'You must have said something that panicked him.'
'Last night, at his flat?'
'He was bricking it when you got onto the insurance deal he'd done with Blacker. He admitted he sold him some insurance a while back. Is that the key to all this, do you think?'
'A reason to kill me?'
'The reason is that you got too close to the truth. He thought he was getting away with murder.'
'Tudor killed Blacker?'
'And you're the fly in the ointment'
'Thanks.'
'That's my reading of it, anyhow.'
Bob wasn't convinced. 'If Tudor wanted to set me up as a victim, why go to the trouble of calling Miss Snow? Why not make the approach to me direct? I'd still have fallen for it. I'd still have gone to the boat house.'
'Are you in the phone book?'
'No.'
'Sweetie, it's as simple as that. He calls Miss Snow, who does have your number because she's the secretary.'
'.If it comes to that,' he said, 'not one of the men in the circle knows my number.'
You think the caller wasn't Tudor?'
'I'm thinking I'll check the others out.'
'Who?'
'Apart from Tudor? There's Zach, Anton and Basil.'
'Okay,' Thomasine said, 'let's find out what they were doing at eight this morning.'
'You're going to join me?'
'You need a minder, obviously.'
Zach was going to be the easiest, so they started with him. On a Saturday morning you'd expect to find him serving in the MVC shop in South Street.
They agreed to meet outside.
'Disappointing,' Thomasine said when she saw Bob. You look normal.'
'What did you expect?'
'Singed eyebrows at the least.'
'I wrenched my ankle jumping off the roof if that's what you want to hear.'
'But you're not on crutches.'
'I'm toughing it out.'
They went in. Zach was easy to spot with his long hair tied up in a ponytail. He was helping a customer in the country and western section. The discs were displayed in long racks and the place was busy, as you'd expect on a Saturday.
Zach spotted them approaching and gave a nod of recognition. He didn't have the look of a guilty man — even though the shop was less than ten minutes' walk from the boat house. They let him finish with his customer. Then he greeted them and said he was due a coffee break.
Thomasine suggested they went across the street to the Cafe Rouge. Zach said he would need to square it with his manager.
'Ten minutes, maximum,' he told them presently. 'All the kids come in on Saturdays. It's hell.'
'Or paradise, if you're a teacher like me,' Thomasine said.
'Here's the toughest question we have for you,' Bob said when they'd found a table. 'Filter coffee, or cappuccino?'
He didn't rise to a smile. He was nervous. 'Black, no sugar.'
Bob ordered, and wasted no more time. 'We're trying to get Maurice released and I hit a snag this morning.'
'That's the understatement of the year,' Thomasine said. 'You're lucky to be alive.'
Zach looked indifferent as to whether Bob lived or not. He was staring out at the street as if he hoped the cavalry might arrive in the nick of time.
Bob told Zach all he knew about being trapped in the boat house. 'And in confidence,' he said at the end. 'I haven't reported any of this to the Old Bill. The guy who did it must be a member of the circle, and I'm going to find out who.'
'Starting with me?' Zach's eyes were not friendly.
'You're not the first. I've already spoken to Tudor,' Bob said, without mentioning when it had been. 'No offence, Zach, but where were you at eight this morning?'
'In bed.'
'Where's that?'
'Selsey.'
South of the town, like the boat house.
'Do you live with anyone?'
'I can't prove where I was, if that's what you're asking.'
'How do you get to work?'
'Motorbike.'
'What time did you get in this morning?'
'Five to nine.'
The coffee was brought, forcing all three to lean back in their chairs and behave like other customers discussing the trivia of their lives. For Bob, the conversation up to now had felt like one-way traffic. Every answer had to be worked for. A change of tactics was wanted.
When the waitress had gone, he threw in a grenade. 'On the face of it, you've got no reason to kill me. We only met a matter of days ago.'
This drew a complete blank. Bad to worse.
'The same could be said for all the others.' Bob was forced to struggle on. 'They had no reason to kill me either. It's because I'm making a nuisance of myself that I was attacked. Thomasine calls me a fly in the ointment. The person who did it wants Maurice to take the rap for Blacker's murder.'
Zach said in a flat tone, 'You want to know if I killed Blacker?'
Now Bob went silent.
'He liked my book. Basically he said it was hot-shit, wicked.'
'I know,' Bob said. 'I saw the video you took.'
He was impassive. 'So you know I thought I was on a good thing with Blacker. That he would have given me a contract.'
'That's true,' Thomasine said. 'He said you were up there with Tolkien.'
'A bit OTT,' Zach was forced to admit.
'Raised your hopes, though,' Bob said.
Zach shot him a hostile look. 'That's it, is it? You think I found out later he was shooting a line? Got my hopes up and had them dashed? I'm not so green as I look. I could see he was stringing us along, myself and those sad old wannabes.'
Thomasine could have taken offence. To her credit, she let the comment go by. 'He was a crook, but it was wrong to murder him.'
'I agree with that. I'm a pacifist.'
'Your book is full of violence,' she said.
'So is the Bible.'
In Bob's opinion this was a blind alley. 'We don't have much time. What can you tell us about Blacker? Had you met him before he came to the circle?'
'Met him? No.'
'Knew of him?' Bob said, picking up the note of reserve in the answer.
'Not much. A couple of days before he came to the meeting he phoned me one evening. My number was on the typescript I sent in. He said he was still reading it, but he liked what he'd seen so far. Wanted to know more
