‘We’d like to look in the house now.’
They found even less of interest in there. Ardwyn, Everett, and Matt sat in the kitchen and listened to them roaming around upstairs, opening wardrobes and tapping walls. Then they went back outside again and went through the tractor shed, the tool shed, the garage, and PC Lennox even stuck his head into the new chicken coop. After a few more minutes of wandering around in the back field and talking quietly between themselves, they came back in and Sergeant Ryland said that as far as he was concerned it seemed to have been a hoax call. ‘It’s probably just some attention-seeking idiot who picked the name of your farm at random. On the other hand, do you know why anybody might have suggested that you had something to do with it?’ he asked. ‘Is there someone who dislikes you enough to do that?’
‘Oh, the last thing I want to do is get someone in trouble,’ she replied.
‘Does that mean that you do? Wasting police time is a serious offence, especially when missing young women are involved. If we can chase it up and take this person out of the picture it’s one less time-waster for the search coordinator to have to deal with.’
‘It’s just a bit sad and embarrassing, that’s all.’
‘There’s no need for you to feel ashamed,’ said PC Lennox, with what he probably thought was meant to be a reassuring smile.
‘Oh, not me,’ she said. ‘You. The police, that is. He was here just last night with another one of your officers. He’s a volunteer – David Pimblett.’
‘D’you know him?’ Lennox said to Ryland.
‘Vaguely.’ To Ardwyn he said, ‘Why would Mr Pimblett claim that you had anything to do with this?’
‘Like I say, it’s a bit sad and embarrassing, what with everything that’s been happening with his daughter, you know, the one with leukaemia? The poor man’s under a lot of stress, we all understand that. But for some reason he and his wife seemed to take dislike to us right from when we arrived. We have neighbouring allotments, you see, and I don’t like to brag but I like to think I have a greenish thumb, and we managed to make a lot of progress with our plot in a short time and I think he was just jealous. I mean it was easy to ignore to begin with – snide remarks, that sort of thing – and I even loaned him some of my tools, but then, well, some of our plants were damaged and Everett had to have some harsh words. We asked for our tools back and Pimblett claimed they were his and that we’d never loaned them to him in the first place, and that was when he turned really nasty, saying didn’t we know who he was and he had friends in the police and he’d make sure that we were taught a lesson and such.’
‘Didn’t you make a complaint?’ asked Lennox, who was buying every word.
‘We told the allotments supervisor, Angie Robotham, in strictest confidence, but mostly we just tried to avoid the man. As I say, his family was already under a lot of strain and we didn’t want to add to that, even if he was the one in the wrong.’
‘That definitely sounds like an awkward situation,’ said Lennox, who seemed to be taking a bit of a shine to her.
‘I wasn’t going to say anything.’ She shrugged. ‘But you asked me if there was anyone who disliked us enough, and his is the only name that springs to mind.’ It would also divert the police’s attention very conveniently away from her.
It seemed to have done the trick because Sergeant Ryland closed his notebook and tucked it away. ‘Well, we’ll certainly have a word with Mr Pimblett, just to be on the safe side. Thank you for cooperating so fully.’
‘It’s a pleasure to help,’ she replied as he and Lennox returned to their car. ‘I only hope that you find the poor girl.’
‘We will, Miss Hughes. Don’t worry about that.’
She saw them out of the gate, waving and smiling, and only when they had disappeared around a bend in the lane did she expel a huge sigh of relief. When she got back to the house, Everett was cleaning and checking his revolver with a face like thunder.
‘What do you think you’re doing?’ she asked.
‘Pimblett,’ he growled. ‘That’s who I’m going to do. So much for keeping the police away from us. And after everything we’ve done for him. I’m going to hang his daughter from a fucking butcher’s hook.’
‘And guarantee that they come back with dogs and guns? That’s not at all wise, my dear. Besides, nobody’s going to believe a word he says – especially not if he’s stupid enough to start babbling about ancient gods and miraculous healing. Conserve your energy for tonight’s ceremony – after that there’s only two more before our lord Moccus rises again and our church will see him in his glory. Already they give us all the alibis we need. I know you’re angry, and you’re right to be, but you’re clever enough not to do anything to jeopardise the replenishment.’
As she was talking she was stroking his hands, calming him down, taking the gun out of them and putting it on the table behind her. Gradually, Everett relented. ‘You’re obviously just pandering to me,’ he said.
‘Yes. Tell me it isn’t working.’
He put the gun away and pulled himself together. ‘I’d better go and get Gar,’ he said.
When he’d left, Ardwyn picked up the phone and dialled. ‘Hello, Angie?’ she said. ‘I need you to do a favour for me. You might
