‘The Marinescu sisters,’ Bliss said. ‘Very attractive girls. But also religious. Maybe a little naive.’
Karen stood up and opened the door and then shut it again.
‘Just be careful, Frannie. You know? Let the DCI run with it?’
‘Your ma’s job is safe in my hands, Karen.’
Bliss’s fingers still going tappy-tap-tap on the side of the desk, like a little dynamo.
Alone in his office, Bliss Googled Magnis Berries, found a discreet Web site with the head of some Roman- looking god wearing a wreath of strawberries, blueberries and blackcurrants. There was only one number, in Evesham. Bliss tapped it in, got a chirpy lad’s voice.
‘Magnis Berries. My name’s Robin, how can I help you today?’
‘My name’s Detective Inspector Bliss from West Mercia Police, Robin, and you can help me by putting me through to Batman.’
‘It’s Bat woman, sir,’ Robin said.
Bliss waited on hold, listening to the inquiries unrolling on the other side of the door, Darth Vaynor talking intelligently to someone in London connected with the Romanian embassy. In his left ear, some half-familiar classical music from Magnis Berries, then a crisp, educated female voice.
‘Alex Goddard.’
‘DI Francis Bliss, Ms Goddard, West Mercia CID, Hereford. You’re the MD?’
‘Inspector Bliss…’ A bit snappy, not intimidated by cops. ‘I’ve already told one of your officers that we have very few people working in the Wye Valley at this time of the year, and my manager has assured me he knows nothing that would help with your investigation.’
‘Cross purposes, Ms Goddard. This is not the Mansel Bull inquiry, this is two of your former employees. The Marinescu sisters?’
‘If they’re former employees, I don’t see how… What have they done?’
‘Got themselves beaten to death in Hereford.’
‘Oh, good God.’
‘As you were their last formal employer, I’m interested in the circumstances under which they left.’
‘Inspector, these people come and go in great numbers, and while they’re the first at one of our farms to become victims of violence…’
‘As far as you know.’
‘My instructions to all the managers is that anyone found fighting or attempting to intimidate other workers should be summarily dismissed.’
‘Is Wye Valley your biggest farm? I was thinking, with the whole firm being called Magnis Berries…’
‘We adopted the name last year. Magnis was the name of the Roman town discovered not too far away, and it gave us an identifiable corporate image. In fact, several of our other farms are two or three times as big.’
She gave Bliss the manager’s name, Roger Hitchin, and the unlisted number. Not that he planned to ring first; he and Karen could be there in ten minutes.
But then Brian Wilton came in to tell him that a couple of young women had arrived in response to their appeal for anyone who’d seen the Marinescus in the pubs around East Street. Then Elly Clatter rang through about the inevitable press conference, a necessary chore, timed for two p.m. Magnis would have to wait.
Of course, it might all come to nothing.
Bliss was tingling to his fingertips.
24
Lol found Barry in the Swan dining room, putting out menus. Just had to talk to somebody about this.
‘It’s like you’ve gone to hell and here’s Satan in a cardigan, offering you tea and scones.’
‘It’s the way he is,’ Barry said. ‘Taps into what he sees as the prevailing mood. Now, what you accusing me of?’
Five tables were laid out with traditional stiff white cloths and napkins furled like water lilies. Lol counted another six tables, bare wood, redundant now, pushed against the oak panelling.
‘All I’m saying is only four of us knew about it. Danny Thomas, Merrily… and I didn’t even tell her until last night.’
‘Making me the most likely one to’ve blabbed to Savitch.’ Barry pulled a dining chair away from a table, waved Lol to another. ‘What exactly did he say?’
‘Tells me his partner likes my… fine music.’
‘Brigid? That woman keeps a flat in the Smoke because she can’t go a week without a night at the opera. With all due respect, Laurence, I doubt she regards what you do as music at all.’
‘Good at this, though, isn’t he? Knows his folk festivals, too… Super idea, actually, Mr Robinson. Obviously, never be a Glastonbury here, but perhaps a smaller-scale Cropredy, or a Green Man? Real ale… good Herefordshire cider. Marvellous.’
‘Google is a wonderful thing,’ Barry said. ‘What’s he offering you?’
‘A site. He’s thinking one of his larger meadows, up near the bridge. Lots of parking.’
‘How much?’
‘I may have misunderstood, but I think it was free.’
‘Tribute to your status here, Laurence, though he’ll want a percentage.’
‘Barry, I don’t have any status here.’
‘Nah, the gig during the flood won you a bunch of new friends. Always been great public affection for the dance band on the Titanic .’
‘They all drowned,’ Lol said. ‘The dance band.’
‘Well, that’s true, yeah.’ Barry opened out a napkin. ‘You got a problem here, no getting round that.’
Lol recalled Savitch’s face exploding into a wide, disarming smile. He’d expected arrogant, distant, and had got ordinary, reasonable. Very scary.
‘He said people had him all wrong. As if he was trying to distance himself from the blood-sport side. How keen he was to revive the whole tradition. More about Merrie England than hunting and shooting.’
‘Merrie England? Like when the countryside was a recreation area for the aristocracy?’
Barry’s smile was like the coal-chip smile on a snowman. Lol understood he’d been brought up in South London foster homes. His dad had died in Wandsworth Prison.
‘So what was your response, Laurence?’
‘I’m sorry, Mr Savitch, your ethos is not in the spirit of the music we’re trying to promote. In fact we hate everything you stand for.’
‘And you actually said…?’
‘I said it was a very generous offer, but it was early days yet. And he invited me to visit his establishment on Thursday. Media launch for the family open day he’s having on Easter Monday. He gave me two tickets.’
‘You and Merrily?’
‘Me and my partner.’
‘He wants the vicar, trust me. Two birds with one. Sooner or later he’ll make a donation to Merrily’s church. He’ll wait for an opportunity. Urgent repairs needed in the belfry, something like that. Something that gets him noticed, yet doesn’t look like profligate largesse.’
‘I’ve never heard you use so many big words before, Barry.’
‘Funny how despair can inflate your command of English. Of course, if you do turn down his offer, that would look a bit…’
‘Perverse.’
‘But, equally, if you say yes…’
‘I’d be in his pocket. So I’m not going to, am I?’
‘Idea’s planted now. He could go on to hold a bigger event, with big names. Yours not among them.’
