‘Are you joking? They might be all right for some people. But I expect something a bit more professional. We do have standards.’
‘So…?’
‘I have a contract with Mr Monk.’
‘And for the driveway?’
He smiled. ‘The same. It applies to everything here. If it needs maintenance, I get a man in.’
‘I presume you also have security procedures.’
‘Naturally. However – I’m sorry, but I’m not prepared to discuss my security arrangements, even with the constabulary. You can never be entirely sure that information won’t be passed on.’
Murfin had become very silent and still. Although Russell Edson hadn’t looked at him at all, there was a palpable tension between them. This was one of the things Cooper had wanted to see. You couldn’t get a proper impression of somebody until you saw them interacting in different situations, with a number of different people.
‘There was one thing I don’t think my colleague asked you, sir,’ he said.
Edson was frowning at the handyman, as if he wasn’t polishing the hub caps of his Jag brightly enough.
‘Yes?’
‘Just for the record, sir, where were you on Tuesday evening?’
‘What, when the incident took place at Valley View?’
‘Yes, sir.’
‘Is there a necessity for me to have an alibi?’
‘For the record.’
Edson sighed. ‘Well, we were out for dinner.’
‘Oh? Where did you eat?’
‘Bauers, at Warren Hall.’
Cooper knew the place, and was impressed. ‘Very nice. Special occasion?’
Edson raised an eyebrow. ‘No.’
Okay, so that sounded like a put-down. And it probably wouldn’t be the last, either. Cooper decided to probe a bit further and see what sort of reaction he got.
‘Can you remember what you had to eat, sir?’
‘Oh, let’s see. We’ve been so many times it’s difficult to recall.’ Edson smiled. ‘But I think I had the Gressingham duck, glazed in roasted hazelnuts, with breast of quail for the first course. Mother had… yes, I think she chose the pan-fried sea bass. She tends to change her mind a couple of times when she’s looking at the menu, you know. But I think that’s an accurate recollection. Oh, I haven’t told you what she started with.’
‘It doesn’t matter.’
‘No, no, we must be accurate. For the record.’
Cooper stifled a sigh. ‘Right.’
‘Well, she’s particularly fond of the foie gras. It’s one of the reasons we go to Bauer’s so often. They have a strict policy on their foie gras. It comes only from one specific French supplier, who produces it from Moulard ducks. The Moulard is a migratory breed that naturally gorges itself to prepare for long flights, and it’s totally free-range. So there’s no force-feeding, you see. The bird has a naturally large liver as a result of its lifestyle. These things are very important to us. We’re particular about where we eat. We don’t exactly go for the standard pub lunch.’
‘And plenty of alcohol consumption, I imagine.’
‘Sophisticated alcohol. We’re not lager louts.’
Cooper closed his notebook with a snap, restraining his irritation.
‘By the way,’ said Edson, his eyes sweeping contemptuously over the two detectives. ‘We also like Bauer’s because they have a dress code. No jeans, no trainers. Otherwise, you get turned away. And quite right, too.’
‘I know a lot of people like that,’ said Murfin as they reached the gate.
‘What, like Mr Edson? You’re kidding.’
‘No, people with naturally large livers as a result of their lifestyle. There are quite a few of them down at my local.’
Monica Gamble was waiting to grab Cooper as he arrived at Chapel Close. She was agitated about the appearance of police at her door again.
‘You can’t think Barry has anything to do with what’s been happening to people in Riddings,’ she said. ‘He’s an old fool, I know. But he’s harmless.’
‘What concerns me is whether we’re being told the complete truth,’ said Cooper.
‘There’s nothing to hide.’
‘We’ll see.’
‘It’s just because Barry raised the alarm. It’s always the person who finds the body who gets suspected by the police, isn’t it? I’ve seen it time after time on the TV.’
Cooper wanted to point out that what she saw on TV was just fiction. But sometimes it did come a bit too close to reality for comfort. People who reported the finding of a body often turned out to be involved in the death. Either they thought it would signal their innocence, or they did it out of a desire to be involved in the investigation in some way. You couldn’t rule it out. Not even with an old fool like Barry Gamble.
‘There must be more witnesses,’ said Monica appealingly. ‘Someone else must have seen something on Tuesday night.’
‘Well…’
She grasped his sleeve desperately, clutching at any possibility.
‘They did, didn’t they?’ she said. ‘Someone?’
‘There was a party of walkers coming down The Hill from the edge. They recall seeing someone in the phone box, but that’s all.’
‘The phone box in the village?’ she said.
‘Yes. Why?’
She stared at him for a long moment, as if she was working something out in her mind.
‘Oh, nothing. It’s nothing,’ she said finally.
Cooper turned as Gamble was brought from the back of the house, where he had no doubt been lurking in his shed.
‘All right. Would you come with us, Mr Gamble?’
‘Are you arresting me?’
‘No. We’re going to take you to Valley View. I want you to show us exactly where you were on Tuesday night, and explain what you saw.’
‘I’ve told you all that.’
‘Well, make it easier for us to understand, would you?’
Gamble settled his cowboy hat on his head, pulling it down over his ears as if that made him ready for anything.
‘Have it your way,’ he said.
‘And remember that Valley View is a crime scene, Mr Gamble. While you’re there, please don’t touch anything.’
‘Fair enough. Lead on, Macduff.’
There was a hold-up at the end of the road, where the access into Chapel Close was blocked by a van and trailer being turned round in the narrow space. This must happen all the time in Riddings. One man was trying to do a twelve-point turn while another stood behind and shouted a warning when he came too near a wall.
Finally they managed to complete the manoeuvre and drew into the side to let Cooper’s car pass.
When Cooper saw who the van belonged to, he wound down the window of the Toyota.
‘Mr Summers.’
‘Oh, hello.’
‘I see you have a different assistant today.’
