Pix (Volume Book 24) (Harpur & Iles Mysteries)

by Bill James

  ‘That’s Meryl and the reporter girl, Kate, who’s hoping for a story one day, and us,’ Jill said.

  ‘Why were you with them?’ Harpur said.

  ‘Oh, yes, we went along,’ Jill replied.

  ‘Why?’ Harpur said.

  ‘Oh, yes, we went along,’ Jill replied.

  ‘Meryl had a list of property companies and she’s called on quite a lot, showing the picture of Graham Trove and so on,’ Hazel said. ‘She wanted the research to be thorough. We went to some with her. Plus, as you said, dad, she’d heard some talk about Chandor. So now she thinks it’s Chandor for sure. She was going to give up and return to London, her holiday time being over. Instead of that, though, she’ll stay and do more inquiries about Chandor. She told her boss in London.’

  ‘She wonders if they’ll keep her job for her, but she doesn’t care, because of Chandor,’ Jill said. ‘This is truly a mission. This is a matter of love for Graham Trove.’

  ‘She’s nearly certain,’ Hazel said.

  ‘Of what?’ Harpur replied.

  ‘That this company, Chandor, was the one Graham came to – what he called his “contact” here,’ Jill said. ‘The question is, what happened? Obviously, we’ll try to help her.’

  ‘Help her what?’ Harpur said.

  ‘Dig,’ Jill said.

  ‘Dig?’ Harpur said.

  ‘Dig into this Chandor, to find what’s what,’ Jill said. ‘Yes, he’s the one I had the buzz about at school and down the bus station – drugs and that. Property only a mask. Maybe Meryl’s partner, Graham, isn’t too clean, either, or why does he go to Chandor? But she doesn’t seem to know anything about this. We haven’t asked her if Graham could be crooked. That would seem cruel.’

  ‘Chandor’s name’s Hilaire, would you believe?’ Hazel said. ‘Like some writer.’

  ‘He seemed all right, and the people with him, but you can’t tell, can you?’ Jill said. ‘I mean, if they’ve got rid of someone, and if the property side is just a cover, they might put on a sweet face to fool us – And would the children like a fizzy drink? – that kind of eyewash to Meryl and Kate.’

  ‘I don’t want you to talk like that,’ Harpur replied.

  ‘Like what?’ Jill said. ‘ “Eyewash”? That’s what it was, most probably.’

  ‘ “Got rid of someone.” “Just a cover.” They’re accusations based on nothing. And I don’t think you should be involved, anyway,’ Harpur said.

  ‘No, not based on nothing,’ Hazel said.

  That made Harpur worried – more worried. Hazel could sound very factual, very grave.

  ‘Don’t think we should be involved in what, dad?’ Jill said.

  ‘In what you call “digging” into the Chandor company,’ Harpur said.

  ‘Do you think it’s dangerous, dad?’ Hazel said.

  Yes, dangerous, dangerous. This was a firm that advertised how dangerous it might turn out to be by leaving bodies on stairs. ‘I just don’t believe it’s sensible,’ Harpur said.

  ‘Why not? Because it’s dangerous?’ Jill said.

  ‘Because it’s not your role,’ Harpur said.

  ‘Whose role is it?’ Jill said. ‘Yours? But you’re not doing anything, are you?’

  ‘At this point, there isn’t anything to do,’ Harpur said.

  ‘At which point?’ Jill replied.

  ‘Now,’ Harpur said. ‘I’ve nothing to go on.’

  ‘Is that right?’ Jill said.

  More or less. He had Iles’s intercepts and, possibly, Iles’s view of things from Matilda Shale’s bedroom and his obvious recognition of the man in Meryl Goss’s photograph, which might mean Matilda’s bedroom was more than possibly. None of this could be disclosed to his daughters, nor to anyone else. ‘Of course it’s right,’ he said. ‘We can’t act without information.’

  ‘Someone’s missing,’ Hazel said.

  ‘That has been reported and the usual procedures are operating,’ Harpur said.

  ‘Which?’ Jill said.

  ‘Which what?’ Harpur said.

  ‘Which usual procedures?’ Jill said.

  ‘There are established, reliable procedures for tracing an adult missing person.’

  ‘But they’re no good, are they, and not reliable?’ Jill said. ‘He hasn’t been found.’

  ‘Early days,’ Harpur replied.

  ‘Meryl doesn’t think so,’ Jill said. ‘She’s scared. And she’s sure Chandor’s lot know something.’

  ‘Why is she?’ Harpur replied. ‘It’s only because you’ve been giving her the “buzz” stuff.’

