her little opportunity for further conversation when the examination was concluded.
“Good. No serious problems at the moment. Couple of places where the gums’re looking a bit red, though. Look after your gums and it makes my job of looking after your teeth a lot simpler.”
“Yes,” said Jude contritely.
“Make an appointment to see one of our hygienists on your way out, will you?”
“Sure. I – ”
“Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’d better go and sort out this RDO.”
She couldn’t make him stay. And even if she had been able to make him stay, Jude wasn’t sure what questions she would have wanted to ask Mr Frobisher.
“Tell reception to apologize to the next appointment,” he told the nurse as he left the room. “Only be about five minutes.”
On the coastline train that rattled through an unbelievable number of small stations and rattled past an even more unbelievable number of bungalows on its way back to Fethering, Jude tried to comfort herself with the fact that there was nothing wrong with her teeth. But the predominant feeling in her mind was one she shared with Carole – that she had a lot to learn about being a detective.
? The Body on the Beach ?
Fifteen
The Crown and Anchor was on the way back from Fethering Station. Jude knew she shouldn’t really, but the thought of grabbing a bite to eat there rather than knocking something together at home was appealing. She could be an excellent cook when she felt like it, but she very rarely did feel like it.
Jude knew she shouldn’t really spend the money either. But what the hell? Tomorrow would be soon enough to start her economy regime. She went into the pub.
There were maybe half a dozen people scattered around the sitting room that was the Crown and Anchor’s interior. Most were tucked away in alcoves, their presence betrayed by a glimpse of elbow or a murmur of chatter. The room looked comforting, as did the lugubrious grin Ted Crisp gave her from behind the bar.
“Couldn’t keep away from me, eh, young Jude? My old animal magnetism doing its stuff?”
“Something like that.”
“So what can I do you for? Or are you just after my body?”
“I was thinking of lunch.”
He accepted this philosophically. “First things first. And first thing’s got to be a drink, hasn’t it? Wodger fancy – apart from me, of course?”
“Glass of white wine.”
“Large, I take it?”
“Why not? And something to eat. Nothing very big. Do you do sandwiches?”
“We not only do sandwiches, we also do baguettes. Bread rolls with delusions of grandeur, no less. List of fillings on the board.”
Jude looked at the selection written out in multicoloured chalk. “I’ll have the tuna and sweet corn, please.”
“You won’t regret it. Good choice, that. One tuna and sweet corn baguette!” he shouted out towards the kitchen. “Normally write the orders down. Not when we’re slack like this, though.”
“Who’ve you got cooking today?”
“No idea. She’s a woman. Knows her place. Never comes out of the kitchen.”
Jude could sense a degree of calculation in his words. Ted Crisp was sizing her up, testing the level at which she’d be offended.
She denied him the satisfaction of a response. “You ever been married, Ted?”
“Used to be. You can tell. I’m still round-shouldered. Didn’t take, though.” The landlord shook his shaggy head gloomily. “Like an unsuccessful heart transplant. My body rejected it.” He was silent for a moment. “Actually, that’s not true. My body didn’t reject her. She rejected me. Walked out after three months. With a double-glazing salesman. “But he’s so transparent,” I said. “Can’t you see right through him?” She didn’t listen. Said she wanted the security. Wanted to be with someone who didn’t always come staggering in at four in the morning…”
“Having been out drinking?”
“Having been out working, I’ll thank you very much, young Jude. And maybe a bit of drinking after the working. But the human body is like an old clock, you know. It needs to unwind.”
“So what did you do that kept you out till four every morning?”
“Stand-up. I was on the circuit. When I moved here was the first time I’d ever been in a downstairs room in a pub.”
“That explains a lot, Ted.”
“Like what?”
“Your jokes. They sound like they come from someone who used to be a comedian.”
He screwed up his face in a mock-wince. “Ooh, you know how to hurt, don’t you? Anyway, you’re right. I wasn’t a huge success on the circuit. It’s a business where you’re only as good as your last joke, and, as you’ve so diplomatically pointed out, my last joke was bloody terrible. So…about four years too late, I saw the wisdom of what my former wife’d said and went for security. Sold up the house, borrowed far too much from the brewery to get this place and…here I am.”
“Do you miss it?”
“Stand-up?” He screwed his lips into a little purse of disagreement. “Nah. No different here. As a pub landlord, I still get heckled and shouted at and have glasses thrown at me by a bunch of drunkards.”
“Not in Fethering, surely?”
“Don’t you believe it. Come Saturday night, they’ve all tanked up at home on the old Sanatogen Tonic Wine, they’ve got their pensions in their pockets and evil in their hearts. I tell you, you can hardly move in here for the flying zimmer frames. Ooh, here’s your baguette.” He reached out through the hatch to a disembodied hand from the kitchen. “Get outside of that and you won’t hurt, young lady.”
There was a clatter from the front door and Jude turned to see Rory Turnbull making a clumsy entrance. He hadn’t shaved that morning and looked unkempt.
The dentist weaved his way up to the bar. “Large Scotch please, Ted.”
“If you’re sure…”
The note of warning in the landlord’s voice hit a raw nerve. “Of course I’m bloody sure! Otherwise I wouldn’t have bloody asked you for it, would I?”
As Ted Crisp turned to get the drink, Jude ventured a, “Hello. We sort of met in here the other night, didn’t we?”
“Hm?” Rory Turnbull’s eyes had difficulty in focusing on her.
“And actually I went to your surgery this morning. Mr Frobisher looked after me.” Just as well it wasn’t you, thought Jude, or my mouth’d be bearing the scars. “Your wife put me in touch.”
“My wife?” He seemed puzzled by the alien concept.
“Yes, Barbara.”
“Oh, that wife.” He let out a bark of laughter, as though this were some huge joke. “Thanks, Ted.” He took a long swallow from the glass.
“Why, you got another wife, Rory?” asked the landlord. “Little totty tucked away somewhere?”
The dentist smiled slyly. “I should be so lucky. Don’t think you can get away with that kind of thing in Fethering.”
“Don’t you believe it.” Ted Crisp struck his forehead in a mock moment of revelation. “I just realized. Jude! You suddenly appear here in Fethering, nobody has a clue who you are, why you’re here…You’re Rory Turnbull’s bit of stuff, aren’t you?”
She smiled ruefully. “Sorry. I’m afraid my only connection with Rory is professional – not even that, actually, because I saw his partner rather than him.”
“And you say my wife put you in touch?”
