you?’
‘Life doesn’t end with death.’
‘Maybe not. But what he said might be important.’
There was a long pause while Katie seemed to struggle with her conscience; each phase of the skirmish flashed across her flawless complexion. Finally, she said, ‘Annie was there. That’s what he told me. Annie was in Toronto.’
‘Annie?’
‘Yes. Anne Ralston. She was a friend of Bernie’s from years ago. She disappeared when we had all that trouble here five years back.’
‘I’ve heard of her. What exactly did Bernard say?’
‘Just that she was living in Toronto now. He’d heard from her about three years ago. She was in Vancouver then. They’d kept in touch, and now she’d moved.’
‘Did he say anything else about her?’
Katie looked at him blankly. ‘No. She just asked him not to go telling everyone in Swainshead that he’d seen her.’
‘This is what Bernard told you?’
‘Yes.’
‘Why did he tell you, do you think, when Anne had told him not to tell anyone?’
‘I… I… don’t know,’ Katie stammered. ‘He trusted me. He was just talking about people leaving, finding a new life. He said she was happy there.’
‘Were you talking about wanting a new life for yourself?’
‘I don’t know what you mean.’
Her words lacked conviction. Banks knew he was right. Katie had probably been telling Bernard Allen that she wanted to get away from Swainshead. Why she should want to leave he didn’t know, but from what he’d seen and heard of Sam so far, she might have one good reason.
‘Never mind,’ Banks said. ‘Did he say anything about coming home to stay?’
Katie seemed surprised. ‘No. Why should he? He had a wonderful new life out there.’
‘Did he tell you this on the morning he left or before?’
‘Before. Just after he arrived.’
‘And you were the only one he told?’
‘Yes.’
‘You’re hesitating, Katie. Why?’
‘I… I don’t know. You’re confusing me. You’re making me nervous.’
‘Were you the only one he told?’
‘As far as I know, yes.’
‘And who did you tell?’
‘I didn’t tell anyone.’
‘You’re lying, Katie.’
‘I’m not. I-’
‘Who did you tell? Sam?’
Katie pulled at the duster so hard it tore. ‘All right, yes! I told Sam. He’s my husband. Wives aren’t supposed to keep secrets from their husbands, are they?’
‘What did Sam say?’
‘Nothing. He just seemed surprised, that’s all.’
‘Did he know Anne Ralston?’
‘Not well. It was only about a year after we arrived that she disappeared. We met her with Bernie, and she was going out with Stephen, but Sam didn’t know the Colliers as well then.’
‘Are you sure you told no one else?’
‘No one,’ Katie whispered. ‘I swear it.’
Banks believed her.
Sam Greenock, he reflected, was quite a one for passing on news, especially to his cronies in the White Rose, with whom he seemed intent on ingratiating himself. Socially, he was beneath them all. The Colliers were cocks of The Head, and Fletcher owned quite a bit of land. Stephen Collier, as Katie said, had been going out with Anne Ralston around the time she disappeared, which had also been coincidental with the murder of Raymond Addison, the London private detective. Somewhere, somehow, Sam Greenock was involved in it all.
What if Sam had told Stephen that Bernard Allen had been in touch with Anne? And what if she was in a position to tell Allen something incriminating about Collier, something to do with the Addison murder?
That would certainly give Stephen a motive. And if that was what had happened, to what extent was Sam Greenock an accessory? For the first time, there seemed to be the strong possibility of a link between the murders of Raymond Addison and Bernard Allen. This would certainly interest Superintendent Gristhorpe, who had withdrawn into his usual role because the two cases hadn’t seemed connected.
‘Thank you, Katie,’ Banks said, walking to the door. ‘You’d better keep our rooms for us. I think we’ll be back this evening.’
Katie nodded wearily. Pale, slumped in the chair, she looked used and abused like a discarded mistress.
THREE
‘Anne Ralston?’ Gristhorpe repeated in disbelief. ‘After all these years?’
He and Banks knelt beside the pile of stones. Usually when they worked on the wall together they hardly spoke, but today there was pressing police business to deal with. Sandra had taken Brian and Tracy down into Lyndgarth after lunch to see a local craft exhibition, so they were alone with the twittering larks and the cheeky wagtails on the valley side above the village.
