Wanda Lane said: ‘Leave him alone. You don’t think Tim would tell him anything, do you?’
‘I don’t think he’d tell anyone anything,’ Gently said. ‘But Madsen knows. He had the opportunity to know.’
‘Tim told me,’ Wanda said. She glared at the men behind the desk. ‘But you bastards will never get it out of me. Not while Tim’s alive,’ she said.
‘Listen to the whore,’ Felling said.
‘You keep quiet!’ Whitaker snapped.
‘Bloody why should I?’ Felling said.
‘I should, old fellow,’ Empton said.
Felling was quiet. Nobody else said anything.
‘We come to the mechanics of it,’ Gently said. ‘Teodowicz had a Sten gun and ammunition from Huxford. I don’t think he obtained it with the intention of shooting Sawney, I think it was insurance against this factor we don’t know about. Perhaps you’ll tell us how long Teodowicz had it, Madsen?’
‘Yes,’ Madsen said. ‘That is right, for some time. Tim say he would like to have a weapon of some sort, Sawney say all right, he can fix him with a gun.’
‘How long ago?’
‘Oh, one, two years,’ Madsen said. ‘Tim like the gun, he is often playing with it.’
‘Did Tim say what the gun was for?’
Madsen shrank a little. ‘He don’ say that.’
‘So,’ Gently said, ‘Teodowicz had the gun, and he could easily arrange for Sawney to meet him. He had only to say he had some money for him for Sawney to come running. He rang him up, appointed a meeting in the car park behind Baddesley station. That was where he wanted Sawney’s van found when it was discovered that Sawney was missing. Then he rang the guardroom at Huxford and gave them an anonymous tip-off about Sawney, providing at once the reason for Sawney’s flight and grounds for suspecting Sawney of the crime to follow. He met Sawney, he killed or disabled him, exchanged clothes with him, drove him to the lay-by. There he inflicted such injuries on him with the gun that identification would be doubtful. He sent a final burst from bushes to suggest the van having been ambushed, then he escaped through the fields to The Raven, where his hiding place was prepared. About a mile distant, over the fields, a car was waiting for the final stage, but in the meantime he had to remain on the spot to ensure that his colleagues did their job. Mrs Lane was completely under his influence, but Felling and Madsen only under duress. He needed to be there as a perpetual threat to prevent any treachery on their part. He had also some loose ends to tidy. Some documents remained in his handwriting. He destroyed these without informing Felling, which gave Felling a little trouble later on. You didn’t burn those papers, did you, Madsen?’
‘That is right,’ Madsen said. ‘I don’ burn them.’
‘You lying bastard,’ Felling said. ‘You bloody know you did burn them.’
‘Why should he have burned them?’ Gently said. ‘Madsen didn’t have any tracks to cover. But Teodowicz did. And his handwriting was part of them. That’s how it was, wasn’t it, Madsen?’
‘The handwriting, I think so,’ Madsen said.
‘Because it wasn’t the handwriting of Teodowicz,’ Gently said. ‘There isn’t any Teodowicz. The real Teodowicz is dead. He disappeared way back in Poland, he never set foot outside that country.’
‘No,’ Madsen said. ‘I can’t say about that.’
‘Yes, but you can,’ Gently said. ‘You heard the threat Sawney made to Teodowicz. Sawney knew Teodowicz’s real identity.’
‘No.’ Madsen said. ‘No. No.’
‘Why don’t you stop getting at him?’ Wanda Lane said. ‘Tim had to burn those papers because they linked him with Sawney.’
Gently shook his head. ‘That’s ruled out,’ he said. ‘Felling saw the papers. He would have burned them himself if they had connected Teodowicz with Sawney.’
‘Felling is dumb.’
‘Shut your trap,’ Felling said.
‘Or he didn’t get a chance to burn them,’ Wanda said. ‘You’re crazy about Tim being somebody else. You’re guessing about it and you’re guessing wrong.’
‘Am I guessing wrong, Madsen?’ Gently said.
