“Then, when the client came in at noon to collect his cash I discovered the £6,000 we’d agreed had been taken from behind the counter. I didn’t keep it in an obvious place but Winston-Moore knew where I kept my cash. When the police questioned him he denied it, of course. He told them someone else walked in as he was leaving and it must have been them that took it. I didn’t have CCTV in the shop like I do now so I couldn’t prove it. And I didn’t have enough money in the bank to raise another six grand so I lost the deal. It was a sweet one as well. I could’ve made ten grand profit. It hurt my reputation too. I don’t mind telling you, it took me a long time to recover from it.
“And the bastard never admitted it. But I knew it was him. I even asked him recently. I thought now he’s made a mint he might do the decent thing and pay it back. But of course he didn’t. If you’re trying to say I killed him for what he did then I’m not the only person with a reason to want him dead.”
After enjoying a second cup of Earl Grey tea and a chat about events in general so James could gauge his tone and speech when talking about normal things, he made his excuses saying he had only put in enough for one hour on the parking meter.
Chapter Thirty
James drove into the narrow one-way street called Chalk Farm Mews and managed to find a space on the very first meter in the street. As he paid and looked around he was greeted by a parade of antique shops, most of them looking fairly run down, the exception being numbers three and five. Next door was number seven, one of the less salubrious shops with the name Bygone Days above the door.
James walked in and a tall gentleman appeared from behind a curtain at the rear.
“Hello, I’m looking for Robin Longhurst.”
“I’m Robin, you must be James.”
“Yes, thank you for agreeing to see me. Nice shop you have here.”
“Thank you. Why don’t we go upstairs to my apartment? We can talk without being disturbed. My restorer is out the back, he will deal with any customers.”
Robin filled the kettle and got out two cups. “I’m happy to help in any way I can, although I’m not sure what more I can add to the statement I gave to the police but I’ll try. Please take a seat.”
James sat down at the shiny blue top table that matched the kitchen cabinets.
“So, I’d be grateful if you could tell me what happened when you arrived at the hotel.”
“I’m sorry; my memory’s not that good. But I do recall on the Wednesday I was in the bar until around ten and then went upstairs to my room and read a book. On the Thursday night I pretty much did the same. As Francis and Victor must have told you, we were there to try and find out what Peter was up to. And then of course at the weekend we attended the Evesham Fair.”
“How about during the night, did you see or hear anything?”
“No, I have to say the bed was very comfortable so I managed to get to sleep quite quickly and then I was out for the night. I awoke when my alarm went off at seven thirty. Besides, from what I understand our rooms were on the other side of the hotel to where the murder took place. I was in room 123. Easy to remember that”
“You told the police Peter was a nice man and you have no idea who would want to kill him.”
“I can only assume Norman had a motive but I’m not aware of what that might be. I read a few bits in the newspapers over the weekend other than that I’m not sure what I can add.”
”It’s strange. Everyone seems to have nice things to say about Mr Winston-Moore but the police have evidence to the contrary. It appears he had a system to con lots of elderly people out of valuable items. And Mr Athos has told me how he was conned by Peter into buying fake items and reported him to the police a few years back as he suspected him of stealing £6,000. So, forgive me, but I’m confused when everyone tells me he was well liked.”
Robin let out a long sigh. “Okay. If you want the truth, he was a nasty piece of work. He had a reputation in the trade that you couldn’t trust him. He ripped off lots of dealers before he became rich. After that everyone just wanted to know where he was finding all the fresh stock. That’s why the three of us stayed at the same hotel. We were trying to discover what he was up to and how he was doing it. Maybe someone found out and killed him for the secret but it wasn’t me. Apart from trying to find out where he bought all those items I avoided him. If you want the truth, I certainly won’t be shedding any tears over his departure. But I didn’t kill him and I don’t know who did unless it was Norman.”
James changed the subject as they sat and drank their tea, all the time listening for any tell-tale signs that past experience had taught him people often gave away when they were chatting and more relaxed.
Chapter Thirty-One
“Thank you for agreeing to see me, Mr Tack. I’ve spoken with your colleagues Robin and Victor and they’ve
