For a second he thought Butcher was going to speak ill of the dead but she reduced it to, 'Yes, Sandra was a great advocate of market forces. You're quite right, of course. We weren't great buddies, any of us. But like I told you, me and Pete had once been pretty close, and I couldn't get him out of my mind last night. Then when I came back and heard about Sandra
For a second she looked like a forlorn fifteen-year-old, then she must have caught an expression of sympathy on Joe's face because she puffed out a great veil of smoke and said, 'Also, one person I'm very fond of is Lucy, Felix Nay-smith's wife, and it does seem to me that if someone's declared open season on the firm, then Felix could be in danger too. So I rang the cops to make sure they'd worked it out too.'
'And had they?'
'In a manner of speaking. That idiot Chivers is still holding the fort
'I thought Willie Woodbine's holiday company had gone bust and he was on his way back?'
That's right,' said Butcher, a smile lightening her sombre expression. 'But it seems there's some problem about airport fees and the plane's having difficulty getting off the ground. Anyway, when I managed to get hold of Chivers he got very shirty and told me that it was all in hand. Mr. Naysmith had been fully informed.'
She did a good imitation of the sergeant being pompous, making Joe smile.
'So he set your mind at rest?' he said.
'Like a line of coke,' she said. 'I thought I'd ring their cottage up on the Wolds. Couldn't find the number and as they're ex-directory I had a hell of a job getting it out of the exchange'
'How'd you manage that?' interrupted Joe, following Endo Venera's advice never to miss a chance of acquiring specialist knowledge.
'The usual way. Lies, bribes and blackmail,' said Butcher cagily.
'Just the kind of thing the Law Society expects from its members,' said Joe. 'How come you're getting up such a head of steam over this guy?'
'Not the guy. I don't even like Felix all that much. But Lucy's different, and she's had a lot of trouble ... her nerves were sort of shot a little way back, and I was concerned how she'd react to the news that some old friends and colleagues had been murdered.'
'Colleagues? She a lawyer too?'
'No, but she was a legal secretary at Poll-Pott till she got married. Anyway, I finally got through to her. It was quite incredible, I'm thinking about putting in an official complaint about that moron Chivers. They'd gone out for a meal about an hour after Felix had spoken to Peter on the phone, the call you overheard. Got back in about eleven. Chivers had clearly given up trying to reach Felix by then and he probably forgot all about him this morning with the excitement of finding you yet again hanging around a body. So Felix turned up at Oldmaid Row at noon for the meeting he'd arranged with Peter and walked straight into the middle of things. Can you imagine it? They were close friends from way back at university, him and Peter. Drinking buddies, played in the second row together, that sort of thing.'
'Violinists?' suggested Joe.
'Rugger!' snapped Butcher. This isn't funny, Sixsmith. It really shook Felix up. And when they told him about Sandra too ... well, he rang Lucy back at the cottage in a hell of a state. The one good thing is that being cast in the role of comforter means Lucy's taking it all pretty well. It often works like that.'
'Like when you get drunk with a mate,' said Joe. Then seeing that the analogy was not impressing Butcher, he hastily added, 'She heading back home to hold his hand, then?'
'No. Felix has got the car, remember? He's going to head back up to Lincolnshire when the police have finished with him. It's just a couple of hours.'
'And is he getting any protection?'
'Allegedly, though what that means coming from a turnip-head like Chivers, God knows. Still, he should be well out of the way back up there in the cottage. And even if he calls in at home, they've got a house almost directly opposite Willie Woodbine's on Beacon Heights, so they've probably got a whole task force permanently on duty there. Anyway, we might be overreacting. Two episodes don't make a serial.'
They do till someone writes The End in big letters,' retorted Joe.
'Cheer me up,' said Butcher. 'But it's still hard to believe.'
That anyone could go gunning for a firm of lawyers? Why not? Spend your life messing with criminals, you're bound to make some enemies.'
They didn't do that stuff,' said Butcher. They're high-profile commercial, big corporate accounts mainly, not the kind of groups who work out their grudges physically.'
'Anyone can get physical if you hit them in the pocket,' said Joe. 'It's called market forces. It would be interesting to check out who they've been giving bum advice to.'
'Yes, it would,' said Butcher sternly. 'And it's an interest you'd do well to leave entirely to the police. Especially when no one's paying you to poke around. Sixsmith, what the hell is that?'
Joe had pulled his handkerchief out of his pocket. With it came a photograph which fluttered on to the desk, facing Butcher. He turned it round and examined it. Sandra lies, Peter Potter and their three other partners stared back at him.
'Oh shoot,' he said. 'I must have stuck it in my pocket when I was round at Ms Iles's place.'
'You mean you stole it from the scene of a murder?'
'No, it was an accident,' he answered indignantly. 'I suppose I'd better give it back.'
She shook her head, closed her eyes and said, 'I shall deny ever having said this, but no, in the circumstances I'd just stick it on the fire. The less explaining you have to do the better.'
'Fair enough,' said Joe. 'Matter of interest, I know Potter and lies, but not the others. Who's the nice old gent