‘It’s a hoot, the way you’re kidding yourself,’ Wanda said. ‘So Tim did for that rat Sawney, and you know why. Isn’t that enough for you?’
‘Not when you’re protesting so much,’ Gently said.
‘Oh, you’re too bloody clever,’ Wanda said. ‘But you’re not as clever as Tim, he’s always two jumps ahead of you.’
‘At the moment, about half a jump,’ Gently said.
‘And you had him surrounded,’ Wanda said. ‘Go on being clever. Call in the Navy and the Air Force. You won’t catch Tim in a month of Sundays.’
She folded her thin arms, stared past them out of the window. Felling’s face had a fixed sneer, but his eyes were empty. Madsen kept facing the floor. His lips worked with little smiles. He was wearing thick rough boots, the toes of which were turned together.
‘So Sawney was dead,’ Gently said. ‘And Teodowicz and the gun were at The Raven. And Mrs Lane knew the score, if she didn’t know it earlier. But you, Madsen, knew it earlier, before that handy trip to Glasgow. You had to be intimidated into playing your part, and you had to know what it was when you returned. Isn’t that so?’
Madsen smiled at his boots.
‘So you’re an accessory before the fact,’ Gently said. ‘And it goes without saying that Felling is too. Felling was to be first on the scene, he had to switch the fingerprint cards. He had to make certain that no doubts arose as to the identity of the body. Then he had to steer Madsen through the questioning and deflect interest away from The Raven. Felling was evidently briefed thoroughly, and briefed before the crime took place.’
‘You’ll say I did it in a minute,’ Felling said. ‘It’s all lies, the bloody lot of it.’
‘Felling,’ Gently said, ‘you’d better help us. It’s the only sensible thing you can do.’
‘Yes, I’ll be a mug,’ Felling said. ‘I’ll admit all them lies. Only I don’t bloody think so. You don’t catch me like that.’
‘God, man, how can you be so stupid?’ Whitaker said.
‘Very funny,’ Felling said. ‘Only I’m innocent, that’s what. I’m going to prove it, what’s more, and then I’m going to sue that bastard. I’ll teach him to come here with his slanders. I nearly let fly at him this afternoon.’
‘Yes,’ Gently said, ‘you nearly did that, didn’t you? And you were tempted in the garage yesterday, when I saw the significance of that oil bottle. But you’re not a killer Felling. You’re a treacherous fool, but you’re not a killer. Try a little savvy now. Tell us what you know about Teodowicz.’
‘You go to hell,’ Felling said.
‘You’re going to catch a stiff one,’ Gently said.
‘If I catch it,’ Felling said. ‘You go to hell. There’s no mug here.’
‘All right, Felling,’ Gently said. He looked at Wanda. Wanda looked out of the window. ‘You’re not a killer either,’ Gently said to her. ‘You tried to protect me back there. But the man you’re shielding is a killer: a psychopath and a killer. Don’t fool yourself, Mrs Lane. He’d have killed you too when it suited his purpose.’
‘What do you know about Tim?’ Wanda said.
‘I know a lot about killers,’ Gently said. ‘They’re lonely people, they daren’t trust anyone. And so they’re never to be trusted. Once a man goes through that gate he leaves all common claim behind him. His way back leads by the gallows or by what penalty the law provides. Until then he acts humanity like a wolf in a sheepskin. But he doesn’t have it. He’s an exile. When the wind blows on him, he’ll kill again. If you know where Teodowicz is going, then tell us, Mrs Lane.’
‘You don’t know Tim,’ Wanda said. ‘You think he’s some petty criminal. Some Christie or Haig, those are the killers you know. Because you aren’t big enough to understand him. Because you’re pigmies and think like pigmies. Because you can’t imagine a man who can kill and stay clean. But Tim is that sort of man. He can do what none of you would dare to. He has a right to take life because his soul doesn’t shrink from it. And I’m telling you nothing about him, you can do your own clumsy chasing. Get your dogs and your cordons out and bring him in. If you can.’
