me.’
‘That’s a good philosophy,’ I agreed, ‘but the odd pill might help you sleep, or something.’
‘No, I’m OK.’
‘Is anybody calling to see you? Friends, anybody?’
‘Team mates, and their wives. One or two. I guess it’s awkward for them.’
‘You’re right. They want to do whatever is best, but don’t know what that is.’
We chatted on, me letting him do most of it. He suggested coffee and we drifted into the kitchen.
‘When will I be able to…?’ he began. ‘When will they let me…?’
‘The funeral? When will they let you arrange a funeral?’
‘Yes. That’s what I meant.’
We perched on high stools round what I supposed was a breakfast bar. ‘Usually,’ I said, ‘in a situation like this — a murder case — we have to leave the body in the mortuary after the post-mortem, for the defence to arrange their own PM, if they require it. I can’t see that being necessary. I’ll have a word with the coroner, see what we can do.’
‘I’d be very grateful. So would Lisa’s parents.’
‘I know.’
I asked him if he’d go back to Australia, but he hadn’t thought about it. Said he might eventually settle over there, make a fresh start.
‘Where’s the bird — Joey?’ I wondered. ‘He’d be some company for you.’
‘Lisa’s parents are looking after him. I’ll have a ride over to collect him, this afternoon.’
‘I should. He, er, was on the floor, near the front door when I came. I picked him up. It was the bravest thing I’ve ever done in my life.’
Justin gave the briefest of smiles. ‘He was probably scared. He wouldn’t hurt you.’ He looked in his coffee mug, realised it was empty and reached out for mine. ‘Another coffee?’
‘Please.’
With his back to me, as he waited for the kettle to boil again, he said, ‘Lisa loved Joey. And he loved her. He was a present for her tenth birthday. She used to take Joey in the bath with her. He’d stand on the taps, and after she’d rinsed her hair with the attachment she’d give him a shower. He enjoyed that.’
‘He did look a bit straggly,’ I said.
He slid the full mug across to me and climbed on to his stool. ‘Did Lisa suffer, Charlie? That’s the question I need answering, most of all.’
I finished stirring in a couple of spoonfuls of sugar, touched the tip of the spoon on the surface of the coffee to remove the last droplet and deliberately placed the spoon alongside my mug, equidistant from it and two edges of the tabletop. ‘It was quick,’ I told him. ‘And she didn’t struggle. She had no time to struggle. That’s all I know, but that much, I guarantee.’
‘I appreciate what you say. Will you catch…whoever it was?’
‘I’ll catch ’em, Justin. That I vow.’
The visit I’d been scared of making lasted two and a half hours. I promised to call again and told him he could ring me any time, night or day. At the door I said, ‘Sooner or later, Justin, it’s going to occur to you that if I hadn’t been nosing into various people’s affairs, this might not have happened. I’m aware of it, and it bothers me.’
He shook his head, saying, ‘No. You were only doing your job. Two years ago a rider crashed while trying to get past me. He’s in a wheelchair, now. If I hadn’t been so determined not to let him through he’d still be walking about. I won an extra point and twenty quid. He got that.’
The car was facing in the wrong direction, but I didn’t bother turning it around. I drove to the highest place on the moors and just sat there for half an hour, safe and warm, with the wind buffeting the car and the view slowly turning to a khaki smudge as a wall of bad weather blew in from the west and the first sleet of the season built up on the windscreen.
I knew Gilbert wouldn’t be in, so I used the back stairs and sat in his office while I rang Superintendent Isles. He couldn’t see any reason why Lisa’s body shouldn’t be released. Sometimes, with cut throats, great weight is put on the angle of the attack, and whether it was done by a left- or right-handed assailant, but we’d made no conclusions about this. He promised to have a word with the coroner. After that I waited in the gathering gloom until it was time to go home.
I wasn’t hungry, so instead of tea I settled for listening to a Joan Baez CD. The first song on it was ‘Diamonds and Rust’, straight out of my desert island selection. After that I typed my ethics paper.
At eight o’clock I rang Annabelle. ‘Have you finished eating?’ I asked, when she answered.
‘Yes, thank you. I wish you’d been able to be with us.’
‘I, er, thought I might be working late. Did your friends find you OK?’
‘Yes, but…’ She lowered her voice to a whisper. ‘I think they expected you to be here, too.’
‘You mean, living with you?’
‘Yes.’
‘I’m open to offers.’
After a pause she said, ‘Maybe that is something to discuss another time.’
‘Right,’ I replied. I liked the way this was going. ‘Have you been anywhere?’
‘Yes,’ she answered, brightly. ‘Marie and Toby didn’t arrive until nearly two, so we couldn’t go too far. Would you believe I took them to the Sculpture Park? They enjoyed it immensely.’
‘Good. I bet they didn’t guess as many as I did.’
‘Well, they wouldn’t, would they, never having been before?’
‘I’d never been before,’ I protested in my hurt voice.
‘Ha, I’ll believe you. They didn’t even make a passable attempt at poor old St Sebastian.’
‘At who!’ I exclaimed, sitting up.
‘St Sebastian. Surely you remember him.’
‘No, you’ve lost me.’
‘The tall one, with the bicycle wheel on his head. That is his halo. He was martyred by being shot with arrows, hence the spiky bits. Didn’t I tell you who he was?’
‘No,’ I mumbled. ‘You never mentioned it.’
‘Well, now you know. Are you coming for supper, tomorrow?’
‘Er, yes, I’d like that.’
‘Good. Any requests?’
‘No, er, Annabelle, I, er, won’t keep you from your guests any longer. See you tomorrow, eh?’
We said our goodbyes and I rolled on the floor, holding my head. The martyrdom of St Sebastian. Five yards in, at five yard intervals. That’s where the gold was buried, just over the fence from Davis’s paddock.
Sparky was at home when I rang. ‘Does Daniel own a metal detector?’ I asked him.
‘No. Why?’
I explained.
‘Task force have them,’ he said when I’d finished. ‘I could collect one from HQ and meet you there.’
‘What, now?’
‘Why not? If we did a search in daylight we’d end up with every gold-hungry nut in the country converging on the place. I could meet you there in less than an hour.’
‘Right,’ I agreed. ‘Pay and display car park. I’ll take a spade. See you there, quick as you can.’
I’m not sure what the courting couple thought when these two dark-clad figures unloaded their cars and set off across the park, but nobody rang the police. Maybe their attention was elsewhere. I led the way across the big field, hoping to find a short cut through the temporary exhibits.
‘Waaah!’ Sparky yelled, dropping the detector and throwing his arms around my neck. We’d reached the crowd of headless men.
‘Be quiet,’ I hissed. ‘Security will hear you. They’re only statues.’
‘Scared the living daylights out of me,’ he gasped.
The short cut wasn’t such a good idea and we had to retrace our steps.
‘What’s that one supposed to be?’ he hissed.
‘It’s called Spindle Piece, by Henry Moore.’
