The Christmas Mansion Mystery ( Part Ninteen )

Inspector Lampard, asked Brentford to get Nancy a cup of sweet tea,
to calm her down. “You remembered I like sweet tea Inspector.” she
said.

“Of course I remember, nothing gets past me.” he said smiling.

Brentford left the library, making his way to the kitchen, while Lampard, continued to question Nancy.

“So...Nancy, we are on our own, what is it, you would like to tell me?”

“It's about the night of the murder, I wasn't going to say anything, for
fear of loosing my job, but now that I'm a suspect, I feel I need to come
forward and I have to say that categorically, it wasn't Mary.”

“Please...go on Nancy,” said Lampard.

“Well...it was like this, I wasn't able to sleep that night, so I found my
torch, we are all given torches, so we don't wake the rest of the house,
in the middle of the night. I crept down the back staircase, into the kitchen, it was very chilly, that's when I noticed, the side door open.
At first I thought someone had broken in, so I decided to check the other rooms downstairs, that was when I found Mr Henvey, he was
snoring, with a glass of whisky in his hand. I nudged him and he stirred, then I told him, that he'd had enough to drink and I took the glass from him.”

“And he definitely wasn't dead at this point?” enquired the Inspector.

“No! He tried to protest, saying it was his right, to decide when he'd
had enough.”

“So what time was this Nancy?”

“Oh dear! Inspector, if I'm honest, I haven't got a clue, I didn't really
take much notice of the time.”

Just at that moment, Brentford came back with the tea. “Thank you
kindly,” said Nancy, taking the cup and having a sip.

“Okay Nancy...please go on,” replied Lampard.

“Well! Mr Henvey seemed to go straight back to sleep, at this point...
so I took the glass from him, went back into the kitchen, washed the glass up. Then I boiled some milk and made myself a warm cup of
cocoa and left him to sleep.

I was walking up the back staircase, when I heard a phone ringing, as
I got to the top of the landing, I noticed it was coming from Cherish'es
room, I quickly crept down the corridor, to my room and made my way
inside, I put my cup down, turned off the torch and made my way to the
bedroom door, opening it slightly.

Watching and waiting, Cherish came out of her room, walking towards
the main staircase, she was wearing long white evening gloves, which
I found very strange indeed, I wondered at the time, what she was up
to.”

“And what was she up to?” enquired the Inspector, drinking his tea.

“Well at this point, I closed the door, drank my coca and went to bed.
I fell asleep, that was the last time I saw Mr Henvey alive. Look I'm
sorry I never said anything before, only as I was scared I'd loose my
job, I kept it to myself.”

Inspector Lampard made it clear to Nancy, that in future, she should
always tell the truth. “I wish you had told us this before, Nancy...you
could have saved us a lot of trouble.”

“I'm sorry Inspector, though I do feel better for telling you.”

At this point, they could only wait for Cherish to come home. Lampard
was determined to solve this case today.

It was about 5 pm, when Cherish finally got back. Walking in through
the front door, she was greeted by Lampard. “Brrr! It's so cold out there...why Inspector Lampard, fancy you being here, have you come
to solve more of this mystery?”

“Miss Mitchener...it seems we might have already solved the crime.
Please do come in.” said Lampard.

“Well Inspector, this is a turn up for the books, so what have you
discovered?”

“Would you please come into the library, Miss Mitchener, I wish to
speak with you.”

“Yes of course!” replied Cherish, feeling strangely unsure of what
was going on.

“Are you familiar with a Private Investigator, by the name of Mr Jack
Rydell?”

Cherish began to look worried. “Look! Inspector...what's all this about?
I don't have time for games.”

“This is no game Miss Mitchener, I asked you a simple question, do
you know a man by the name of Jack Rydell, yes or no?”

“Well...yes I...I...suppose I do, but I don't understand.”

“Oh! Miss Mitchener, I think you understand clearly, what I'm saying.
It was you, who made the phone call to Mr Rydell that night, to find
out what time Mr Henvey would be home. It was you who killed Mr Henvey, putting the blood onto the kitchen gloves, so that it looked
like Mary or Nancy had done the stabbing, wasn't it Miss Mitchener?”

Cherish found herself, not knowing how to get out of this one, she
knew the Inspector had done his homework. “But how did you find
out about Mr Rydell working for me?”

“My dear lady, the man is a private Investigator, there are limits, as
to what he will keep silent about. So can I please have a statement
from you. You came down in the middle of the night, got the kitchen
knife and stabbed Mr Henvey through the heart, where upon you put
some of the blood onto the gloves. Then you casually left the body
and went back up to bed. Is this correct?”

“Okay...you win Inspector, yes I did it, but do you know what? I have
no regrets, that man was a tyrant, I could have looked after Alice, we
were a good team, I have a good head for money, I could have done
just as well as him, he didn't deserve Alice, she was far to good for him.”

“I'm sorry Miss Mitchener, but you are under arrest, we will need you
to come down to the station, anything you have said, will be held
against you. You will be allowed one phone call to your defence lawyer.
Is that clear?”

At that moment Alice came down the hallway. “What's going on?”

“I'm afraid that Miss Mitchener has confessed to the murder of your
husband, we have all the information we need on tape, I'm sorry to
bring this news to you Mrs Henvey.”

Alice was devastated, she couldn't believe what she was hearing.
“But what will I do without you Cherish?”

“I'm sure you will manage Mrs Henvey, you seem to have a great
staff looking after you, there are plenty more assistance out there
looking for jobs, you can relax now, at least knowing who dunnit!”

In fact when Christmas finally came, the Henvey household was full
of the party atmosphere. Alice decided to have a big party, for all the
staff and family and friends. She actually felt more in control of her
life, than she'd ever felt before.

Where as Cherish spent Christmas behind bars, wondering what her
fate would be.

Jack finally got better and was back at work, solving more cases,
with the help of his fantastic secretary Marianne.

Lilly had to leave one of her girls in charge of the brothel, while she
had to spend six months in jail for aiding and abetting her son.

Johnny's case is still to come up in court, where he will be sentenced,
he awaits his trial, behind bars.

The End.

HAVE A HAPPY CHRISTMAS AND A GREAT NEW YEAR!