The Missing Earring

by David Beard

  ‘I’m afraid so: nothing to do with the university I would add. Indeed, she had problems and they had been very supportive of her. Somehow she had been introduced to heroin. What an awful waste and here am I, her grandfather, still hanging on and for what? Life isn’t fair is it?’

  ‘I’m truly sorry, Mr. Harvey. I had no idea she was your granddaughter.’

  ‘Things happen. The older you get the more philosophical you become.’

  ‘Well, thank you, Mr. Harvey, I don’t think there’s much more we can talk about now but we may call back again later. You have been most helpful.’ The detectives moved to the door and then Smalacombe turned. ‘Oh, there is just one thing more, was Jayne ever invited to Longtor Manor?’

  ‘Yes, she was, Imogen didn’t approve. She went there often. Well, film stars and glamour; it turns a young girl’s head doesn’t it. There were terrible rows about it. Imogen even asked me to have a word with her, but what can you do with a hot headed eighteen year old? I remember Imogen at that age; she wasn’t much better I can tell you.’

  ‘We’ll let ourselves out. I’m sorry to have interrupted your breakfast.’

  ‘No matter! I’ve all day to digest another one, if need be,’ the old man replied, as he picked up his paper again and laid it out carefully on the table.

  Smalacombe stormed back to his car and sat in the driver’s seat fuming. Tiley’s demeanour was not much better as he stared out through the windscreen at nothing. The chief inspector hit the steering wheel hard with the palm of his hand. ‘The fucking incompetence!’ He shouted and exhaled noisily through his mouth with a great sigh. ‘It’s taken us three weeks to find this out. We’ve been looking here and there and it was right under our bloody nose. Why didn’t the uniform on the door to doors ask the right questions in the first place? We should have picked up the link with this Spicer death sooner.’

  ‘And Hempson’s screwing her mother.’

  ‘It’s bloody unforgivable. You think you work through it all meticulously and there is always something so fucking obvious that you overlook it.’ Smalacombe boiled and he took out his mobile and dialled. DC Barry Sheldon answered. ‘Barry, I’ve got a lot for you to do. I want you to check out the Spicer’s of High Wells; their business, its accounts and also their private accounts and see if any large sums of money have been drawn out in the recent past. Then, I want you to go through the Hillman’s home videos and see if you can spot Jayne Spicer, the girl who died of an overdose on a camp site near Exmouth last year. Lastly, arrange another meet with Rita Golding for us.’

  ‘That’s fine, sir, give me ten minutes,’ he said with a note of sarcasm.

  ‘Yea yea! We’ll be back in the office within the hour. See how you go.’

  ‘Why Golding?’ Tiley asked.

  ‘It’s because we need to know how involved this kid was with Hillman and Winsom. If it was they who introduced her to heroin, then the Spicers have a pretty good motive don’t you think?’

  ‘Can I make a suggestion, boss?’

  ‘It’d better be a good one.’

  ‘I think we should drop in and see Mavis and have a plate full of ham, egg and chips. What do you say?’

  ‘That’s what I like about you, Sergeant, you’ve always got your fingers on the pulse.’ Smalacombe got out of the car. ‘Here, you drive; I’m too bloody wound up to be safe on the road today.’

  Back in the office, Barry Sheldon had been doing a good job and when he saw Smalacombe return late in the afternoon he buttonholed him.

  ‘What have you got for me, Barry?’ Smalacombe asked.

  ‘A lot, sir and it’s good stuff.’

  ‘It’d better be!’

  ‘You know that Hempson phoned Mrs. Spicer that night?’

  ‘We’ve dealt with that.’

  ‘I know, but what we didn’t look at was the Spicer’s phone calls.’ He paused almost as if to enhance some dramatic effect. ‘She phoned her husband’s mobile.’

  ‘What, at half past four in the bloody morning?’

  ‘Yea, and as soon as she finished with Hempson she immediately phoned the Dog and Rabbit. There were two calls. Her call was just forty five seconds. I expect it was an answer-phone or something. So, I checked the Dog and Rabbit phone and Constance rang back almost right away. He must have just missed the call; probably asleep, I expect. It lasted just over eleven minutes.’

  ‘Setting it up do you think?’ Tiley commented.

  ‘It could be. I can quite see why she elicited Constance’s help. Hillman and Winsom had ruined him and it was his chance to get his own back.’

  ‘But, how did she know that?’ Tiley asked.

  ‘It’s because Hempson told her. What about their bank accounts?’

  ‘Yep, they’re loaded all right! They drew out twenty-six grand from their business account that morning, but that isn’t unusual apparently, that’s why it didn’t raise any suspicions with the bank. However, what the bank did tell me was that it was in cash, which again is something they have done before so it didn’t raise any eyebrows, although it wasn’t their usual modus operandii.’

  ‘Modus Operandii? Come on lad, you’re getting above yourself. You’ll be making sense in English next. What about the videos?’

  ‘Well, I’ve been slacking a bit sir, had a few fags, been for a walk, read the newspaper, oh and I stopped off for dinner. Then I had a crap.’ Tiley burst out laughing.

  ‘Cheeky bugger!’

  ‘It’s next on the list, sir.’

  ‘It’ll be a good evening’s entertainment for you.’

  ‘Oh, and Rita Golding will see you tomorrow, at noon.’

