Shape of Snakes

*21*

Drury's gaze veered away from mine but not before I saw the quickly veiled flash of intelligence that told me he knew what I was talking about. It was a powerful revelation because, despite everything, I had never been certain of how much knowledge he had. For the moment I let it go. 'Did Alan get into trouble again after the rape conviction?' I asked then.

'Not that I know of. He moved into a bedsit out Twickenham way and took laboring jobs. We kept an eye on him but he was wary of coming into Richmond or seeing anyone he knew.'

I had no reason to disbelieve him. 'So why did Danny tell me Alan received L5,000 compensation for being beaten up by the police?'

Amusement brought a gleam to Drury's eyes. 'Because the guys who arrested him didn't much like what he'd done to the woman. His solicitor bellyached about police brutality until he saw the state of the victim, then settled on five thousand and told Alan to be grateful they hadn't killed him. I'd say it was cheap at the price.'

I nodded. 'Did Derek ever get done for rape?'

'That would suit you, wouldn't it?'

'Why?' I asked mildly. 'I never accused him of rape.'

'All but. You said he shoved his penis between your legs.'

'I said he put something between my legs which I thought was his penis, and as a result I thought he was going to rape me. I also told you that's exactly what he wanted me to believe. He was giving me a demonstration of how bad things would get if I didn't keep my nigger-loving mouth shut. It was your choice to tell him I'd accused him of attempted rape ... your choice to put me in danger ... even though you'd already agreed with Andy's assessment that the worst Derek could be charged with was threatening behavior.'

'We couldn't charge him with anything,' he said dismissively. 'He had an alibi. In any case, I thought the guy had a right to know what the latest accusation was. You weren't exactly stinting yourself on the Derek Slater front ... and sexual assault was a damn sight more serious than heavy breathing on the end of a phone.'

'His alibi was a joke,' I said. 'You didn't follow it up until three days later.'

'It makes no difference. It was watertight.'

'Oh, come on!' I said impatiently. 'A Kempton Park ticket stub which he could have picked out of the gutter the next day? The course is only a few miles outside Richmond in all conscience. And a telephone conversation with one of his friends? You didn't even bother to check on the remaining two.'

'You didn't bother to report the incident until the day after it happened,' he countered sarcastically.

I fingered my lip to quell the tic that was leaping and jumping beneath the skin. I couldn't stand the idea that he might interpret it as fear. 'It took me twenty-four hours to pluck up the courage,' I said matter-of-factly. 'Half of me wanted to let the whole thing drop, the other half recognized that Derek wouldn't be terrorizing me if I wasn't right in what I was saying. I was very naive, of course. It never occurred to me you'd bend over backward to protect a man you described as scum ... just because he was white.'

'That's not true, and you know it.'

'Then why have you consistently protected the Slaters from questioning about Annie's death?'

'I haven't.'

'Why didn't you follow through when Dr. Arnold told you Annie had been robbed? You must have realized then where the Quetzalcoatl mosaic came from.'

'I didn't. I remember some bits of rubbish in the Slaters' sitting room, but I couldn't describe it now and I certainly didn't link it with anything Dr. Arnold said later.'

I could almost believe him, if only because the death of a black woman had meant so little to him. 'The children had been stealing from Annie for months,' I said, 'but they weren't very good at hiding what they were taking, and Maureen beat the truth out of Bridget Spalding when she spotted her wearing a ring that obviously hadn't come from Woolworth's. That's when she began to realize Annie might be sitting on a gold mine.'

Drury flicked his hand dismissively. 'The police can't act if a crime isn't reported.'

I went on as if he hadn't spoken. 'Annie was such an easy target. She wouldn't let people into her house, she distrusted anyone who spoke to her neighbors, thought council officials and men in uniform were against her, made an enemy of her bank manager. In fact the only person who came close to being a friend was her GP.' I watched his face for a reaction, but it remained impassive. 'Annie was fairly safe while Sheila was making regular visits because even Derek wasn't stupid enough to make a move while her doctor was taking an interest. Then Sheila left for America and everything changed.'

'You can't blame me for that.'

'More to the point, after Sheila's departure there was no one who could say what Annie did or didn't have.' I held his gaze. 'And you never bothered to ask because it suited you to believe a black woman would live in a slum.'

'You're forgetting how many empty bottles we found. The conditions inside the house had nothing to do with the color of her skin, they were the result of a drink habit.'

'They were vodka bottles,' I said.

There was a tiny flicker of doubt in his eyes. 'So?'

'She didn't drink vodka.' I took a sheaf of papers from my rucksack. 'Andy sent me a list of every landlord and off-license manager in Richmond in 1978. My father managed to locate just over half of them. Two of the off-license managers remember Annie well. They both say she was a regular and that she only bought Jamaican rum. And the landlord of the Green Man says he kept a stock of it just for Annie Butts because she used to get agitated if he ran out.' I thrust the pages into his hand.