The Scent of Death--A Sukey Reyholds British police procedural (11 page)

Harry answered immediately. ‘I was hoping you'd call,' he said. ‘Perfect timing as well! Dad, Freddie and I are just having a drink before dinner. There's plenty for four so we'll hang on until you get here. And don't bother about dressing up. We've been playing golf so when we came home we just showered and put on jeans and sweaters.'

‘Sounds lovely,' said Sukey. ‘With you as soon as possible. Ciao!'

Harry and his father, retired army Major George Matthews, lived in an apartment called The Stables, which was one of a number of buildings comprising the former Sherman Estate which had some years ago been sold off and converted into individual dwellings. Sukey's own apartment was in a separate building just off Whiteladies Road and next door to The Stables. She gave a quick rat-a-tat with the heavy brass knocker in the shape of a horseshoe. Harry opened the door, gave her a quick hug and a kiss and led her into the sitting room, where a log fire crackled in the hearth and easy chairs were grouped invitingly around a low table bearing drinks and snacks. She was greeted affectionately by Harry's father and the woman he gallantly referred to as his ‘lady friend', Lady Frederica Sinclair, known to her friends as Freddie. Affectionate greetings were exchanged, the hosts' drinks topped up and a drink poured for Sukey.

‘It's so nice that you can join us,' said Freddie. ‘George and Harry have made one of their wonderful casseroles and as you know they make enough to feed a regiment.' She raised her glass. ‘Cheers!' Everyone did the same. ‘Harry says you've been working today,' she went on. ‘Another nice juicy murder?'

‘Sukey's working on the Dallington Manor case,' said Major Matthews. ‘It's no good asking her questions – all you'll get will be something on the lines of “there'll be an official statement before the next blue moon”. Harry usually decides to do his own investigating. He finds something interesting, tells Sukey, she follows it up while making him swear not to tell his editor until it's officially released. That's how it works, isn't it, Harry?'

‘It isn't normally quite that simple,' said Harry. ‘But you must admit,' he added, turning to Sukey who had raised a quizzical eyebrow, ‘that I have been known to be useful.'

‘Yes – and nearly getting us both killed into the bargain,' she retorted.

‘Let's not drag that up again,' Harry protested. ‘It was only once, and several cases ago. And if you're sitting there on tenterhooks,' he went on, his manner becoming serious, ‘I did come across something today that I thought was interesting. It concerns a recent road accident.' He sent a provocative glance in Sukey's direction, but she chose to ignore it and kept her eyes focused on her glass.

‘Come now, let's not talk shop,' protested Major Matthews, but Freddie put up a hand.

‘What road accident was that?' she asked. ‘Has it got something to do with the case Sukey's working on? The one where a man's body was found in the lake?'

‘That's the one,' said Harry. ‘As far as my editor is concerned, the case is being covered by one of our juniors. The police won't know until after the PM whether it was an accident or murder – right, Sukey?' She nodded. ‘But we know that another death has taken place since and the victim was recently at Dallington Manor. My gut instinct tells me there's a connection and the question is: were there two accidents or two murders? Or one murder and one accident? Or some other possible computation? Watch this space.'

‘How intriguing,' said Freddie. ‘You certainly work on some interesting cases, Sukey.'

‘Yes, and Harry's always after advance information so he can write his story and get into print ahead of the competition,' said Sukey.

‘It's called a scoop,' said Harry. ‘We usually manage to come to an arrangement, don't we, love?' he added. She didn't reply, but in spite of herself she couldn't help returning his smile.

The food, as always, was delicious, the wine perfectly chosen and the dessert, contributed by Freddie, a delicate concoction of fruit, yogurt and mixed nuts. They were just enjoying some cheese when Harry's phone rang. He made an excuse and left the room; when he returned his face was serious.

‘Something wrong?' said his father.

‘Nothing that can't wait,' he replied.

For the rest of the evening Sukey kept a covert eye on him. Although he quickly appeared to recover his normal, cheerful mood she sensed that the call had disturbed him. Her suspicions were confirmed when, at the end of the evening, he escorted her to her door as usual, and said, ‘Is it OK if I come in for a minute? Something's happened that I think you should know about.'

