The Seven Stars (15 page)

On the outskirts of Steeple Bayliss she drew into a garage
, filled up with petrol, and as casually as possible asked where the police station was.

‘
Maybury Street, duck,’ the mechanic told her cheerfully. ‘Turn left off the High Street opposite the Pickwick, then right at the T-junction and the nick’s on your right.’

She knew the Pickwick wine bar; she and Pen had lunched there. Helen thanked him and returned to the car. The rush-hour traffic was starting
, but most of it was in the opposite direction and did not delay her until she reached the High Street, which was congested with traffic. With two solid lines of cars, it was as well she did not need to make a right turn. Following the directions she’d been given, she found the police station without difficulty, halfway along Maybury Street.

Even then
, if there’d been nowhere to park she might have driven past it and gone home; but fate didn’t let her off so easily. As she approached, a motorist drew away from a parking meter and Helen slid into his place. The die was cast. She dropped coins in the meter, crossed the road and went up the steps to the swing doors.

The foyer was warmed by large radiators along the wall. Several people were milling aimlessly about
, among them a woman with a crying child. As Helen passed, she was saying soothingly, ‘Someone’ll hand him in, pet, don’t you worry.’

A uniformed sergeant was making notes at a desk and Helen went over to him. He looked up.
‘Yes, love?’

‘
I want to speak to someone in authority,’ she said, feeling foolish.

He raised an eyebrow.
‘We’re all in authority, in a manner of speaking.’

‘
It’s —’ She seized on something he would know about. ‘It’s to do with the hit-and-run the other week.’

‘
Well, that was a CID matter. Perhaps Sergeant Hopkins could help you.’

As he was speaking
, a handsome, fair-haired man who was passing stopped and came over to them.

He smiled at Helen
, seeming to sense her nervousness. ‘Perhaps I can help? I’m DI Ledbetter and I’ve been dealing with the hit-and-run.’

She said gratefully
, ‘Then I’d very much like to talk to you.’

He nodded.
‘Send some tea in to Interview Room 2, will you, Bob?’ He glanced at Helen. ‘Milk and sugar?’

‘
Just milk, please.’

He guided her across the tiled floor to a small room
, followed her inside and closed the door.

‘
Now, Mrs —’

‘
Campbell.’

‘
— Mrs Campbell, if you’d like to sit down, you can tell me all about it. Have you any objection if I switch on the tape? I’ve no writing equipment with me and it saves having to remember.’

‘
None at all.’ But she was aware that her voice had become stilted.

‘
Just try to forget about it,’ he advised. ‘The time is sixteen-fifty, I’ve told you I’m DI Ledbetter, so if you’ll just give me your address we can get on with it.’

Helen did so
, and he looked up in surprise. ‘You’re a long way from home.’

‘
I’m attending a course at Melbray, and staying at the Seven Stars.’

‘
Ah yes, the girl worked there, didn’t she?’

There was a tap on the door and a policewoman came in with a tray and two polystyrene mugs.

‘Not quite the Ritz, I’m afraid,’ Ledbetter said with a grin. ‘Right, Mrs Campbell, what’s troubling you?’

She hesitated
, then said in a rush, ‘You’ll probably think I’m mad, Inspector, but quite a lot of things are.’

‘
You mentioned the hit-and-run?’

‘
Yes. I was there that evening, at the Seven Stars. I’d brought my daughter back to university and got caught in the fog, so I spent the night there.’ Her hands tightened on her lap.

‘
I drove round to the back, following the sign to the car park, and drew up at the far end by the other cars. But before I could get out, a girl came running out of the house, followed by a man shouting at her to come back. She didn’t, and after a minute he went back inside and slammed the door.’

‘
Go on.’

‘
Well, I didn’t think any more of it then. But later, when I came down to dinner, I overheard someone say, “I thought she’d gone. God knows how much she heard.”’

‘
And you thought he was referring to the girl?’

‘
I didn’t really think anything, except that I hoped he wouldn’t think I was eavesdropping and I moved quickly away.’

‘
Who was speaking, Mrs Campbell?’

She gave a little shrug.
‘It’s funny, but I hadn’t met any of them then, and since I have, I’ve found it hard to reproduce the voice in my head.’

‘
So you’re not sure?’

‘
I’m afraid not.’

‘
Was it the same man that ran after the girl?’

‘
I assumed so at the time.’ She paused. ‘Yes, I think it was. Anyway, later a young man came knocking on the door saying there’d been an accident, but of course I didn’t connect it with Molly, who’d left much earlier. That’s all that happened then, except that I read about the Melbray course in the local paper. A week or so later I decided to apply for it, and since it wasn’t residential, booked in again at the Seven Stars. And it was on my return, last Sunday, that I heard Molly had been killed.’

There was a brief silence. Then Ledbetter said
, ‘And you’re wondering if it was deliberate?’

She nodded
, sipping her tea and not looking at him.

‘
Well, I can set your mind at rest on that score, at least. We found the hit-and-run driver; he’s a seventeen-year-old youth who was out joy-riding. So whatever Molly heard or didn’t hear, you can rest assured she wasn’t killed because of it. Her death was an accident.’

Helen drew a long breath.
‘Then perhaps it’s not worth bothering you with the other things. They’ve probably got an equally rational explanation.’

‘
You’re not bothering me, Mrs Campbell. It was public-spirited of you to come along, though if I may say so, you took your time about it.’

