‘Did Cochran look as though he was ill?’ he asked Joey.
Joey shook his head. ‘No, fit as a fiddle and twice as lively as a cricket the last time I saw him.’
‘And when was that?’
Joey wrinkled his brow in thought. ‘Oh, I suppose about ten days or a fortnight ago. I forget now. He was in here one night, semi-official like, asking about Hamilton. Same as you’re doing, Mr Dover,’ added Joey with a chuckle. ‘You’d better look out! Or keep away from Cully Point!’
‘And what did you tell him about Hamilton?’
‘Nothing that he didn’t already know. Hamilton was in here most nights, used to have a few drinks, do a bit of business, you know, have a chat, as you might say, with one of the girls.’ Joey winked and dug Dover slyly in the ribs. ‘I’ve got a couple of private rooms round the back if you … No? Oh well, suit yourself. Well, this last night before he died Hamilton was in here about the same time. I think he was expecting to meet somebody but they didn’t turn up. Not that there was anything unusual in that. It often happened. Anyhow, Hamilton sat around drinking until about half past midnight. Then he decided to call it a day and asked me to get a taxi for him. He’d done it once or twice before. He’d pick up his own car again in the morning. I rang up for a cab and off he went and that was the last I saw of him.’
‘Was Cochran in the Club that night?’
‘Well, I don’t really remember … no, I don’t think he was. He’d have been sitting with Hamilton if he had been and I’d have remembered that.’
‘Were they in this money-lending business together?’
Joey opened his eyes very wide and made a comical show of being shocked. ‘What are you suggesting, Mr Dover, and him a policeman! No, him and Hamilton were pretty thick but that was social, not business. They were both bits of devils where the girls were concerned, but that’s as far as it went. Besides, Hamilton wouldn’t have shared a crust of bread with a starving kid, never mind split a lucrative little racket like the one he’d worked up with somebody like Cochran, who’d no capital to put up. Mind you, I was beginning to wonder if perhaps Cochran was going to try and muscle in. He’d have been a tough proposition to hold off if he had. He must have known quite a lot about Hamilton and his little games.’
‘Did Cochran come here often?’
‘To the Club? A fair amount. He was a member, of course. I wasn’t too keen at first on having a bleeding flattie hanging around the place, but after a bit I realized he was keeping his mouth shut even if his eyes was open. Besides, what with one thing and another I reckoned I’d got as much on him as he had on me.’ Joey’s eyes twinkled. ‘ There are limits, you know, about how far a policeman’s supposed to go in the line of duty and young Cochran went way, way beyond ’ em. You ask any of my girls.’
At this point in the conversation one of the waiters came up to Joey and whispered confidentially in his ear.
Joey listened and looked annoyed. ‘ Hell’s bells!’ he complained. ‘Not that old fool againl I told him last time he was getting past it.’
‘Shall I get a doctor?’ murmured the waiter.
‘Christ; no!’ said Joey. ‘I’ll come and sort it out. I’m sorry, Mr Dover, there’s a bit of trouble in the kitchen. Still, I don’t think there’s anything more I can tell you, so if you’ll excuse me … You can find your own way out, can’t you?’
Joey hurried off. MacGregor, who had been watching impatiently, abandoned his Fluffy Chick to come and join Dover.
‘Any luck, sir?’
‘Hamilton was financing bank robbers and the like in return for a share in the loot. He used to meet his clients here. It looks as though young Cochran had a pretty shrewd idea about what was going on, but what’s-his-name doesn’t think he was in on it. Not yet, anyhow.’
MacGregor whistled silently. ‘Gosh, sir, that looks promising, doesn’t it?’
‘Does it?’ said Dover unenthusiastically.
‘Well, yes, sir! It all ties up with what we thought before. Suppose Hamilton got mixed up with a bunch of really tough crooks and they had it in for him over something. Maybe he shopped them or cheated them. They decide to beat him up, perhaps, or even kill him, but he dies first. So they dump his body as a sort of awful warning. Then Cochran starts nosing around, his motive doesn’t matter, finds out who’s responsible for the Hamilton business so they fix him, too …’
‘Look,’ said Dover, ‘for the umpteenth time – nobody fixed Cochran. He committed suicide. Damn it, I was there! Do you think I wouldn’t have noticed a gang of murderers up on Cully Point? I’m not blind, laddie. Besides, my wife – blast her – actually saw Cochran with her own eyes climb over the railings and jump. There was nobody else around for miles.’
‘But sir,’ began MacGregor, eager to propound all three of the theories he had dreamed up to explain this little difficulty, ‘ suppose …’
He missed his chance. Two of the dumber Fluffy Chicks came swaying over to the table and sat down. It was a purely reflex action, triggered off by the sight of a couple of unaccompanied men. Both Chicks had been told that these men were detectives but the information had either not sunk in or had long
