The Captain's Last Letter

The case file

Sunday cold case. On December 20, 1919, Captain Hollis Marwood, once master of the Halcyon, lay dying in his house on Harbor Hill. That evening he wrote a letter to the Harbor Board and had it put on the hall table for the morning post. By morning it was gone, and he died two days later. This week, at the house sale, it turned up sewn inside a knitted hot-water bottle cover.

That night five people were in the house, one each in the sickroom, the study, the hall, the kitchen and on the landing. Each had something a letter could go into: a doctor's bag, a prayer book, a hot-water bottle, a tea tray or a coal scuttle. All five are living, and one is lying.

Who was there

• Mrs. Nora Bastian, then lady's maid, now housekeeper to Mrs. Marwood. Gray dress, gray gloves, and twenty-two years of loyalty she wears like armor.
• Dr. Lionel Pedlar, the Captain's doctor. A worn black bag, a kind face, and a death certificate he has always been sorry he signed so quickly.
• Nurse Agnes Kendall, the Captain's night nurse. Steady hands, a prayer book in her apron, and the last person he spoke to.
• Mrs. Bessie Pomeroy, then cook to the Marwoods. Floury forearms, a tea tray always in her hands, and no love lost for the lady of the house.
• Joe Liddicoat, then handyman to the Marwoods. Coal dust in his knuckles even now, and the Captain's old pipe in his top pocket.