  ‘If you think it’s dangerous, dad, doesn’t that show there’s something wrong about Chandor?’ she said.

  ‘I didn’t say it was dangerous,’ Harpur said. No, he had made sure he did not say it.

  ‘But you think it is, don’t you?’ Jill said. ‘I can tell. Your voice is rough and sharp.’

  ‘Meryl believes Chandor had her followed,’ Hazel said. ‘Maybe even followed her himself.’

  Hazel’s ace.

  ‘You see, dad? Why would he do that if there wasn’t something dark going on?’ Jill said.

  ‘We don’t know that he did. What makes her think Chandor had her followed?’ Harpur said.

  ‘She spotted someone,’ Jill said. ‘How else do you find out you’re being followed?’

  ‘Jill and I came home after that meeting with Chandor, but in the evening Meryl and Kate went to Ralph Ember’s club, the Monty, because they’d heard he picks up a lot of gossip from his riff-raff customers,’ Hazel said. ‘He wasn’t there, so they went to his house.’

  ‘A dinner party going on there,’ Jill said. ‘Ralph Ember introduces them to Mansy Shale and his wife. Naturally, Kate recognized Shale, anyway – another drugs prince, isn’t he? She’s a local paper reporter – knows the scene. Meryl says he’s done up in a crazy old suit that someone bigger most probably wore for the Armistice celebrations in 1918, and a mauve shirt. Like an important occasion.’

  ‘But Meryl and Kate discover nothing,’ Hazel said.

  ‘Except Ralphy invited Mansy to a dinner party at Low Pastures,’ Jill replied. ‘Kate is surprised because the rumour around for ages was Ralph Ember would not let Mansy into the house, he being as crude as crude. She thinks something vital is happening. She believes she’s on to what’s called in the Press a “scoop”.’

  ‘Anyway, Meryl and Kate Mead leave,’ Hazel said. ‘They’re in Kate’s car and making for Quith Street, where Meryl’s staying. In her mirror Kate suspects she spots the tail. A Toyota. It stays well back, so they couldn’t get the reg, but Meryl thinks three men aboard.’

  ‘It might be nothing at all,’ Harpur said, ‘just people going in the same direction.’

  ‘Yes, it might, but it wasn’t,’ Jill said.

  ‘The Toyota stays with them and parks at the top of Quith Street when Meryl and Kate pull in at the boarding house,’ Hazel said.

  ‘Meryl goes in. Her room’s in the front and she takes a peep outside from around the edge of the curtains,’ Jill said. ‘She thinks there was a man on foot hanging about on the pavement – like that scene in Casablanca on Movie TV when Paul Henreid and Ingrid Bergman are being watched. He’s in the shadows but Meryl believes he could be one of the people from Chandor’s office.’

  ‘ “Suspects”. “Thinks”,’ Harpur said. ‘ “Believes”.’

  ‘Corl?’ Hazel said. ‘Maurice Corl? So, Meryl guesses that the Toyota had been with them since the Chandor interview, but they hadn’t noticed earlier on their visits to the Monty and Low Pastures.’

  ‘She looks up the street and the Toyota’s gone. Maybe they had something else to do, and left one man to keep an eye on Meryl,’ Jill said. ‘And this man they left – he’s got some big title.’

  ‘Director of Strategic Planning,’ Hazel said, ‘if it was Corl.’

  ‘Yes, “if”,’ Harpur replied.

  ‘He’s supposed to be Director of Strategic Planning, and yet he’s doin
g a night watch shift in the street,’ Jill said. ‘What sort of a firm is that, dad? I mean, it’s like Prince Philip on sentry go at Windsor. What’s it mean, Director of Strategic Planning? Snoop?’

  ‘I think Meryl Goss should go back to London now,’ Harpur replied.

  ‘That’s what I mean,’ Jill said.

  ‘What?’ Harpur said.

  ‘Your voice rough and sharp,’ Jill said. ‘Anxious.’

  ‘You’re afraid for her?’ Hazel said.

  ‘Yes, it’s foolish of Meryl to risk her job,’ Harpur said.

  ‘Is that the only risk?’ Hazel asked.

  ‘I think she needs protection in her quest,’ Jill said. ‘That’s what it is – a quest. Me and Hazel must be near her and ready whenever we can arrange it. The reporter’s not always available. The paper puts her on other work.’

  ‘ “Hazel and I”,’ Harpur said.

  ‘Oh, great! You’ll help? So, it’s Hazel and you and me,’ Jill said.

  ‘No, I meant you should say “Hazel and I” not “Me and Hazel”,’ Harpur said.

