“I thought that too, at first. But then just over a week ago I saw in the papers that a man was found dead over at Sherracombe, only about forty-five or fifty minutes from here. It was all over the local paper and the Guardian and the Times ran the story as well.”
“Did they give his name?” Asked Ralph.
“No, not so far. They found the body buried in the mud. They said it had been there for at least six months. I’m terrified that James was involved and it turns out to be the man who was blackmailing me.”
“Why don’t you start at the beginning, Marian. Just tell us what happened and then we might be able to work out some way we can help.” Katie looked at Ralph. He could see that Katie was trying to get Marian to slow down.
“Yes, that would be best,” Ralph said. “If you talk it through, then we’ll have a better idea of what happened and what can be done about it. Things always look worse than they really are when you keep them all bottled up.”
Having said it, he realised that it sounded a bit patronizing. But then his track record for being able to relate to women was not brilliant. His approach was to identify the problem, agree on the desired outcome and come up with a solution. When he tried this approach with Katie it usually resulted in a row. He was only just beginning to understand why.
“You’re both right. I’m starting to sound like some teenager. Sorry about that.”
She went on to explain how she had gone on an archaeological dig with some friends of hers from the University one weekend the previous summer. They had gone to a pub on the Saturday evening and she had had a few too many drinks and met this young farmer.
“It was just one of those stupid spur of the moment things. He was tanned and good looking. I suppose I was flattered that he was interested in me.”
Ralph was trying to get his mind wrapped around the fact that she had this apparently wonderful bloke, James, who she planned to marry, and then went with this farmer. He had seen pals of his do a similar thing but he’d never thought of women being like that. Ralph hoped that she was not going to go into any of the details. He was wrong again. He had been told many times that he knew nothing about women. He certainly could not argue there.
“He sounds like a swine,” said Katie. “Especially as you’d been drinking. He must have known that you weren’t alright. Didn’t your friends step in?”
“No, it wasn’t like that. I’m as much to blame as Daniel. I agreed to stay the night and he said there was a room at his cottage. Well, you can guess the rest.”
Ralph wondered if this was where he should make his excuses and take a stroll around the gardens or check the oil in the car. But Katie gave him a hard look as he started to get up.
“You said on the phone that he was blackmailing you, Marian. No doubt he was threatening to tell James. I hope that you told him to sod off,” Katie said.
“No I wanted to keep it all quiet. The next morning I told him that I didn’t want to see him again but he said that wouldn’t happen unless I paid him for some photos that he had taken. It must have been while I was asleep.”
“How much did he ask for the photos?” Katie asked.
“Two thousand pounds. He wanted it in four installments of 500 pounds each. I put the money in envelopes, one every week just as he said and posted them to him. But he refused to give me the photos. James must have found out somehow, although I never said anything. He’s a very jealous man. I know he has some very rough people who work for him on some of the building sites. They’re extremely loyal to him, and he would have paid them, of course. Or, for all I know he might have gone to see Daniel. Maybe they got into a scuffle or something and Daniel got injured and died.”
“Perhaps one of your colleagues who was with you at the pub told him”, Katie suggested.
“No I don’t think so. They’re my friends.”
“Did James mention anything to you that might have indicated that he knew?” Katie asked.
“No nothing at all.”
“Where was the dig?” asked Ralph. Katie gave him one of her looks. But he was getting a bit frustrated with the lack of facts; it was all a bit too vague.
“Over near Brayford. It was at a place called Sherracombe Ford. The place was in all the papers because a treasure trove of Roman finds was discovered there by two men in September, a couple of months after we were there. It’s just by Simonsbath; that’s a few miles from South Molton.”
Ralph knew the area. He had driven around there a few summers earlier. It was about an hour’s drive from their cottage at Clovelly.
“You don’t know for certain that the body the police found was the man who was blackmailing you; you might be putting things together that don’t really fit,” said Ralph.
“But the blackmailing stopped about the same time they say the man they found had died. I was there in early August. I was still getting phone calls asking for money up until mid-September. Then the calls stopped. The body was found this year at the start of May. Just a few weeks ago. They were making a TV programme at the dig site when they unearthed a body. The papers said that the man had been dead for about 8 months so it all fits, don’t you see.” She stood up and began pacing up and down. She turned to Ralph.
“If I give you Daniel’s address, perhaps you could go
