Elsingham's Son

A Family Drama in Sixteen Scenes

by Airn Hethaway

email: s_psoli@yahoo.co.uk

Scene XI

Hamlyn disappeared again. The police searched a wide area, set up roadblocks, closed ports and airports, but found no trace of the young man. The detective in charge, DCI Gildenstone, interviewed everyone in the hopes of finding out why Hamlyn had killed Paul. Gerda, under strict orders from her fiancé as well as a regular supply of valium, prescribed at Claude’s insistence, hadn’t told them that the intended victim was Claude.

     Horatio was stunned. Why would Hamlyn do such a thing? He and Paul had always been close, he was almost family. He had been Hamlyn’s godfather, it just didn’t make any sense.

     In her few lucid periods, Gerda firmly belived that her son, if not quite mad, had at least been under the influence of drugs. She would never forget those coldly staring, accusing eyes, his dishevelled appearance, his almost obsessive rantings.

     Claude, though rattled, tried to appear as if he was in control. He was not. He drank more, became erratic in his behaviour and in general, began to lose it. The police had promised they would keep an eye on the house, but due to manpower shortages, would be unable to give them all twenty-four hour protection. Claude went ballistic. He pestered his friends in high places, but he got the same answer from everyone; there weren’t sufficient resources.

     Claude decided to hire some protection of his own. Through some of his shady contacts he hired a couple of ‘security personnel’ basically a couple of ex-cons, each armed with a .22 and attitude. Claude brought in a pack of rottweilers to wander freely about the grounds and installed CCTV everywhere. The two of them were now virtually prisoners in their own, or rather Gerda’s, house.

     “Let him try and get within a hundred yards of us,” Claude muttered, “and the bastard will be dogfood.” Now he had his ‘precautions’ in hand, Claude allowed himself to relax a little. He’d weather this one out, marry that stupid cow Gerda and then he’d be in clover. He actually thanked Hamlyn for doing his own dirty work for him and getting rid of Paul, who would always have  been a liability, would always be asking difficult questions. It had been a question of not if but when, Claude would have had to have Paul ‘removed.’

     Claude saw no threat in Horatio, so he decided not to do anything about him. In fact, he thought Horatio might be useful in leading him to Hamlyn, but when he last asked him, Horatio had replied that he hadn’t heard anything at all from Hamlyn. Claude believed him. But he also believed that sooner or later, Hamlyn would get in touch with Horatio. They had been such good friends for such a long time, it had to count for something, didn’t it? Claude decided to have Horatio discreetly observed, just in case.

     Claude and Gerda had a wedding to prepare. It was a pain in the arse, but it was necessary. They had to do everything by the book, dot the i’s and cross the t’s if the family was going to accept the marriage. Claude had to be nice to all those nosey maiden aunts and distant cousins. They had to sort out a decent pre-nuptial agreement, make sure there were no loopholes left by Paul. Claude hired his own team of lawyers to go over all the papers concerning the business, inheritance, everything and anything had to be double checked. Claude couldn’t, mustn’t get this one wrong. And when it was all over? Well, then he’d be a force to reckon with. After a respectable period of time, poor Gerda would die of ‘natural causes’ – he was sure he would have tracked down Hamlyn by then, and then he, Claude, would have it all in spades. He would just have to be patient for the next few weeks; get the wedding over and done with. After that, he’d be unstoppable.