that are prepared to do something about it.’
‘You mean vigilantes?’
Rowland said nothing, avoiding his eye, and Cooper knew he would get nothing more out of the old man. But he was thinking of two youths who had ended up in hospital, and of a piece of CCTV Him that would identify Eddie Kemp.
‘I’ll get somebody to come out to take the details of the incident and get some fingerprints,’ he said. ‘If you can make a list of what’s been taken, we 11 get people to look out tor your property.’
Rowland lowered his head. He hardly seemed interested. He was still looking at his mug of tea, his twisted hands held in front of him as he watched the steam rise and vanish. With a shock, Cooper realized that the old man was probably unable to pick up the mug. He remembered that Rowland hadn’t actually asked for the tea, just told him to ^et one (or himself.
Cooper flushed with embarrassment. Now he didn’t know what to do. There was no way he could help Walter Rowland,
345
no way that he could offer to lilt the mug to his lips to help him drink. The old man would never accept that sort of help from a stranger. Not from anyone, maybe. The only option was to leave him to it, to save Rowland the humiliation of having to sit there while the tea went cold, and to pretend that he didn’t want it.
Helplessly, Cooper looked out of the window at the net curtains in the porch of the house next door. If he went to knock on the neighbours’ door when he left, Rowland would see him. On the other side was the Gospel Hall, where the singing had stopped now. Cooper recalled hearing the sound of cars starting, and doors slamming. He could even imagine he had heard the noise of a key turning firmly in the lock of the big oak door before the hall fell into silence. He didn’t know where else to look for help. His training had never prepared him for this.
Of course, where large amounts of money cre involved, anything could happen. It could bring out the worst in everybody, whether it was wartime or not. Sitting in his car in Undcrbank, Ben Cooper considered the people he had talked to. Had any of them suddenly become rich in the past? Walter Row land or George Malkin? It didn’t seem likclv. And if Dannv McTeague
O V V O
himself had walked off with the money from Lancaster SUV, there was no way of finding out. That left only one man alive
v CS V
who had been there at the time.
He looked at his watch. He might just be in time. The Lukasxcs should be at West Street to make their statements right now.
Diane Fry watched Grace Lukasz rub the palms of her hands on the arms of her whcelchair, leaving noticeable sweat stains. On her own, the woman was nervous.
‘Mrs Lukasz,’ said Fry, ‘where did your son Andrew get the cigarette case that upset your father-in-law so much?’
‘I don’t know. Andrew wouldn’t tell us. In fact, he was very secretive about it. You know, I’m not sure now what he
V ‘
wanted when he came. I thought he wanted to be reconciled, but something went wrong, and I don’t know why he argued
346
with Zygmunt. Since he’s lived in London, Andrew has become like a stranger to us.’
‘Did you have any idea who Nick Easton was, the man who came to your home on Monday?’
‘Not reallv,’ said Mrs Lukasz.
‘Not really? What docs that mean?’
‘It means 1 only suspected. Nobody had told me anything, but I can put two and two together when it comes to my family. 1 thought he must either be a policeman or something worse.’
‘Worse?’ Fry looked at Murrin and almost smiled. ‘Is there something worse?’
‘Yes,’ said Mrs Lukasz. ‘I think there arc people who would want to do Andrew harm.’
‘Why?’
y
‘I’ve been worried about Andrew for a long time. You know we didn’t see him for nearly have years after he left to go to London?’
‘There was some question of discord over his wedding.’ ‘Yes, but it was more than that. He was always evasive about
‘ y
the details of his life and what he did. Nobody else would have noticed, perhaps. Peter didn’t notice it. Rut I’m Andrew’s mother I didn t need to work it out logically. I started to feel sure that he’d become involved in something dangerous.
o o
Peter said I was talking nonsense.’ Grace Lukasz toyed with the spokes of her wheels, while her eyes followed Fry’s pen as she made notes. ‘Then Andrew turned up in Edendale a few days alter New Year, and he was still evasive - evasive about why he had come. He said he had business in the area, and I believed him. But I was worried what sort of business it might be.’
‘Do you think it was something to do with the cigarette case?’ asked Frv.
^
‘Yes. It was what he argued with Zygmunt about that Sunday. I’ve never heard either of them so angry. I was glad that Peter wasn’t there. Andrew said something about loyalty, and that vas when Zygmunt really got angry. I thought he was going to have a heart attack. He shouted in Polish, and it was after that Andrew walked out.’
