The Christmas Mansion Mystery ( Part Thirteen )

When, Inspector Lampard finally came in, it was about 1pm, he was
desperate to get on with the interviews for the statements.

“So how's your daughter and the baby getting on, sir?”

“Just fine thank you, Brentford. I've had a phone call from forensics,
it seems that, Andrew Henvey was probably murdered between the
hours of 2am and 4am, but they still need to do more investigations,
apparently the knife had pierced his heart.”

“Ouch! Not nice at all.” replied, Brentford.

“Have you set up the interview room yet?”

“No...not yet, sir. I've been making quite a few phone calls, with some
very strange replies. It seems quite a few people either don't wish to
discuss the man, or they are just not there, but there was one woman,
who thought I was, Andrew Henvey, she called me darling, until she found out I wasn't him, then the receiver seemed to go down immediately, I tried to phone back, but there was no reply.”

“Well,” replied, Lampard, better get on and get the tape set up,
otherwise they'll be here and we won't be ready for them.”

“Yes right away, sir!”

It seemed that, Alice Henvey was true to her word, the front desk,
informed, Lampard of their arrival at exactly 1.30pm.

“Can you send them down to the interview room one at a time please,”
asked the Inspector, Oh! and let them know they will be finger printed
after the questioning.”

The first person to be questioned was Jackson, who was Alice's personal driver. He was quite tall with blondish hair, he wore a flat hat, which Alice insisted he wore, as she thought it made him look more like an official driver, he also wore a black blazer and black flared trousers.

“Okay, Mr Jackson...please take a seat,” he sat down at the table opposite the two detectives. “Now can I have your full name?” asked Lampard.

“My name is, Richard, Anthony Jackson.”

“So Mr Jackson can you explain what you were doing on the night
before the murder?”

“Yes, Mr Henley had been out for the afternoon, he went to the The
Crown, he liked to take colleagues there, he said it was a friendly
relaxed atmosphere.”

“So what time did he arrive home?” enquired Lampard.

“Oh I'd say around 7pm, just in time for the evening meal, they always
ate around 7pm.”

“So what did you do after that?”

“Mr Henvey told me I was no longer needed that night, so I decided to
take a walk to my local, The Cat in a Hat, the barman John can verify I
was there till 10pm, then I came back to the house, got a sandwich and
went to bed.”

“Did anyone in the house see your return?” enquired Brentford.

“Not to my knowledge, the house was quiet when I returned.”

“Okay, that will be all Jackson, if you would send Nancy down next
please.”

“Yes of course. Will you be questioning us again?”

“It all depends on the information we get to day, if we can sort this
out now, all the better, but somehow I don't think that's going to
happen,” replied Lampard. “Okay! That will be all for now
Mr Jackson...if you would like to send Miss Nancy Clarke down I
would be grateful.”

Jackson stood up and picked his hat up off the table, turning to leave, he
informed the Detectives that he knew Andrew Henvey was having an
affair, but he didn't feel it was his place to go speaking out about it.

“Well Mr Jackson, can you give us an address of the lady in question? it
could go towards helping us in our enquiry.”

Jackson took a pen from his top jacket pocket and started to write down
the address:- 61, West Moore Street, “I can take you to it, if you wish...many a time I've driven Mr Henvey there.”

“Yes that would be a good idea. Brentford you go with Mr Jackson to the address, I'll carry on here with the interviewing.”

“Of course, sir.” Brentford walked out the door with Jackson, they walked down the corridor and out to where the others were waiting. “Nancy Clarke!” Brentford called out.

“Yes!” replied, Nancy.

“Your next, if you'd like to walk down the corridor, Detective Lampard is ready for you.”

Nancy walked down the corridor, till she came to the interview room,
knocking...she went in, she felt very nervous, never having been in a
police station before, leave alone being interviewed about a murder.
She stood playing with the ring on her finger and biting her lip.

“Please sit down Nancy...you don't have to be so nervous.”

Nancy sat down at the table, staring at the tape machine, Lambard
noticed her staring. “We have to record this interview, so that we get our facts straight...look would it help if I got you a tea?”

“Um!...yes please...three sugars...I have such a sweet tooth.”

Lampard left the room and went down to the machine to get a tea. He had a feeling Nancy knew more than she had told him at their last meeting, at the house. Coming back to the interview room, he put the tea down on the table and pressed the button down on the recorder. “So Miss Clarke, or shall I call you Nancy?”

“Nancy's fine, thank you Detective.” she replied smiling and still playing with her ring.

“How long have you worked for Mrs Henvey?”

Nancy paused thinking...”Oh...about six years.”

“I suppose in that time you've seen a lot of things?” asked the Detective
walking around the room.

Now Nancy was really nerves. “What...do you...mean...seen a lot
Detective?”

“Oh just changes within the house. Let me put it this way Nancy, did you know about the affair that Andrew Henvey was having?”

“Well...yes, I suppose I did, but what does that have to do with his death?”

The Detective stared at Nancy, “I don't know, you tell me?”

