Page 76 of Secrets of the Heart

“The real murd—” Perry gazed at him blankly. “You mean—it isn’t Birkshaw?”

“I think not. It simply did not fit together well.”

“What do you mean?”

“There were inconsistencies, things that might lead one to think it was not Birkshaw who killed his wife. But I had overlooked them, you see, because of my jealousy.”

Perry stared. “Jealousy! What do you mean?” He glanced over cautiously at Rachel. “Had the fellow made…uh, unwelcome advances?”

“No,” Rachel put it. “But once, a long time ago, before I married Michael, Anthony and I fancied ourselves in love with each. We hadn’t seen each other in years, but…”

“But when his name came up, I reacted more like a jealous husband than an impartial investigator. Once I realized that, I saw that someone had used that knowledge against me. He had tricked me into suspecting Birkshaw, knowing my feelings about him would make me believe almost anything bad about the man.”

“But why would anyone want to do that?” Perry leaned forward, enthralled with the story.

“To throw me off the scent. You see, I was working on another investigation, and I believe that the criminal thought I had learned too much, was getting too close to figuring it out. I don’t know why, really, as I was hopelessly muddled. I think he threw this thing with Birkshaw in to distract me, send me haring off after him because I was personally involved in it, you see.”

“But that’s not all,” Rachel put in. “I think he intends to harm Michael.”

“What?” Perry gaped at her. “You aren’t serious.”

Michael, too, turned to look at her, startled.

She grimaced at Michael. “Did you honestly think I had not noticed?” She turned back to Perry, explaining, “There have already been two attempts on Michael’s life.”

“Good Gad!”

“Someone shot at him,” Rachel explained. “And the other night, as he was coming home, three men set upon him.”

“It is my belief,” Michael put in, “that this criminal wants to do away with me and make it look as if Birkshaw is to blame for it.”

Overhill stared at him, speechless.

“It will solve all his problems. I will no longer be pursuing him. And Anthony will be the obvious culprit, so there will be no investigation into anyone else.”

“Of course!” Rachel breathed. “That makes sense. That is another reason he involved Anthony. Bow Street would doubtless leap to that conclusion.”

“But that—that’s diabolical!” Perry exclaimed, aghast.

“I think we are dealing with a diabolical mind here. However, I have a plan to catch him.”

“You do?” Rachel asked, turning to look at Michael.

He nodded. “That is why I need Perry here to look after you tonight, to make sure you are far from danger. I intend to set a trap for the fellow.”

“But how?”

“Well, you see, I think I know who it is.”

“What?” Rachel’s voice rose. “You know who it is, and you didn’t tell me?”

“I am telling you now, dear,” he said, smiling at her. “But first, let me explain to Perry about the crimes.” He described to him the various unsolved cases that he and Bow Street had worked on the past few years and the bizarre way in which they were connected.

“So you see,” he said, finishing, “I think the crimes have all been carried out by one man, someone very clever, who gets other people to do the various crimes, people he has paid or people who are completely disconnected from the case in question. Then he uses the people who have benefited from that crime to help him with some other crime that will benefit someone else. Only he ties all the people together, and he is always behind the scenes, manipulating everything.”

“But how do you know who he is?” Perry asked. “I thought you said that you had not been able to solve the crimes?”

“I didn’t know until this thing with Anthony. You see, I realized that whoever threw that in my path would have had to know about my jealousy of Birkshaw. The thing was, I haven’t spoken about it to anyone.”