by P. F. Ford
‘Please excuse my friend,’ said Norman. ‘He’s under a lot of stress, as you can imagine.’
‘Well, I suppose that’s understandable,’ said Tom, sulkily. ‘I’d probably be the same.’
‘The thing is,’ continued Norman, ‘without you recognising her face, I’m not convinced you saw who you think you saw. You’re obviously some sort of connoisseur of ladies’ backsides, but I don’t think you’ll find too many people have been found guilty on account of their arse being recognised.’
‘I know what I saw,’ argued Tom.
‘I’m not disputing you saw a young woman letting herself into the house,’ said Norman, firmly. ‘But I am disputing your conviction that this young woman was definitely Dave’s girlfriend. You say you’re certain. I say it’s a possibility. That’s not the same thing, is it?’
‘Well, I suppose, when you put it like that,’ said Tom, sheepishly. ‘But if it wasn’t her, who was it?’
‘If we knew that, we wouldn’t be standing here asking you these questions,’ said Slater.
‘I would guess it was someone trying to look like her,’ said Norman.
Tom looked puzzled. ‘But why?’
‘Just in case someone saw her,’ replied Norman. ‘Anyone seeing her would assume it was his girlfriend, just like you did.’
‘You really think so?’ asked Tom. ‘It all sounds a bit far-fetched to me.’
‘The idea that my girlfriend would set fire to my house is what’s far-fetched,’ said Slater, bitterly. ‘It’s just a pity I didn’t realise it yesterday when I spoke to you.’
***
‘I’m an idiot,’ said Slater, once they were back in the car and on their way.
‘You were stressed,’ said Norman. ‘We all make mistakes when we’re stressed.’
‘But I should have asked the questions you just asked him.’
‘Like I said, you were stressed.’
‘And I should have trusted her!’
‘Jeez, will you stop all that!’ said Norman, sharply. ‘If you really want me to say it, then yes, you messed up. Do I think it’s the end of the world? No, I don’t. Listen, Jenny’s a bright girl. Okay, she’s mad at you for not believing her, but I’m sure, when she calms down, she’ll understand you had to ask after the guy was so adamant it was her.’
‘You really think so?’ asked Slater, hopefully.
‘Sure,’ said Norman, confidently. ‘It’ll all work out, trust me. You two are made for each other.’
They headed back towards town, but they’d barely gone two hundred yards before Norman’s mobile phone began to ring.
‘Yo,’ he said into the phone as he raised it to his ear. ‘Oh, hi, Naomi.’
Slater listened impatiently as he drove, just catching Norman’s end of the call.
‘You have? Jeez, that was quick . . . Yeah, well, we all need a bit of luck now and then . . .’
Norman glanced in Slater’s direction once or twice as he was talking, which convinced him he must somehow be the topic of conversation, but all he could think was come on, Norm, get off the phone. We need to get on.
‘You’re sure about that?’ continued Norman, into his phone. ‘Only I don’t wanna see any blood spilled . . . Yeah, we can do that. Where exactly? . . . Right, we’ll be there in a few minutes.’
He ended the call, shoved the phone back into his pocket and turned to Slater. ‘Go to the bypass, and head north.’
‘Why? Where are we going?’ asked Slater, irritably.
‘We’re meeting up with Naomi.’
‘Why? Is it important?’
‘Just do it, and don’t keep arguing,’ said Norman, his patience wearing thin. ‘Trust me, you’ll be glad you did this.’
Slater sighed, but didn’t argue, and set off for the bypass.
‘You seem to be seeing rather a lot of Naomi,’ he said, accusingly.
‘You think so? Well, maybe it’s because I like her. She’s a nice kid when you get to know her. Her real father left when she was little and she’s never seen him since, so I think she’s sort of adopted me as a father figure.’
Slater didn’t quite know how to respond to that.
‘Yeah, I know what you’re thinking,’ said Norman. ‘I’m not exactly a shining example for anyone, am I? But there’s no accounting for taste, right? Besides, I always wanted a daughter and never had one, and she always wanted a dad and never had one, so, it sort of works for both of us.’
