City of Dreadful Night (32 page)

‘Mind you don't trip on that,' he said, gesturing at the shoe. The man didn't look down.

‘What had they done?' Tingley said.

The man told him.

When I got back from London I drove over the Downs into Ditchling and bumped into Ronnie, the neighbourhood cop. Traffic was at its usual standstill because of cars parked on the High Street, so he led me into an alley near the church to tell me the body in the burnt-out car had been identified.

‘It was Edwards, sir. I believe his snitch had started the whole Milldean thing.'

‘Wonder who was using his credit cards in the south of France?' I said.

‘Probably sold on.'

I nodded. I wasn't sure that Edwards's death took us any further than his disappearance had, but I needed to think through a few things. I thanked Ronnie and wandered into The Bull. I was pleased to see the big log fire was burning.

The music was turned off, thank goodness. The new landlord had introduced non-stop music into the quiet space. Bob Marley, Lionel Ritchie – I'd been there with all of that. I play music all the time in the car but in a pub I like silence.

On the odd occasions I bought crime fiction, it made me laugh to read of this or that policeman's musical interests. This one's a jazz fan, that one is into prog rock, another's an opera buff and there's one north London cop who likes country and western.

My musical tastes are more eclectic. Dissonance is my preference but one of the perks of my old job was getting invited to Glyndebourne for the opera and the Brighton Festival for world music.

It amused me too that the barmaids in this pub were so ill-suited to their job. They exuded arrogance and boredom because they were usually the good-looking daughters of local wealthy people. Tonight, it was a final-year student at Sussex with good legs and a sour mouth. She didn't notice any of the customers because she kept her head down. Since there was a pile of people at the bar, it was irritating that she served only who was next in her narrow line of vision, however long others had been waiting.

When I eventually got my drink I sat down beside the log fire. It had started raining and my mind drifted as I gazed into the embers. Three policemen dead. Foster, Finch and Edwards. Presumably the ones who could talk about who was behind what had happened.

But what about Connolly and White, his Haywards Heath sidekick? I felt sure they took the lead in what had happened in the house in Milldean. Were they under threat or were they the ones doing the threatening? What was William Simpson's involvement? Blackmail because of Little Stevie or something more? Was he the man pressing to get the investigation closed down? More to the point – was he the man arranging to have people knocked off?

I was contemplating the odd coincidence that our fathers were both around during the Trunk Murder investigations. I was still curious about how much my dad really knew. I was pretty sure he'd written the diary, even though I didn't recognize the handwriting as his. I'd also been trying to get hold of Tingley but he was as elusive as ever.

Judging by the intriguing individuals drifting into the pub – mostly men, largely macho, often dodgy – I guessed there had been racing at Plumpton, a few miles down the road.

I couldn't stop chewing over my encounter with Simpson. I knew I'd missed something. There was a look on his face when I focused on Little Stevie. Inscrutable, to be sure, but a hint of relief. It was there for just a moment then was veiled again. He was expecting something else. Something worse. I'd known this guy a long time. I was pretty certain I was right, I just didn't know how to get him. It was bloody irritating. What had I missed? What else was there?

A guy came and stood in front of me, blocking my view of the fire. He was standing feet planted, legs apart, shoulders squared. Not big but thickset. Looking down at me.

‘I know you, you cunt,' he said.

Which isn't the most neutral of conversational openings. I looked up at him. Didn't recognize him. I shrugged.

‘Remind me?'

At this point I was aggravated but calm. However, from the pugnacious way he was leaning over me, I thought it appropriate to uncross my legs and drop my hands on to my knees. The problem with the army training I've had is that it's easier to think about the way to kill someone than it is ways merely to disable. And one of the first things you're taught is that if you get the first punch in, you're probably going to win the fight.

So, one part of me was resisting the – strong – urge to rise and smash the side of my hand into the base of his nose, driving the bone up into his brain. That's the death option. Or I could just reach out, grab his balls and give them a good twist.

I smiled at my thought processes, since I was worrying that the second was a bit crude for a family pub, but I was having no such worries about the first option, which was, ultimately, cruder.

‘You don't know me,' he said. ‘But you're the guy who backs murderers.'

I was drinking a glass of Zinfandel and I had been enjoying the taste of it and the memories it evoked – I had spent a year on a police exchange in California. I took a healthy mouthful.

‘That's under investigation,' I said calmly, although already I was irritated by the gel in his hair, the suede jacket and the way he was pushing his cock in my face.

This guy was muscular but paunchy. I could drive my fingers up beneath his diaphragm and he'd be crippled for the rest of the day and unable to draw a proper breath for a week. I could kick his feet from under him and as he fell . . . Frankly, I could do anything.

‘You're blocking my view of the fire,' I said.

‘You policemen think you own the world.'

One or two people could hear and turned their heads but mostly the boisterousness of the pub hid what he was saying.

‘Ex-policeman,' I said, my fists clenching. ‘Do you want to get to the point?'

I think he must have glimpsed something in my eyes, or seen my body tense. He took a step back but he held his ground. I felt my anger bubble. But I was also conscious of the situation. I hadn't reamed anyone out in a pub since I was in the military, and even then it was before I made rank.

Fuck it. He wasn't who I wanted to lash out at, but he'd do. I started to rise.

‘Mine's a cranberry juice – sorry I'm late.'

We both looked. Molly was standing beside me. She sat down in the chair opposite. The paunchy guy and I looked at each other. The steam went out of both of us, though neither was going to admit it.

‘OK, then,' I said to him, turning to Molly. He shuffled past me back to the bar.

I sat down opposite her.

‘How are you doing?'

She laughed at the incongruity. She'd always had a lovely laugh.

‘I mean, thank you for turning up when you did,' I said. ‘And how are you doing?'

