Inspector Morse 12 Death is Now My Neighbour

'And you don't think so?'

Morse shrugged. 'Could have been two lovers or partners or husband and wife - or two completely separate people.'

Lewis was beginning to sound somewhat exasperated. 'You know, I shall be much happier when we've got a bit more of the routine work done, sir. It's all been a bit ad hoc so far, hasn't it?' (Morse raised his eyebrows at die Latinism.) 'Can't we leave a few of the ideas until we've given ourselves a chance to check everything a bit?'

'Lewis! You are preaching to the converted. That's exacdy what we've got to do. Go back to die beginning. 'In our beginning is our end,' somebody said - Eliot, wasn't it? Or is it 'In our end is our beginning'?'

'Where do you suggest we begin then, sir?'

Morse considered the question.

'What about you fetching me a cup of coffee? No sugar.'

CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE

Tuesday, 5 March

The overworked man who agrees to any division of labour always gets the worst share

(Hungarian proverb)

'WHERE DO you suggest we begin then?' repeated Lewis, as Morse distastefully sipped his unsweetened coffee.

'When we do start again, we'll probably find that we've been looking at things from the wrong angle. We've been assuming - / have, anyway - that it was Owens who was pulling all the strings. As a journalist, he'd often been in a privileged position with regard to a few juicy stories; and as a man he pretty clearly gloried in the hold he could have on other people: blackmail. And from what we learned, I thought it was likely that the two candidates for the Mastership at Lonsdale were being blackmailed; I thought that they'd have as good a motive, certainly Storrs, as anybody for wishing Owens out of the way. But I never dreamed that Owens was in danger of being murdered, as you know...

'There's just the one trouble about following up that particular hypothesis though, isn't there? It's now clear

that neither of those two, neither Storrs nor Comford -nor their wives for that matter - could have been responsible for both murders. And increasingly unlikely, perhaps, that any of them could have been responsible even for one of the murders. So where does this all leave us? It's a bit like a crossword clue you sometimes get stuck with. You think one bit of the clue's the definition, and the other bit's a build-up of the letters. Then suddenly you realize you've got things the wrong way round. And perhaps I'm reading the clue the wrong way round here, Lewis. What if someone was blackmailing Owens - the exact opposite of our hypothesis? What if -we've spoken about it before - what if Rachel James came to discover something that would upset his carefully loaded apple-cart? And blackmailed him?'

'Trying to climb aboard the gravy-train herself?'

'Exactly. Money! You said right at the start that we needed a motive for Rachel's murder; and I suspect she'd somehow got to know about his own blackmailing activities and was threatening to expose him.'

Lewis was looking decidedly impatient

'Sir! Could we please get along to Owens' office first, and get a few simple facts established?'

'Just what I was about to suggest We shall have to get down there and find out everything we can about him. See the editor, the sub-editor, his colleagues, that personnel fellow - especially him! Go through his desk and his drawers. Get hold of his original application, if we can. Try to learn something about his men-friends, his girlfriends, his enemies, his habits, what he liked to eat and drink, his salary, any clubs he belonged to, his political leanings -'

*We know he voted Conservative, sir.'

' - the newspaper he took, where he usually parked his car, what his job prospects were - yes, plenty to be going on with there.'

'Quite a list Good job diere's two of us, sir.'

'Pardon?'

'Hefty agenda - that's all I'm saying.'

'Not all that much really. Far easier than it sounds. And if you get off straightaway ...' Morse looked at his wristwatch: 10.45 a-m-

Lewis frowned. 'You mean you're not joining me?'

'Not today, no.'

'But you just said-'

'One or two important things I've got to do after lunch.'

'Such as?'

'Well, to be truthful, I've been told to take things a bit more gendy. And I suppose I'd better take a bit of notice of my medical advisers.'

'Of course.'

'Don't get me wrong, mind! I'm feeling fine. But I think a little siesta this afternoon ...'