Wednesday cont. then Thursday
Cleo was forced to admit to herself that the Tom
Crowe case was now too big for the Hartley Agency. Not only did she have no way
of locating Jack Coppins if he had gone to ground, but even if she found him
she could not persuade him to give himself up if he had decided not to.
***
“I doubt it,” Robert said, when Cleo told him. “Running
away was a spontaneous reaction to what you had said about his father, and what
he himself had said. Don’t forget that if the story is how you have reported
it, he didn’t see what his father did to Tom Crowe. He only learnt about it
later, probably from Jessie. You have no reason to think they were not in
contact. They might even have made a plan of action.”
“The girl is our main witness,” said Cleo, “but she
might be too loyal to her father - despite his bestiality - to repeat what she
told me, or she might have killed Crowe herself.”
“How can anyone be loyal who’s been treated like
she was and witnessed her father committing murder on the guy she said was her
lover? She didn’t kill Crowe, Cleo.”
“It beggars belief that some kids are loyal to the
most awful parents, often because they are made to believe that they have no
one else,” said Cleo.
***
Robert thought that if Jack had been thinking about
doing away with himself, he would have been more resigned and there would have
been less fight in him. Cleo should give him time to think things over.
“I’m sure he has lots of friends who will put him
up, Cleo, and after all, he isn’t being hunted by the police.”
“That’s true, but he can’t shake off his role in
the case by running away, even if he is innocent of homicide.”
“My bet is that he’ll turn up here or at the
office. Give him time, Cleo.”
“I will, for a day or so. He isn’t wanted and he
isn’t missing, so I’ll wait that long.”
“Don’t forget that his father is behind bars. Let
Gary fiddle around with his investigation for a bit,” said Robert.
“OK. Let’s have some supper and talk about
something else.”
***
Cleo was determined to wait at least until Thursday
evening before taking any further action. She would thought she should be in her
office as much as possible. It was more likely that Jack would come there than
to her cottage.
But first there was another Coppins’ questioning on
Thursday morning. Gary did not know about the information she had collected
from Jessie and Jack and it was her wish to talk to Coppins again, though she
had not told Gary why another questioning might be useful. She wanted a
confession from Coppins and was going to use what she had heard from the
Coppins family without having revealed any of it to Gary beforehand.
***
Cleo decided to work on the case of Dr Mitchell’s
wife after her visit to HQ since Colin had sent in a report that was curious
and certainly not what she had expected. To that end, Cleo phoned Dr Mitchell
and asked him if he had time to come by the office later that day.
“Have you found something out, Miss Hartley?”
“Yes, but I don’t discuss cases on the phone.”
“I can be at your office by five. My house visits
will be over by then.”
“OK. See you about 5,” Cleo confirmed.
***
Jack did not turn up at the office before Cleo had
to leave on Thursday morning. She phoned Robert to tell him that she was about
to drive to Middlethumpton for Coppins’ questioning and did not know when she
would be back.
“If Jack turns up, look after him and let me know.”
***
Gary was expecting Cleo to be escorted by the guy
he liked to call her willing slave, but she went to HQ alone.
“Would you like an espresso, Cleo?” was Gary’s
first query. “Where is your Lord and Master?”
“Standing opposite me,” said Cleo, planting a kiss
on Gary’s lips. “Oops, I hope no one saw that.”
“I mean…”
“I know who you mean. Robert is at the shop. Isn’t
Coppins’ questioning at 10? That’s what I’m here for.”
“I invested in a new-fangled espresso machine so
that you don’t complain about the coffee. It’s in my little washroom.”
“Washroom?“
“It’s really a cubby-hole with a washbasin. I never
knew what it was for until now. I store a few files and a clean shirt in
there.”
“Am I getting the first lot of coffee, Gary?”
“Yes. Why?”
“Have you washed the machine out with salt water?”
“No. Should I have?”
“Not if you’ve started the coffee already. I expect
we’ll survive.”
Gary busied himself with the espresso and Cleo
unpacked the cookies she had had the foresight to bring along.
