The Middle Temple Murder 3 - The End (Pages 108 - end)

 

RATING: GOOD BUT THE ENDING WAS A BIT FLAT

SPOILERS!!!

Spargo goes to talk to Miss Baylis, John Maitland's sister-in-law, who took his son, and the woman now claims that the child was dead. However, when he is about to leave, a woman tells him that she has information. The woman is a drunkard but has been working for Miss Baylis for years. The woman demands regular payment for information, and Spargo's boss agrees. The woman, Mother Gutch, says that Miss Baylis's nephew is not dead. Miss Baylis took the child to a lawyer when Maitland was released from prison, and he was told that the child had been dead. The revelation comes when Mother Gutch says that the lawyer who took the child is Mr Elphic, Breton's ward.

Spargo is certain that Breton is Maitland's child, and he goes to see Elphic, who is iwth Miss Baylis, and breaks down before Spargo. As the journalist has to go, they agree to meet the nextt day. The following day Spargo goes to Elphic and finds Breton. Elphic is gone, and Spargo tells him everything about his real father. They go to see Mr Cardlestone, who is Elphic's friend and in whiose building Maitland's body was found. They do not find him there and they are told that Elphic and Cardlestone have left for Paris.

Spargo thinks that the men have not left the country and he suspects that Cardlestone is Chamberlayne. So he gets to have Chamberlayne's body exhumed, but when the coffin is opened, they find sand and lead. Chamberlayne did not die. Breton thinks that the men must have gone to a cottage that his guardian has, so they go there together.

When they reach the cottage, they find that there is a man that has found them already. It is Mr Myerit, who is the secretary of the lockers' company. It turns out that he was one of the men involved in the plot to fake Chamberlayne's death, and now he wants the money that Chamberlayne took. Breton and Spargo stop him and he is arrested. 

When the men confront Elphic, he admits everything but the part about killing Maitland. Chamberlayne/Cardlestone is sick, but he also says that he does not believe his friend is a killer. Then Fargo discovers that the day that Maitland turned up, Miss Baylis was visiting Cardlestone and Elphic, and she must have been the one who murdered Elphic.

At the end of the book Jessie Aylmore thanks Spargo for discovering the truth and helping his father. Spargo finds the girl attractive and it seems that they are going to be more than mere acquaintances.

I enjoyed most of the book, but I found the ending confusing and rushed.