‘You can see how it changes things,’ Banks said.
‘I can indeed - if it had anything to do with Bernard Allen’s murder.’
‘It must have.’
‘We don’t even know that Anne Ralston’s disappearance was connected with Addison’s killing, for a start.’
‘It’s too much of a coincidence, surely?’ Banks said. ‘A private detective is killed and a local woman disappears on practically the same day. If it happened in London, or even in Eastvale, I’d be inclined to think there was no link, but in a small village like Swainshead…?’
‘Aye,’ said Gristhorpe. ‘Put like that… But we need a lot more to go on. No, not that one; it’s too flat.’
Gristhorpe brushed aside the stone Banks had picked up.
‘Sorry.’ Banks searched the pile for something better. ‘I’m working on the assumption that Anne Ralston knew something about Addison’s murder, right?’
‘Right. I’ll go along with that just for the sake of argument.’
‘If she did know something and disappeared without telling us, it means one of two things: either she was paid off, or she was scared for her own life.’
Gristhorpe nodded. ‘Or she might have been protecting someone,’ he added.
‘But then there’d be no need to run.’
‘Maybe she didn’t trust herself to bear up under pressure. Who knows? Go on.’
‘For five years nobody hears any more of her, then suddenly Bernard Allen turns up and tells Katie Greenock he’s been seeing the Ralston woman in Toronto. The next thing we know, Allen’s dead before he can get back there. Now, Katie said that Bernard had been told not to spread it around about him knowing Anne. Was she protecting him, or herself? Or both? We don’t know. What we do know, though, is that she didn’t want her whereabouts known. Allen tells Katie, anyway, and she tells her husband. I think we can safely assume that Sam Greenock told everyone else. Allen must have become a threat to someone because he’d met up with Anne Ralston, who might have known something about Addison’s murder. Stephen Collier was closely associated with her so he looks like a good suspect, but there’s no reason to concentrate on him alone. It could have been any of them - Fletcher, Nicholas, Sam Greenock, even Katie - they were all in Swainshead at the time both Addison and Allen were killed, and we’ve no idea what or who that private detective was after five years ago.’
‘What about opportunity?’
‘Same thing. Everybody knew the route Allen was taking out of Swainshead. He’d talked all about it in the White Rose the night before. And most of them also knew how attached he was to that valley. The killer could easily have hidden among the trees up there and watched for him.’
‘All right,’ Gristhorpe said, placing a through-stone. ‘But what about their alibis?’
‘We’ve only got Fletcher’s word that he was at home. He could have got to the valley from the north without anyone knowing. He lives alone on the fell side and there are no other houses nearby. As for the Colliers, Stephen says he was at the office and Nicholas was at school. We haven’t checked yet, but if Nicholas wasn’t actually teaching a class and Stephen wasn’t in a meeting, either of them could have slipped out for a while, or turned up later. It would have been easy for Nicholas, again approaching from the north, and Stephen could have got up from half a mile past Rawley Force. It’s not much of a climb, and there’s plenty of cover to hide the car off the Helmthorpe road. I had a look on my way over here.’
‘The Greenocks?’
‘Sam could have got there from the road too. He went to Eastvale for supplies, but the shopkeepers can’t say exactly what time he got there. Carter’s doesn’t open till nine, anyway, and the chap in the newsagent’s says Sam usually drops in at about eleven. That gives him plenty of time. He might have had another motive, too.’
Gristhorpe raised his bushy eyebrows.
‘The woman denies it, but I got a strong impression that something went on between Katie Greenock and Bernard Allen.’
‘And you think if Sam got wind of it…?’
‘Yes.’
‘What about Mrs Greenock?’
‘She says she was at home cleaning, but all the guests would have gone out by then. Nobody could confirm that she stayed in.’
‘Have you checked the Colliers’ stories?’
‘Sergeant Hatchley’s doing it tomorrow morning. There’s no one at the factory on a Sunday.’
‘Well, maybe we’ll be a bit clearer when we get all that sorted out.’
‘I’m going back to Swainshead for another night. I’ll want to talk to Stephen Collier again, for one.’
Gristhorpe nodded. ‘Take it easy though, Alan. I’ve already had an earful
