Butterfly Grave (Murder Notebooks) (6 page)

Rose frowned. She read it over, studying each word.

‘But that could mean literally clearing away any evidence that Baranski
had been in the cottage
. That’s all. Handing the man over because of some deal done between the police and the secret services and then getting rid of any evidence. That’s what it implies! What were you thinking?’

Rose’s voice was getting louder. Skeggsie’s was lower, calmer than before. It irritated her that he didn’t get upset about anything.

‘Could it mean that B had to dispose of the body?’ he said.

‘No! Don’t be ridiculous. Of course not. You’re reading too much into it. I think Baranski was probably handed over in good faith and that him turning up dead was the last thing anyone wanted.’

‘Um . . .’

Skeggsie looked thoughtful.

‘Look, we shouldn’t mention this at all. Not until we get back to London. Agreed?’

Skeggsie nodded.

‘I’ll walk back to Josh’s. I need the fresh air.’

When she stepped out of the front door he called after her, ‘I won’t say anything, Rose. Not till we get back to London.’

Rose headed away, walking swiftly along. Then she turned on to the Promenade, her head down, her thoughts muddled. She did not want to think about the things she had just read. She glanced at the sea. It looked muddy and flat, the sky a dirty white. After a while she turned off the front and headed for Joshua’s house. Turning into the street she almost came to a full stop.

The silver SUV was parked further down. There was a woman sitting in the driver’s seat as there had been the previous day. She slowed down and looked again to see if the dog was there too.

It was. A small Jack Russell type of dog.

So what, if a woman wanted to sit in her SUV in the middle of the day two days in succession? She might have any number of reasons for that. Rose would not become paranoid. She should look at things sensibly. Approaching the SUV, she took a good look at the woman behind the steering wheel. The only thing she could see for sure was that she had short white-blonde hair. The woman seemed to move as if she knew Rose was looking. Rose made a dramatic tutting sound and looked down at her laces. She knelt on one knee and fiddled with the other shoelace. At the same time she looked at the SUV and saw the first letters in its registration –
GT50 D
. . . She closed her eyes and memorised it. G for Gold, T for Tango, 50 for golden wedding anniversary, D for Delta. She said it over and over in her head for a few seconds then stood up again.

She walked past the car and went into Joshua’s house.

SIX

Just after two Rose had a call from Joshua.

‘Can you come down to the seafront? There’s a cafe at the far end. It’s the first turn after the pub, about twenty metres down. It’s the Blue Kettle. There’s someone I need to see there.’

‘Sure,’ Rose said. ‘I’ll get my coat and be there in ten minutes or so.’

Rose was relieved to be going out. She’d spent the last couple of hours on Facebook and then read some downloads for college work. She was fed up and needed some fresh air.

The Blue Kettle sat between a chemist’s and a charity shop. It was painted blue and the name was pretty but the window was covered with a thin wire mesh which suggested that it had been broken or had graffiti sprayed on to it at some time or other. The heat hit her as she opened the door. Joshua was sitting at a table by the wall reading a newspaper. There were half a dozen other people but the place did not look busy.

‘I’ll get a drink,’ she said. ‘You want one?’

He shook his head, pointing to the mug in front of him.

She bought a peppermint tea and sat down opposite him.

‘Everything all right?’ she said.

‘I saw Stu. He’s more awake now but he says he doesn’t remember anything about the fall. He’s a little bit out of it really. I didn’t feel I could ask him about the thing with Susie or why he was drinking. And I certainly didn’t tell him about the newspaper report.’

‘There’ll be plenty of time to go through all that when he’s better.’

‘Yeah, I know. But I don’t know how long that will take. He’s in a bad way. He says his head hurts.’

‘He banged it in the fall. It’s bound to hurt.’

‘You’re right. I just . . . When I first heard that he fell I didn’t really think about the actual consequences. I was just glad that he was alive. But seeing him now I realise how badly injured he is.’

‘You can’t fall off a cliff and walk away.’

‘Anyway,’ he said after a few moments, ‘I went to the police station and met this officer, Joe Warner. He’s an old friend of Stu’s. He’s one of those community police officers who go into schools and give talks about drugs and stuff. So he’s been looking into the fall, trying to find out what happened. He’s looked at the CCTV footage in the parking area near the cliff walk at Cullercoats. There’s no footage of Stu’s car because for some reason he parked in a street nearby. Maybe that’s another reason why he wasn’t missed. A car left overnight in the cliff car park might have raised an alarm. There is footage of a parked car, though, and a man getting out and walking towards the cliff path. Most of the car registration plate is visible and at one point the face of the driver can be seen. This was at about nine.’

‘Do they know who it is?’

‘He didn’t say but his phone rang while he was talking to me. He turned away to have a conversation and I looked at the printout in front of him. The name on it was Greg Tyler.’

‘Susie’s husband?’

It made sense suddenly why they were sitting in the Blue Kettle. Rose looked up at the counter but there were only two women serving. Susie Tyler had said her husband was a partner in the business, which wasn’t doing very well.

‘Joe said they were talking to the man to see if he saw anything of the accident.’

‘Why? Do they think there’s more to it?’

Joshua shrugged his shoulders.

Just then the cafe door opened and a man came in looking flustered. He was talking on his mobile phone saying, ‘I gotta go.’ He was in his thirties, with longish hair. He was wearing a denim jacket which looked too tight. He took it off as he walked towards the counter and went through a door at the side. Moments later he was in front of the counter, his clothes covered up with a white apron.

‘That might be him,’ Joshua said.

‘What are you going to do?’

‘I’m going to talk to him.’

Joshua got up and walked across to the counter. He said something to Greg Tyler and the man frowned. Joshua continued talking and then turned and came back to the table.