“To what do I owe the honour?” Gary said.
“I thought
we were going to question Coppins again. Don’t you want to? I must talk to him
again.”
“That sounds ominous. Are you going to explain?”
“No.”
“Do you have new evidence?”
“Yes.”
“Why haven’t you kept me informed?”
“I’m here, aren’t I?”
“I’ll send for Coppins if you’ll do something for
me, Cleo.”
“Where’s Nigel, Gary?”
“Free today.”
“Can you organize a witness?”
“Is it that serious?”
“I think so, and yes, I do want to go to Romano’s for
lunch. Robert is keeping the shop open all day and will eat some of Gloria’ s sausage
rolls.”
“Then we’ll get this questioning over fast, shall
we?”
***
Joseph Coppins was in two minds about another
grilling. Was he about to be released? Not on bail as he had no one to bail him
out.
Coppins was hoping for unconditional release. He did
not think they could pin anything on him, but when he saw Cleo in the Chief
Inspector’s office he thought again about his chances of getting off scot free.
“You again,” he said. “Finger in the pie, I
suppose.”
“All my fingers, Mr Coppins,” Cleo replied.
Coppins wanted to get out even faster after what he
interpreted as a threat by this foreign person.
“You have nothing on me. It’s time you let me go,”
Coppins said to Gary.
“So you think you are innocent, do you?” said Cleo.
“I am innocent.”
“Just let me run down the list of crimes of which
you say you are innocent, Mr Coppins.”
***
Gary went to sit on his office chair and observe
Cleo at work. For show, she got out the little notebook she always carried
around.
“Is that your little book for collecting crimes
then?” jeered Coppins.
“Well, Mr Coppins, you could say that. Your little list
starts with child-beating with a leather belt over a period of years.”
“Lies.”
“That is followed on your little list by the crime
of raping your eldest daughter over a period of years.”
“Bloody lies, and if she’s my daughter I’m Barack
Obama.”
Cleo ignored the slight about her colour. She and
Mr Obama shared the dubious privilege of being half-casts.
“There’s also the suspicion that you sexually
harassed the younger daughters in your care.”
“All bloody lies. I’ll get Jessie for telling
them,” said Coppins.
“Why Jessie, Mr Coppins? Is she the only person who
knows the whole truth?”
Gary stood up.
“You’ll do no such thing, Coppins,” he said. “Carry
on, Cleo!”
“You are not going to say that Jack or Mike is the
fathers of Jessie’s kids, are you? DNA tests will prove that they aren’t, but
you are. I doubt very much that those two boys would have been that precocious
or indecent. Jessie is 22, and Jack is 24. Mike is 23 now. So when Jessie was 13,
Jack was 15 and Mike was 14. You raped Jessie for years and it was bad luck
that she got pregnant. Not content with that one slip, you raped her again and
again and she had another child.”
“She wanted it, Miss Clever Clogs. She asked for
it,” Coppins said. “She’s sex driven.”
“If she is sex-driven, we know who taught her, Mr
Coppins,” said Cleo.
“Look ‘ere. I am not Jessie’s father. It was not
incest.”
“I’m glad you know what incest is. Mr Coppins,” said
Cleo.
“So you admit having sex with her,” said Gary. “She
is legally your child, Coppins, since you are married to her mother. You take
full responsible for what you did. I’ve told you that before.“
“Incidentally,” said Cleo, “we already have the
results of a DNA comparison between Jessie and you. They prove you are not her
father. Patrick Kelly is probably her father though there is a rumour that she
was also selling herself to others. Did you know all that, Mr Coppins?”
“Bloody lies.”
“Don’t keep saying that, Mr Coppins,” Cleo continued.
“You should be pleased that your suspicions have been confirmed. Not being her
birth father exempts you from being charged with incest, but of course the rape
charges still stand, as do the legal responsibility for abusing a child in your
care and, if I’m not mistaken, attempts to molest your younger children are the
reason Mrs Coppins threw you out.”
“My wife is a slut.”
“If that’s the definition of a mother trying to
protect her kids, I suppose she is.”
