The Last Devil to Die

Around lunchtime on Wednesday, December 26, the four members of the Thursday Murder Club—Elizabeth Best, Ron Richie, Joyce Meadowcroft, and Ibrahim Arif—meet to celebrate Christmas. Mervyn, a Coopers Chase resident whom Joyce finds attractive, accompanies them. Unfortunately for her, Mervyn has a sweetheart in Lithuania. The gang becomes suspicious when they hear he has been sending her money.

Elsewhere that same day, a man named Mitch Maxwell is overseeing the arrival of a drug shipment. A package of heroin was hidden in an old box among some potted plants and smuggled into the country. Shipments like these often run through antiques shops; this particular box will be sent to Kuldesh’s shop in the morning because it is the only one that will be open in the area. A man named Dominic “Dom” Holt oversees things for Mitch on the South Coast, but unbeknownst to Mitch and Dom, a motorcycle courier is watching Dom’s warehouse.

This chapter, dated December 26, takes the form of an entry in Joyce’s diary. Joyce writes about how her daughter, Joanna, came over for Christmas with her boyfriend, Scott.

At 10 o’clock in the morning on Thursday, December 27, Kuldesh opens his shop. He is not expecting any customers. Most shops are closed, but some are open, like the hardware store across the street owned by fellow widower Big Dave. Kuldesh is surprised when a sharp-dressed man comes in to sell a box for £50. The man explains that someone will be in tomorrow to buy the box for £500—and that someone will kill Kuldesh if the box goes missing. Kuldesh is not accustomed to such situations but understands they sometimes arise when running an antiques shop. As the man leaves the shop, a motorcycle courier drives past.

Donna De Freitas, a police officer who knows the Thursday Murder Club, and the gang are in Mervyn’s flat, trying to tell him that his girlfriend isn’t real. Mervyn, however, is confident they are wrong, and in his confidence, he is also a bit rude. They explain that the photo of the woman he knows as “Tatiana” is really a photo of a Lithuanian singer named Larissa Bleidelis. Mervyn is unmoved by this evidence.

A woman named Samantha Barnes is forging Picassos. She started work as a legitimate antiques dealer, but one thing led to another, and she and her former romantic and business partner, William, expanded into illegal activities. William is gone now, but Samantha, now with a man named Garth, is still alive and still producing forgeries.

Joyce once again writes in her diary. She describes the Coopers Chase New Year’s Eve party, which included a countdown from Turkish television so everyone could go to bed early. A man named Bob set it all up, and everyone was impressed with his technological prowess. Joyce reminisces about her husband, Gerry, and her friend Bernard, both of whom are dead.

Kuldesh’s body is found on the morning of New Year’s Day. Chris Hudson, another police officer and Donna’s partner, reports to the scene. He is distracted, however, thinking of the ring in his pocket, with which he hopes to propose to his girlfriend, Patrice, soon. As he and Donna walk toward Kuldesh’s car, Donna expresses surprise that Chris hasn’t yet proposed. When the reach the body, Donna realizes she’s met Kuldesh before. A forensic officer named Amy arrives, and Donna picks up on the awkwardness between Amy and Chris, the product of a hookup long in the past.

Bogdan Jankowski, a handyman who does work around Coopers Chase, visits Elizabeth and her husband, Stephen, with whom he plays chess. Stephen is having a good day: He remembers Bogdan, and he remembers how to play chess. He also seems to remember seeing Kuldesh recently, but he does not remember that he and Bogdan saw him together (something that occurred in The Bullet That Missed). Bogdan shares that Kuldesh’s shop was broken into after the shooting. Elizabeth asks for more details, but Bogdan plays a recording from Donna forbidding him from sharing any details of her investigation. Elizabeth decides to visit Kuldesh’s shop with Joyce. By the end of the chapter, Stephen has already forgotten that Kuldesh was murdered.

While Chris and Donna search Kuldesh’s ransacked shop, Donna finds a cell phone behind a radiator. They then hear familiar voices outside.

Elizabeth and Joyce are trying to get into the boarded-up shop. Chris and Donna come out to dissuade them, suggesting they go to the cafe down the road. Elizabeth backs off but confides to Joyce that she already noticed CCTV cameras by the café.

Ibrahim visits his psychiatric patient Connie Johnson in prison, ostensibly for one of her therapy sessions. He gives her a notebook for Christmas and suggests that her gift to him can be answering some questions regarding Kuldesh’s murder. Ibrahim describes Kuldesh’s murder scene as well as the man Elizabeth and Joyce saw on the CCTV cameras. Connie believes the man to be Dom, who works for Mitch. Murder inquiries exhausted, they begin Connie’s therapy session in earnest.

Joyce is writing in her diary. She is in a dither because Cut to the Chase, the Coopers Chase newsletter, has announced that someone named Edwin Mayhem is moving to the community. She also mentions that she is sad about Kuldesh. After the funeral, the gang plans to stake out Dom. The diary entry concludes with a rundown of how each member of the gang spent Christmas: Ron and Pauline were together but got into a fight, Ibrahim was alone, and Elizabeth spent the day with Stephen and gave some food to Snowy, a local fox who hangs around Coopers Chase.

On January 4, Chris is meant to lead a meeting regarding Kuldesh’s case, but Senior Investigating Officer (SIO) Jill Regan of the National Crime Agency comes in and takes charge. All the local officers are taken off the case, and SIO Regan commandeers Chris’s office. It’s unclear why any of this is happening, and Chris and Donna are suspicious of SIO Regan. Luckily, Donna hasn’t turned in Kuldesh’s phone yet, so they plan to keep investigating on their own.

At Kuldesh’s funeral, the only attendees are Joyce, Ibrahim, Elizabeth, Ron, Bogdan, Chris, Donna, and Big Dave from the hardware store. Elizabeth tries to share information about the case with Chris, but he refuses. He lies and says they’ve got it covered. Bogdan gives an impassioned eulogy vowing to catch Kuldesh’s killer.

As the service continues, Joyce, Bogdan, and Ron all cry. Elizabeth finally shares her information, and Chris and Donna share what they learned from Kuldesh’s phone: He called a professor of historical archaeology the afternoon that he died, as well as someone whose phone number shows up as Code 777, which means the number is untraceable. Their current theory is that Kuldesh decided to steal the heroin, but Ron believes someone else must have stolen it from him.

Before they all leave, Big Dave says he was probably the last person to see Kuldesh alive. Kuldesh came into his shop and bought a spade.

Elizabeth arrives home and immediately knows something is wrong. Stephen is sitting at his desk in his office, fully dressed, which is unusual for him. He has received a letter, which he reads to Elizabeth, from someone who suspects he has dementia. The letter is from himself, and it requests that he read it every day and that Elizabeth be honest with him about it. He suggests alternative care, but Elizabeth strongly objects. He asks her to promise that she’ll show him the letter every day and not destroy it. She promises.