Nancy started to look as if she would cry, but managed to hold back the
tears. “I have never felt it was my business to talk about what I see, what others do is their business.”

“Okay Nancy...we'll move on to the night before the murder, when was
the last time you saw Mr Henvey on that night?”

Nancy recalled, that she had cleared the dining table. “What time did the family eat?” enquired Lampard.

“It was always around 7 pm, unless they had other engagements.” replied Nancy.

“Go on Nancy.”

“Well I was just clearing the rest of the dishes to take to the kitchen, when Mr Henvey told me, he would be staying up for a nightcap, he said that he had some papers to go over for the following day, then he said...tell my wife I'll be up later, I said okay.”

“And what time was that?” asked the Detective.

“Well it must have been between 8 pm and 8.30 pm, they normally sat at the table for about an hour, discussing things over Supper. They did argue a lot that evening, mostly about the children, you see...Mrs Henvey tends to spoil the children and Mr Henvey would scold her for it.”

“So the last time you saw Mr Henvey, was between 8 and 8.30 pm, is that right?” asked Lampard.

“No!...I was on my way to bed at about 9.30pm and he was sitting in his office, with the door open, he said goodnight to me, that was the last time I saw him.”

“Okay...that will be all for now Nancy.” Lampard turned the tape machine off and saw Nancy back down to the others. Lampard interviewed the rest of the staff, then interviewed Alice.

“Thank you for coming Mrs Henvey, I realise you are a busy, but this is
important I assure you. Would you like a tea or coffee?”

“No...I'm fine thank you,” replied Alice, sitting down in the chair.

“Okay, we'll get down to business. Now I know we've already interviewed you at the house, but we need to confirm what you've told us on tape.”

“I quite understand Detective.” Alice felt a lot calmer, now she had gone over her notes, she'd written out, she had studied them very carefully, in fact she had hardly had any sleep thinking about it.

Lampard pressed down the button on the tape machine. “Monday 3rd
December...time 4 pm, interview with Mrs Henvey. Okay Mrs Henvey,
when was the last time you saw you husband?”

“It was at about 10.30pm, I had already gone to bed, Andrew woke me.”

“So then you both fell asleep, is that right?”

“Well yes...or so I thought, I awoke at about 6.45 am and Andrew wasn't there, but then again that was nothing unusual, I couldn't sleep, so I got up and came down stairs, not wanting to wake the rest of the house, I left the lights off, then I went into the kitchen, made myself a cup of tea, then not long after that, Cherish came down the back stairs, that's the stairs that lead from the servants quarters, down into the kitchen. We were sitting and talking, when all of a sudden there was a scream from the dining room, that was when we saw Andrew slumped on the couch and Nancy was in shock.”

“Your assistant Cherish seems to be very much in control of situations,”
replied Lampard.

“Of course, that's the reason I choose her as my personal assistant, it's her job, but she's also been a very good friend to me.”

“How long has she been with you?” asked Lampard.

“Andrew found her through an agency, she's been with us about nine
years, I know this...because it was just after my youngest son James
was born, she's been such a great help, she's been good with the
finances and arranging things...making appointments and also making
sure the house is in order, she never complains.”

“Okay that will be all for now Mrs Henvey.”

Alice walked down the corridor and into the reception area. Cherish
stood up when she saw her. “How did it go?” Cherish asked with
anticipation.

“Oh...all right I suppose, it's funny but the Detective didn't question me as much as I thought he would.”

Just at that moment, the desk man called out, “Miss Cherish Mitchener,
can you go down to the interview room.”

“Ah! Looks like it's my turn,” replied Cherish.

“Good luck...” said Alice, giving her a hug.

Cherish knocked at the interview room door. “Come!” came the reply.

Cherish opened the door and walked in, closing the door behind her.
“Ah! Miss Mitchener, please come in...sit down.”

She walked to the chair and sat down. “Please call me Cherish,
everyone else does.”

“I think I'd be happier with Miss Mitchener,” replied Lampard.

Cherish pouted as if annoyed, staring at the tape machine, then she turned to Lampard and said, “as you wish Mr Lampard.”

“When we spoke to you at the house, you said the last time you saw
Mr Henvey was at supper, the evening before the murder, is this true?”

“Yes...he usually always sat down to eat at about 7.00 pm.”

“So what about after supper, what did you do then?”

“I asked Alice if she needed me, she said no, so I went up to my room
to relax and read a book, then I fell asleep, I didn't wake, until I came
down and found Alice in the kitchen, where upon I made a drink and
we chatted until we heard the scream coming from the dining room.”

“Are you sure that you never left your room until the morning?”
enquired Lampard.

“Detective are you calling me a liar?”

“Nothing of the sort, but you realise to lie, will get you in deep trouble.”

“I can assure you that I do not lie...why would I lie detective?”

Lampard walked around the room, then turned to face Cherish, leaning
over her getting very close. “I don't know Miss Mitchener, you tell me?”

By now Cherish was getting very irritated, “look! Detective have you
finished with me, I've told you all there is to tell, or are there more
questions?”

Lampard stood upright again. “No that will be all for now.”

To be continued …...................