“Did you say my wife’s a slut?”
“No. You said that, Mr Coppins,” said Cleo.
” I want a lawyer; I know my rights.”
“We’re just having an informal chat. Calm down. You
don’t need a lawyer if you just tell the truth and don’t curse.”
“I’ll bloody curse if I want to.”
“The last, or nearly the last point on your little
list is whether you killed Tom Crowe. Did you kill Tom Crowe, Mr Coppins?”
***
Gary, who had walked to the window, turned to look
at Cleo and the prisoner. The neutral witness, a young man who had only just
started work in the reference department, sat bolt upright. He had never been present
at such a dramatic interview before and was starting to realize why the Chief
Inspector had left the questioning to Miss Hartley.
Coppins cursed again, more vehemently than before.
”I don’t even know who that is.”
“No? That’s the guy you saw having an almighty row
with Jack.”
“Nigger!” cursed Coppins.
“Shall I go on?” said Cleo.
“Not before I’ve charged this guy with insulting
behaviour, Cleo,” said Gary. “That’s another entry on the little list, Mr
Coppins!”
***
“To continue where I left off, Mr Coppins: I can’t
charge you, but I know what happened and you can be sure that my colleague will
take the necessary action.”
“If you know so much, why ask questions?”
“Just checking, Mr Coppins,” said Cleo.
“I didn’t go anywhere near them on the common.”
“You did. You know where it all happened. You
spotted the two young men from the bushes, saw one of them was Jack. He was
fighting with Crowe. Crowe wrenched the woodcarving knife out of Jack’s hand
and threatened him with it. Jack tried to get his knife back and Crowe was
wounded accidentally in the struggle. Jack dropped the knife and left Tom for
dead. He was scared out of his wits. He did not look back as he ran off. You
picked up the knife and used it, but this time it wasn't a skirmish with a
bleeding superficial wound, but deep gashes inflicted to kill.”
“Prove it, blast you.”
“To continue …That should have been the end of the
incident. You had killed a defenceless young man. You would have made your
escape, but unfortunately Jessie turned up. She was hoping to see Crowe there.
He slept with her and she thought he loved her. She saw you killing Crowe after
Jack had run off. You saw her and knew she would tell on you as retaliation for
what you’d done to her…”
“You’re lying. This is all guesswork.”
“I know it’s what happened.”
“Oh yes. Who told you that?”
“Just let me finish the story.”
“There is no more blasted story.”
“So you admit it all, do you?” said Gary.
“I didn’t do anything. It was Jessie.”
***
“Up till the moment you killed Crowe, you would only
be charged with not aiding an injured person,” said Gary.
“I didn’t know he wasn’t play-acting.”
“I’ll put the finishing touches to the story, shall
I?” said Cleo. “Jessie saw Jack running away. By the time Jessie saw you, you
had Jack’s woodcarving knife in your hand, probably intending to wipe it clean.“
“But Jack did it, not me, Mrs Nigger.”
“Didn’t you just say it was Jessie, Mr Coppins?”
“Bugger off, Mrs Nigger!”
Cleo could not resist going up to Coppins and slapping him across the face.
“Arrest the bloody woman. She attacked me,” said
Coppins.
“Self-defence, Mr Coppins. We all saw what happened
and your remarks have been recorded,” said Gary. “Those remarks will cost you
four extra days locked up to add to the other four you earned last time you
were offensive to my colleague.”
Cleo nodded her thanks.
“On the other hand, what are eight days when
compared with a life sentence? A cash fine will allow local charities to
benefit from your foul mouth. Let’s say £50 per day, so that you know that your
foul-mouthed talk won’t be tolerated.”
“You can’t do that,” sneered Coppins.
“Yes, I can,” said Gary, nodding to Cleo to
continue.
***
“You killed Crowe, Coppins. That is an indisputable
fact. In your defence, you might say that you did not want Jack to be accused,
but murder is not a defence.”
“He would have been accused.”
“And that’s where your fatherly love stepped in,
isn’t it? How touching!” said Cleo.