‘I guessed something was up,' she said. ‘Yes, of course, come in.'

He led the way into her kitchen but made no move to sit down. ‘First of all,' he said, ‘it's pretty clear there's some doubt about the cause of the accident to Romeo's van. Your people have been very cagey as usual, but the staff at Dallington Manor have been talking among themselves about it and have already heard about the problems you're having deciding whether Rainbird's death was an accident or the result of an attack. And we also know there were two people besides Rainbird down by the lake the night he died.'

‘Two people?' said Sukey in astonishment. ‘Where did you pick this up?'

‘I have to confess I've been holding out on you,' said Harry. ‘The fact is, I have a mole at Dallington Manor. One of the staff; he slipped out for a smoke that night and saw – or thought he saw – Rainbird speaking to a man. He couldn't say who it was because he'd only been on duty since tea time, and didn't recognize him among the sea of newcomers. All he said was that the chap was fairly tall and well-built.'

‘What's this chap's name?' asked Sukey.

‘Reg Law – he's one of the waiters.'

‘I don't recognize the name,' said Sukey. ‘I don't think either Vicky or I have interviewed him. I'll have to check with Mike or Tim.'

‘Oh, he was interviewed all right but he must have decided not to tell your lot what he'd seen,' said Harry. ‘The fact is, he rang my office and asked to speak to the senior crime reporter so the call was passed to me. He told me first what I've just told you and then went on to say he knew something else that could make a good story and offered to tell me if I'd make it worth his while.'

‘Why the hell didn't you report this to us?' Sukey demanded.

‘To be honest, I wasn't convinced he'd seen anything and I told him as much,' said Harry. ‘He insisted he had and wanted to meet me so I suggested he call in at the office. He was a bit miffed at that said he'd think about it.'

‘When was this?'

‘On Saturday, the day after the body of Lance Rainbird was found.'

‘Did he come back to you?'

‘No. I wasn't bothered. Like I said, I didn't take him seriously anyway.'

‘The phone call that came during dinner,' said Sukey. ‘I have a feeling it wasn't good news.'

‘You're right. The call was from one of his friends.' Harry took a deep breath. ‘Reg's body was found near the lake at Dallington Manor a couple of hours ago.'

‘Oh no!' Sukey sat down and put her hands over her eyes. ‘You know, when Vicky and I said goodnight, she said there was plenty of time for another death. She was joking, of course, but …'

‘There's many a true word spoken in jest,' Harry finished. ‘Only this is no jest, is it?'

‘What time did you get that call?'

‘It was a little after ten. Keith – Reg's pal – said they were waiting for the police and a doctor.' He clapped a hand to his forehead. ‘Oh my God! Maybe if I'd told you straight away he'd still be alive.'

‘You mustn't blame yourself,' said Sukey. ‘My guess is that his killer overheard him making that call to you and decided then and there that he had to be silenced as soon as possible. You said he'd gone down for a smoke the night Rainbird died – maybe the killer had noticed that was his habit. We'll probably be hearing from DI Rathbone ere long to tell us to go straight to Dallington Manor tomorrow. Hang on a minute, I'll check my phone. Yes, there's one missed call.' She listened for a moment then switched off. ‘It's being treated as a crime scene and will be guarded by uniformed until we get there in the morning.'

‘What was the cause of death?' he asked. ‘Not that I expect you to tell me, even if you know.'

‘As it happens, I don't know. No doubt there'll be plenty of your lot sniffing around by the time we get there.' She shook her head in bewilderment. ‘The more we investigate this case the more complicated it gets. And tomorrow we have this chap Ashman, who—' she drew a sharp breath and put a hand over her mouth. ‘You can just forget I said that.'

‘Not a chance,' Harry teased her, ‘but I'm not going to try and pump you now. You need some sleep.'

‘You're right.' She leaned against him and shut her eyes. ‘It's been quite a frustrating day, but this evening was a real treat.'

He put his arms round her and held her close, then kissed her gently and said, ‘It was lovely for me too. Goodnight my love. Sleep well.'