‘He’s not exactly happy but he’s coming over in five minutes.’

A while later Greg Tyler was sitting beside Rose, opposite Joshua. He was upright in the chair, not touching the table. In his hand he had his mobile and was glancing at it.

‘What can I do for you?’ he said abruptly.

‘I want to know what you were doing at Cullercoats on Wednesday night when my uncle fell.’

‘Been talking to the law?’

Joshua nodded. The man looked uncomfortable.

‘Look, for obvious reasons I don’t like your uncle. Susie said she told you everything when she brought your dog back. When me and your uncle had that fight in Morrisons I thought that was it, that he’d leave her alone. Then on Wednesday lunchtime I get a call from him. He wants to see me to talk things through. He tells me to meet him in the car park at Cullercoats that evening at nine thirty. I don’t want to do it. He’s the last person in the world I want to see but I was afraid he’d contact Susie so I told him I’d go. I get there early about nine. I sit in the car getting het up, angry. I get out of the car and decide to walk a bit to calm myself down.’

Greg Tyler’s voice had risen. He seemed to notice it and carried on in lower tones. Rose leant forward to hear.

‘Then I hear some voices from further up the path. I went a bit closer and I see the dog running round. Two men were standing facing each other. At first I thought they were talking but when the voices got louder I see that they were arguing. Then one of them pushed the other. I stood back because I realised it was Stuart Johnson. I didn’t want him to see me. The other fellow walked off and Stuart was calling after him. Then he went after him.’

He stopped as if expecting Joshua to say something.

‘To tell you the truth I’d cooled down by then and I was glad for a reason to scoot off. I left. I got back to my car and drove home, never said a word to Susie about it, nothing. Next day Susie comes into the cafe, in front of the girls here, and tells me that Stuart Johnson fell off the cliff. No one was more surprised than me.’

‘Why didn’t you go to the police then? Tell them you saw Stu with this guy?’

Greg Tyler stood up.

‘I don’t have to justify myself to you.’

‘Don’t you care? He probably fell off the cliff when you were there.’

‘He should have left my wife alone. Then I might have cared.’

He walked back to the counter. Rose looked round and saw him go in the side door. Then he reappeared on the other side.

‘I’m going,’ Joshua said, bristling. ‘Otherwise I’ll end up shouting at him.’

Joshua walked away. Rose called after him.

‘I’ll just be a minute.’

The cafe door shut and she turned and saw Greg Tyler staring after him. She took a deep breath and walked up to the counter.

‘What?’ he said bad-temperedly.

‘I just want to ask you one thing. Did you see the man that Stuart Johnson was arguing with?’

‘Who are you,
Dr Watson
?’

‘Please. We’re just trying to find out what happened.’

‘You his girlfriend?’ he said.

Rose shook her head. ‘Stepsister. Sort of . . .’

‘I didn’t see the guy. It was pitch dark up there. Johnson knew him, though. He called him by name, Len or Ben or Den, something like that.’

‘Thanks,’ she said.

‘It wasn’t my fault. I mean about him and my wife. I can’t be blamed for that!’

‘No, I understand. Josh is upset. He’s just been to see him. He’s in a bad way.’

For the first time Greg Tyler looked a little shamefaced.

‘Falling off a cliff. It’s not recommended.’

She walked away from the counter, feeling hot and puffed up. Opening the door she was glad of the cold air. Joshua was across the road, leaning back against a brick wall, waiting for her. She walked over and stood in front of him. He was staring at the Blue Kettle, his face hard.

‘You can’t blame him for being negative about your uncle.’

‘
Negative?
What a polite way you have of talking, Rosie!’

Rose looked away. It wasn’t like Joshua to snap at her.

‘I’m sorry. I’m just amazed that he can talk about him so . . . When he was most probably
there
when he fell. Come on. Let’s not hang round here. Let’s go back to the house.’

They began to walk slowly as if they didn’t really have anywhere to go. People passed by and they had to go single file. The Promenade seemed to be in shadow, heavy clouds in the sky. Rose waited for Joshua to get level with her and then she linked her arm through his.

‘Oh,’ she said. ‘Greg Tyler said that your uncle called out the man’s name. The man he was arguing with.’

Joshua nodded.

‘He said it was Den or Len or maybe Ben.’

Joshua frowned.

‘Did your uncle know someone with one of those names?’

Joshua stiffened as though something had just clicked inside his head.

‘What? Are those names familiar?’

‘No,’ Joshua said. ‘But they sound a lot like
Bren
.’

Rose frowned. ‘Bren?’

‘Stu called my dad Bren. It was his name for him.’

‘Bren? I don’t get it.’

‘Maybe it was my
dad
that Stu was arguing with. Maybe my
dad
was here in Newcastle on Wednesday night!’

SEVEN

By the time they got back to the house Joshua was certain that his uncle had been talking to his dad on the night of his fall. On top of that he had convinced himself that they had been in touch with each other during the whole five years since he disappeared.

‘It makes sense,’ he said. ‘I don’t know why I didn’t think of it before. As soon as we found out that Dad and Kathy were alive I should have worked it out. If Dad was alive then Stu would know something about it.’

The minute they got in he decided he wanted to search the house. Rose wasn’t convinced. The reasoning was so slim.

‘What exactly are you looking for?’ Rose said.

‘I don’t know. Evidence of some recent communication between Dad and Stu. Some paperwork or Dad’s belongings, maybe things he asked Stu to look after. Anything that shows that they’ve been in touch with each other.’

Joshua looked different. He had come alive, as if a fire had been lit inside him. She watched as he rang Skeggsie and explained breathlessly what Greg Tyler had said. When he ended the call Rose could just imagine that Skeggsie would drop everything and come round.