Coppins did not reply.
***
“You stabbed Crowe with the intention of killing
him, didn’t you?” said Gary.
“That way Crowe could not accuse Jack of the
stabbing,” continued Cleo, “though Jack accidentally stabbing Crowe during their
skirmish had provoked your action. You will no doubt use anxiety over what
Crowe could say as an excuse for what you did.”
Gary was overawed at Cleo’s account. It was, he had
to admit, flawless.
“The only concession a lawyer could achieve would
be to call your crime manslaughter instead of murder, Mr Coppins,” said Gary.
“To wind up this account: I expect you were in
panic, weren’t you,” said Cleo. “Jessie had seen what you had done, so what
could you do? You took her prisoner and forced her to write a ransom note,
hoping to finance your escape by blackmailing me.”
“Bloody lies,” said Coppins.
“What made you think I would pay, Mr Coppins?”
“You’re married to that butcher, aren’t you?”
“So you can confirm that the ransom note was part
of a plan to extort money,” said Gary.
“I’ll add extortion to my little list, shall I,
Coppins?” said Cleo. “Kidnapping is already on it for what you did to the Spencer
girl.”
***
“I’ll get an assistant to make a report of this questioning
and you will sign it, Mr Coppins,” said Gary. “My thanks go to Miss Hartley for
her precision and industry.”
“Curse her,” said Coppins.
“Can I take that as a confession to the murder of
Tom Crowe?” said Gary.
“I’m admitting nothing,” said Coppins.
"I think the public prosecutor will agree that
this interrogation was all we needed, Mr Coppins. You have hurt your family so
badly that they will stand witness against you, and even if they decide not to,
the evidence against you is strong enough,” said Gary, with more authority than
was his due, considering that Cleo had done the actual investigating and come
up with accusations the guy had virtually admitted to.
“The thumb print on the knife has been identified
as yours, by the way, Mr Coppins,” was Cleo’s parting shot.
***
Gary went to the guards standing outside his office
door to instruct him to take Coppins back to his cell.
“No, wait a moment, please,” said Cleo. “I know you
are guilty of at least two other crimes we can discuss when we meet again for another
little chat, Mr Coppins. Of course, it won’t make much difference to the life
sentence you can expect. You are rotten to the core, Mr Coppins.”
“Can she say that?” blubbered Coppins, now severely
shaken by the Cleo’s influence.
“Of course she can. What else did you expect to
hear?”
“OK, Gary. He can go now.”
***
“What other crime were you referring to?” Gary
asked when Coppins had been led away.
“The stabbing of Mrs Oldfield after death. I
mentioned the seduction and kidnapping of an underage schoolgirl whom he later
bullied and beat.”
“We’ll throw the book at him;” said Gary:
“Let’s get out of here,” said Cleo. “Thanks for
being at the questioning,” she said to the witness.
“You will also have to sign the report, of course,”
said Gary.
“Where was Nigel? He’d have enjoyed the scenario.”
”He had the day off, Cleo. We weren’t expecting
such drama.”
“I wouldn’t have missed that drama for anything,”
said the young man. “I write books, you see.”
“I hope you change all the names,” said Cleo. “I’d
hate to appear in person.”
“Of course, Miss Hartley. I’ll make you a red-head
covered in freckles and call you Jane.”
“Thanks. That should do the trick.”
***
When the young author had left, Gary could not
resist saying what he had thought about for some time and discussed with Roger
Stone, his superior.
“Come as an official adviser to us humble cops,
Cleo. I can sell you as an expert.”
“I am an expert, but are you serious?”
“I’ve never been more serious in my life.”
“One day I’ll take up your offer, but not just
yet.”
“I’m not offering you a job so that I can be near
you, Cleo, but that is what I need now.”
“So do I, Gary.”
“I’m glad we agree.
***
Romano welcomed them with open arms.
“I’m having a party, soon,” he said. “I’d be
honoured if you’d come. If you stay the night you can drink to my birthday.”
“When?”
“This coming Saturday.”
