“Andy!”
Pash turned away and stared sulkily at the wall. For all his surface bravado, Winsome thought, he was just a confused and scared kid. It didn’t mean he couldn’t be dangerous, or vicious, but she doubted very much that he would turn out really bad. A dumb petty criminal; at worst, the one who always got caught.
“Okay,” he said. “Okay. No need to shout at me. Nicky and Jackie, they never got along, right? Then along comes the Bull, and he’s, like, bigger than both of them. Jackie thought like maybe it would be a good idea to set them against each other, so, yeah, he said I should tell the Bull that Donny had bad-mouthed him. But I never saw anything.
You’ve got to believe me. I don’t know who stabbed Donny, and I ain’t no witness to nothing.”
“Does the Bull carry a knife?”
“The Bull got a blade, yeah. A big one.”
“His address, Andy. The Bull’s address.”
“I don’t know no address.”
“Where does he live?”
“The f lats. Hague House. Second f loor. It’s got a green door, the only one there with a green door. Side facing the castle. I don’t know the number, I swear it. But don’t tell him I sent you.”
“Don’t worry, Andy. I wouldn’t think of it. But first I’d like you to come down to the station so we can get down what you’ve told all nice and legal, with a solicitor and all.”
“Do I have to?”
“Well, let me put it this way. Right now, I’m inclined to be lenient about the traffic cones, but if you start giving us any trouble, I’ll arrest you for being in possession of stolen property. Is that clear enough?”
said Winsome.
Pash didn’t say anything. He just grabbed his jacket from the f loor and followed Wilson downstairs.
“Think of it this way,” Winsome said. “It’ll give your little sister a bit of peace and quiet to read
When they left, Winsome could smell cigarette smoke coming from the living room.
* * *
3 0 4
P E T E R R O B I N S O N
“ N O W L E T me get this straight,” Banks asked Derek Wyman in the hot and stuffy interview room. “You’re telling us now that Mark Hardcastle asked you to spy on his lover Laurence Silbert because he suspected that Silbert was cheating on him, right?”
“That’s right,” said Wyman. “It wasn’t meant to go that far. No one was supposed to get hurt. Honest.”
“Why not do it himself?”
“He didn’t want to be seen.”
“Why did you hire Tomasina Savage?”
“Because I simply couldn’t get down to London on every occasion Laurence went there. And he knew me, too. There was always a chance he might spot me. I just looked in the yellow pages and liked the name.
It didn’t matter when I found out it was a woman. She did a good job.”
“And those conversations with Mark in the Red Rooster?”
“It was somewhere out of the way, that’s all. I didn’t know the kids from school had started to drink there. Mark was telling me all about his suspicions. No wonder he seemed upset. He was. He loved Laurence.”
“Did he also tell you that he had a previous conviction for domestic assault on an ex-lover?”
Wyman shot Banks a puzzled glance. “No, he didn’t tell me that.”
“So you just decided to help Mark in this out of the goodness of your heart?”
“Well, yes.”
“Without any idea of what the repercussions might be?”
“Obviously not. Like I said, I never intended for anyone to get hurt.”
“It’s not so obvious to me, Derek,” said Banks. “What did you have against Laurence Silbert that made you pursue him so aggressively? At the very least, you knew what you were doing might cause him great pain. It clearly caused Mark pain.”
“Well, Laurence deserved it, didn’t he, if he was cheating on Mark?”
“Were you in love with Mark?”
“Good God, no! Where on earth did you get that idea? I’m not . . .
I mean . . .
A L L T H E C O L O R S O F D A R K N E S S
3 0 5
“All right,” said Banks. “Calm down. We have to ask these questions, just for the record.”
