match, dropped it in the tray. He directed a stream of smoke at Hallman.
‘What do you know about Lister?’ he asked.
Hallman jerked. His eyes jumped from the paper.
‘Nothing about him I don’t know,’ he said.
Gently made a clicking sound with his tongue. ‘Not anything at all about Lister?’ he asked.
‘Yuh, like I saw him around,’ Hallman said. ‘That’s all it was. I saw him around.’
‘You saw him around,’ Gently said. ‘You saw a great deal of Lister. Maybe you saw him on Tuesday night. Did you see him on Tuesday night, Hallman?’
‘No,’ Hallman said. ‘I never. I was at home. I didn’t see him.’
‘Nor any time on the Tuesday?’
‘Not any time Tuesday,’ Hallman said.
‘Lister,’ Gently said, ‘didn’t like Bixley, did he?’
‘Yuh,’ Hallman said. ‘He liked him.’
‘I don’t think he did,’ Gently said.
‘Yuh, so what if he didn’t?’ Hallman said.
‘Why didn’t he like him?’ Gently asked.
‘He just didn’t like him,’ Hallman said.
‘Because of the reefers?’ Gently asked.
‘Yuh,’ Hallman said. ‘It might have been that.’
‘Why because of that?’ Gently asked.
‘I don’t know,’ Hallman said.
‘You’d better know something,’ Gently said. ‘In case we find your prints on this knife.’
Hallman flinched, dragged on his hands. ‘Yuh,’ he said. ‘It could have been the girl.’
‘Betty Turner?’ Gently asked.
‘Yuh, Betty Turner,’ Hallman said.
‘You’re telling me that Bixley was jealous about her?’
‘Yuh,’ Hallman said. ‘Could be.’
Gently sighed, picked up the knife. ‘We’d better get this to prints,’ he said.
Setters nodded. ‘I’m tired of his lies. He can tell the rest of them to the jury.’
‘Listen!’ Hallman blabbered. ‘Listen. I can tell you why Lister had it in for him. Lister didn’t go for it, not smoking sticks. It’s the truth what I’m telling you.’
‘We found reefers at his home,’ Gently said.
‘Yuh, he didn’t go for it,’ Hallman said. ‘You ask them. Ask any of them. They all know he didn’t go for it. That’s why he had it in for Sid, it’s the truth, it is. He found out Sid was pushing the sticks, he got his knife into Sid.’
‘He found out that Bixley was supplying the reefers?’
‘Yuh, it’s the truth,’ Hallman whined. ‘He flipped his lid. He was mad about it. You ask any of the jees.’
‘Why,’ Gently said, ‘did he flip his lid?’
‘It’s like I’m telling you!’ Hallman said. ‘Sid was pushing the stuff to Lister’s chick and Lister rumbled he was doing it.’
‘Because he was selling reefers to Betty Turner?’
‘Yuh, yuh,’ Hallman said. ‘And he flipped his lid one night at Tony’s, said he was going to stop Sid pushing them.’
‘Well, well,’ Gently said.
‘I’m telling you straight,’ Hallman wailed. ‘Ask Tony, ask anyone. They all know about that.’
‘What else do they know,’ Gently said. ‘What else do you know, Hallman? Did Sid tell his pals what happened on Tuesday, or did he just keep ever so quiet?’
‘He didn’t say nothing about Tuesday,’ Hallman said.
‘He was being modest,’ Gently said.
‘Not nothing to nobody,’ Hallman said.
‘Over-modest,’ said Gently.
He sat slowly breathing out smoke, looking through and beyond Hallman. Hallman went on kneading his hands as though he wanted to make dough of them. Gently absently poked the knife.
‘Where does Bixley keep them?’ he asked.
Hallman jerked. ‘Like what?’ he said.
‘His hoard of reefers,’ Gently said. ‘You’re in the know with Sid, aren’t you?’
‘No,’ Hallman said. ‘He ain’t told no one about them.’
‘Would Elton have known?’ Gently asked.
‘I don’t know about him,’ Hallman whined.
Gently nodded. ‘Right,’ he said. ‘You can go back to do some thinking, Hallman. You’ll have plenty to think about I expect. Perhaps we can talk again later.’
‘That ain’t my knife,’ Hallman said.
‘Think about it,’ Gently said.
‘Yuh,’ Hallman said. ‘It’s the truth I’ve been telling you.’
He was taken out.
Setters edged for the telephone, took his hand away again; lit a cigarette instead and blasted smoke down his nose.
‘Can we prove it on him?’ he asked. ‘That he was the slob who gave Bixley the knife?’
Gently shrugged. ‘With a bit of luck. That knife had to get to Bixley somehow.’
‘Yeah,’ Setters said. ‘And I like that cut hand. You figured that out very nicely. I’m going to tie that up right tight, I’m going to have two medics report on it. Nobody’s getting out of this case. It’s going in like a block of concrete.’
He got out of his chair, walked up and down.
‘You’ve got a rhythm,’ he said. ‘You did a beautiful job on that punk, you squeezed him for just what you wanted. A little more, and we’ve fixed Bixley. I want him topped, not put away.’
‘It’s still circumstantial,’ Gently said. ‘And that alibi might beat us. Elton’s the king-pin of the case. Find Elton, and we’re home.’
Setters stopped, his back to Gently.
‘You think we’re going to find him?’ he said.
‘I don’t know,’ Gently shrugged at nobody. ‘I wouldn’t be Elton,’ he said, ‘at the moment.’
‘Bixley can’t get at him,’ Setters said.
‘No,’ Gently said. ‘Not Bixley.’
Setters came round. ‘Dicky?’ he asked.
Gently nodded his slow nod.
‘Yeah,’ Setters said. ‘Dicky. I’m the dumb cluck, aren’t I? I didn’t quite get through to that one, even when you had me put a tail on him. Dicky. Little Dicky Deeming. The lad who likes to play his records. The boy who gave us this jeebie stuff. Deeming. Little Dicky Deeming.’ He paused, sucked some smoke. ‘And you think he’ll lead us to Elton?’ he asked.
‘If Elton’s alive,’ Gently said. ‘Which I’m afraid doesn’t follow.’
‘But if he is,’ Setters persisted, ‘you reckon Deeming will pay him a visit? Deeming’s in the know about Elton, he knows that Elton’s evidence will fix Bixley. So he pays Elton a visit to try to make sure that he won’t come out till after the trial. You reckon he can put some pressure on Elton — maybe shift him to another place?’
‘He can kill him,’ Gently said.
‘Kill him?’ Setters stared hard. ‘He can’t be that much in love with Bixley, not to go round killing people.’
‘He’s in love with himself,’ Gently said. ‘That’s the way it is with killers. And he’ll kill Elton if he gets to him. Elton’s life isn’t worth a pin.’
Setters was quiet for a moment. Then he said: ‘Are you trying to tell me something?’
Gently gave him his nod again. ‘Deeming killed Lister,’ he said.
