Chapter 15
The Man Arthur Blackmailed
Thomas confessed to the collision before June finished pouring tea.
At twenty-seven, drunk after a broadcast dinner, he struck a cyclist and drove on. Arthur repaired his car, found blood on the headlamp and demanded monthly payments. The cyclist survived with a damaged leg. Thomas built a public life on charm while paying for silence in standing orders labelled FOXGLOVE.
"Did you kill Arthur to end it?" June asked.
"No. I went to steal the ledger. Someone had already copied it."
He identified three codes. IVY was a planning officer. MARIGOLD was Mabel's late husband, who once paid Arthur to suppress a boundary dispute. WREN was the land trust.
BELLADONNA remained unknown.
June opened the digitized Hart nursery catalogue. Arthur's ledger order matched the catalogue's alphabetical index, including obsolete Latin names. Each payment date aligned with a catalogue page number.
"It isn't only code," she said. "It is an index."
Page 114, belladonna, contained a handwritten archival note: SEE RELEASE FILE - COUNCIL COPY.
Thomas leaned over her shoulder. "Beatrice controls that file."
The entry beside BELLADONNA held no amount because Arthur was not being paid.
He had set a deadline.