Sinclair glanced at Madden.
'So Miller took over? It became a British investigation?'
'Not entirely, sir. The victims were civilians. But the Belgians had asked for our assistance and it was understood Captain Miller would handle everything on the military side and keep the Belgian authorities informed.'
'The woman who was killed, the farmer's wife, where did you find her body? Describe the scene, if you will.'
Tozer reached forward for his cup of tea. He took a sip and then replaced the cup on its saucer. He licked his lips. 'She was in the bedroom upstairs, lying across the bed with her skirt and drawers ripped off. Her throat had been cut.'
'The assumption, Captain Miller's assumption, was that she had been raped?' The chief inspector put it in the form of a question.
'Oh, yes, sir. In fact, when he read the Belgian pathologist's report he asked him to go back and reexamine the body. He thought he must be wrong. But the pathologist confirmed there was no trace of seminal fluid and no sign of forcible entry.'
'So the captain was surprised?'
'He was. And not just by that. One of the things he noted, you may have seen it in the file, was the difference between the upstairs and the down. In the kitchen, where the men's bodies were found, you might have wondered how it could have happened.
There wasn't a plate broken, just one chair overturned, as I recall. They must have been killed in a matter of seconds. Upstairs was a different story. She'd put up a fight. The mirror was smashed and the curtains torn off one of the windows.' He shook his head regretfully.
'Strong, fine-looking woman she was. Lovely fair hair.
Lollondays, they called her in the district.'
'What was that?' Sinclair prompted him.
Tozer blushed. 'That's as close as I can get to it, sir.
It's a French word, means the Dutchwoman. She came from Holland. Spoke a few words of English, we were told. She was a favourite with the lads when they came out of the line. I don't mean she…' He flushed again.
'More like a mother, if you take my meaning. She'd cook for them at the farm, lay on omelettes and fried potatoes and the like. Well, she charged, of course, but the men liked to go there from camp.
'This lot from the battalion — fifteen men from B Company — they'd been there earlier, that same week, and they'd booked again to come back that night. We had no trouble getting their names. They owned up straight away. Said they'd gone there and come back in a group.'
'But Captain Miller didn't believe them?'
Tozer pursed his lips, frowning, 'it wasn't like that exactly. See, those lads were the obvious suspects. Or, anyway, the first ones that came to hand. And the captain knew, any time a Tommy found himself face to face with a redcap he'd play deaf and dumb. Like I said, they hated us. So he went at them hard. He reckoned if they'd done it together, one of them would crack. And if they hadn't, if it was just a few of them who were involved, the others were likely to know about it and he'd get at the truth that way. But after he'd had the last one in I remember him saying he didn't think it was them.'
'He'd dismissed them as suspects?' Sinclair was surprised.
'Oh, no, sir. He meant to question them again. But they were off that night, heading back to the front.'
'He didn't try to hold them?'
'Nothing to hold them on. But it didn't matter.
They weren't going anywhere. Just back to the salient.'
The chief inspector looked at Madden questioningly.
'Passchendaele, sir. That's where the battle was fought. Near Ypres.'
'It was just a few square miles of mud and craters,'
Tozer explained. 'You crossed over the canal and you were there. Death's Land, the Tommies called it. All there was was mud and corpses. They didn't expect to come back.'
Sinclair stared at his blotter. He was silent for several seconds. 'In this case, seven did,' he said finally.
'Of the fifteen. But Captain Miller didn't interview them again, as far as I can gather.'
Tozer's eyes widened. 'Only seven… I didn't know … I'm sorry…' He glanced at Madden again and sighed. 'No, sir, the captain never asked to see them again. By that time he was on a different track.'
'That's what we thought.' Sinclair sat forward.
'That's what I want to know about.'
Tozer took another sip of tea. He had gone a little pale, Billy Styles thought, watching from his place beside Sergeant Hollingsworth. 'The day after the battalion left, Captain Miller got a message from Poperinge. They were holding a deserter there. He was up for court martial. He claimed he had information about the murders at the farmhouse.'
'What was his name?'
Tozer searched his memory. 'Duckman…? No, Duckham. William Duckham. He was from the same battalion as those fifteen lads, but a different company.'
'Did Captain Miller interview him?'
'Yes, he did. At the detention barracks at Poperinge.'
'Were you present?'
'I was.' Tozer touched the scar on his cheek. 'The lad — Duckham — was in a bad way. He hadn't been with the battalion long. Only gone into the line once, but that was enough and when they came out he'd made a run for it. Poor boy. He was shaking all over, couldn't stop himself. Maybe he thought it would help his case if he told us what he knew 'Which was?'
'Duckham told the captain he'd got as far as the farm and then holed up in the barn, which was a little way from the main house. Found a spot in the loft behind some hay and lay there during the day. At night he'd come down and forage for food. He couldn't get himself to move any further, he said. He just lay there-'
Tozer broke off to reach for his tea-cup. The chief inspector controlled his impatience.
'The night it happened he heard the men from B Company arrive and leave, though he didn't see them.
He was lying low. But after they'd gone he crawled out from behind the hay and was about to climb down the ladder when the barn door opened and someone came in. Duckham heard him moving about down below, but it wasn't till the man switched on a torch that he saw who it was.'
'Pike?' Sinclair asked, in a low voice.
Tozer nodded. 'Duckham knew him by sight. He wasn't in his company, but everyone in the battalion knew Pike. There was a joke that went round, or so he told us. No one in B Company gave a damn about Jerry. It was Pike they were scared of.'
'He was sergeant major of B Company?'
'That's right. Quite a hero in his way. I'll tell you about that in a moment.' Tozer emptied his tea-cup.
'Duckham had his head over the edge of the loft, and since he didn't dare stir he saw everything. He said Pike had a rifle and knapsack with him and the first thing he did was fix a bayonet to the rifle. Then he opened the knapsack and took out-' He broke off, shaking his head. 'You won't credit this, sir, I know the captain had a hard time believing it, but according to Duckham what he did next was put on a gas mask.'
Sinclair expelled his breath in a soundless sigh. His eyes met Madden's. Tozer looked from one to the other. He seemed to be expecting more of a reaction from them.
'Go on, Mr Tozer.'
'When he'd done that he stood still for a few moments. Sort of growling, Duckham said. Making these noises behind the mask. Next thing he was out of the barn door and Duckham heard a whistle. Just one long blast. He said before he'd even had time to crawl back behind the hay he heard the woman screaming. Then nothing more. He lay where he was and about ten minutes later Pike came back into the barn. Or he assumed it was him, because he didn't budge. After a minute he heard the barn door being shut, but he stayed where he was for another half-hour until he was sure there was no one about. Then he climbed down and went over to the house. When he found the bodies downstairs he just grabbed whatever food he could and ran for it. He was picked up two days later outside Poperinge.'
