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“He recovered and went back to Australia.”
“Do you have an address?”
“God knows where he is now. He was from Sydney. I seem to remember he was set on becoming a lawyer, if that’s any help.”
“Okay,” said Annie, making a note. “So this mystery woman shows up in two separate accounts involving two serious attacks in the area, linked by the similarity in head wounds, possibly made by a smooth rounded object, one resulting in death. And this is an area where you get very few violent incidents. Am I to take it that you’re making a connection here between this woman and the one who showed up at Mapston Hall to take Karen Drew—or Lucy Payne—for a walk on Sunday morning?”
“That’s right.”
“But that was eighteen years ago, Les,” said Annie. “What could it possibly have to do with what happened the other day?”
Ferris grinned and shook his empty glass. “But there’s more. Buy us another Sneck-Lifter and I’ll tell you the whole story.”
“ H E L LO, M R . R A N D A L L ,” said Banks, when the officers brought Joseph Randall into the interview room. “Nice to see you again.”
“You can spare me the pleasantries,” said Randall. “What do you mean by sending a police car to drag me out of my home? You couldn’t possibly have sent a more obvious signal to my neighbors if you’d tried.”
“Signal of what?” Banks asked.
“You know damn well what I’m talking about.”
“Well, we wouldn’t want you to have to walk all this way, would we?”
“Stop playing silly buggers. They wouldn’t even give me any reason why they were bringing me here.”
“They probably didn’t know themselves,” said Banks. “You know how it is. Lowly PCs. Need-to-know basis. We don’t tell them everything.”
Randall folded his arms. “This time I’ve called my solicitor. He’ll be meeting me here momentarily.”
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“Good idea,” said Banks. “We like to make sure everything’s aboveboard when we get to this stage of an investigation.”
Randall paused in his display of indignation and gave Banks a worried glance. “What do you mean, ‘this stage’?”
“End game,” said Banks, casually shuff ling the papers in front of him. “We find it works best for us in court if everyone knows his or her rights, so there are no possibilities of infringement. So, if you like, we’ll just wait here quietly until your solicitor arrives. It’s not the most salubrious of places.” Banks glanced around at the f laking institutional green paint, the high barred window and the bare lightbulb covered by a f lyblown grille. “Still . . . Cup of tea while we wait?”
Randall grunted. “No, I don’t want a bloody cup of tea. I want this over with so I can get out of here and go home.”
“Mind if I have one?”
“I don’t care what you do.”
Banks asked the constable on guard to send for tea, and before it arrived, Randall’s solicitor popped his head around the door, appearing lost. As Banks had expected, he wasn’t used to having criminal clients. Most Eastvale solicitors weren’t. This one looked as if it was his first time inside a police interview room.
“Come in,” said Banks. He didn’t recognize the young man in the ill-fitting suit, untidy hair and large spectacles. “You are?”
The solicitor shook Randall’s hand and sat down in the spare chair.
“Crawford. Sebastian Crawford. Solicitor.”
“Sebastian takes care of all my affairs,” said Randall.
“Good,” said Banks. “I’ll just call my colleague and we’ll be ready to start.” If Sebastian Crawford took care of all Randall’s interests, Banks thought, then he wasn’t likely to be very much of a criminal lawyer. With any luck, he would soon be way out of his depth.
The tea arrived, along with DS Stefan Nowak, and they settled down in the interview room. When he was ready, Banks turned on the video and tape machines and stated the details of date, time, place and those present. He could see how this made Randall nervous, while Crawford just sat there, fascinated by the whole routine.
“Now then, Mr. Randall,” Banks began, “there’s been a few interesting developments since we last talked, but before we get to them, 1 74 P E T E R
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I’d just like to recap brief ly what you told us on the previous two times we talked to you, make sure it’s accurate.”
Randall glanced toward Crawford, who nodded. “I can see no harm in that, Joseph,” he advised. “Do as they
