Cottage, on show with the rest of his clobber.'
'That's what I like about Lovejoy,' Adrian said to Jane. 'He's abusive without actually giving offense.'
'I'm pretty good value,' I retorted.
We had a few similar rapierlike exchanges of witty repartee and then they left in Adrian's new Jaguar. A shower of gravel clattered the Armstrong-Siddeley as he spun down my path. I could hear the stones pattering into the bushes all the way through the copse onto the road. Jane had blown me an apologetic kiss. I phoned Tinker to come over.
I had all the Wallis and Wallis auction catalogues out— Knight, Frank and Rutley's, Christie's, Sotheby's, and Weller and Dufty's of Birmingham—plus every reference book just as a check. My real filing system was below in the priest hole. There wasn't time to open up before Tinker showed, and he wasn't that close a confidant. Nobody was, not even Sheila.
'Watcher, Lovejoy.'
'Come in, Tinker.'
He was grinning. 'Did a deal?'
'Not so's you'd notice,' I said, narked.
'He told me to be sure and mention the money.'
'All right, all right.'
'Did he cough up?' He brought out the Black Label from where I hid it and poured a glug.
'No. All we've got is promises.'
'Ah well.' He smacked his lips. 'You can't have everything.'
'I thought he was a nutter at first.' I gave him a glare. 'Especially as you hadn't tipped me off what he was after.'
'Do you blame me? Would you have come if I had?'
'No,' I admitted. 'Anyway, I talked him out of it. I ask you —the Judas pair. At my age.'
'What's the job then?'
'He's decided to become the big collector,' I improvised. 'So he casts about for a real bingo, and hears of the Judas guns. He decides that's what he'll start with. I told him I'll get going after a pedigree pair that'll be just as good. He bought it.'
'What'll we give him?' Tinker asked. Already I could see his ferret mind sniffing out possibilities.
'The best-named pedigree ones we can get.'
'Same name?'
'Yeah—Durs.'
'Some good Mantons might be on the move soon, word is.'
'From where?'
'Suffolk, so people are saying.'
'Well…' I pretended indecision. 'Keep it in mind, but Durs for preference. I was just pinning them down.'
'Three in Germany. Four in the States. Four here, and that Aussie.' He ticked his fingers. 'Twelve. That's the lot.'
I nodded agreement. 'I'll make sure none's come through the auctions lately.'
'You'd have noticed, Lovejoy.'
'It'll save you legwork.'
'Right.'
He sat and swilled my hooch while I sussed the auctions. In a dozen auctions three sets of Durs guns had been sold, two pairs of holster weapons, one by Joseph of Piccadilly and one by Durs, and one blunderbuss by Durs.
'Run-of-the-mill stuff,' I said, forcing back the tears.
'Where do we go from here?'
'Out into the wide world.' I watched his face cloud with misery. 'I go to work writing and whizzing around the collectors. You get down among the dealers and listen. You don't ask anything, got it? You just listen.'
'Right, Lovejoy. Only…'
I gave him some notes. 'This comes out of your commission,' I warned. He would expect that.
'I'll go careful.'
'Do,' I warned. 'If you go shouting the odds—'
'I know better than go putting the price up.' He winked. 'Cheerio, Lovejoy.'
'See you, Tinker.'
I'd had to do it. If Tinker—who looked as if he hadn't two coppers to rub together—suddenly appeared, asking after high-priced stuff, it would be the talking point of the antique world within minutes and any trace of the Judas pair would vanish.
I caught myself in time. I should have to remember they didn't exist. What I was really going after was a pair of
