The Tewkesbury Tomb by Kerry Tombs Page B

Tuesday evening?’
    â€˜If you know all this, why ask me?’ grumbled Ross, layingdown the poker.
    â€˜May I ask the reason for your visit?’ persisted Ravenscroft.
    â€˜I suppose you have spoken to the others?’
    â€˜Yes.’
    â€˜Then they would have told you the reason for our visit.’
    â€˜To seek out the tomb of Sir Roger de la Pole. Can we assume, Mr Ross, that you are also a descendant of the knight?’
    â€˜You can assume what you like,’ replied Ross, coughing again as he turned away and gazed out of the window.
    â€˜Can you tell me the name of the gentleman who called upon you with this information?’
    â€˜He said his name was Crosbie.’
    Ravenscroft gave Crabb a smile. Probably Crosbie was yet another alias used by the deceased man and no doubt another creation of Anthony Trollope. ‘And what did this gentleman say to you?’
    â€˜He claimed that I was a descendant of the Templar. I did not believe a word of it, of course.’
    â€˜Oh, why was that, sir?’
    â€˜I could see the man was a charlatan.’
    â€˜But you still made the journey to the abbey.’
    â€˜My curiosity was aroused. I wanted to see what the mountebank was up to.’
    â€˜Did you see inside the tomb?’ asked Ravenscroft, annoyed that the man Ross was going to great lengths not to face his questioner.
    â€˜Of course.’
    â€˜And you can identify the body as the man Crosbie who called upon you.’
    â€˜I can.’
    â€˜Did you discover the open tomb before the other members of the party?’
    â€˜I might have done.’
    â€˜And why did you not stay with the rest of the group?’
    Ross shrugged his shoulders and turned briefly in Ravenscroft’s direction, before gazing out of the window once more.
    â€˜Mr Ross, I do not see why you kept the appointment at the abbey, if you believed that the man Crosbie was some kind of fraudster,’ asked Ravenscroft, anxious to know more of the Scotsman’s real motives.
    â€˜I told you, I was curious to know what the man was about,’ coughed Ross, turning his back on the detective once more.
    â€˜And what was he “about”?’
    â€˜I don’t know. I never had the chance to ask him, as he was dead. I’ve answered all your questions. Now if that will be all, I have plenty of things to attend to.’
    â€˜Mr Ross, I do not think you have been entirely forthcoming with us,’ protested Ravenscroft, determined that his visit should not have been in vain.
    â€˜I’ve told you all I know.’
    â€˜But I don’t think you have, Mr Ross. I believe you arrived at the abbey first, met the stranger Crosbie, that you both forced open the tomb, and that you then killed your companion before making your way out of the abbey—’
    â€˜Nonsense, man!’ retorted Ross, glaring at Ravenscroft. ‘If I had killed the man, as you suggest, why would I have then returned to the abbey when the others arrived?’
    â€˜You tell me Mr Ross.’
    â€˜I’ve told you, I arrived at the abbey just after the others. I was late because I had just ridden all the way through the rain from here to Tewkesbury.’
    â€˜It must have been a terrible journey for you,’ remarked Crabb.
    â€˜We Scots are used to the bad weather.’
    â€˜I still do not see why you and five other intelligent people would make all this effort to travel to a town which none of you appear ever to have visited before, just because some stranger had told you all that you were all descendants of a medieval Templar Knight. What were you all really after, Mr Ross? What really bought you all to Tewkesbury? Was it something inside that tomb that you were all seeking?’
    â€˜I have told you all I know.’
    â€˜I am determined to discover the truth, and if you cannot provide me with the answers I require, I am afraid I will have no recourse but to take you into