“I may have to go to London on business, but if I
can, I’ll be here.”
“I didn’t know you have business contacts in
London, Gary,” Cleo said.
“Don’t you have a meeting in London, too, Cleo?”
“No, I don’t.”
“I really would like us to come to that party,”
said Gary.
“Then cancel London, Gary. Romano is more important.
Robert is going to Wales for a family reunion, so I’m alone anyway..”
“I can’t wait, Romano,” said Gary.
“There’s always now, Gary. We don’t have to wait
till Saturday.”
“ ‘Bella figlia….’ Romano sang as he handed them
the key to his apartment.
***
“Just one thing about Jack Coppins,” Cleo said.
“Shut up, Cleo. This is a siesta, not a business
meeting.”
“Don’t be hard on him,” she said. “He was acting in
self-defence and has a clean slate.”
“I’ll talk to Jack like a father, I promise, and
I’m sure he will be acquitted.”
“There’s only one problem.”
“And that is?”
“I don’t know where he is and I’m not altogether
sure that he is stable enough to survive this conflict.”
“So he has to be found.”
“But not hunted down like a fox,” said Cleo. “Give
him a day or two to come to himself. He hasn’t committed a crime and he’s a
nice young man.”
“A bit like the son you never had, Cleo?”
Cleo nodded. The interview had brought her close to
the edge of her capacity for staying impartial. The Coppins guy had insulted
her and was now clearly only interested in getting himself off the hook, if
necessary at the expense of the son he had actually intended to protect. It was
ironic.
***
“I’ll make you smile again, Cleo,” Gary said. “Anna
is up for adoption. Get registered as carers with the authorities and I
guarantee that Anna can be with you in a week or so, if you still want her.
Adoption can follow after a reasonable time lapse.”
“I’m not sure Robert will play that game, Gary, and
I’m not sure I can right now.”
“I thought that’s what you wanted.”
“I did, but he is not even sure the baby I’m
carrying is his. He won’t want to be landed with another of someone else’s.”
“It could be mine, Cleo. I’d want it.”
“It’s legally his, Gary.”
“A daughter’s a nice thing to have,” said Gary, who
was missing his own daughter a lot.
“There’s another problem,” said Cleo. “We haven’t
got Mrs Oldfield’s murder solved yet.”
“Oh, Cleo, we were talking about our children.”
“I know, but there’s a poisoner out there somewhere.”
“When we are married, I want you to leave the
criminal element out of our life together, especially the poison.”
“Was that a proposal, Gary?”
“I suppose it was.”
“Then I’ll say yes and there’ll be a price on your
head if you change your mind.”
“I won’t.”
“Neither will I, but we’ll have to wait.”
“If I buy us rings, will you wear yours?” Gary
asked.
“I don’t want to provoke Robert, but I’ll carry it
around.”
“OK.”
“Can we take that siesta now?”
”There’s nothing I’d like better.”
***
Cleo spent several hours with Gary at Romano’s. Eventually
she remembered that she had made an appointment with Dr Mitchell. Gary would
have liked to accompany her, but Cleo pointed out that it was a trivial Hartley
Agency case and a delicate matter.
“If you could get that report of the Coppins interview done
it would be more constructive than listening in on a case concerning a doctor’s
wife who was planning something but had not told anyone. More investigation of
the woman needed, but she was not sure if the doctor wanted to go ahead with
the investigation.
***
Dr Mitchell was nervous about talking to Cleo. He
had had second, third and fourth thoughts on whether a detective investigating
his private life was right and proper, but his fifth thought had been to let
the Hartley Agency get on with it. It might all be pie in the sky, but if so,
it still didn’t explain the large sums of money that were disappearing
regularly from his joint bank account with his wife.
***
“Would you like some coffee, Dr Mitchell? You look
as if you need it.”
“I do feel a little under the weather,” he said.
“I know I’m not your doctor, but looking at you, I
think you are doing too much. Slow down a bit.”
“I can’t do that until I know what my wife is up
to.”
“She isn’t up to anything, Dr Mitchell.”