A thought struck her; she pulled away from him and said, ‘Harry, you will be careful won't you? We're looking for a very dangerous person who's killed at least once and won't hesitate to kill again.'

‘I might say the same to you,' he said. ‘I hope that pesky DI of yours won't send you into some dangerous situation on your own.'

‘I'm sure he won't do anything of the kind,' she assured him.

DI Rathbone was already there when Sukey and Vicky arrived at Dallington Manor. They found him near the point where they had stopped for a while during their tour of the lake following the discovery of Rainbird's body. The area had been taped off and several uniformed officers and an ambulance driver stood by awaiting orders.

‘There he is,' said Rathbone, pointing. Slumped on the wooden seat within the alcove formed by the golden cypress was the slight body of a man in a waiter's uniform of white jacket and black trousers. ‘Strangled – manually – and the killer probably wore gloves. His name's Reg Law. He's worked here for about six months according to Chapman. He was found by another waiter called Keith Gunn. He's in a state of shock; we haven't interviewed him yet but apparently when he reported finding the body he was pretty incoherent. All he kept saying was that Law had told him he thought he might have done something stupid but didn't say what. He wasn't fit to go home so they found him a bed in the hotel and rang his parents to say why. They're not much more than kids, the pair of them. They're friends; they started work here at the same time. Chapman's tearing his hair out … talking about sending everyone home and shutting the hotel down until all this is sorted. Needless to say I've told him no one can leave without our say-so.'

Sukey and Vicky stood for a moment staring down at the victim. There were livid bruises round the slight neck and a scattering of broken blood vessels round the wide-open eyes. ‘There's not much of him,' said Vicky. ‘It wouldn't take a heavyweight to throttle him.'

‘Poor kid,' said Sukey. ‘What do we know about him?'

‘His parents are dead and he's been lodging with Gunn since the pair of them started working here. According to Doc Hanley, death was somewhere between five and eight o'clock yesterday evening. I suggest you have a good look round and see if you can pick up anything the CSIs have missed. Then we'll go indoors and carry out some more interviews. Mike and Tim are already here, by the way, but I think it best if you two talk to Gunn.'

‘Right, Guv.'

S
ukey and Vicky spent some minutes examining the seat and the area surrounding it, closely observed by a couple of Crime Scene Investigators, Bill and Sid, who had lit cigarettes and were smoking them by the edge of the lake a short distance away.

‘It seems DI Rathbone reckons we don't do our job properly,' Bill observed, flicking ash into the water.

‘It's nothing personal – he likes everything double-checked,' said Vicky.

‘We've noticed he doesn't do much checking himself,' said Sid.

‘Not like he did before he got his promotion,' added Bill.

‘Did you find anything useful?' asked Vicky.

‘A half-smoked cigarette that was probably dropped by the victim,' said Sid, ‘but of course it'll have to go for DNA testing.' He ambled across and bent down, pointing. ‘We found it there – and took photos. And there was a black thread that probably came from his trousers clinging to the underside of the front slat of the seat. Also recorded on photo, both items bagged up and labelled. And as you can see, the grass in front of the seat has been flattened in places.'

‘No doubt you've taken pictures of that as well,' Vicky observed. Sid grunted and went back to where Bill was standing. Vicky bent down and gently took hold of one of the victim's feet and raised it a few inches. ‘Look, there are traces of mud on the heel. The other one as well, as if he dug his heels quite hard into the grass – which he wouldn't have done if all he did was sit down and light up.'

‘You're right,' said Sukey. ‘That would suggest he was taken completely by surprise.'

‘We came to the same conclusion,' said Bill.

‘Not too difficult,' said Sid.

‘What is this – a wind-up?' said Vicky crossly. ‘Don't get on to us – we're only obeying orders.'

‘Never mind them,' said Sukey. ‘Let's try to visualize the action. He was sitting there, having a quiet smoke, when someone approached out of the shadows and grabbed him by the throat.'

‘He dropped his cigarette and most likely grabbed hold of the attacker's wrists in an attempt to free himself …'