‘
I thought I was just being neurotic. But when things began to build up —’

‘
What things?’

‘
This sounds ludicrous, I know, but do you see the horoscope column in the
Evening
News
?’

‘
My wife does.’

Stumblingly
, Helen told him of Cain’s connection with it, about the repetitions that came under ‘Tomorrow’s Birthday’, the tension with which her comment had been received, and finally Valentine Perry’s remarks about the changes made to the forecast.

‘
As he said, it’s not as though it’s anything important, but the point is the added sentences are always similar: “Someone is waiting to hear from you” or “A friend would like to hear from you”. Do you see what I mean? As though it’s asking someone to get in touch.’ She gave a little laugh. ‘It sounds like something out of Bulldog Drummond, doesn’t it?’

‘
Have you any idea who this message, if it is one, is intended for?’

‘
None, nor how any reply’s received. It’s probably nothing at all, and I’m just wasting your time. In fact, if it hadn’t been for what happened at the weekend I should never have come here.’

‘
And what happened at the weekend?’

She told him of her visit to Beckworth House
, of finding the button, and noticing Dominic had one missing after he denied having been there. And suddenly the inspector’s interest was more than mere politeness.

‘
Have you got this button with you?’

She opened her purse and handed it over. Ledbetter studied it in his palm. Helen said
, ‘The letters stand for Chardsey Yacht Club. I asked him. It’s in Surrey.’

‘
Who exactly is Dominic Hardy, Mrs Campbell?’

‘
A friend of the family, who was at school with Nicholas Warren. Michael Saxton, who’s been at the Seven Stars for some months, says he comes quite often. He has an apartment at St Katharine’s Dock.’

‘
Why does he keep coming here?’

‘
Because his girlfriend’s parents live nearby and her father’s dying.’

‘
What’s the girlfriend’s name?’

‘
Caroline. I must have heard her surname, but I can’t — oh yes, I think it’s Budd.’

‘
Do you know where her parents live? Or their initials?’

‘
Not their address, but Dominic spoke of her father as Roderick.’

Abruptly he changed the subject.
‘You wouldn’t know what car Hardy drives?’

‘
A blue Saab nine thousand,’ she answered promptly. ‘My brother has one, so I recognised it.’

Ledbetter leant forward
, his eyes gleaming. ‘Now that
is
helpful. Where does he park it?’ Please God, not where half a dozen cars had been since.

‘
At the front of the house, almost blocking access to the rear. Michael says he always parks there.’

‘
Mrs Campbell, you’re a wonder!’

‘
You think he’s tied in with the Stately Homes?’

‘
We’ll be taking a good look at him.’ He paused. ‘I’m sure I needn’t ask you to say nothing of your visit here.’

She gave a little shiver.
‘No.’

‘
Do you know where Hardy is now?’

‘
I think he was going back to London, but Caro’s staying on because her father hasn’t much longer to live.’

‘
I want you to think carefully. Has anything else happened at the Seven Stars which struck you as strange, even if it seemed unimportant?’

‘
Well, Terry Pike, who’s also been there a while, was very interested to hear my husband’s a loss adjuster working on some of the Stately Homes claims.’

Ledbetter raised an eyebrow.
‘That interests me, too. We might have spoken on the phone.’

‘
Oh? I suppose you wouldn’t know why he was up here yesterday?’ Was it really only yesterday? It already seemed days ago.

‘
I’m afraid I’ve no idea. Didn’t he tell you?’

‘
He just said he was on business.’

If the inspector thought it strange a wife should ask
someone else what her husband was doing, he made no comment.

‘
Do you know what Mr Pike’s job is?’ he asked instead.

‘
No, only that he commutes from Blackpool and goes home at weekends.’

The inspector drummed his fingers thoughtfully
, then looked up at her. ‘Anything else? Anything at all?’

‘
Well, there was the phone-call, but —’

‘
What phone-call?’

‘
It was on Wednesday, while we were at dinner. The phone started to ring and everybody froze and then, with one accord, looked at their watches. So I did, too, and it was exactly eight o’clock. Nicholas went to answer it, and Gordon said it wasn’t worth putting his dinner in the oven because he wouldn’t be long, and I wondered how he knew. But he was right, and when Nicholas came back, he never said who was on the phone and no one asked him. It didn’t seem natural, somehow.’

‘
It didn’t strike you it might have been in answer to the horoscope?’

She stared at him
, a pulse beating in her throat. ‘Are you serious?’

‘
Not really, just thinking aloud. What day was it you saw the bit about someone waiting for a call?’

Helen thought back.
‘Monday, I think. But if they’re in telephone contact, why didn’t they ring themselves in the first place instead of all the rigmarole with the horoscopes?’

‘
I’ve no idea. Of course, the phone-call might have nothing to do with the horoscopes, and the horoscopes themselves might be entirely innocuous.’

He leant back in his chair and surveyed her.
‘It has been a very interesting half-hour, Mrs Campbell. Thank you for coming to see us.’

‘
What happens now?’ Helen asked, aware she was being politely dismissed.

His mouth lifted humorously.
‘We shall continue with our inquiries. But do please be discreet. It’s better that no one should suspect you’ve been here.’

He showed her out to the foyer
, watched her manipulate the swing doors, then, pressing the security buttons, went upstairs to his office, where he perched on the edge of his desk and picked up the phone.