“I don’t think I understand. What about all the
money that’s disappearing into thin air?”
“I have Colin’s report here. He can’t get at bank
accounts, but he followed Mrs Mitchel to a bank in Middlethumpton where she
paid in a roll of notes.”
“What?”
“She dropped the receipt and Colin picked it up by
dropping something and then gathering up the slip of paper with his things.
I’ll print a copy. He scanned it in and sent me the image.”
“Is that legal?” said Dr Mitchell.
“To all intents and purposes, Mrs Mitchell threw
the slip away, Doctor.”
Dr Mitchell looked hard at the print-out of the
document that Colin had sent.
“This doesn’t make sense,” he said. “She has simply
with drawn cash from our account and paid it into an account in her own name at
a different bank. She must be planning something.”
“Whatever she’s planning, she is going about it by
amassing cash reserves, Dr Mitchell. No one else seems to be involved and we
have no indication of what the money is for.”
“What do you suggest I do next, Miss Hartley?”
“Have you mentioned the sums of money disappearing
from your account?”
“No.”
“Well, do that and see what she says. Maybe she has
a simple explanation. If not, come back and we’ll investigate some more. This
is just an interim report.”
“Thank you, Miss Hartley. You should certainly
carry on with the investigation.”
“But only when you’ve talked to your wife, Dr
Mitchell. You don’t need to tell her you’ve asked me for advice. Keep it
simple, and try not to be upset. If she’s up to something, we don’t want her
forewarned. Report to me as soon as you can!”
“You’re right, of course.”
“My assistant will keep tabs on her, and if
anything new happens, we’ll be in touch immediately.”
Cleo got up and showed Dr Mitchell out.
“Thank you for the coffee. It was delicious, Miss
Hartley.”
“All part of the service, Dr Mitchell.”
***
By the time Cleo got home after that little interlude with
Dr Mitchell, Robert had started to cook the supper. On the way, she had decided
to brazen it out if Robert asked where she had been all day. The warmth of her
tryst with Gary was in danger of making her cast caution to the winds. She would
have liked nothing better than to tell Robert the truth and have him kick her
out, the problem then being that it was her cottage, and was living with her,
and not the other way round.
Cleo had stopped thinking her affair was immoral when she
realized how much Gary depended on her in every way. She was leading the double
life she condemned in others, but knew now the intensity of the dilemmas faced
by people in her situation.
Where she had defended the innocent party previously, she
could now understand the other side. The arguments were often selfish, but
there was no smoke without fire – and no situation without an old adage to
describe it, Gary would say. Incompatibility was the operative word, but it is
difficult to recognize that situation if you are inside rather than looking on.
She could still trust Robert, she thought, but he could no
longer trust her and he did not even know it. That was the basic truth. It was
getting harder to behave normally and even to abuse Gary in his absence by
saying negative things about him. On the other hand, it was hardly fair of
Robert to enjoy hearing Cleo grumble about Gary’s lack of impetus or energy or
whatever.
Robert had not read anything into Cleo’s absence. He knew
that sleuthing involved a lot of hanging around, so he had not phoned Cleo and
thus not interrupted either her work at HQ or her tryst with Gary.
***
There were still too many unanswered questions in the
current cases, Cleo told Robert as she cleared up the mess in the kitchen that
Robert had created while preparing the meal. Robert thought it was all
mind-boggling. Discussing the problems would give them indigestion, he said, so
they made a pact to forget all about Jack and the other issues until the
following morning.
Cleo was obliged to allow Robert to make love to her that
night. Her passivity had become normal
during the past weeks, He welcomed it. His desire for her was negligible now he
had a marriage contract with her and had thus earned the respect of his customers
for catching such a decent, helpful person, he felt obliged to exercise his
so-called conjugal right. Cleo could only endure Robert’s advances if she
concentrated on her love for Gary and just saw herself as some kind of doll.
She knew that she could probably never speak to Robert about how she really felt.
