‘We’re going to have to take you back there and let you show us the exact spot,’ he said.
‘Does it matter?’
‘Yes.’
‘There was a tree,’ said Gamble. ‘I was standing near a tree. But it was dark, you see.’
‘And what were you doing near this tree?’
‘Just… standing. I’d been out for a walk.’
‘And you heard…?’
‘A thump or a crash.’
‘Which?’
‘A thumping crash. A crashing thump. I don’t know. Both.’
‘And what did you do?’
‘I looked towards the house. The Barrons’ place, Valley View. That was where the noise seemed to come from.’
Cooper leaned forward, deliberately pressuring Gamble to come up with an answer. ‘And what did you see?’
‘I saw a light on.’
‘Where?’
‘In the kitchen.’
‘Was that where the noise came from?’
‘It seemed so to me.’
‘So you went to investigate.’
‘Exactly. Neighbourly concern. Anyone would do the same.’
‘And when you investigated, you saw…?’
‘I looked through the window and realised there was something wrong.’
‘Wait. Before you looked through the window…?’
‘I didn’t see anything. No one around. It was dark, though, like I said. There might have been people in the garden, among the trees, watching me. I thought I was quite brave, actually.’
Cooper had to admit that was true. In those circumstances, Mr Gamble could have been putting himself at risk. He started to feel a bit guilty about questioning him so closely.
‘What do you know about the Barrons?’ he said.
‘Well, everyone knows they have plenty of money,’ said Gamble, visibly relaxing. ‘Rolling in it, they are. You should see the stuff the children get. Mobile phones, those iPod things. New trainers every week. We have grandchildren, and they don’t get anything like that. It doesn’t make them any less happy. And they’ll grow up knowing the value of money. The Barrons’ kids are just ruined.’
‘Was it generally believed that the Barrons had valuable items in the house?’
‘Obviously. The builders knew it, the neighbours knew it, anyone coming to the house knew. They never tried to make any secret of how rich they were. Far from it. She told me once how much the taps in their bathroom had cost. It was enough to buy me a new car.’
‘I wasn’t really thinking of bath taps. Antiques, maybe. Or a lot of cash in the house?’
Gamble looked at Cooper thoughtfully, giving him his full attention for the first time.
‘Well, if you’re asking me, I’d say yes. People like that don’t make their money by paying income tax, do they? I wouldn’t be surprised to find a cupboard stuffed with cash. And I bet they wouldn’t keep quiet about it, either.’
‘What about the Barrons’ neighbours?’
‘Well, you’ve got the Hollands on one side, at Fourways. They’re mostly harmless. Spend their time walking and picking flowers, or some such. There’s the Kaye bloke at Moorside. He arrived in the village like the Queen visiting the natives. He’s never spoken to me yet, the stuck-up bugger. I never got inside the gate either.’
‘Interesting. And the Chadwicks? They’re nearest to you, but you haven’t mentioned them yet.’
Gamble’s lips tightened. For once, he seemed to be reluctant to answer.
‘Mr Chadwick is a teacher, I believe.’
Still Gamble was silent. His expression suggested that he was searching his memory for something to say. Something that would give the right impression, perhaps. Finally Mrs Gamble offered some information.
‘The Chadwicks are having a party tomorrow night,’ she said. ‘Their daughter has just got her A level results.’
‘A stars,’ burst out Gamble. ‘She was screeching about it to her friends on her mobile phone all day long. A stars. They all get A stars these days. It doesn’t mean a thing. In my day, you were lucky to get a few O levels.’
‘Well, perhaps not everyone…’
‘The bloody Chadwicks think their child is an intellectual and artistic miracle, of course. Gifted at everything. A genius, but perfectly normal at the same time.’
‘And Mr Edson at Riddings Lodge?’
‘Oh, the lottery winner. We don’t see much of him.’
‘Lottery winner?’
‘So they say. Won millions on the rollover, he did. Bought Riddings Lodge and some place in Tuscany. Took on a housekeeper and moved his mother in to live a life of luxury. You see him swanning about in a brand-new Jag, or sometimes a vintage MG in the summer.’
‘Oh, I think I might have met him.’
‘Lucky you.’
Cooper thought of the man who had stopped his car in the village earlier to offer a piece of his mind.
‘It’s about time I had a word with him, I think. On his own territory.’
Gamble was wearing brown corduroy trousers that were getting rather baggy at the knees. When he stepped outside to follow Cooper to the gate, he pulled on a dark grey fleece over his faded checked shirt.
At the gate, he gazed up and down the street, his protruding ears almost flapping, the beads on his cowboy hat rattling quietly. He was like a Native American scout, scenting buffalo.
Cooper moved closer to Gamble. He noticed that the sleeves of his fleece were covered with small burrs and thorns that had snagged in the wool. He thought of suggesting that a woollen fleece wasn’t the best garment to wear when squeezing through hedges or climbing fences. But he decided against it.
Cooper drove the Toyota up the hill and turned up the small lane that ran past the back of Fourways. He was immediately faced with ‘Private Road’ signs and warnings that there was no public right of way. He slowed the car almost to a crawl as he reached a blind bend between high hedges. You wouldn’t want to meet something coming the other way.
At the end, a driveway went off to the left towards Lane End. On his right, he was facing a set of gates.
These gates weren’t just black wrought iron like the others he’d seen. They were decorated with gold highlights, and had gilt finials and scrollwork. It was as if they had pretensions to be the entrance to Buckingham Palace. They exuded an air of having gone one better than their neighbours. There would have been no doubt in Cooper’s mind who lived behind them, even if the name of the house hadn’t been prominently displayed. Riddings Lodge.
Cooper pressed a button on the entry phone and waited for an answer.
‘Yes?’
‘Police, sir. Detective Sergeant Cooper, Edendale CID.’
‘Do you have identification?’
‘Yes, of course. But-’
‘There’s a camera.’
‘Okay, I see it.’
Cooper held his warrant card up towards the lens of a camera mounted so that it was pointing directly at the area in front of the gates. After a moment, he heard the click and hum of the gates beginning to open.
‘All right.’
The voice didn’t sound very welcoming. But not many people managed to give a good impression through the speaker on an entry phone.
