‘About when he gave up his job?’ Gently asked.
She dug at the chair, her mouth drooping.
‘And when was that?’ Gently asked.
She was staring at the floor as though she didn’t hear him.
Time passed. Setters came back. He made a negative gesture with his hands. Ralphs and Arter came in behind him, the latter with a yellowish tab-end gummed to his lip. Gently got up.
‘That’s that,’ he said. ‘Sorry we had to pay you a visit.’
‘I’ll bet you are,’ Arter said. ‘All fun and games for you, this is.’
‘I’ve spoken to your wife,’ Gently said. ‘I’m afraid we’ll be taking your son in for questioning.’
‘Much obliged, I’m sure,’ Arter said. ‘That’ll be very nice for Sid.’
Mrs Bixley didn’t say anything, kept staring at the floor.
They sat in the car, Setters with Gently, Ralphs silent in the rear. Setters’ hands were very dirty and he’d picked up some rust on his trousers.
‘The First and Last,’ Setters said slowly.
‘It’s a good bet,’ Gently said.
‘But they’ll be moved by now,’ Setters said. ‘If Bixley’s as smart as we think he is. So where would he move them from there? Where would he think we wouldn’t look? Or is he out of stock now, owing to a hitch in supplies this morning?’
‘He won’t be out of stock,’ Gently said. ‘He wasn’t working hand to mouth. There’ll be a hoard of the stuff somewhere, you can put your promotion on that. We’ll have to check the First and Last because it stands out a mile — and because chummies are sometimes stupid. Though I don’t think this chummie is.’
He told Setters what he had elicited from Mrs Bixley about Bixley and Waters, about the coincidence between Bixley’s London visit and the giving-up of his employment. Setters kept nodding sapiently.
‘You’re doing well down here,’ he said. ‘I wish it was getting us closer to Lister, but either way you’re doing well.’
‘Bixley is close to Lister, very close,’ Gently said.
‘Elton paddled in Lister’s blood,’ Setters said. ‘You can’t get much closer than that.’
‘Think,’ Gently said, ‘think a moment. Lister was killed on the way back from Leach’s cafe. Bixley was there. He was collecting his chocolates. And on the way back from there, Lister is killed. Is it just one of those strange coincidences, or is it a tie-up we can’t overlook?’
Setters thought. ‘It’s a tie-up,’ he admitted grudgingly. ‘But don’t forget that Elton is right in the middle of it. He didn’t love Lister. He was a side-kick of Bixley’s. And he was there where he could do the job, which you haven’t proved that Bixley was.’
‘Forget Elton a moment,’ Gently said. ‘Think of Bixley and the chocolates.’
Setters nodded again. ‘I begin to see where you’re getting,’ he said. ‘You think there was trouble over those chocolates. You think maybe Lister half-inched them. Then could be Bixley busted him off, trying to stop him to get them back. Is that the angle with Bixley?’
‘It suggests itself,’ Gently said.
‘And Elton maybe took a side road?’
‘Elton was there,’ Gently said. ‘Elton was there because you proved it and because the facts all prove it. But the part he played in what happened is something we still have to guess at.’
‘Bixley had a passenger,’ Setters said. ‘And a passenger is a witness. And Bixley was a quarter of an hour behind. I can’t see Bixley doing the busting. But Elton didn’t have a passenger and Elton left right after Lister, so if this chocolates angle holds I’d say that Elton was told to recover them. Which gives me another motive for Elton. And lets Bixley out of the picture.’
‘You’re missing something,’ Gently said.
‘I’m doing my best,’ Setters said.
‘Bixley is an expert rider,’ Gently said. ‘I’m told locally he’s the mostest.’
‘Yeah,’ Setters said. ‘So what does that prove? That Elton bungled it when he busted-off Lister. I’d say he did it trying to stop him and not knowing a better way to do it. And that still adds up to Elton having done it, whether by accident or with malice aforethought. And I like that accident angle best, I never could see Elton as a deliberate killer.’
‘Nor could I,’ Gently said. ‘Especially with Betty Turner on Lister’s pillion.’ He pulled the starter, brushed the gear in. ‘We’ll get a warrant for the First and Last,’ he said. ‘Also one for Mr Deeming’s rooms, just in case Mr Deeming is being quixotic.’
CHAPTER NINE
They drove back to Police H.Q. Bixley had been cooling his heels there for an hour. He’d been picked up straight away at the First and Last cafe where two detective constables had found him engaged in the usual jukebox session. Deeming wasn’t among those present and there had been a little trouble. Bixley had collected a black eye to add to his thick lip. He had been abusive as well as violent. One of the detective constables was attending him.
‘A pity,’ Setters observed, ‘we drew a blank at his house.’
He got on the phone to the local magistrate to request the new warrants. Gently lit his pipe, sat smoking, drawing patterns on Setters’ desk-pad. Ralphs, who had missed his tea, had departed to make a quick meal.
‘It’s going to be tricky,’ Setters said. ‘If we keep drawing a blank. We’ve got no handle for Bixley, he can laugh in our face.’
‘Yes,’ Gently said. He kept drawing on the pad.
‘We can’t hold him,’ Setters continued. ‘And it would be a good idea to hold him.’
‘Very good,’ Gently agreed.
‘So what’s the routine?’ Setters said.
‘I’ll have a chat with him,’ Gently said. ‘Now. I’ll leave you to look after the searches.’
‘Hmn,’ Setters said. ‘Well, if you think it will do any good. But me, I’d sooner have a charge to throw at him before I tried to go to work. But then, I’m just a bucolic. I’ll leave you Baynes to sit in.’
‘Is he a shorthand writer?’ Gently asked.
‘Yeah,’ Setters said. ‘Expecting a confession?’
‘Window-dressing,’ Gently said. ‘It never hurts to dress the window.’
Setters went out to collect his warrants and sent in Detective Constable Baynes. Baynes was a heavy- featured man with a fresh complexion and slow, blue eyes. He had a bruise on the side of his chin. He grinned sheepishly when Gently noticed it.
‘Chummie copped me a fourpenny one, sir,’ he said. ‘Didn’t take to the idea of coming down here.’
Gently gave him his instructions, sent him to fetch in Bixley. While he was gone Gently placed a chair in the centre of the floor in front of the desk. Setters had got an adjustable desk-lamp. Gently trained it on the chair. Then he switched off the overhead light and retired to the gloom behind the desk.
A few moments later he heard Baynes’s footsteps marching briskly down the corridor. The door was tapped and thrown open and Baynes clicked his heels.
‘Bixley, sir.’
He gave Bixley a nudge which sent him staggeringly into the office. Bixley nearly collided with the chair. He stood holding the back of it, blinking furiously.
‘Sit down, Bixley,’ Gently said.
‘Like what’s this about?’ Bixley began.
Baynes laid two large hands on Bixley’s shoulders and sat him down on the chair.
‘Lock the door, please,’ Gently said.
Baynes made a business of locking the door. In point of fact there wasn’t a key, but Baynes made a convincing sound with the latch.