She could remember the number of times she had come across similar situations
in the people she was trying to help at that Chicago safe house for women who
had suffered misfortune at the hands of men who were predators. Her first
marriage had been like that. She was grateful to Robert for being a ‘gentleman’.
***
Cleo came to a decision that night. She would give her
marriage a chance. She would not break with Gary because she did not think that
either of them would survive having to work together without continuing their
affair. She would tell Robert that she preferred a sexless marriage. She had a
good excuse. She was pregnant and she would let Robert think he was the child’s
father. Once the baby was born she would gradually free herself from her
marriage before even telling Gary.
Strangely, Cleo wondered if there was anyone who could take
her place in Robert’s life? Did he need anyone? He had been a single and
thought he was a widower for nearly thirty years before they met. What about
his first wife? Rita was nice. Maybe she would come home permanently one day.
Anything was possible.
***
At nine p.m., the doorbell rang and to Robert’s astonishment
it was Jack.
“Come in, young man. Do you know what a nuisance you’ve
been?”
Cleo went towards him and hugged him.
“Am I glad to see you, Jack,” she said.
“I didn’t kill Tom, Miss Hartley.”
“I know you didn’t. Your father has confessed.”
“Confessed? I don’t understand.”
“He was caught in Monkton Wood last night.”
“He said he killed Crowe to save you from the gallows,
Jack,” said Robert.
“You mean you were at the police station and heard him say
that?”
“I was there, Jack,” said Cleo. “He was trying to save his skin
by denying everything, but I know the truth now, don’t I?”
“Yes, Miss Hartley. I’m sorry I did a bunk.”
“You’ll be accused of injuring Crowe. You know that, don’t
you?” said Cleo.
“Yes, Miss. But it was only in self-defence.”
“And it was only a scratch, Jack. The medical evidence
proves that.”
“But all that blood. There was blood everywhere.”
“So you ran away thinking Tom was dead, didn’t you?” said
Robert.
“Yes.”
“And that was the wrong thing to do, my boy.”
“I know that now.”
“When you had gone, Crowe moaned and your father thought he
would tell on you, so he killed him to avoid that,” said Cleo.
“So Dad’s a murderer.”
“Yes, Jack. And Jessie saw it happen.”
“She told me what had happened and I didn’t believe her,”
said Jack.
“But she was telling the truth,” said Cleo.
Jack was struggling with the emotional impact of the
situation.
“Miss Hartley, if I give myself up, will Jessie be on my
side or on Dad’s?”
“I think you can be sure she’s on your side, Jack.”
“Then I’ll do what’s right.”
“I knew you would. I’ll call Mr Hurley. Go into the kitchen
with Robert and get something to eat.”
Cleo heard Robert asking Jack where he had been hiding.
“In the garden shed at the school,” he explained. “No one
goes there now.”
“So Jessie must have known.”
“No, Sir. Nobody knew.”
“And no one looked for you there, Jack. Miss Hartley didn’t
tell anyone that you had disappeared until yesterday, and Chief Inspector
Hurley promised to wait two days before looking for you.”
“Did he do that?”
“He’d do anything for Miss Hartley,” said Robert, wishing
that were not the truth. “She prophesied that you would come back of your own
accord and here you are.”
Cleo came into the kitchen, where Jack was standing at the
worktop munching cold lamb chops and bagels.
“I’ll drive you into HQ tomorrow morning.. You’ll make a
statement, and then we’ll go to your place of work and you can tell them that
you had to deal with a family matter and it took longer than expected.”
“But I lost a whole day. Will my boss believe me?”
“He’ll believe me if I’m there to support you, Jack.”
“Where do you work?” Robert asked.
At a small garage on the way out of Middlethumpton, Sir. I’m
a motor mechanic.”
“That’s useful to know, Jack,” said Cleo.
“You’re sure the cops won’t put me in prison?”
“Quite sure.”
Cleo phoned Gary to say Jack was going to stay the night and
have breakfast at the cottage before they drove to HQ.
“On you head be it,” said Gary. “You got it right again.
Congratulations!”
“He could be my son, Gary.”
“I wish he was ours, Cleo.”
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