both in there that night although he disputed the timing when we first questioned him. He remembered seeing Sharon at nine o'clock but he didn't think Derek came in until later.' He shrugged. 'He backed off when we asked for a statement ... said one day was much like another, and he couldn't swear he wasn't confusing two different occasions.'
'This being the William of Orange,' I said. 'The pub Annie was banned from because she was black.'
He gave an impatient shake of his head. 'She was banned because she couldn't hold her drink and swore at the other customers. The publican was within his rights to refuse to serve her.'
I looked questioningly at Sam.
'It was known locally as the Orange Free State,' he told Drury. 'There was a sign on the door saying 'no dogs' and the 'd' had been crossed out and changed to a 'w.' It was a popular pub-a fair number of policemen used it-but you never saw any blacks in there.'
'If it offended you, you should have reported it.'
'It didn't,' said Sam honestly. 'I never even questioned it.'
'Then why expect me to?'
'Because it was your job. I'm not saying I'd have given you any medals for it-hell, the last thing I wanted was to have Mad Annie swearing at me over a pint-but the laws on discrimination were clear and anyone who put 'no wogs' on their front door ought to have been prosecuted.' He paused to exchange a glance with me, clearly wondering how far he should or could go. 'The landlord was cock-a-hoop after the accident,' he went on abruptly. 'Kept telling anyone who cared to listen that we had a truck driver to thank for making the streets cleaner.'
'Not in front of me he didn't,' said Drury so quickly that I guessed he'd had to answer that question before, probably at the time of his 'retirement.'
'So did you bother to challenge Derek about his alibi?' I said dryly. 'Or was that when you decided to take him aside and tell him that
I watched him flick a wary glance at Sam, but he took confidence from Sam's obvious ignorance of what I was talking about. 'Of course I challenged him,' he said bullishly. 'He stuck to his story ... so did Sharon. They both said they'd been there all evening. We didn't believe them, but there was nothing we could do if no one was willing to contradict them.'
'Did you ever find out what they were really doing?'
He shrugged. 'Our best guess was that Sharon had been on her back somewhere and Derek was out thieving. They both had convictions-Sharon for prostitution; Derek for assault and theft.'
'Sharon was with Geoffrey Spalding,' I said. 'He lived at number 27 and used to meet her at a hotel once a month because he didn't want his wife and daughters finding out what he was doing. He's the one who said he saw Annie in the street around a quarter past eight and tried to persuade her to go home.'
'I remember him.'
'I think he was lying about the time,' I went on. 'According to Jock Williams, Sharon arrived in a taxi at the William of Orange shortly after nine. He said she was high as a kite and had obviously been with another client, and I'm betting the client was Geoffrey and the same taxi dropped him off at the top of Graham Road before taking Sharon on to the pub. Which means, if Geoffrey talked to Annie at all, it must have been an hour later than he said it was.'
He refused to accept it. 'I spoke to him in front of his wife and she didn't question that he was home by 8:30.'
'She wouldn't have known. She was on chemotherapy for breast cancer and would have been asleep whatever time he came in. Where did he say he'd been?'
Drury thought back. 'Late at work. Nothing to raise any eyebrows over.'
I turned to Sam. 'I've always thought he must have passed the Williams' house as you came out ... otherwise you and Libby wouldn't have needed an alibi.'
'Someone did,' he admitted, 'but I've no idea who it was. To be honest, I can't even be sure it was a man. It could have been a total stranger taking a shortcut, but Libby went apeshit and said tongues would start wagging-' He pressed his thumb and forefinger to the bridge of his nose. 'I'm sorry,' he said after a moment. 'Is this the man you think killed Annie?'
'I don't know,' I answered slowly, 'but I've never understood why he said he spoke to Annie unless it actually happened. It was an unnecessary lie. He could have done what you and Jock did and said he saw her on the other side of the road.'
'People embroider all the time,' said Drury. 'It makes them feel important.'
I shook my head. 'She was seen by two different couples at around nine o'clock. The Pardoes at number 8 who watched her from their bedroom window, and the couple in the car who say she lurched out in front of them. They all said she was on her feet ... but by the time Sam passed her at 9:15 she was collapsed in the gutter.'
'That's not what Mr. Ranelagh said at the time.'
'His revised statement was in the envelope,' I said impatiently, 'so I know you've read it. The question is, was Annie on her feet when Geoffrey Spalding passed her? And if she was, did she speak to him? I think she was-and did-and that whatever she said made him so angry that he pushed her into the road. It would explain why he advanced the time by an hour ... it would also explain why Sharon was prepared to give Derek an alibi. If she told you she'd been with a customer-and you found out who it was-you'd have worked out PDQ that Geoffrey was the last person to speak to Annie.''
Drury frowned. 'And?'
'You'd have come to the same conclusion he did ... that he killed her.'
He gave a grunt of irritation. 'Half an hour ago you were producing pathology reports saying she was beaten up
