She was privy to who Mr. Fitzwilliam was and perhaps, considering she opened his mail and had access to his desk, what some of his reports contained.
She also was well aware of Colin’s impatience with any kind of lack of progress.
She took one look at the controlled fury on Colin’s face, set the cup down at the far, outer corner of his desk as if she feared for her very life if she came within close proximity to him.
Then she slid the newspaper cautiously beside his coffee. “And you might want to have a look at that…” she paused then finished warningly, “later.”
With that, she ran-walked out of the room.
Robert Fitzwilliam entered seconds after.
Colin did not rise. He sat back in his chair and watched as Robert came into the room, stopped at the other side of the desk and looked, Colin was further infuriated to see, not the least bit ill-at-ease.
Before Colin could say a word, Robert announced, “We caught the boy.”
“I beg your pardon?” Colin asked quietly.
“The boy whose arm you broke, we caught him,” Robert answered. “We have him. We’re holding him not far from here.”
Colin took in a breath, trying for patience.
Fitzwilliam continued, “He’s been talking. We expect to have the other one within the hour.”
Colin regarded him carefully and when he spoke his voice was dangerous. “At this point, I’m not certain how relevant that is. Considering, of course, that the socialite and apparent villainous mastermind who orchestrated this entire lark is now in jail. Brought low, I might add, by a bevy of OAPs.”
Finally, the investigator looked a touch ill-at-ease. “Mr. Morgan, if you would allow me to explain.”
“This,” Colin said, his tone reaching stratospheric levels of ominous, “had better be good.”
Fitzwilliam, quite bravely, since he was not invited to do so, took a seat.
Then he started. “We knew Tamara Adams was following you. I did not report this to you because there seemed to be matters of weightier concern and, quite honestly, I had enough on my hands that I didn’t have the time to write reports or make phone calls about a common stalker. You, sir, are a man who can protect himself.”
Colin’s lips tightened at what he considered empty and overly respectful cajolery.
“Might I remind you, Robert, that I wasn’t concerned about me.”
“Of course, I know that. But Miss Adams was not following Miss Godwin, she was always following you. More to the point, my men were seeing quite an alarming number of tails. You had yours and not just Miss Adams but these other tails seemed especially devoted to Miss Godwin. Yet, when my men would investigate, there was no one there. No one in the cars they saw following, no one in the bushes they’d seen rustling, the shadows they saw lurking at windows seemed to simply disappear, it was like whoever he was, he was invisible.”
Colin raised his brows and Robert went on speaking.
“Or at the very least slippery. We found this telling and went on high alert, obviously, because this was the work of a professional or several as these tails could be on both you and Miss Godwin at the same time. Not to mention, I had to set a man on each of your houses in case something was rigged while you were away. And, I’m afraid, as your home is open to National Trust visitors, I also had to have several men available on those days mingling with the tourists and watching for suspicious activity. Miss Godwin and her family are a highly active bunch. Shopping, walks, day trips, playing Frisbee out in the open on the seafront, they were everywhere and very exposed and being so made our task very difficult.”
“You were paid well to deliver on a difficult task,” Colin reminded him. “Furthermore, I’d like you to explain why now is the first time I’m hearing all of this.”
Robert raked a hand through his hair for the first time looking frustrated and he looked at the floor. “We didn’t have anything concrete. I didn’t want to alarm you or Miss Godwin if it turned out to be nothing. And every time we approached, it was exactly that, nothing.”
Colin said not a word and Robert shifted nervously in his chair.
Then Robert pulled himself together and continued, “We investigated Tamara Adams, of course. And the police have been talking to her. I know a few blokes with police and they tell me she admits to the vandalism of the house, asking a friend to make the threatening phone call and, of course, the tranquilliser darts. She does not and adamantly refuses to acknowledge any part in trying to run you and Miss Godwin down with a car. Further, outside of shooting you with a tranquilliser that night, she refuses any knowledge of what happened in Miss Godwin’s office at The Centre with the two boys and the knife.”
He held Colin’s eyes, eyes that were regarding him with disbelief.
Then Colin pointed out, “She would of course deny some of the more serious allegations. She loaded the tranquilliser dart with enough drug to kill Sibyl, she’s facing grievous bodily harm at the least –”
Colin didn’t finish, Robert cut in, “She swears she didn’t know that either. Just loaded it as the instructions she found on the internet told her. Unfortunately, the instructions were for a very large animal, not a person of Miss Godwin’s weight. Apparently, she used the same load on you but it didn’t all release. She’s using the excuse that it was a mistake.”
“Mistake or not, it could have killed Sibyl.” Colin bit out.