‘Actually, I think you’re a great example to a lot of people,’ said Slater.
‘You do?’
‘Yes, I do, as it happens. Anyway, that’s another matter, why are we meeting her this morning?’
‘She has something for us,’ said Norman. ‘By the way, I sent Watson home yesterday afternoon. I didn’t see any point in her hanging around on her own. I gave her my number and told her to call me over the weekend and I’d let her know what’s going on.’
‘Yeah, right, good thinking,’ said Slater. ‘It’s a good job you’re still thinking clearly. My head seems to have turned to mush over this bloody house fire.’
‘I don’t think it’s the fire,’ said Norman, slowly. ‘I think you’ll find it’s the girl, and the sooner you realise it, the better.’
Slater looked across at Norman in open-mouthed surprise, but Norman just stared straight ahead. Two minutes later, he directed Slater to pull off the bypass into a lay-by. A small car was parked up ahead.
‘That’s Naomi’s car,’ said Norman. ‘Just pull in behind it.’
Slater did as he was directed, pulled up behind the car, and switched off the engine.
‘Now what?’
‘Just stay there a minute,’ warned Norman, climbing from the car.
He walked up to the other car, opened the passenger door, and leaned down to speak. For the first time, Slater realised there was a passenger in the car, and then his heart seemed to miss a beat as Norman stepped back to allow the passenger to climb slowly from the car. Norman took her arm and guided her carefully back to Slater’s car. When they got alongside, he opened the door and leaned in.
‘Right. Naomi’s gonna run me back home so you two can have some space. I think you have things to talk about. I’ll catch you later.’ Then he stepped away and headed back towards the small car.
‘Can I get in?’
‘Oh, Jenny, of course you can get in,’ said Slater.
She climbed into the car, pulled the door closed, and turned to look at him.
‘I’m really sorry about what happened,’ he said, thinking it sounded trite and inadequate and certainly didn’t express what he really felt.
She looked down at her hands and for a moment, he thought she was going to tell him what he could do with his inadequate apology, but instead she turned and looked straight into his eyes.
‘It doesn’t matter,’ she said.
‘But I should have trusted you,’ he said.
She gave him a brief, sad, half-smile.
‘Maybe,’ she said, ‘but Naomi told me what that man said he saw. What else would you think?’
‘Yeah, but—’
‘I missed you, you know,’ she said. ‘I know it was only a few hours, but I missed you so much.’
‘Yeah, me too,’ he said. ‘I’ll never doubt you again.’
‘You’d better bloody not, Dave Slater,’ she said. Then suddenly she was in floods of tears, and he was reaching for her.
Chapter Thirty-One
After what could best be described as a rather heavy weekend, Slater and Jenny had decided they really didn’t want to fall out, whatever might have happened. In fact, they had decided they were sticking together now, come what may. Even leaving Jenny on her own in the bedroom above the pub didn’t seem to be an option that Monday morning, so Slater had brought her with him to the office.
‘What are you doing here, Watson?’ he asked. ‘I thought you were supposed to be going back to Bradshaw.’
‘But the case isn’t finished
yet, is it?’ she said. ‘And when I left a message about your house fire and suggested I should come back for a few more days he didn’t call back to say no, so here I am.’
‘So you don’t actually have his permission, then?’ asked Slater. ‘You’re here by default.’
He was feeling so weary he felt as if his very bones ached, and he was wondering what he should do about Watson when his mobile phone began to ring.
‘Good morning, and how are you today?’ It was Marion Goodnews again.
Slater sighed and cursed himself for failing to check the caller ID, yet again.
‘I thought I asked you not to call me again,’ he said, rather testily.
‘Yes, sorry about that,’ she purred, ‘but this is police business, so don’t think you can hang up on me like you did last time.’
‘What do you mean police business?’
‘I’ve just had a report from the fire service investigations officer. He’s convinced the fire at your house wasn’t an accident, and having seen his report, so am I. This is a courtesy call to let you know I shall be investigating this case myself.’
