Brian yawned and said he would go over there and collect it in the morning.
‘You can get your groceries in at the same time,’ Helen joked. ‘There’ll be a lot to go through so I don’t mind helping you view it.’
‘Okay, whatever. My stomach is playing me up. The ruddy hair salon had this stink of glue for false nails, got right on my chest.’
‘You’d better call the Gov,’ Helen insisted.
‘Although I wasn’t in there that long. Langton was – I didn’t think he was ever coming out and I waited for him outside.’
‘Just call her, will you?’
The train was pulling into their station as Anna received Brian’s call. She listened as she climbed down from the compartment, leaving Paul to carry her overnight bag. By the time she caught up with him he was passing over their tickets to the ticket collector.
‘What did he have to say?’ Paul wanted to know.
‘Not a lot. It seems Langton spent a long time in the hair salon chatting to the girls and eventually Tina.’
As they headed for the station’s exit they could see a plain-clothes officer standing by a patrol car. He was short, overweight and yawning as they approached.
‘This doesn’t bode well for slick detective work,’ Paul muttered.
They introduced themselves and DC Harry Took opened the rear passenger door, but Anna got into the front to sit beside him.
‘I suppose the best way to start is to get you settled in to Mrs Morgan’s,’ the DC began. ‘It’s a nice clean place and she cooks up a good breakfast.’
‘Is it far from the station?’ Anna asked.
‘The train station?’
‘No, the police station.’
‘Oh sorry. No, it’s not far, but it’s after six so I doubt anyone’ll be there. Well, there will obviously be officers working late, but the ones allocated to assist your enquiry expect to get an early start. We reckoned you’d want to have something to eat, and my boss DCI Ed Williams has booked a table for seven-thirty at the Bear. Nice pub and a good menu, all home cooking on the premises.’
Anna thought he would never stop talking as he listed other restaurants that they should try. Eventually he turned into a residential area of three-storey townhouses with small front gardens and stopped outside one which had a
‘This is it, ma’am. I’ll be getting off now.’
Paul carried their bags out of the car as Anna tetchily asked how they were to get to the pub to meet DCI Williams. Harry swivelled his bulk round in his seat to point down the road.
‘Right on the corner, fifty yards down.’
The bed and breakfast was spotlessly clean and Paul and Anna had rooms next to each other on the first floor. They didn’t have en-suite bathrooms, but there was a washbasin in both rooms and a shared bathroom and lavatory on the same floor. Anna quickly unpacked the few things she had brought, hanging them up in the small single wardrobe that had a strong smell of mothballs. She put her underwear into a chest of drawers and laid out the contents of her vanity bag by the sink. She washed her face in cold water, cleaned her teeth, reapplied some make-up and ran a comb through her hair. It was by now almost eight as she tapped on Paul’s door. He opened it up with a bath-towel strung around his waist.
‘Sorry, I had a quick shower. You all ready to leave?’
‘Yes. Knock on my door as soon as you are.’
‘Right. You’re not changing then?’
‘No, Paul, I want to get on with this as soon as possible. We’re not here on a ruddy vacation.’
It took Paul ten minutes before he was dressed, shaved and wearing a pair of jeans, a white T-shirt and a denim jacket. The landlady was a pleasant woman, handing them a key each and asking that if they were to come in late to be as quiet as possible.
‘My husband and I have a room on the ground floor, but you are the only guests. Do you know what time you want breakfast?’
‘Seven-thirty please, Mrs Morgan,’ Anna said, pocketing the key.
‘Will that be a full cooked breakfast or a continental?’
‘Cooked for me,’ Paul said immediately.
Anna asked for just coffee and toast.
‘Have a nice evening.’ Mrs Morgan smiled and then asked if they would like a newspaper.
‘Thank you, but we’ll leave straight after breakfast.’
‘I’ve got you both down for two nights,’ the woman said, her smile fading.
‘Could we discuss this at breakfast?’ Anna was eager to leave.
Mrs Morgan didn’t seem that pleased, watching as they left, closing the door after them. It always annoyed her when guests changed their bookings, but luckily it was early in the season. If it hadn’t been she would have told them straight away that they would have to pay for the two nights booked.
The pub was, as Harry Took had said, just a short walk, but it was colder than either of them had expected and the wind was really sharp.
‘Christ, it’s bloody cold, isn’t it?’ Paul complained, hunching up inside his denim jacket. Anna didn’t reply, but she wished she’d brought a heavier coat. She was wearing her usual white shirt and black suit, and having had only a sandwich on the train, she felt really hungry.
The Bear pub was large with a big car park to the rear and a number of chairs and tables on a deck. The umbrellas were closed as the wind was really whipping up.
Inside, the place was spacious with a main bar, lines of stools and a snooker table to one side. A notice directed them towards a dining room with a big painted neon arrow. There appeared to be only a few local customers drinking, and a large plasma television screen was showing a football match, while two barmen were cleaning glasses and serving up sandwiches and hot dogs to a group of teenagers.
As Anna and Paul made their way to the dining room, all eyes were on them, not antagonistically, more simply out of interest.
The dining room was lined with booths, and four tables with bright red tablecloths were arranged down the centre of the room. Two waitresses were serving a few customers, but apart from them it was empty. Anna and Paul stood in the doorway, waiting to be seated.
‘You see him?’ Paul asked, looking around.
‘Even if I did, I wouldn’t know what he looks like.’
Nobody came to direct them to a table to be seated, although again they were of obvious interest to the diners, who avidly scrutinised them. Then a tall sandy-haired man stood up at the far end of the room and signalled for them to join him before disappearing back into the booth.
As they approached, Ed Williams eased himself out. He was at least six foot four, broad-shouldered, handsome in a rough way, and his thick sandy hair looked as if it was a crew cut growing out. He was wearing a brown tweed suit with a checked shirt and thick tie.
‘DCI Travis?’
‘Yes.’ Anna shook his hand and introduced Paul. They all then slid into the booth. The table was low, making it difficult for someone of Williams’s size to move in and out with ease. He sat opposite them, with his legs taking up so much of the space that he was almost sideways on.
He had a briefcase open on the table and an uncorked bottle of red wine. He had also moved the cutlery aside to be able to take out files and notebooks, but now he quickly replaced everything and snapped the case closed.
A waitress appeared with menus, passing them to Anna and Paul, but not to Williams. He said that he knew the menu backwards and asked if they would like wine. Without really waiting for either to say yes or no he poured for each of them.
‘Cheers.’
The same waitress returned and asked if they would like to know the specials for the evening, and reeled off some Italian pasta, a risotto and sea-food platter, announcing the price of each dish before walking off again. Anna
