Inspector Ian Rutledge Mysteries 20-The Gatekeeper

Charles Todd

• 22 maart 2018
• 9780062678713

Samenvatting:

Scotland Yard’s Ian Rutledge is a witness to murder in the twentieth installement of the acclaimed New York Times bestselling series

On a deserted road late at night, Scotland Yard’s Ian Rutledge encounters a frightened woman standing over a body, launching an inquiry that leads him into the dangerous recesses of his own memories even as he hunts a killer

Since the end of the Great War, Inspector Ian Rutledge has barely managed to hold memories of the trenches at bay, struggling to cope with shell shock and the voice of a dead soldier, Hamish MacLeod, that he carries in his head. Two constants have buoyed him: his police work and his only sister, Frances. But he’s just given Frances away in marriage, and while he wishes her every happiness, he cannot shake a deepening sense of loss.

Restless and unable to sleep, Rutledge decides to take a short drive. Hours later he’s far from London in dark, unfamiliar countryside. The war, which he’s kept rigorously in check all day, overwhelms him, and he has only a vague impression of the road unwinding before him. In a particularly desolate stretch, he’s jolted out of his nightmare when his headlamps suddenly pick out a motorcar stopped in the middle of the road, and he narrowly misses it. Standing next to the vehicle is a woman in evening dress, with blood on her hands and a dead man at her feet.

She swears she didn’t kill Stephen Wentworth, telling Rutledge that a stranger stepped in front of their motorcar and without warning fired a single shot before vanishing into the night. But Rutledge can find no trace of this man or the weapon. The shaken woman insists she never saw the killer’s face. Although he is a witness after the fact, Rutledge persuades the Yard to give him the inquiry, but even he isn’t sure whether he’s seeking justice—or fleeing the emptiness that awaits him back in London.

Probing the victim’s background, the Inspector uncovers conflicting views of the dead man. Wentworth appears to have been well liked by most people, yet his bitter family paints a malevolent portrait, calling Wentworth a murderer. But who, exactly, did Wentworth kill? Is his death retribution for that crime? Or has his dinner partner lied?

When a second suspicious death occurs, the evidence suggests a dangerous predator on the loose, carefully stalking his victims. But where is he?

Scotland Yard’s Ian Rutledge is a witness to murder in the twentieth installement of the acclaimed New York Times bestselling series

Rutledge gives the bride away at his sister's wedding, filling the role of his late parents. And when the evening ends, he's too restless to sleep. Changing his clothes, he begins to drive aimlessly. Late that night, he comes upon a motorcar standing, doors wide, in the middle of a dark and lonely road. Standing beside the motorcar is a woman with blood on her hands and a dead man lying at her feet.

She swears she didn't kill him-and there's no weapon to be found. Is her story the truth, that a stranger stopped them as they drove home from an evening party, and then without warning, took out a revolver and fired one shot at Stephen Wentworth before disappearing into the night? Certainly there's no sign of him now! And she swears she never saw the man's face.

The victim is well-liked in the village where he lives, yet his bitter family accuses him of murder. Who did he kill? And has retribution finally caught up with him? Or has his companion lied all along?

Rutledge manages to persuade the Yard that this should be his inquiry, although he is a witness after the fact. He believes this will give him an edge, but the Chief Superintendent is not completely convinced. Nor is Hamish, who flatly tells Rutledge he's evading the fact that he's not ready to go back to London, that the wedding has brought back too many memories he's unwilling to face.

Wolf Pit, the village where Stephen Wentworth lived, is where the last wolf in England was killed in Medieval times. When there is another death, the evidence begins to suggest that a lone killer, like a lone wolf, is hunting prey of his own.