‘Recognise him?’ Joel whispered as they got out.
Dec shook his head. ‘He is one scary bastard. Jesus Christ, look at his hands. The fucking size of them.’
‘Quiet. Leave the talking to me.’
The gaunt man came down the steps to meet them with a raised eyebrow and a ghost of a smile. Up close, he looked almost reptilian. His voice was dry and throaty.
‘Officers?’
Joel flashed his police card. ‘Detective Inspector Joel Solomon. This is Mr Maddon.’
‘My name is Seymour Finch. Personal assistant to Gabriel Stone. May I be of assistance?’
‘Yes. I wondered whether you’d be kind enough to help with a few queries regarding a reported incident here at Crowmoor Hall?’
Finch’s face cracked into a parched grin. ‘Certainly. What incident are you referring to? Have vandals been in the grounds?’
‘Could we talk inside?’ Joel said.
Finch led them into the marble-floored hall. Dec threw a look at Joel as if to say
‘this is definitely the place’.
‘I would appreciate some explanation, Inspector. I’m a very busy man.’
‘See that door there?’ Dec blurted out to Joel. ‘That leads to the ballroom.’
Joel silenced him with a glare.
‘Ballroom?’ Finch said.
‘Could we take a look?’ Joel asked him.
‘Why, certainly, officer.’ Finch walked slowly across the marble floor, grasped the bronze handles of the double doors and swung them open with a creak.
Inside was a huge conference room with a long, long table flanked by dozens of identical chairs. There was a whiteboard, a screen and projector, and a raised stage with a speaking podium and more chairs facing it in rows.
‘They’ve changed it,’ Dec said in response to Joel’s searching look. ‘It was all different. There was a dance floor there, and the rest of the room was full of old furniture and stuff.’ He pointed. ‘Those are the same. The paintings. Old portraits. I remember.’
‘The oak panels are seventeenth century,’ Finch said. ‘And the tapestries are very valuable. But I should like to know what this young man is talking about, and why you are taking up my time.’
‘Mr Maddon is helping me with an official police enquiry,’ Joel said coolly.
‘That’s the guy there,’ Dec said. He pointed up at the largest of the portraits, which took up a whole wall panel between two bay windows. It showed a strikingly handsome, aristocratic-looking man in his late thirties or early forties. ‘The one without the mask. Their leader.’
Joel stared hard at the painting, closely scrutinising the face. Was this the same man — if it had been a man — that he’d chased from Lavender Close?
‘Inspector. Really.’ Finch was becoming impatient now. ‘What is this about?’
‘Who is that?’ Joel asked, motioning at the portrait.
‘That is Mr Stone. My employer.’
‘And where is Mr Stone at present?’
‘He is out of the country.’
‘Where did he go?’
‘He’s in Tuscany,’ Finch said curtly. ‘Staying at the home of a close friend of his.’
‘I’d like to know Mr Stone’s whereabouts on Hallowe’en night.’
‘Hallowe’en?’ Finch frowned, as though unfamiliar with the expression.
‘The last night in October,’ Joel explained as patiently as he could.
‘Forgive me,’ Finch said without any trace of apology. ‘You may be disappointed to know that Mr Stone was already in Italy at that time.’
‘Bollocks, he was here,’ Dec blurted out.
Joel silenced him with a sharp look. ‘I’ll want to verify that. Who is this friend?’
‘Jeremy Lonsdale,’ Finch said.
‘Jeremy Lonsdale the cabinet minister?’
‘That is correct. Now, as you appear not to have a warrant to search the premises, before I throw you out I would like an explanation for this harassment.’
‘We have a report that a serious incident took place here on the night in question,’ Joel said. ‘Involving the ritual murder of a teenager.’ As soon as the words were out, he regretted saying them. He’d gone out on a limb a few times in his career, but this was climbing to the tip of the branch and then sawing it off behind him.
Finch stared at him for a moment, then burst out laughing. ‘Here, in the ballroom?’
‘Not here, down in the crypt,’ Dec interrupted. Joel groaned inwardly. He should have made the kid stay in the car.
‘Mr Maddon has a florid imagination,’ Finch said dryly. ‘As you can see, the house is being extensively renovated while we build the new conference centre. But we are yet to discover anything resembling a crypt. A wine cellar, yes, at the other end of the house, below the kitchens on the east wing. But it is flooded and filled with rubble.
Would you like to see it?’ he added with mock earnestness.
Dec was undeterred. He pointed at the far end of the room, next to the stage.
‘There. Look. See that bit of old carpet on the wall? There was a curtain there. There’s a door behind it. That’s the way down to the crypt.’
Before Joel could stop him, he was running down the length of the room. He jumped up onto the stage and started tugging at the corner of the tapestry. Finch’s eyes were popping out.
‘Inspector, I would ask you to keep your puppy on a leash. That “bit of old carpet” happens to be priceless. It’s fifteenth century. A Stone family heirloom. And I can assure you there is no doorway behind it.’
Joel ran after Dec and pushed him out of the way. He turned to Finch. For some reason he couldn’t fathom, this guy was giving him the creeps. ‘You won’t mind if I check behind it? I’ll be careful.’
‘It’s your funeral,’ Finch replied, standing back with folded arms.
Joel glanced up at the top of the tapestry. It was ancient all right, the kind of thing that probably belonged in a museum. It hung from wooden rings on wall-mounted hooks. As carefully as he could, he lifted its corner and peeked behind. With a flush of annoyance, he noticed that Dec had ripped part of its edge in his enthusiasm.
And worse, when Joel looked behind, there was no doorway to be seen. Just solid wall. He felt for a seam or a crack, a telltale draught. There was nothing.
He turned back round and the dismay must have been visible on his face.
‘Satisfied, Inspector Solomon?’ Finch said. ‘It was Solomon, wasn’t it?’
‘I didn’t imagine it,’ Dec muttered resolutely. ‘There’s a passageway behind there.’
There was nothing more for it. Between clenched teeth, Joel thanked Finch for his time, and then virtually dragged Dec back outside.
‘Do you still wish to verify Mr Stone’s whereabouts?’ Finch asked from the steps as they walked back towards the police car.
‘That won’t be necessary,’ Joel said.
Finch nodded stiffly. ‘Thank you, officer. Be assured that your superiors will be hearing from us.’
There was a strange light in his eyes as Joel drove off.
They were silent long after they’d driven out of the gates and started making their way back towards the main road.
‘I’m fucking telling you I didn’t dream it.’
Joel didn’t reply.
‘So what happens now?’ Dec asked.
‘I’m taking you home.’
‘You don’t believe me any more, do you?’
‘No, Dec. I don’t.’
But Joel knew that was a lie. After a silent drive to the edge of Wallingford, he dropped Dec off at the bottom