‘I didn’t think house fires came within the remit of a DCI,’ said Slater. ‘I would have thought you had more important things to worry about.’
‘Oh, I do have plenty of important things to worry about,’ she agreed, ‘like the discovery of two bodies under a patio, but if we’ve got an arsonist on the loose, I want to make sure she gets caught as soon as possible. But first of all, I need you to come in and make a statement.’
Slater silently cursed Eddie Brent and wondered if he had told Goodnews he thought Jenny was responsible for the fire? He would be having words with him later.
‘I can’t help much, I wasn’t there,’ he said, trying to think how he could stall her.
‘I still need you to come in and make a statement,’ she said. ‘And I’d like to speak to Ms Radstock, whom I know was there. I would especially like to speak to her.’
‘I’ll come in later,’ Slater said. ‘I’m a bit tied up right now.’
‘Make sure you do,’ she hissed down the phone, ‘I’m doing you a favour here. Don’t make me have to come and find you. And make sure you bring your friend with you.’
Slater realised she had cut the connection. He had expected some sort of investigation, but he had felt quite sure it would probably be handed down to someone like Naomi Darling. Why was Goodnews getting involved? This could only mean trouble.
Norman was just ending his own call. ‘We have a problem,’ he announced. ‘Goodnews is on the warpath.’
‘How do you know?’ asked Slater. ‘She’s only just called me.’
‘That was Naomi calling to warn us.’
‘She wants me to go in and make a statement,’ said Slater. He looked at Jenny. ‘And she wants me to take my friend with me.’
‘Who, me?’ asked Jenny.
‘I wouldn’t do that,’ said Norman. ‘It appears our favourite Black Witch has already decided who started the fire, and her one and only suspect is Jenny.’
‘Why would she think that?’ asked Jenny. ‘They haven’t even spoken to anyone yet, have they?’
‘I need to speak to Eddie Brent,’ said Slater. ‘He must have told her—’
‘Naomi says he told them nothing of the sort,’ interrupted Norman. ‘So you can forget about blaming him. She says there’s nothing in the report that points the finger at anyone, and he didn’t offer any opinion about possible suspects.’
‘So how come she thinks I’m responsible?’ asked Jenny.
‘Maybe I’m being paranoid, Jen,’ said Slater, ‘but it sounds to me like she’s going to try to make the evidence fit the suspect. She’s going to fit you up.’
‘But why?’
‘Because she blames you for ending her relationship with me.’
‘But that was nothing to do with me, was it?’
‘No, it was over before you came along,’ Slater said. ‘And she knows it was, but she wants someone to blame, and you’re the obvious choice!’
‘Oh my God. What do I do? Perhaps I should go in and make a statement?’
‘No! You don’t go anywhere near there,’ said Norman. ‘You stay out of the way while me and Dave get to the bottom of this.’
‘And how am I going to do that?’
‘Lemme make a call,’ said Norman. ‘I think I know somewhere you can hide out for a few days.’
‘But I don’t want to be a bloody fugitive,’ she wailed.
‘Would you rather get locked up? Just trust me. We can sort this out.’
Watson had been an interested bystander while all this had been going on, but now she got to her feet and picked up her bag. They all looked around at her.
‘Sorry, I just need a cigarette,’ she said. ‘I’ll go outside.’
‘And I need to make this call,’ said Norman. ‘I’m just gonna step outside for a minute too.’
‘I didn’t even know she smoked,’ said Slater to Jenny, when Watson and Norman had left the office.
‘Perhaps it’s just when she’s stressed,’ said Jenny. Then she let out a big sigh. ‘D’you know, sometimes I wish I was someone else. Trouble just seems to follow me everywhere.’
‘We’ll get through this,’ said Slater. ‘But Norm’s right, you need to keep your head down for a few days while we get to the bottom of all this.’
‘You’re supposed to be wrapping up a case and deciding on your future, not worrying about me.’
