‘That’s a matter of opinion.’
‘I know what mine is.’
‘Then you share it with almost everyone else, sir.’
‘Bagsy swore revenge,’ insisted Woodford, ‘and there were lots of witnesses. Surely Joel recorded the incident in his diary, didn’t he?’
‘Oh, yes,’ said Colbeck. ‘Browne’s threat is mentioned in detail.’
‘Isn’t that good enough for you?’
‘Unfortunately,’ said Colbeck, ‘it isn’t. Bagsy Browne seems to have been easily provoked into issuing grim warnings. Mr Heygate was one of a large group of people in the city who got one. Anybody who upset Browne had his fist waved in their face. Yet not one of them — and I’ve been through police records — was murdered by him. The worst any of them suffered was a beating.’
‘That’s what he meant to give Joel and he went too far.’
‘It’s a possible explanation, I grant you, but it’s an incorrect one. Answer me two questions. First, how did Browne know that the stationmaster would be out after dark on that night? Secondly,’ Colbeck went on, ‘if he did murder Mr Heygate, why not leave the body where it fell, instead of taking it to the site of the bonfire? That would have involved risk. It would have been far easier simply to walk away.’
‘Bagsy was trying to dispose of the body altogether.’
‘That’s the general belief. I happen to disagree with it. However,’ he said, ‘let me return to the appearance of Lawrence Woodford in the diary.’
‘It only happened once,’ said Woodford, quickly. ‘The second time he caught me with the bottle, I was actually off duty and what I do in my own time is of no concern to anyone else.’
‘You’re forbidden to bring alcohol on to the premises.’
‘It was an honest mistake.’
‘Like your denial of the fact that you were told about Mr Heygate’s diary?’
Woodford’s annoyance made him snarl. ‘I bought the whisky for a friend. Joel happened to see it.’
‘That’s not what it says in the diary.’
‘Damn the diary, Inspector!’
‘I’m sad to say that it’s the diary that damns
Woodford was rescued from further discomfort by the approach of another train. Mumbling an excuse, he went off to welcome it. Colbeck was about to go into the refreshment room for a cup of tea when he saw Leeming coming towards him. He waited until the sergeant was within a few paces.
‘Well met, Victor. May I offer you refreshment?’
‘Yes, please,’ said Leeming.
‘Have you been to the Crown Inn?’
‘Yes, sir, and there was a surprise in store for me.’
‘Don’t tell me that the landlord is a friend of Michael Heygate.’
‘He’s not a friend, exactly. In fact, he doesn’t even like the man. But he did let Heygate and his wife stay there at his expense on the night before Guy Fawkes Day.’
Colbeck gaped. ‘Why did he do that?’
‘He was hoping that they’d buy the pub off him, sir.’
Michael and Lavinia Heygate sat side by side at the table with a pad in front of them. On it was a series of financial calculations. They’d discarded their mourning attire and put on their normal clothing. Behind closed doors, they were safe from criticism. Having had three separate visits from a detective, they reasoned, it was unlikely that they’d have a fourth. The death of Joel Heygate didn’t impinge on their minds. Their sole concern was with its consequences for them.
‘How much do you think we’ll get?’ she asked.
‘It’s difficult to put a figure on it, Lavinia.’
‘We know that he had a healthy bank account and also kept a lot of money at home. Then there are the contents of the house. They should fetch a good sum.’
‘I think we’ll have enough,’ said Heygate, looking at the figures before him. ‘I know it’s a bad time to sell but, even at a conservative estimate, we should get a fair amount for the shop. The house agent has already had enquiries.’
‘I can’t wait to get away from here.’
‘We’ve rather exhausted all that Dawlish can offer, haven’t we?’
‘We failed, Michael,’ she said, bitterly. ‘We started a business and it lost money. Everyone here knows that. You can tell from the looks they give you.’
‘The business wouldn’t have failed if Joel had given us the money to tide us over. We just didn’t have the stock to meet the demand. And you didn’t help by cutting our prices like that.’
‘I thought it would help.’
‘It only helped to move the business closer to collapse. Then there was that foolish mistake with Bagsy Browne,’ he recalled. ‘Trust him to come in here when he saw you were on your own.’
She was defensive. ‘He wanted a fishing rod and I sold him one.’
‘The only fishing he ever does is with his hand — it goes into people’s pockets and steals from them. He didn’t want the rod, Lavinia. All he was after was the chance to make a quick profit. So what did he do?’
‘There’s no need to keep on about it,’ she said, petulantly.
‘He comes in here, turns on what passes for his charm and he haggles until you lower the price of that rod by several pounds.’
‘He paid in cash, Michael,’ she said, nastily. ‘We needed it.’
‘What did Bagsy do then?’ he asked, sarcastically. ‘Did he go fishing?’
‘You know quite well that he didn’t.’
‘He went straight across the road to the pub, scrounged a drink out of a complete stranger then sold the rod for a lot more than he paid for it. I was teased about it for weeks.’
‘And you’re still blaming me for it.’
‘I’m sorry,’ he said, slipping an arm around her, ‘but it does rankle. Let’s learn from our mistakes,’ he went on, sounding more optimistic. ‘When we take over the Crown, we must have strict rules — no free drinks and no haggling over the price. And if anyone causes the slightest amount of trouble, out he goes.’
‘The landlord said there was very little rowdiness there.’
‘It’s one of the things that appeals to me. Success is entirely in our own hands, Lavinia. We must be more businesslike. You’ve seen the accounts for the last three years. The Crown has been making a decent profit. If we invest some of the money we inherit from Joel,’ he said, ‘we can increase that profit.’
‘I just want to be where there’s more
‘Yes — like the murder of my brother.’
‘That was a stroke of good fortune for us.’
‘I know. We must exploit it to the hilt.’
‘I don’t follow.’
‘It will still be fresh in people’s minds, Lavinia. We can use that to our advantage. The landlord said that the Crown will come with a lot of goodwill. It has plenty of regular customers. I think we can increase their number by making the most of the fact that we’re members of Joel’s family. It will arouse sympathy,’ he said. ‘It will create even more goodwill. We can use Joel in an even more effective way.’
‘Can we?’
‘I think so. We both know how popular he was.’
‘So?’
‘We change the name of the inn.’
She was taken aback. ‘Can we do that, Michael?’
‘When the place is ours, we can do what we like.’
‘What will the new name be?’
He kissed her on the cheek. ‘The Stationmaster.’
Having promised Dorcas Hope that he’d find out about the possibility of visiting, Colbeck took the train to
