'It's on my long list of things to do,' replied Frost, who hadn't got round to thinking of that aspect.
'The sooner we can clear Mrs. Roberts…'
'As I am sure you would wish, sir, clearing Mrs. Roberts is right at the bottom of my list of priorities,' said Frost.
'Of course, of course. The letter and the photograph — you didn't tell her I'd seen them?'
'She never asked.'
'Good.' Mullett dabbed at his brow with his handkerchief. 'It would be very embarrassing if she thought I knew.' He rearranged the blotter on his desk to show he was changing the subject. 'What's the procedure for the ransom han dover tonight?'
'We've got all the public telephone kiosks in the shopping mall bugged, so whichever one the kidnapper calls we'll be able to hear everything he says. I've also arranged for a homing device to be slipped inside the suitcase with the money.'
'How did you manage that?'
'Remember Tommy Dunn used to be with us in CID?'
Mullett pulled a face. He did indeed remember Dunn, an inefficient officer with a drink problem and the strongest of hints that he took irregular payments. Dunn had been arrested on a charge of driving while well over the limit, but Mullett had managed to get the charge dropped in exchange for Dunn's resignation. A pity, he thought wistfully, he couldn't do something similar with Frost. He also recalled that Dunn was one of the investigating officers four years ago when Cassidy's daughter was killed and there were vague whispers he was bribed by the hit and run driver. 'I remember Dunn. What about him?'
'Tommy works for Savalot as a security guard. He's going to slip the homing device in the suitcase for us.'
'Why should he do that? He owes us no favours.'
'He's doing it for three bottles of Johnnie Walker and the cancellation of a couple of parking tickets.' It was six parking tickets actually, but he wasn't telling the superintendent this.
'I don't want to know,' said Mullett hurriedly.
'I'll bung the cost of the whisky on my petrol expenses,' said Frost blithely, 'so don't query it if it looks a bit high.' He was also going to sneak in the cost of petrol bought while he was on holiday which would make it higher still.
Mullett flapped a hand. 'Spare me the details. I'm not happy that Dunn is involved in this, Frost. You can't rely on him.'
'He's all we've got,' said Frost. But he shared Mullett's concern. Tommy had sounded half cut when he agreed to doit.
'So,' continued Mullett, 'if things go as you hope and Dunn runs contrary to past form, we will have a homing device hidden in the ransom money?'
'Yes. We'll be able to track Cordwell to the han dover point and then keep tabs on the kidnapper after he's picked it up.'
'What about his claim he can monitor police radios?'
'I don't believe him, but just in case he does we'll be scrambling all our radio messages.'
'The safety of the boy is paramount,' insisted Mullett.
'We won't make a move until we know where he is and are assured he's safe.'
Mullett scratched his chin thoughtfully. It sounded foolproof, but when Frost organized things, nothing was foolproof. 'Well, I'll leave the details to you,' he said, so he could deny any knowledge of them should things blow up in their faces. 'The only stipulation I make is that things must not go wrong.'
'That's a bloody good stipulation!' said Frost in mock admiration as he walked to the door. 'I'll bear it in mind.'
While Mullett was trying to determine if there was a tinge of sarcasm in this, he heard an indignant squeal from Miss Smith, his secretary, then a cry of 'How's that for centre?' and a guffaw from Frost. He shook his head sadly. How could you work with a man like that? He looked up in sympathy at the scarlet face of Miss Smith as she burst in to complain.
Liz was waiting in his office and pushed a pile of reports over to him. Without looking at them, he pushed them back. 'Just tell me what they say, love. My lips get tired when I read.'
She took them and gave him a precis of each. 'I saw Mark Grover in hospital and broke the news of his wife's death.'
'Shit!' said Frost. 'I should have done that. Sorry to dump it on you, love how did he take it?'
'He took it very well. He said it served the cow right.'
'You didn't tell him we suspect it was murder?'
'No. I just said it looked as if she had fallen in front of a train. He told me she had kept threatening to kill herself- the doctor had prescribed her pills for depression.'
'They don't seem to have worked all that bloody well,' sniffed Frost. 'I'll check it out with her doctor.' He scribbled a reminder on his pad. 'What else?'
'You told me to take his clothes to the lab. They're still doing tests, but if there's any blood, they haven't found it yet.'
'Did you ask him about the row the neighbours heard?'
'He says it wasn't him. He never left the store until nearly two o'clock. I've spoken to his work mate who again confirms this. Then I checked with the security man at the store. No-one can get in or out until he operates the electronic locking system and he's definite that he didn't operate it at all that night. And just in case you might still have doubts, I contacted their boss at the shop fitting firm. He phoned at twenty past midnight to find out how the job was going and Mark Grover answered the phone.'
Frost chewed this over. There was not a lot of support for his theory that Grover killed his wife. But he was only giving Liz half his attention. His mind was still on the ransom han dover He didn't want another of his usual cock-ups on this one.
'Which means,' Liz continued, 'that we can concentrate on our number one suspect Sidney Snell, who seems to have done a runner.'
'I just can't see Sidney killing anyone,' said Frost. 'The mother was killed in a frenzied attack. Sidney might stamp his foot and say 'knickers' but he wouldn't get into a frenzy.'
'Three children, all in one room that could have worked him up to a sexual state where he'd do anything.'
'A bit of bare thigh does the same for me,' sighed Frost. He saw there was more to come.
'We've got a key witness. An old boy walking his dog who swears he saw someone running from the house and driving off in a blue car.'
Frost's head jerked up. 'What time was this?'
'About ten minutes before two o'clock.'
'In the morning? What was the silly sod doing walking his dog at that time?'
'He used to be on shift work before he retired and old habits die hard.'
Frost tugged the man's statement towards him and read it. The old boy seemed pretty definite as to what he saw. 'He's sure the man he saw came out of the Grovers' house?'
'He's positive… And to back it up, Mark Grover says that when he came home last night the front door was wide open.'
Frost dug in his pocket and found a half-smoked cigarette hidden in the lining that had been there a long time. It was stale, but better than nothing. He lit up. 'And what colour is Snell's car?'
'Dark blue,' replied Liz.
He sucked in smoke and coughed, shaking ash all over a memo from Mullett complaining about the inadequacy of his daily call reports. 'Could be a clue there, somewhere.' He heaved himself up and snatched his scarf from the hat-stand. Something was nagging away at him, something just out of reach, something he knew he should have picked up, but the more he tried to remember, the more it crept back to cower in the dark, inaccessible recesses of his mind. He had to get out of the office and think. 'I'm off to see her doctor. Let's find out if he agrees with the husband about her suicidal tendencies.'
The waiting room was crowded, people hunched up coughing, snuffling and groaning in counterpoint to