  ‘Whatever,’ Jill said. ‘The important thing is, are you going to help Hazel and I look after her?’

  ‘ “Hazel and me”,’ Harpur replied. ‘ “Help Hazel and me”.’

  ‘Oh, God,’ Jill said.

  ‘What does she mean when she says “dig”?’ Harpur asked, knowing what she meant and unhappy with it.

  ‘Oh, you know, dad – dig,’ Jill said.

  ‘How does she dig into the Chandor company and his activities?’ Harpur said.

  ‘Sort of . . . well, dig,’ Jill replied.

  ‘Focus on him and his outfit only,’ Hazel said.

  ‘He’s what’s called “in the frame”,’ Jill said.

  ‘Yes, but how does she intend doing it?’ Harpur said. He felt he was losing them. They had told him as much as they thought he should know. ‘If she’s going to ask questions all round about Chandor he’ll hear of it.’

  ‘Is that dangerous?’ Jill said.

  Yes, dangerous. ‘He might resent it,’ Harpur said. ‘The implications.’

  ‘Are they dangerous?’ Jill replied.

  ‘Meryl Goss thinks Graham’s dead,’ Hazel said.

  ‘No,’ Jill yelled.

  ‘Has she told you that?’ Harpur said.

  ‘No, but I can see it in her face,’ Hazel said.

  ‘No, no, we must search,’ Jill said.

  ‘It’s a hunt for the truth now, not a search for him,’ Hazel replied.

  ‘Stop saying that, Haze. Stop!’ Jill said.

  ‘Meryl believes he was killed,’ Hazel said.

  ‘This is double guesswork,’ Harpur said. ‘You’re guessing that’s what she thinks and, if she does believe that, she’s guessing, too.’

  But not bad guesswork.

  ‘So why hasn’t his body been found?’ Jill said.

  ‘These are smart people,’ Hazel said.

  Yes, they were smart people, and Harpur did not want his daughters running against them. He didn’t want Meryl Goss running against them, either. But mostly he thought about his daughters. They were his focus.

  ‘I hate thinking he might be dead,’ Jill said. ‘So sad for her.’ She sniffed a little but did not weep.

  ‘We all hate it. But he might be,’ Hazel said.

  Jill sat stiff, staring at nothing much, as far as Harpur could tell, perhaps in a bit of shock. After a while she said: ‘If he’s been killed and Meryl starts really poking about, digging, she might get . . . I mean, she might not be safe herself.’

  ‘That’s why I think she should stop now, go back to London,’ Harpur said.

  Jill turned the stare on to him. ‘Signifying you think he’s been killed, dad,’ she said.

  ‘Signifying I think she’s better off out of it,’ Harpur said.

  ‘Can you arrange protection for her?’ Hazel said.

  ‘There aren’t any grounds,’ Harpur said.

  ‘We’ve just given you enough grounds, dad, haven’t we?’ Jill replied.

  ‘You mean, because she might have been tailed?’ Harpur said.

  ‘No might,’ Jill said. ‘It happened.’ She had kept the stare on Harpur, an appraisal stare. ‘It’s like something holds you back, dad. It’s like you’ve got information but can’t use it, or won’t.’

  ‘And what information could I possibly –’ The phone rang and Harpur felt glad he didn’t need to complete this thought. He went into the hall to answer. Iles said: ‘They’ve got a bit of an awkward situation at the service flats in Pendine Road North, Col. Linklater House, Number 22.’

  ‘What awkward situation, sir?’

  ‘This is Matilda’s brother.’

  ‘Laurent Shale?’

  ‘I’m getting over there personally now,’ Iles replied. ‘I feel obliged.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘Yes, I’m getting over there now, personally.’

  ‘What is this address?’ Harpur said. ‘Whose?’

  ‘You’d better get there, too.’

  ‘I’d like to know what the –’

  ‘It’s part of things, Harpur.’

  ‘Right. I’ll come.’

  ‘I’m sure you will,’ Iles said.

  ‘But what’s it about?’

  ‘Manse has been informed. He’ll be there. Possibly Sybil and Matilda, also. It’s not just the girl who’s disturbed, you see. We make a mistake in thinking boys are unshakeable. For instance, Harpur, as a youngster I was remarkably sensitive. People spoke of it.’

  ‘And are now, sir. I’ve often heard folk mention it.’

  ‘Which folk? Have you got names?’

  ‘Many. But what’s Laurent Shale done?’

  ‘Number 22, Linklater House, Pendine Road North is occupied by a Carmel Arlington,’ Iles said. ‘I have a captioned photograph of her outside it.’

