I could feel a migraine coming.
The time to deal with my pets was later. First, I had to get the man with the pirate smile out of my house. ‘How did you find me?’
He popped the last of his bacon sandwich in his mouth before answering, chewing it still when he found some words. ‘I fitted a tracker to your car.’
I nearly choked.
That just made him laugh again. ‘Only kidding,’ he assured me.
I was going to have someone check my car later, believe me.
‘I looked up your home address. I mean, that’s using my initiative, that is. Tired and stuff, I figured you forgot I was following but I promised to tell you about John Ramsey and that’s what I came here to do.’
‘Really?’ I didn’t bother to hide my suspicion. ‘You’ll tell me what happened and then you’ll leave?’
I got a questioning look in response. ‘Of course. What kind of man do you think I am?’
‘A pirate in a good suit,’ I replied without needing to think.
It was his turn to choke, the bacon sandwich going down the wrong hole as he spluttered with laughter. He had to turn around to sort himself out, and when he turned back there were tears streaking down his cheeks. ‘A pirate in a good suit,’ he repeated my words. ‘Oh, my. That is a good one.’
Becoming increasingly irritated by my ‘guest’, I said, ‘Please tell me about John Ramsey, Mr Slater.’
‘His brakes didn’t fail. Someone messed with them,’ Vince replied taking another slurp of his coffee.
Suddenly wanting my own, I found one already poured and waiting when I looked.
‘Black, two sweeteners, right?’ Vince confirmed.
‘How do you know that?’ I narrowed my eyes at him.
‘I have people spying on you,’ he told me deadpan. This time I didn’t bite, and he rolled his eyes playfully. ‘You were drinking coffee at Loxton Hall last weekend. I get paid to be observant.’
‘Okay.’ I wasn’t entirely satisfied by his explanation. ‘I heard his brakes failed. They recorded his death as accidental. It’s why we were released, was it not? What makes you think this was murder after all?’
He put his coffee cup down and dabbed at his lips with a handkerchief before saying. ‘I have a couple of friends in the police. We scratch each other’s backs. John Ramsey’s brakes failed because someone had loosened the bleed nipple on the front left calliper. Apparently, it was open just enough for the brake fluid to drip out under pressure. Each time he used the brakes, his lost a little more fluid. When the reservoir emptied, no more brakes.’
I didn’t know what to make of this news. ‘How come the chief inspector let us go then?’
‘I guess because it is only conjecture. I am guessing his brakes were fiddled with. I’ve never heard of a bleed nipple coming undone by itself. Have you?’
I wasn’t sure what a bleed nipple was, and I didn’t like the shark-infested smile that teased his lips when he said the word ‘nipple’ though he managed to keep his eyes from looking down to where mine were hidden beneath the robe. He’d already seen far more of me than I ever intended.
‘So you think someone deliberately tampered with his car. Someone who knew exactly how much to open the bleed,’ I forced myself to say the word, ‘nipple.’
Vince tried but failed to push his grin away. He nodded though. ‘Unfortunately, there are a lot of people who have a high enough knowledge of car mechanics to be able to do that.’
I looked at the clock on my cooker and blew out a breath. ‘Right, so there is a homicidal mechanic out there and he killed John Ramsey. John tried to kill Derek Bleakwith, and there is someone at the Orion Print office trying to cover up the evidence of something they were doing.’ Remembering the data drive I looked up at Vince.
He knew what I was going to say. ‘The police confiscated it. The second they saw it had files and data on it from Orion Print, I knew I would struggle to justify having it in my possession. I told them I picked it up out of interest when we were looking for the person we heard calling for help.’
I skewed my lips to one side as I studied him. ‘How did you know to say that to the police? How did you know it would muddy the water enough to get you off?’
‘Experience, babe,’ the pirate’s grin returned.
My eyes were already narrowed. In fact, I’d been squinting at him for so long my face was starting to hurt.
‘How did you get the back door open? It wasn’t really unlocked was it?’
He bumped away from the counter with his hip. ‘That’s the sort of incriminating answer a man only reveals in bed.’
My jaw dropped open. He was so brazen!
‘It is time for you to leave, Mr Slater,’ I took a step back to give him easy access to my front door and pointed with my arm. ‘You came to tell me about John Ramsey, and you have done so. Now I need to get dressed and get to work.’
He cocked an eyebrow at me. ‘Surely we need to track the killer and clear your name? That woman … what’s her name?’
‘Primrose?’ I hazarded, not sure who he might be referring to.
‘Yes, her. You said she would cause you problems and try to scare off clients. We need to get ahead of that and solve this case. The chief inspector thinks you are behind what happened to John.’
That was exactly what Shane said.
Whatever the case, and whatever I chose to do, I was
