‘Connie, you can leave this to me,’ said her husband.
But Mrs Proctor continued into the room, and she didn’t look as though as she was going to take any notice of her husband.
‘It was because Ray told him about Quinn. He told him that Quinn had been here.’
‘He’s been here? When?’
‘Wednesday night.’
Fry glared at Proctor. Cooper braced himself to try to restrain her if she decided to throttle him.
‘Nothing happened,’ said Proctor, taking a step back. ‘You said he’d come to kill me. But he didn’t.’
‘Why didn’t you tell us about this?’ said Fry quietly.
Proctor was sweating. He withdrew a couple more paces, as if he wanted to be back in his office, hearing nothing but the blare of the TV. His wife glared at him with contempt.
‘He’s scared to death,’ she said. ‘Look at him, you can see it. He’s scared of you. But he’s even more scared of Mansell Quinn.’
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‘You don’t shop a mate,’ said Proctor. ‘Look, I’m sorry. I know it was wrong of me not to say anything. But you don’t shop a mate, whatever he’s done.’
‘Even when he’s killed somebody?’
‘Well
‘And what if he kills somebody else?’ said Fry. ‘Would you have bothered telling us then? Or do other people’s lives not ^
matter to you, Mr Proctor?’
Proctor shook his head. ‘He wasn’t after me, you see. I’ve done nothing against him. But Will ‘
‘What about him?’
‘I don’t know. Will was more worried than me, though. He thought Mansell might be angry with him. He wouldn’t tell me what it was all about. I thought he’d done Mansell a favour, but there was something else, too.’
‘What did Quinn come here for?’ said Fry. ‘What did he want?’
‘He didn’t say. He talked about how things were, what it was like coming out of prison.’
‘He just knocked on the door, and you let him in for a chat?’
‘Well, not exactly.’
‘What, then?’
‘I found him waiting in the office when I got back to the house.’
‘He just walked in?’
‘I don’t usually lock the back door, because I’m in and out all the time when I’m on the site. I’m never far away, and it saves me bothering Connie and the kids in the house.’
Fry put her hand to her head. ‘After all we said to you about security, you just leave your back door open for a convicted murderer to walk in?’
Proctor laughed nervously. ‘I leave the door open completely if there’s no one else at home, so I can hear the phone if it rings. You’ve got to make sure you answer the phone in
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a business like this, or you can lose bookings. If they don’t get an answer, customers just go somewhere else.’
‘Of course, I could answer the phone for him, but he doesn’t like me coming in the office,’ said Connie. ‘He doesn’t want me to know what he’s up to in there.’
‘And you’ve no idea why Quinn came here?’ said Fry impatiently. ‘Was he looking for Will Thorpe?1
‘He didn’t say so,’ said Proctor. ‘I don’t really know what he wanted.’
‘The funny thing is, Thorpe says he tried to put Quinn off tracking you down. He told Quinn that people who’d made a new life for themselves should be allowed to get on with it.’
Proctor laughed unexpectedly. ‘Well, that was good of him.’
Ts there anything missing?’ said Cooper.
‘Not as far as I can see.’
‘Might Quinn have taken money from the office?’
Proctor shook his head. ‘The only money on the premises is in the safe. I don’t leave that open.’
Fry growled. ‘I do not believe that Mansell Quinn came here just for a chat about old times. What do you say, Mr Proctor?’
The don’t know.’
‘Mr Proctor, we’re going to ask you to come down to the station later on to make a statement. This is very serious. A senior officer may want to speak to you about your actions.’
At that, Connie Proctor looked triumphant. ‘A good thing, too. But it won’t make any difference,’ she said. ‘He’s a lost cause.’
She closed the door with a firm click of the lock as they walked away from the house. Her husband came out,
