trying to piece the injured blokes together and get them off the mountain. We were in no mood to be harangued by some RAF brass with their posh
O v 1
accents and their Clark Gable moustaches. There were angrv
O y
words, by all accounts. Some said that blows erc struck, but no charges were ever brought, civil or military.’
‘What happened in the end?’
‘Two members of the Home Guard were suspected.’
‘What? Dad’s Army?’
‘They were given the job of guarding the wreckage overnight. They were the only people who had the chance of removing the money, so the theory went.’
‘This wasn’t in the crash report.’
‘Of course not. It was nothing to do with the crash. Do you think the RAF went round telling everybody there had been thousands of pounds in cash on board the plane?’
‘Who were the two Home Guard men?’
‘I can tell you their names if you want, but remember that they were men who were already too old for active service. They’re long dead. Of course, the police ought to have been looking for somebody who suddenly got rich about that time. That amount of money would be like finding King Solomon’s Mine for some poor bloody farmworker. They could hardly have spent it without anybody noticing. Not in wartime think of rationing, for a start. But it was the two Home Guard blokes who took the blame. Walker and Sykes, they were called. They
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were questioned for days, but they were never charged. Without the money, they couldn’t prove anything/
‘Did you know these men?’ asked Cooper.
‘Oh, aye,’ said Rowland. ‘Walker and Sykcs were with the West Edendale company. One of them was the water hoard man that used to look after Blackhrook Reservoir. But his mate, now, he made a living working in the kitchens at the Snake Inn, as I recall. He didn’t look quite English, you know. Too dark of complexion. He was one of those who always came under suspicion during the war. If you didn’t fit in before the war, then you turned into a Naxi spy once it started. Aye, you were either one of us, or you were one of the enemy. That would he why he joined the Home Guard, I reckon — to show the local folk which side he was on.’
‘But then, when the money went missing … ?’
‘He was the obvious one to blame. When they found out he was on guard, everyone was convinced it was him that took the money. Nobody thought too much about how he did it — they just knew it was Aim.’
Cooper frowned. ‘But, Mr Rowland, if it wasn’t the Home
Guard men who took the monev, then who was it?’
v’
‘I don’t know the answers to these questions,’ said Rowland. ‘Why arc you asking me?’
Cooper knew he should stop now. But he was sure that Walter Rowland knew more. He felt he almost had the one fact that would be the key to everything.
‘Somebody local? Can you tell me who?’ Tve no idea,’ said Rowland. ‘It doesn’t matter.’ There was a fatalism in the old man’s voice that hadn’t been there before. Though he was trying to answer the questions, it was difficult for him to rouse the interest. He was several inches nearer to the brink of despair. Cooper knew there was something wrong, and it was more, even, than the pain in the old man’s joints.
‘Just a minute,’ he said. ‘Sit there and don’t move.’ He went back into the kitchen and looked at the back door. The lock was missing completely - there was only a round hole where the barrel should have passed through, and there
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was bare wood that had been recently exposed. He eased open the door by its outer edge and found he was looking into a small lean-to extension built on to the back of the house. There was a workbench, surrounded by wood shavings on the floor. But there were no tools — the racks above the bench were empty. There were marks on the bench where a lathe might have been clamped, but there was no lathe. The door that led outside had been forced, and fresh splinters of wood stuck out of it at dangerous angles.
‘You’ve had a breakin,’ said Cooper. ‘They’ve ransacked your workshop.’
‘Yes,’ said Rowland.
‘Have you reported it?’
‘To the police? There didn’t seem much point.’
‘Why not?’
‘Your lot would do sod-all. There’s other folk that get more
o
done about things around here. So 1 told them.’
Cooper stared at the old man. ‘Who are you talking about,
Mr Rowland?’
‘Local folk, that don’t like burglars and drug dealers. Folk
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