Close to Death

Horowitz goes to Riverview Close. On his way through Richmond, he looks for The Tea Cosy, but it is gone. When he finds Riverview Close, he has a strong sense of déjà vu. He has described the place in his draft, and it looks very much like his description. He rings the bell at Adam Strauss’s home, but there is no answer. Through the window, he can see that the house is completely different and realizes that they must have moved.

He rings the bell at Andrew Pennington’s home next. When Andrew opens the door, Horowitz has the bizarre experience of meeting one of his characters. Andrew looks basically as Horowitz described him, with the addition of reading glasses. Horowitz introduces himself and explains his connection to Hawthorne. Andrew surprises him by asking him inside.

He tells Horowitz that May and Phyllis left the Close first and without even saying goodbye. Felicity never returned from her sister’s house. The Beresfords moved back to Notting Hill, and Adam and Teri Strauss are gone, too. Andrew believes that Adam could’ve done more to help Roderick but doesn’t like speaking badly of him since he’s dead.

Horowitz is surprised to find out that Adam is dead, and Andrew explains that he fell off a hotel balcony several months after Giles’s and Roderick’s deaths. It was determined to be an accidental death, and afterward, Teri sold The Stables and left. As Horowitz is leaving, Andrew mentions that Lynda Kenworthy and her children still live at Riverview Lodge, although she is trying to sell it.

Lynda isn’t what Horowitz expected—she is attractive and relaxed. The house looks different, too—the art is replaced by bright posters, throw rugs, and the clutter of family life. She tells him that although she’d like to stay, Giles has left her in financial trouble, and she is forced to sell. She tracks the downward slide of her relationship with Giles and how the trouble began when they moved to the Close. She claims that Adam always held it against them that he’d been forced to sell the house to them.

Like Andrew, Lynda believes that Roderick killed Giles. She still has DS Khan’s card and gives Horowitz his number. She remembers Hawthorne as snide and intrusive. While they’re talking, a man comes into the room, and Lynda introduces him as Jean-Francois. Horowitz remembers that this man was Lynda’s French tutor, but she tells him that Jean-Francois is a sportswriter and was in the Olympics for archery.

After leaving the Close, Horowitz calls Khan. Khan recognizes Horowitz’s name from the previous Hawthorne books but doesn’t want to meet. Horowitz asks for Dudley’s contact information, but Khan doesn’t have it. Just as Khan is about to hang up, Horowitz points out that the book will be written with or without his input, but if he contributes, his point of view will be represented.

Hawthorne and Dudley interview Felicity at her sister’s house. Hawthorne tells her that he doesn’t believe Roderick died by suicide or killed Giles, and she agrees. She tells them that he never would’ve left her alone. Although the letter said that he’d done “something stupid,” she doesn’t think he meant killing Giles. She believes that he was killed because he saw something connected to Giles’s murder. She gives Hawthorne her keys, pointing out the one that opens the garage. When he tells her that the police can’t locate Roderick’s phone, Felicity gives them the password for when they find it.

Just before they are about to leave, Hawthorne asks Felicity about a second meeting, and she is surprised that he knows about it. It was the night before Giles’s murder, and she didn’t go, but Roderick stayed late and came home drunk. He was upset the next day but wouldn’t tell her why, only that she shouldn’t tell anyone about that second meeting. She believes that whatever happened at that second meeting explains Roderick’s death.

On the way back to Richmond, Dudley asks why they are continuing to investigate if the police aren’t paying them. Hawthorne says that he needs Dudley’s help to solve the crime—otherwise, a murderer will go free. Dudley understands and decides to keep investigating with Hawthorne.

Hawthorne and Dudley go to The Tea Cosy to talk to May and Phyllis. Hawthorne tells them that they know the women’s real identities and that they both were in prison for killing their husbands. They also know that Sarah Baines was in prison with them and was blackmailing them into getting her jobs.

May tells them about her husband, a brutal abuser. When she was sentenced, the judge allowed her to keep her husband’s money, which explains the “inheritance” May used to buy their house. Phyllis’s story is much the same—her husband, too, was abusive. May tells the men that they will never understand what she and Phyllis have been through or what it’s like to commit murder.

Before they leave, Hawthorne asks the women about the second meeting. They admit that there was a second meeting but won’t say what happened there.

Hawthorne and Dudley gather the neighbors together, and they tell the story of the second meeting. The neighbors met in Andrew’s garden that night to go over their limited options. They had all had too much to drink, thanks to Adam, who provided the liquor. The discussion turned to murder, although they all agree that they were “just letting off steam” (324). Phyllis came up with the idea of murdering Giles together, inspired by Agatha Christie. She had Christie in her mind because two people had come into the bookshop to buy Murder on the Orient Express that week. They all stress that murder was never a serious consideration. They took turns coming up with ideas of how to do it, and when it got to Roderick, his idea was to shoot Giles with his crossbow.

Hawthorne asks them about drawing straws and discovers that Roderick drew the short straw, which was later found in his pocket. Roderick made a joke about doing it, but the exercise lost its humor, and the meeting broke up soon after.

When Giles died in exactly the way Roderick suggested, they were all shocked, and Roderick denied doing it. After Sarah and May found Roderick, May called Andrew. He told everyone that they couldn’t tell the police about the meeting because they could be considered conspirators. Although Roderick denied it, they all believed that Roderick killed Giles and then died by suicide.

After meeting with all the neighbors, Hawthorne and Dudley go to Roderick and Felicity’s house. Using Felicity’s keys, they let themselves into the garage. As they go through Roderick’s actions that night, they both agree again that suicide is implausible. However, they still don’t know how the murderer got out of the garage.

They climb up onto the roof to examine the skylight more closely. They notice that the Beresfords’ nanny, Kylie, is watching them and can see the roof clearly from her bedroom. When Dudley tries to remove the screws holding the skylight down, they are stuck tight. They agree to interview Kylie next.

Tom answers the Beresfords’ door and begrudgingly lets them in. Damien is sitting at the table with Gemma. Hawthorne shares that he knows that Tom’s patient who died, Raymond Shaw, was Damien’s father, but Damien steadfastly says that he didn’t kill Giles. Hawthorne tells them that the same person killed Giles and Roderick.

When Kylie comes downstairs, Damien tells them that he and Kylie are leaving soon to travel in Europe. Hawthorne asks Kylie about Marsha Clark’s attack, which happened the night before Giles was killed. Kylie had gone to Marsha’s home that same night and stayed with her for weeks afterward.

Hawthorne and Dudley go to Sarah Baines’s home next. Sarah is hostile and asks how they found her. Hawthorne says that he tracked Roderick’s phone, and she gives it to them. Hawthorne unlocks the phone and finds the text thread between Roderick and Sarah. There are several images of Sarah naked, and she admits that he paid her for them. She also tells them that although it looked like the Kenworthy children ruined Andrew’s garden with their skateboards, there were no exit tracks—someone had framed them. Hawthorne tells her that he already knew, and he and Dudley leave. As they go, Hawthorne throws Roderick’s phone into the river.