Scold's Bridle

'Could you give me his name and address?'

The old man thought about it. 'No harm, I suppose, Frederick Gillespie, Carisbroke Court, Denby Street, Kensington. Won't help you, though. Doesn't know any more than I do.'

Cooper flicked back through the pages of his notebook till he came to Joanna Lascelles's address. 'Your step- daughter lives in Kensington. Does your brother know her?'

'Believe so.'

Well, well, well, thought Cooper. A panorama of intriguing possibilities opened up in front of him. 'How long have you been back in England, Mr. Gillespie?'

'Six months.'

The bits and pieces from Hong Kong were eyewash, then. Nothing took that long these days to be freighted round the world. The old boy was destitute. 'And where did you go first? To your brother? Or to your wife?'

'Spent three months in London. Then decided to come back to my roots.'

Frederick couldn't put up with an incontinent drunk. It was guesswork, of course, but Cooper would put money on it. 'And you saw Joanna during that time and she told you that Mathilda was still living in Cedar House.' He spoke as if it were something he had established already.

'Nice girl,' said the old man ponderously. 'Pretty, like her mother.'

'So you went to see Mathilda.'

Gillespie nodded. 'Hadn't changed. Rude woman still.'

'And you saw the clocks. The ones she told you had been stolen.'

.'Solicitor's talked, I suppose.'

'I've just come from Mr. Duggan. He informed us of your visit yesterday.' He saw the old man's scowl. 'He had no option, Mr. Gillespie. Withholding information is a serious offence, particularly where a murder has occurred.'

'Thought it was suicide.'

Cooper ignored this. 'What did you do when you realized your wife had lied to you?'

Gillespie gave a harsh laugh. 'Demanded my property back, of course. She found that very amusing. Claimed I'd accepted money in lieu thirty years ago and no longer had an entitlement.' He searched back through his memory. 'Used to hit her when I lived with her. Not hard. But I had to make her frightened of me. It was the only way I could stop that malicious tongue.' He fingered his mouth with a trembling hand. It was mottled and blistered with psoriasis. 'I wasn't proud of it and I never hit a woman again, not until-' He broke off.

Cooper kept his voice level. 'Are you saying you hit her when she told you you couldn't have your property back?'

'Smacked her across her beastly face.' He closed his eyes for a moment as if the recollection pained him.

'Did you hurt her?'

The old man smiled unpleasantly. 'I made her cry,' he said.

'What happened then?'

'Told her I'd be putting the law on to her and left.'

'When was this? Can you remember?'

He seemed to become suddenly aware of the urine stains on his trousers and crossed his legs self-consciously. 'The time I hit her? Two, three months ago.'

'You went there at other times then?'

Gillespie nodded. 'Twice.'

'Before or after you hit her?'

'After. Didn't want the law on her, did she?'

'I don't follow.'

'Why would you? Doubt you saw her till she was dead. Devious, that's the only way to describe Mathilda. Devious and ruthless. Guessed I'd fallen on hard times and came here the next day to sort something out. Talked about a settlement.' He picked at the scabs on his hand. 'Thought I wouldn't know what the clocks were worth. Offered me five thousand to leave her alone.' He fell silent.

'And?' Cooper prompted when the silence lengthened.

The old eyes wandered about the empty room. 'Realized she'd pay more to avoid the scandal. Went back a couple of times to demonstrate how vulnerable she was. She was talking fifty thousand the day before she died. I was holding out for a hundred. We'd have got there eventually. She knew it was only a matter of time before someone saw me and recognized me.'

'You were blackmailing her.'

Gillespie gave his harsh laugh again. 'Mathilda was a thief. D'you call it blackmail to negotiate back what's been stolen from you? We understood each other perfectly. We'd have reached an agreement if she hadn't died.'

Cooper allowed his revulsion to get the better of him. ''It seems to me, sir, you wanted to have your cake and eat it too. You deserted her forty years ago, left her to fend for herself with a baby, snatched up what the clocks were worth in nineteen sixty-one, spent the whole lot'-he looked pointedly at the empty bottle-'probably on booze,