by Keith Dixon
CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN
THE FINGERS OF MY left hand were still sunk like talons into the stone face of the cliff. My right toes moved in the thick boots and convinced me I had grip.
I pulled my face back from the cliff and shouted, ‘Betty! Give me a hand!’
There was a shuffling noise and then Betty’s head appeared above me, encased in the red hood of the jacket that Hampshire had made her wear. She stared at me for a long moment, as though contemplating whether to give me her hand or punch me in the face. Our cold breath filled the air between us.
Finally she reached down and gripped my arm. I didn’t need the help but I wanted to know her hands were busy until I reached the top. Levering myself between my fingers and the points of my shoes I hauled myself up and collapsed on the grass. The migraine was easing off. I flipped myself over and lay on my back, looking up at the stars and letting the giddiness that I felt ebb away. I knew Betty was watching me. I could feel the tension she created just by being there.
‘You knew it was me,’ she said at last, her voice cutting through the air. ‘Why didn’t you stop it earlier?’
I turned to look at her and the world rotated wildly for a moment. I said, ‘I wasn’t certain it was you. I had to know for sure. Help me up.’
Betty took a step and stood over me. ‘He really hated Rory, after he got the sack. He was easy meat for that flighty madam.’
She put out a hand. I raised myself and took it, pulling myself to my feet.
‘Tara put him up to it?’
‘I don’t think so—but they were having a ... a thing. He must have thought she’d stay with him if Rory was out of the picture. When she realised what he’d done, I think she got scared. He told me they had a row. That’s why he kidnapped her.’
She carried on talking as we turned away from the cliff. ‘He didn’t know what to do. He didn’t want to kill her but he didn’t like the idea of her running around talking to people. Men.’ Her face twisted contemptuously. ‘You’re so stupid. That’s all he was, a big stupid thing. Supposed to be the hard man, all that army stuff. But he couldn’t deal with a woman with a mind of her own.’
‘So why did you get involved?’
‘You haven’t seen the books. The money Rory took out of the business! God knows where it all went. The company’s in trouble because of him. I used to look up to him, thought he worked miracles. I trusted him. But he had this ability to cock things up. He was doing it to his own company. It had all changed for the worse. And he wouldn’t stop until it all went down the plug-hole. We would all have lost our jobs, not just me.’
We’d arrived at the stone path that led down towards the hotel.
‘So you took a chance with Eddie Hampshire,’ I said.
‘I got him talking one day. We talked about how you could do it. He was a big-head and liked to show off what he knew, because of his time in the army.’
‘He could be quite charming.’
She blushed, her head bowed. ‘He didn’t really try it on with me. I knew what he was doing.’ She looked up defiantly. ‘But he was exciting. He said things that made you think. Even though I didn’t much care for that woman, I thought they could make it work again.‘
‘You sent him your swipe card so he could let himself in.’
She stopped, surprised. ‘How did you know?’
‘The morning of the murder you came in the front door, so you didn’t have your swipe card with you. You told me yourself you prefer to use the stairs so there must have been a good reason for you to use the lift. And you let Carol the receptionist use her card to get you into the office. I guessed you might have sent yours to Eddie, who had already handed his back. And I suppose after Eddie killed Rory that morning he left your card in your desk. He probably let himself out the front door, having opened the fire exit to make it look like someone had forced their way in.’
‘Yes, he did. I told him not to be so damned clever.’
We started walking again.
‘Crooks are never really that clever,’ I said. I cleared my throat. ‘I thought you were probably feeding him information to protect the pair of you. When he phoned me today I knew you’d probably spoken to him and got him worried. That’s why he called me and that’s why I’m here.’
‘You’re saying it’s all my fault, this.’
‘Then I checked train times—there’s a direct train from Waverley at 6.15. Gets in to Euston before nine. His session that morning didn’t start till 9.30, so he had time to get a taxi across London.’
‘I told him he should watch out for you. I thought you were cleverer than you pretended to be.’
‘I wasn’t pretending to be anything. I’m just clumsy and dim-witted sometimes.’
‘Yes,’ she said, ‘you are.’
‘Why did you come here?’
‘Eddie asked me to. He got me to put the note for you on the reception desk. Then he asked me to stand on the edge of that cliff with this jacket and the flashlight. I think he was probably going to kill me, too. So I got in first. I hit him a good one with that rock. It felt good. I suppose I had a lot of pent-up anger inside me. I feel better now. I should have taken up sport or something, shouldn’t I? Got rid of all this energy. It was only because I thought too much of Rory, you know. I got so frustrated with him when it started to go wrong. He just wouldn’t listen.’
‘I know.’
‘Will I go to prison for a long time?’
I held out my hand, which she took like a small child hoping to be led somewhere safe.
‘Thanks for saving my life,’ I said. ‘Now let’s go talk to some people.’
