. Here Cora from the station: I'm afraid someone killed Mr. Carlisle Cullen."
"Cora please repeat that again. I'm not sure I heard you correctly."
"Someone killed Mr. Carlisle Cullen, Constable Seth is already there, because it could be a joke, you know? After all the drinks they had at the party, he could be passed out of drunkenness; but Seth says it's correct and that he was stabbed so there's no doubt he's dead."
Charlie sighed. Despite being a chatterbox, Cora was one of the most reliable's employee's at the station, Seth and Jacob however...
"Ok Cora, is Jacob there? I want him to finish to fill the paperwork from yesterday's case. Then I want him with Seth at the Cullen's house."
"Sure Inspector, he's right here with me. I'll tell him to do so."
"Thanks Cora, see you later."
When Charlie hung up, he looked up to Hellen and told her "Could you believe it, someone killed Carlisle Cullen."
Charlie arrived to the Cullen's home, after the milkman and the fishmongers left the house. This means that the whole town will know in a couple of hours.
He was about to knock on the door, when Miss Esme Platt, the housekeeper opened it; she must have waited for him.
"Good morning Inspector. It's in his study, and I locked the door, oh and the french doors from the back. Here, take the keys from the house."
Charlie had never seen Esme so nervous, so shocked.
"Good morning Miss Platt, who found him?"
"That would be me. I always clean his study first thing in the morning, while the maids clean the rest of the house."
"Did you clean this study alone? Did someone else came into the room?"
"Oh no, Mr. Cullen is... was very picky with his study. I was the only one allowed to enter, and only to clean in the morning. I try to do it before he's awake."
"And at what time you went to clean today?"
"It was 5:30. I came to open the curtains that cover the french doors, but they were open."
"Miss Platt, why don't we go to the study, and you show me exactly what you did."
Carlisle Cullen's study was a big room. Big bookshelves covered one of the walls, an ebony desk stood below the paint of a younger Carlisle with his belated wife Cynthia. Now, his body laid between a couple of chairs in front of the desk, and a little coffee table.
He was facing up, his right hand beside him and the left one over his belly.
Charlie continued his interrogatory to Esme: "Did you move him?"
"I took his left hand, I was looking for a pulse, but he was..." Finally, Esme broke down and cried. Too bad that Charlie had a problem showing empathy.
"It's fine Miss Platt." He said, patting her back with the tip of his fingers. "Why don't you go to the kitchen, a cup of tea will work wonders for you."
"Oh, you're right."
"Miss Platt, what about the other people in the house?"
"They're still sleeping, do you want me to wake tem?"
"No Miss Platt, you can go for your tea."
Charlie observed the body again. Carlisle face was relaxed, almost in peace. He couldn't think of a way where someone stabbed the man, by the front, and Cullen not noticing or fighting it.
This won't be an easy case, probably he should call Scotland Yard. Besides, the Cullens are very rich, the reporters will be coming any minute. He felt a headache coming.
"Excuse me, Inspector." The timid voice of Seth, who was everything but timid, made Charlie look up.
"Mr. Aro Volturi is here. He says he wants to talk to you."
"Let him in. And call Dr. Whitlock, we need him here."
"I called, he's supposed to be back by now. His housekeeper said he will come as soon as he gets the message."
Charlie sighed. Dr. Whitlock's absence had driven Forkshire crazy. Hellen's theory was that he received an inheritance and that was the reason Miss Alice was so adamant to be with him. Anyway, he really needed a doctor. This corpse was getting colder and it will become more difficult to determine the time of death.
"Thanks Seth, make Mr. Aro come here."
Aro came into the study with the care and security given by years and years of practice. He considered Charlie a time he visited his girls, he took time to go fishing with Charlie, he liked the quiet demeanor of the inspector. When he heard a maid telling Didyme about the murder, he thought he could lend a hand to a friend.
"Hello Charlie, do you mind a little company and maybe a bit of help?"
"Of course, what do you think of our body?"
"Hmm, he's too relaxed. If someone tried to attack me, I would defend myself, but he didn't raise a hand. He didn't tried to get out the blade either."
