been gone maybe about ten minutes or so when one of the students came and told me. Not that there was anything I could do about it right there and then, like, when I had drinks to serve. It was about that time the girl and her friends came in.”
“Pretty near closing time, then?”
“Aye, not far off. I’d have closed up early except I had paying customers. I reckoned I’d see the punters off the premises at the usual time and get it cleaned up. Never imagined it would take so bloody long.”
“This Lyndgarth lot, did they stick around the square?”
“I didn’t see them again, but then I didn’t get out till late.”
“Any names?”
“Why? Are you going to prosecute them?”
“For what?”
“Vandalizing the pub.”
“No, dickhead. They might be suspects in a murder investigation.
Why, are you going to bring charges?”
“No way. I value my life.”
“I’d still like to talk to them. Names?”
“You must be joking. Maybe one of them called his mate Steve, and there was another called Mick.”
“Wonderful. Thanks a lot.”
“I told you. Anyway, it shouldn’t be too difficult for you to find them if you want. Just ask around. Lyndgarth’s not a big place and the yobs are probably pretty well known there.”
“And you’d recognize them again?”
“Aye, I’d recognize them.”
“Had you seen the girl and her friends before?”
“They’d been in once or twice, yes.”
“Regulars?”
“I wouldn’t call them regulars, but I’d seen them occasionally in here on a Saturday night. Never caused any trouble.”
“Did you hear anything from Taylor’s Yard while you were cleaning up the toilets?”
“No.”
“Did you see anyone go by the front?”
“No, but I wouldn’t have, anyway. See, I was in the toilets, at the 9 2 P E T E R
R O B I N S O N
Castle Road side, as you’ve seen. Besides, I wasn’t really paying attention. Cleaning up vandalized toilets sort of demands all your attention, if you know what I mean.” Murdoch worked at a glass, then narrowed his eyes. “I can hardly believe it, you know.”
“Believe what?”
He gestured over toward the toilets. “While I was busy cleaning up in there, what was happening in The Maze. That poor girl. I can hardly get my head around it.”
“Don’t even try,” said Templeton, heading toward the door. “It’ll only give you grief.” And he left, rather pleased with himself for his piece of sage advice. He paused at the door and turned back. “And don’t run away,” he said, pointing his finger at Murdoch. “I might be back.”
A S B E F I T T I N G that of a senior partner, Julia Ford’s office was both larger and better appointed than Constance Wells’s. She had the same fine view of the square, but from higher up, and the room was fitted with a thick-pile carpet and a solid teak desk. What looked to Annie like an original David Hockney Yorkshire landscape hung on one wall.
Julia Ford herself was elegance personified. Annie had no idea where her simple dark-blue business suit and plain white blouse had come from, but it definitely wasn’t Next or Primark. She bet there was a designer’s name on it somewhere, and it probably came from Harvey Nicks. Her straight chestnut-brown hair fell to her shoulders and was imbued with the kind of luster Annie had seen only in television ad-verts. Julia Ford stood up, leaned across the table and shook hands with both Annie and Ginger, then bade them sit. Her chairs were padded and far more comfortable than Constance Wells’s. She regarded them both with watchful brown eyes, then turned to Constance, who lingered in the doorway. “That’s all right, Constance, thank you very much,” she said. “You can go now.” Constance shut the door behind her.
Julia Ford continued to regard Annie and Ginger with those serious eyes and made a steeple of her hands on the table. No rings, Annie noticed. “I understand that Karen Drew has been murdered?” she said finally.
F R I E N D O F T H E D E V I L
9 3
“That’s right,” said Annie. “We’re trying—”
Julia Ford waved her hand dismissively. “I should imagine you are,”
she said, a definite smile now playing around the edges of her thin lips. “And I should also imagine you’re not getting very far.”
