gossip, scandal . . . that sort of thing? I had a few words with Alf,
but I reckon his memory's not as sharp as yours.' 'Never was, was it?
Just you fire away. Inspector. Pleasure!'
Lewis, who had been left in the car, leaned across and opened the passenger
door.
337
'Another member of the local football team?' Morse smiled sadly and
shook his head.
'I think he's in for a transfer.'
'What exactly did he ?' 'Get me home, Lewis.'
On the speedy journey back to Oxford, the pair spoke only once, and then in a
fairly brief exchange: 'Listen, Lewis! We know exactly where Frank Harrison
is; who's with him; how long he's booked in at his hotel; when his return
flight is. So. I want you to make sure he's met at Heathrow.'
'If he comes back.'
'He'll be back. I want you to meet him. Charge him with anything you like,
complicity in the murder of his missus; complicity in the murder of Barren
please yourself. Any- thing! But bring him back to me, all right? I've
seldom looked forward ' Morse suddenly rubbed his chest vigorously.
'You OK, sir?'
Morse made no reply immediately. But after a few miles had perked up
considerably.
'Just drop me at the Woodstock Arms!'
'Do you think ?'
'And present my apologies to Mrs Lewis. As per usual.'
Lewis nodded as he turned right at the Woodstock Road roundabout.
As per usual.
In Paris, in the Ritz, later that same evening a good deal later Marine
Ridgway was finding it difficult to finish the lobster dish and almost
impossible to drink another mouthful of the expensive white wine that looked
to her exactly the
colour and gravity of urine. She was tired; she was more than a little
tipsy; she was slightly less than breathlessly eager for another bout of
sexual frolicking on their king-size bed. And Frank, too, (she'd sensed it
all evening) had been strangely reticent and surprisingly sober.
She braved the exchange: You're not quite your usual self tonight, Frank. '
'Why do you say that?'
'It's that business at Heathrow, isn't it?'
Frank leaned across the table and placed his right hand on her arm.
'I'll be OK soon, sweetheart. Don't worry! And I ought to tell you
something: you're looking absolutely gorgeous!'
'You think so?'
'Why do you reckon all the waiters keep making detours round our table?'
'Tell me!'
'To have a look down the front of your dress.'
'Don't be silly!'
'You hadn't noticed?'
'Frank! It's been a long day and I'm just so fared ... so dred.'
'Not too dred, I hope? Night zu miideif' ' No, darling. '
'You don't want a sweet? A coffee?'
'No.'
'Well, you go up. I'll be with you soon. I've just got a couple of private
phone calls to make. And I want to dunk for a little while on my own, if you
don't mind? And make sure you put dial see-through thing on, all right? The
one that'll send the garcon gaga when he brings our breakfast in the morning.'
'You've arranged diat?'
Frank Harrison nodded; and watched the backs of her legs as she left the
table.
Yes, he'd arranged for breakfast in their room.
He'd arranged everything.
Almost.
chapter seventy-three When I have fears that I may cease to be Before my pen
has glean'd my teeming brain. (Keats, Sonnet) slowly morse walked homeward
from the Woodstock Arms, disappointed (as we have seen) if not wholly
surprised, that the favourite in the Harrison Stakes had fallen (like Devon
Loch) within sight of the winning-post. But now, at last (or so he told
himself) Morse guessed the whole truth. And feeling pleasingly over-bee red
he had earlier taken the unusual step of ordering a bar snack, and had
enjoyed his liberally horse- radished beef sandwiches. He thought he would
probably sleep well enough that night. After a while. Not just for a minute
though. Truth was that he felt eager to continue (to finish off? ) the
notes he'd already been making on the Harrison murder, just in case something
happened; just in case no one would be aware of the sweetly logical solution
that had formulated itself in his mind that day.
Much earlier (Morse knew it) he should have paid far more attention to the
thing that had puzzled him most about the Harrison murder: motive. Until