Slater smiled and pulled her into his arms. ‘Yeah, I know, but like I told you, it’s also about what’s important in my life. Right now, you’re the most important part of my future, so it’s a no-brainer.’
‘Where’s this hiding place of Norm’s?’ she asked, settling against him.
‘I think I can guess,’ said Slater, ‘but I’ll let him tell you.’
‘How long do you think it will take? Will I be there until Christmas?’
‘You’re spending Christmas with me,’ he said. ‘And the New Year.’
‘Let’s hope it’ll be a new year and a new start.’
‘About that,’ he said. ‘If I take this new job, will you come with me?’
‘Where is it going to be?’
‘I haven’t a clue. Does it matter?’
She leaned back far enough to allow her to study his face for a few, silent moments, and then she settled her head back against his chest before she spoke.
‘Yes, I will come with you, and no, I don’t think it matters one little bit where it’s going to be. Getting away from here and starting over might be the best thing that could happen.’
Their quiet moment was suddenly shattered as Norman burst through the door, rubbing his hands together.
‘Jeez, it’s damned cold out there,’ he said as he came in. ‘Oh, sorry! I didn’t mean to interrupt anything.’
‘You’re not interrupting anything. I was just promising Jen we can sort this out.’
‘Sure we can,’ said Norman, looking at Jenny. ‘But in the meantime I’ve found somewhere you can stay. You’ll have to stay indoors and resist the urge to go jogging for a few days, but you’ll be safe, warm, and welcome. Oh, and I hope you like kids.’
‘Are you sure Jane’s okay about this?’ asked Slater.
Norman smiled. ‘You guessed?’
‘Just a hunch.’
‘She’s fine about it. She said she would have been annoyed if I hadn’t suggested it.’
‘What about her husband?’ asked Jenny. ‘Isn’t he coming out on parole soon? I don’t want to make things difficult for everyone.’
‘That’s a month away at least,’ said Norman. ‘Trust me, you’re not even going to be there for a week. All we have to do is get you over there and hope no one sees you in the process, and just in case anyone’s watching our cars, Jane’s coming over to get you herself. She’ll be here in about fifteen minutes. And you have to understand that you won’t see either of us until this is over, right?’
‘Is that really necessary?’
‘It will be once we tell Goodnews we don’t know where you are,’ explained Norman. ‘She won’t believe us and might even have us watched.’
‘This is like a nightmare! Have I got time to get my things from the pub?’
‘Sure,’ said Norman. Then he turned to Slater as Jenny rushed off to collect her things. ‘Do you still have that note Jenny left for you? You can use that as your excuse for not knowing where she is.’
‘Yeah, I have it right here in my pocket.’
‘Right then,’ said Norman. ‘We’re all set. The story is Jenny ran away when you accused her of starting the fire.’
Slater winced as Norman said the words.
‘I’m sorry to remind you, but you have to admit it’s a good cover story.’
‘It makes it look like she’s guilty,’ argued Slater.
‘Yeah, but from what I hear, Goodnews has already decided that anyway,’ countered Norman. ‘So what’s to lose? When are you going to make your statement to the police?’
‘As far as they know, I’m really busy,’ said Slater. ‘They’ll have to wait, but I can’t put them off forever. And I was told to take Jenny with me.’
‘That’s not what you said earlier,’ said Norman.
‘What?’
‘Didn’t she say you had to bring your friend?’
‘Well, yeah—’
‘So, why not take me?’
‘She’s not going to wear that one for long.’
‘I know,’ said Norman, ‘but we need to stall ’em for as long as we can. And don’t worry about getting picked up, Naomi will warn me if they decide to come for you.’
The outside door opened and Watson crept back into the office.
‘Okay, let’s hear it,’ said Slater.
She looked at him, startled. ‘I’m sorry?’
‘You don’t smoke, do you?’
‘Ah, so you noticed,’ she said, nervously.
‘I think even the dimmest detective would have noticed you haven’t needed one before, and besides, I can usually smell a smoker from a hundred yards, and there’s not a trace on you. So my guess is you’ve been making a phone call.’