‘How do you think I'm doing?'

‘A glass of wine?'

She shook her head.

‘I told you – cranberry juice.'

She saw something in my face.

‘Surprised?' There was an edge to her voice but not the hostility I'd been used to lately.

‘A little,' I admitted.

‘It's been a week.'

I reached for her hand but she pulled it back into her lap.

‘Must be tough,' I said.

‘It's nice to start feeling things again.'

‘Really? I thought the point of drink—'

‘Was to stop feeling? Well, yes, but that's not a good way to live your life. And there's not enough alcohol in the world to shut out some feelings.'

‘I'm so sorry about what happened. If we could talk—'

Molly pushed the palm of her hand at me.

‘It's too late for talk.'

I looked at the fire.

‘So why did you come in here?'

She shrugged and looked down at the table.

‘Sentiment? I saw your car in the car park.'

I nodded and smiled. She looked at me.

‘Of course, I was also prepared to find you in here with
her
.'

There was little intensity in her voice, but even so I reared back.

‘I wouldn't do that,' I said.

‘What – you have no problem shagging her but you draw the line at going to the local with her?'

Her voice had risen. One or two people looked over again.

‘I didn't mean that.'

She looked at her hands.

I'd always put my work before my marriage and my kids. Molly was a woman I'd pursued and wooed (after a fashion) and swore to spend the rest of my life with, even before we got married. But I hadn't kept that promise.

I wanted to. When I thought about it – and given that I was a man, I tried not to think about it very often – I was desperate that we were not still together. Oh, I missed Molly. She was difficult, but when we chimed we could talk for hours, laugh for hours over the littlest things.

‘Molly.' I leant across the table but she stood up.

‘Take care, Robert.'

‘You too,' I murmured as she walked out of the pub.

Kate had decided against seeing her father in London. Not cowardice, she told herself, just timing. She was curled up on the sofa in her flat sipping a mug of green tea. Her head was spinning from what she'd stumbled on in the National Archive. She was excited about the discovery of a suspect, Dr Massiah, and the possibility he was the Dr M referred to in the memoir. She was frustrated that she could find no other documents about him.

And she was knocked sideways to have found at the back of the second file a memo about the discovery of the torso at the left luggage office that mentioned in passing the names of the police officers present.

Knocked sideways because there were two names she recognized.

Her doorbell rang. It made her jump – she still wasn't over the scare she'd had – but then she heard someone climbing the stairs and the insertion of a key in the lock. A moment later, Sarah Gilchrist came through the door.

‘Hi,' Kate said, sitting up.

‘Didn't want to startle you with the key in the door, so thought I'd scare you with the bell,' Gilchrist said.

They both smiled.

‘There's some green tea,' Kate said, indicating the teapot on the table.

Kate watched as Gilchrist went into the kitchen and returned with a mug. It had hit her with some force today that she had a major crush on Gilchrist.

‘Did you get any clothes today?' Kate said.

‘Didn't have time,' Gilchrist said, pouring her cup of tea.

‘I bought you some underwear in M&S,' Kate said. Gilchrist looked at her. Kate felt suddenly embarrassed.

‘There was a store right next to the Archives and I was buying myself some and thought that just in case you didn't have time. I guessed your size and they're probably not very flattering—'

Kate realized she was blushing.

‘Thanks,' Gilchrist said, sounding distracted. ‘That was thoughtful of you. How was your day in Kew?'

‘Great,' Kate said. ‘I've got a new suspect and my grandfather may be the mystery memoirist – or possibly Bob's father.'

Gilchrist laughed.

‘You're going to have to run all that by me again.'

‘I found a police report about the original discovery of the body and it listed the policemen who were in attendance. Our autobiographer described how he was there. One of the names is that of my grandfather. And another is called Donald Watts.'

‘Crikey. And who is the new suspect?'

Kate told her about Dr Massiah and the Dr M in the memoir.

‘But I don't know what happened in the investigation,' she ended. ‘There were no more documents about him.'

Gilchrist was paying more attention now. She sat in the armchair opposite the sofa, balancing the mug on her knee.

‘You're thinking that the Frenchy referred to in the memoir may be the victim?'

Kate nodded.

‘That's great.'

‘Maybe,' Kate said, standing up. ‘But then there's this.'

She went over to the table and brought back the fragment of memoir about the older woman who looked like Carole Lombard. Gilchrist read it.

‘I was wondering why the head was cut off,' Kate said. ‘Was it because she would be instantly recognizable?'

‘That he cut the head off meant the killer was worried
someone
would recognize her. And looking like a movie star would make it more likely.'

‘I'd assumed Frenchy was young, but there's no reason why she shouldn't be this older woman. Especially if Tingley is right and Spilsbury got it wrong.'

Gilchrist studied the fragment again.

‘I don't know – the tone of voice in this—'

Kate's phone rang. It was the radio station manager wanting to change her next shift. When Kate turned back to the room, she saw that Gilchrist had put the sheets of the memoir down and was staring at Kate. Kate flushed again.

‘What?' she said, panicked for a moment that Sarah could read her mind. ‘What?'

I'd parked in the public car park below the community hall in Ditchling. As I reached the bottom of the incline, I was aware of a figure to my left detaching from the shadows of the building. At almost the same moment I heard hurried footsteps behind me. I turned to see the man from the pub, face contorted, as he wielded a baseball bat above his head.

Wielding a weapon with accuracy whilst running isn't easy. This man was running downhill with a couple of pints inside him. His momentum was leading him. As he reached me, I bent low and he went over my shoulder. I gave him extra propulsion as I straightened. He hit the ground with a terrible wet crunch. I heard that horrible, hollow sound as his head cracked against the tarmac. I turned to face the man who'd come out of the shadows. He was about five yards away, his bat ready to whack a ball – or my head.