Valley of Death

The first officials on site reported that Harold Stanier lost his life in an explosion when lightning struck the gas cylinder of a portable heater in his kitchen. This was thrown into doubt when his housekeeper said her employer would not, under any circumstances, allow gas into his property. It was at that point that DI Eagles and myself, DS Hawkes became involved. Our first task was to explain an empty gas cylinder found on the door-step.

In the victim's office we found behind a steel cupboard, a small safe which contained a copy of his will in which he left sizeable legacies to twenty people. We then found that the managers of his twenty-seven shops had good reason to detest him. Further local enquiries raised the number of potential suspects to over sixty.

The local superintendent provided us with a pool car and driver, a special constable who said it was his ambition to become a full-time officer. As our enquiries proceeded, the deaths of three other people; a local farmer, the driver of a milk tanker, and a former gardener were reported. We believed that they had probably seen the assassin on site and were probably witnesses.

During a visit to Truro, I called at the county archaeologist's office to enquire if any prehistoric sites were known in the area, and it was that which produced our first tangible result, albeit two days later. I became convinced that the thunder-storm had little or no bearing on the situation, but evidence to prove my theory proved very difficult to find until during my investigation of why the steel-cupboard had been placed in front of the safe, I found the ultimate piece of evidence which led to the arrest of the culprit. On being questioned, he pleaded guilty and gave a very surprising reason for the initial killing.