“Well, you were at the party, and you said you saw Howard leave.”
“Yes.”
“So you must be one of the few people who actually saw the person who drove him away.”
“Ah.”
“Did you?”
“Well, I…erm…I saw the car.”
“What was it – an ordinary taxi?”
“I don’t think there was anything on it to show that it was a taxi. No illuminated sign, no writing on the side.”
“What make of car was it?”
“One of those smallish ones – you know – a Ford Escort or a Renault or a Peugeot. All cars look alike these days.”
“Colour?” asked Carole patiently.
“Reddish. Dull red. Quite battered. That’s the thing that struck me, really. I thought, what an incredibly beaten-up old car that is to be acting as a taxi.”
“Maybe, with hindsight, we could conclude that it wasn’t a taxi?”
“Maybe not.”
“You haven’t heard the make of the car that was burnt out, have you?”
“No. That hasn’t been…erm…specified in any of the news reports I’ve seen.”
“Hm. Now, David, the more important question – what about the driver?”
“What about him?”
“Did you get a good view of him?”
“No. I was in the hotel foyer. Howard had just gone outside, so I was looking through the glass doors, and it wasn’t very well lit out there.”
“So you got no impression of who was driving the car?”
“Not really. I think he had a baseball cap pulled down over his eyes.”
“A man then. Was he young, or old?”
“Well, I sort of got the impression he was young. But maybe that was just because of the baseball cap.”
“Everyone in Essex wears baseball caps,” said Carole loftily.
“There do seem to be a lot of them, certainly.”
“So, from what you saw of this driver, you would say positively that he was young?”
“Ooh, no.” David had never been much good at saying anything positively.
“Then what did he look like?”
“Erm…No, I couldn’t tell you. Really couldn’t.”
“You’re going to be a fat lot of use to the police, aren’t you?”
“Carole, do you think they really will want to…erm…talk to me?”
“Almost definitely. I wouldn’t be surprised if they get on to me too. I should think they’d want to check with everyone who was at the engagement party.”
“Yes.”
“They are conducting a murder enquiry, after all.”
“Right.”
“In fact, David, I think you should get in touch with them voluntarily.”
“Why?”
“Public-spirited thing to do. You have information that may be vital to their enquiry. You’re a witness’. ‘Yes, but I didn’t witness much, did I?”
“No, not the way you told it to me, I admit you didn’t. But the police have ways of getting things out of witnesses.”
“Really?”
He sounded so anxious Carole couldn’t resist teasing him. “Hypnotism, truth drugs – other methods,” she concluded darkly.
“Oh dear,” said her ex-husband. “That doesn’t sound very…erm…pleasant.”
? The Witness at the Wedding ?
Fourteen
“I think they need to get away, Mother.” Stephen was tense, so he’d returned to his formal mode of address, which was slightly disappointing.
“It must be dreadful for them,” said Carole.
“It is. The phone ringing continuously, reporters actually camping on their doorstep. Constant questioning from the police. Marie’s never been very strong emotionally. This is really tearing her apart.”
“I’m sure it is,” said Carole, trying to suppress her knee-jerk reaction to people who weren’t ‘strong emotionally’. In her view, emotional strength was purely a matter of willpower.
“And it’s putting a tremendous strain on Gaby, because she has to field all the phone calls, virtually be her mother’s minder twenty-four hours a day. So she’s got that on top of the grief and shock she’s feeling at her father’s death.”
“It must be tough for her, poor kid.” She wasn’t conscious that she was echoing Jude’s words. “Can’t her brother take part of the strain? Or has he still not turned up?”
“He’s around. Apparently the night after the partyhe continued drinking with some mates and crashed out on someone’s floor. There was nothing more sinister to his disappearance than a massive hangover.”
“But is he being supportive?”
“I gather Phil’s always been pretty useless when it comes to anything involving responsibility. Also I don’t think he and Marie ever really got on that well. He was closer to his father. No, he’s gone back to work.”
“In the warehouse in Hoddesdon.”
“Yes. Which is probably just as well. I don’t think Phil’s presence would do anything to decrease the tension in the flat.”
“No.”
“Robert’s been round a few times. He’s been a great source of strength for Marie, but he can’t spare much time. He seems to have a pretty busy life, with his duties as a magistrate and what have you. He’s also been very helpful dealing with the police.”
“In what way?”
“Well, being an ex-copper, he knows how they work. Sometimes he can give them information and save Marie the stress of another interview.”
“Hm. And you’re back at work, are you, Stephen?”
“Yes. I’m really frenetic at the moment.”
Doing what? Carole was tempted yet again to ask the question, but she realized she had left it far too late in their relationship.
“And Gaby?”
“She’s off for the foreseeable future. I think she’d give anything to get back to the agency, just to be able to get her mind round something else, but she’s afraid to leave Marie on her own. Which is why I was suggesting they should have a break somewhere. Just to get away from the flat, get away from Harlow.”
“Would the police be happy for them to do that?”
“I think it’d be all right. I’d have to clear it with the inspector in charge of the case – Inspector Pollard he’s called – but he seems to be a fairly reasonable guy. So long as he knew where they were, I don’t think he’d raise any objections.”
“So where are they thinking of going?”
“I thought down your way would be good.”
His words prompted instant panic in Carole. The thought of having people staying in High Tor, people she