  ‘Manse’s Carmel?’

  ‘As was, perhaps. She has a partner there now, Philip Dell. Some of my photographs show both. I gather they’re away in Italy. A camper van. The boy went looking for Carmel and became disturbed when he couldn’t find her at Flat 22. If you ask me, Col, he’s like his sister and thinks something bad-to-the-point-of-frightful happened to one of those women in the rectory while they were away. Perhaps he was especially fond of Carmel. Or perhaps hers is the only address he has of the three. He turns obsessive and goes there to check she’s all right. He gets unhinged when he can’t, kicking at the door and yelling. What I mean by sensitive. It can be a thing with the exceptionally sensitive, Col. They will become unhinged.’

  ‘That right, sir?’

  ‘What’s that mean, you sly fucker?’

  ‘What?’

  ‘ “That right, sir?” Are you hinting I grow unhinged sometimes because my sensitive side cannot bear the thought of you with my wife?’ So as utterly to disprove unhingedness, the ACC kept his tone to only a moderate shriek, and very little surplus spit interfered with his consonants or seemed to clog the mouthpiece.

  ‘First the girl comes to see you, now this,’ Harpur replied.

  ‘Possibly a troubled mind takes a little longer to show itself in a boy than a girl. But the troubles are there, just the same, deep inside. It takes only a minor setback to bring them out. His behaviour is such that neighbours ring us, alarmed. I can show him the photos, to ease his mind, poor kid. Carmel spotted the photographer, so the photos catch her irate and pugnacious, but obviously alive.’

  ‘These are the photographs of all three women that you had done for Matilda?’

  ‘If she comes with Manse she can see them, too. Fortunate. I couldn’t work out how to get them to her without seeming to – seeming to show an improper interest in a young girl, Harpur.’

  ‘That sort of thing doesn’t usually bother you, sir.’

  ‘Do I go to her parents or schoolteacher and say I’ve got some photographs to show her? I’m an ACC, for God’s sake. I mentioned her multi-pleated skirt and the socks to you, did I? Very white s
ocks.’

  ‘I think so. Your larynx sort of seized up.’

  ‘I’m an ACC, for God’s sake.’

  ‘It can be a burden.’

  ‘Look, I don’t like talking about this sort of thing on an open line, Col. There’s a hell of a lot of illegal intercepts these days.’

  Harpur went back into the sitting room. ‘I have to go out,’ he said.

  ‘Is this to do with Graham Trove?’ Jill asked.

  It might be, in some roundabout fashion. As Iles had said, ‘Part of things.’ ‘No, not at all,’ he replied.

  ‘But, obviously, an emergency,’ Jill said.

  ‘An incident of some kind,’ Harpur said.

  ‘Why can’t Graham Trove be an emergency?’ Hazel asked.

  If his body turned up, he would be. ‘That was Mr Iles on the phone,’ Harpur replied.

  ‘Did he ask about Hazel?’

  ‘Quiet, mange,’ Hazel said.

  ‘He’s gone cool since helping with Scott,’ Jill said. ‘No, not cool. He’s gone decent. Amazing!’

  ‘Keep out of it, earwig,’ Hazel said.

  When Harpur arrived at Linklater House, Pendine Road North, Sybil Shale said: ‘Yet more brass?’

  ‘There’s no need for this – all you high officers here as well as the other cops because a lad goes a bit haywire,’ Mansel said. ‘That’s all – a bit haywire.’

  ‘King-pin Iles and now his sidekick turn up after a kid makes a small scene,’ Sybil said. ‘Crazy. Or do I miss something?’

  ‘Laurent has been rather upset, Col,’ Iles said. ‘These kind neighbours – Mr and Mrs Parry looked after him.’

  ‘He seemed so frantic, so desperate,’ Mrs Parry said. ‘Attacking the door.’

  ‘A bit haywire,’ Manse Shale said. ‘Everyone knows it can happen with boys.’

  Iles said: ‘Laurent came here looking for someone and when he couldn’t find her he became –’

  ‘Became really beside himself,’ Mr Parry said. ‘Calling her name – “Carmel,” “Carmel,” “Carmel, where are you? Carmel, are you all right, tell me you’re all right?” ’

  They were in the sitting room of the Parrys’ flat, Number 24, next to 22. ‘We told him Carmel had gone to Italy in the camper van with Phil. But he wouldn’t believe it,’ Mrs Parry said. ‘He seemed to think something terrible had happened to her, not here but elsewhere. I mean, really terrible.’