'I already said no, and no's what I mean.'
'Did you have any money on you?'
''A fiver, maybe.'
'What was the name of the backstreet jeweller in Southampton?' Charlie asked abruptly.
'No idea. I never went in the place. You'll have to ask Ruth. She just told me to go to a road and stop at the end of it.'
'What was the name of the road?'
'Don't know. She had a map, told me right, left, straight on, stop. I just did what I was told. You'll have to ask Ruth.'
'She doesn't know. She says you drove her there, told her which shop to go into, who to ask for and what to say.'
'She's lying.'
'I don't think so, Mr. Hughes.'
'Prove it.'
Charlie thought rapidly. He had no doubt that Hughes was telling the truth when he said he hadn't entered Cedar House or the jewellers', not in Ruth's company anyway. The beauty of his scam was that he didn't handle the stolen goods himself, merely transported the girls and the goods to someone who would. That way, the only person who could ever implicate him was the girl, and she wasn't going to because, for whatever reason, she was too frightened of him. 'I intend to prove it, Mr. Hughes. Let's start with an account of your movements after you dropped Ruth back at school. Did you go to this nightclub you mentioned? It'll be expensive, they usually are, and coke and ecstasy don't come cheap, both of which I suspect you're on. People will remember you, especially if you were throwing money about.'
Hughes saw another trap and giggled. 'I already said I hadn't got any money, Inspector. I drove around a bit and then went back to the squat.'
'What time was that?'
He shrugged. 'No idea.'
'So if I find someone who says a white transit van was parked in the vicinity of a Bournemouth nightclub that night, you'll say it couldn't have been yours because you were just driving around.'
'That's about the size of it.'
Charlie bared his teeth in a predatory smile. 'I have to inform you, Mr. Hughes, that you will be transferred shortly to Learmouth Police Station where you will be questioned at length about the murder of Mrs. Mathilda Gillespie.' He gathered his notes together and thrust them back into his pocket.
'Shit!' said Hughes angrily. 'What crap are you trying to lay on me now? You said she killed herself.'
'I was lying. She was murdered and I have reason to believe you were involved in that murder.'
Hughes surged aggressively to his feet. 'I told you I never went in the fucking place. Anyway, the publican's my alibi. He saw me in his car park and watched me pick up Ruth. How could I murder the old lady if I was in my van the whole time?'
'She wasn't murdered at two-thirty. She was murdered later that evening.'
'
'Your van was. The publican says you returned that evening and, as you yourself have just told us, you and your van have no alibi for the night of November the sixth. You were driving around, remember?'
'I was here in Bournemouth and so was the van.'
'Prove it.' Charlie stood up. 'Until you do, I'm holding you on suspicion of murder.'
'You're really out of order on this one. I'll get my brief on you.'
'Do that. You'll be allowed your phone call at Learmouth.'
'Why would I want to kill the old cow anyway?'
Charlie lifted a shaggy eyebrow. 'Because you have a history of terrorizing women. This time you went too far.'
'I don't bloody murder them.'
'What do you do to them?'
'Shag 'em that's all. And I don't short change 'em neither. I've never had a complaint yet.'
'Which is probably what the Yorkshire Ripper said every time he came home with his hammer and his chisel in the boot of his car.'
'You're way out of order,' said Hughes again, stamping his foot. 'I didn't even know the old bitch. I didn't
'You got born, didn't you?'
'What the hell's that supposed to mean?'
'Birth and death, Hughes. They happen at random. Your mother didn't know your father but you still got born. The not-knowing is irrelevant. You were there that day, you were using her granddaughter to steal from her and Mrs. Gillespie knew it. You had to shut her up before she talked to us.'