Charlie nodded. There's got to be more than a simple stabbing.
"Look, this bottle is empty, but I don't see any cup or glasses." He said while pointing to the empty absinthe bottle standing lonely on the table.
"Miss Platt will tell us if she took them."
"And the ashtray is full, but the room doesn't smell."
"She said she had to close the french doors, they had to open all night long."
"Now let's take a look to this blade." Charlie used his handkerchief to remove it from Carlisle's body.
"It's a letter opener, very sharp." He took it with care to not erase the fingerprints it may have. Jacob is going to have a field day with this. Since that criminal forensics class he took last month at Scotland Yard, he was begging him to take the fingerprints of everyone at the station just for 'practice'.
Aro kneeled to give the blade a closer look. "It's engraved, it says... Tanya Cullen."
"Maybe it's time to wake up the rest of the house."
They closed the door of the study and climbed the stairs, looking for Esme. Charlie called Seth, asking him to wake everybody and to bring them, one by one, to the room besides the study for interrogation.
Then, he and Aro walk through a hallway, to the room they knew belonged to Tanya Cullen. Better to start with her.
The door was open, the room empty. The bed was made. Mrs. Cullen didn't sleep here last night.
Aro noticed a roll-top desk in the corner. He opened it. At the center, he had a base with blotting paper, and an inkwell. To the right, an engraved pen also property of Tanya Cullen. This is where the letter opener came from.
They left the room, and closed the door with one of the keys Esme gave Charlie.
Esme was waiting for them in the room.
"Miss Platt, where's Mrs. Cullen?"
"She's sleeping, but probably waking up by now, your constable knocked on all the doors calling for everyone."
"Don't lie to us, she wasn't in her bedroom."
"She's in mine. Mrs. Cullen suffers from time to time of migraine. When she starts with the headache, she stays in my bedroom sedated. I take care of her, I studied to be a nurse for a while, so I can handle her."
"And her bedroom remains open?"
"Oh no, I close it. Always. I'm sure I closed it last night."
"Miss Platt, why don't you tell us what happened last night."
"I was at the Higginbotham's since early in the morning. I offered to help to organize the kitchen and waiting staff; we lend them our maids and the butler to work with theirs, like twelve people in total. So you could imagine how chaotic was their kitchen. Then, Lady Higginbotham asked me to join the party, she was very grateful for my help."
"How nice of my niece, and I remember seeing you dancing with Alec."
"Mr. Alec danced with all the women. He's a very charming man."
Charlie felt they diverted from the interrogation course. "When did you leave?"
"Well, after Miss Alice... outburst, Mrs. Cullen felt a migraine coming, and with Mr. Cullen being assisted by you," she pointed to Aro " we took Miss Alice home. Here we left her in her bedroom with a glass of hot milk."
"Did she fall asleep?"
"Oh no, we left her alone, she need time to...unwind."
Aro immediately got the idea, Alice can become pretty hysterical.
"Then I gave Mrs. Cullen a cachet to help her sleep; and then I prepared Mr. Cullen study for him." She was twitching her fingers. "See, every time Miss Alice has one of these outbursts, it really affects Mr. Cullen. So I prepare the study with his favorite beverage a bottle of absinthe and a glass in the coffee table; then I leave a glass of water and another cachet for him. They're innocuous and help both of them to get a good rest."
"Now that you mention glasses, we didn't find any. Did you take them from the study?"
"Oh no, I left two glasses in there last night, but I didn't touch anything from that room."
Charlie and Aro shared a meaningful look, when a woman's wail sounded in the hall.
"She did it! I knew it!"
When they ran to see what was happening, they saw Didyme and Edward holding a very shaken Tanya, and Seth with Jacob trying to calm Alice.
"You couldn't wait to get rid of him, you filthy whore!" Alice yelled.
Didyme left Tanya's side, and slapped Alice. It must have been a very rough one, because she left a mark.
Then everybody was quiet.
Didyme looked around and said. "What? That's what we all wanted to do."