  ‘Thank you, Barry, you’ve done a good job. Sergeant, we need to go to Exeter Jail ASAP to interview Crouche. I think we’ve resolved most of the remaining sticking points.’

  From the outset of the interview, Crouche’s resentment at being remanded in custody was clearly evident and he had difficulty at containing himself because he had been tricked. Budge, he discovered, was in Wormwood Scrubs and never likely to be transferred to the westcountry.

  ‘You told me Budge was down ‘ere,’ he moaned.

  ‘Well, I thought he was. Funny how you get things muddled up isn’t it?’

  ‘Now, you come in’ere ‘cos you want some more from me. ‘Tis all bloody one sided. I ban’t saying nort, so you can piss off, now.’ For the first time during this case and in all their previous meetings, Eli stared Smalacombe out with an unblinking look. The anger was manifestly unconcealed.

  ‘Suit yourself. What I want to know will make the difference between charging you as an accessory to murder or as an unwitting observer of a murder for which there will be no case to answer. Leave it to me and I’ll go for the first option.’ Smalacombe smiled broadly. It didn’t improve Eli’s demeanour but in the unusual state of absolute sobriety his mind was functioning with clarity. Much to his distaste he knew it was in his interests to co-operate.

  ‘You ‘olds all the aces, dawn ‘ee?’

  ‘I’m afraid so. This isn’t just about a bit of poaching or drink driving, you know. You are in real trouble.’ Smalacombe stopped to take out a peppermint. He offered one to Eli.

  ‘You can stick they bloody things.’

  Smalacombe took time to hand one to Tiley and then to replace the tube in his jacket pocket. It was slow and deliberate and a ploy to give Eli time to consider his options and calm down. ‘You see, Eli, there are things that have been puzzling me all along in this case,’ he began. Eli showed no emotion. He leant back in his chair feeling confident the chief inspector had nothing more to throw at him.

  ‘Tell me something, Eli. If someone came to your place late at night, would you hear them?’

  ‘Course I would. You don’t know whose about when you’m on your own. Part of livin’ in the country, up a quiet road, I s’pose. I don’t usually get traffic late on.’

  ‘Exactly. It’s one of those things about country life isn’t it?’ Smalacombe concurred and let
it all sink in for a moment. ‘You see, Constance killed Winsom.’ Eli looked a little uncomfortable at this remark. ‘No need to question it, Eli, we know for sure,’ he added, when he noticed Eli’s change of body language. ‘But, you see, nobody saw or heard him go up to the manor. OK, it was late at night but there are three other cottages up that lane other than Mrs. Cooper’s and if a car went up there late at night someone would have heard it.’

  It was Smalacombe’s turn to stare Eli out. He lent across the table and without raising his voice he quietly pursued his argument. ‘So, how did he get there?’

  ‘How the bloody ‘ell do I know?’

  ‘Well, he used your gun.’

  ‘He pinched it.’

  ‘Don’t be daft. Even if you told him where it was, he wouldn’t know how to get there and he certainly wouldn’t know how to find his way back to the manor in daylight, let alone the middle of the night. And, anyway, there’s no sign that he took your keys to unlock it. He certainly wouldn’t have taken it back and locked it all up again. No, Eli, you fetched the gun from Walter’s and then you met Constance up the road where he had parked somewhere, out of sight, and you guided him across the back and then through Johnnie Hempson’s fields and onto the manor. When it was all done, you went back up again and disappeared.’

  Eli thought for a moment. He realised that anger had no place in the situation he was in, especially as Smalacombe was just about spot on. It now required a cool head and he steeled himself to present a cogent defence. ‘I didn’t go in there. I heard the shots and then I took Brian away again.’

  ‘So, where were you?’

  ‘I stood by the gate.’

  ‘Funny, no one else down the lane heard the shots. You see, the pool is around the back as you well know and with the doors shut you wouldn’t hear it around the front.’ Smalacombe wasn’t sure that this was factual but it was worth a try. He reasoned that the odd thing about people in isolated communities was that they would be disturbed by a car in the middle of the night but not by the noise of a shotgun, which often rang out when farmers were stalking a fox or killing rabbits. Fortunately, his ploy worked.

  ‘He must ‘ave left the doors open then.’

  ‘No he didn’t. We’ve established that and we’ve tested for sound,’ Smalacombe lied again. ‘You went in with the earring.’

  ‘It wad’n me who put the earring in the pool.’

  ‘I didn’t say it was in the pool. You know about the earring?’

  ‘Course I bloody do, ‘twas in all the news.’

  ‘Now there’s another funny thing, because it was a detail that’s never been released, Eli. You only know the earring was in the pool because you were there, my sunshine.’

  Smalacombe lent back in his chair and glanced across to Tiley who remained impassive and didn’t take his eyes off Eli. Eli looked across to his brief who stared back blankly.

  ‘Illegal possession of a firearm which was used to murder someone is bad enough. Eli, but this gets worse.’

  Eli Crouche gave a great sigh. ‘Constance wanted proof that Winsom killed the maid.’

  ‘Maid?’ Tiley queried and not for the first time in his dealings with Eli. It was left to Smalacombe to explain once more. ‘Anna Turle. Young women are called maids down here.’ Tiley raised his head in acknowledgement.

  ‘Why was that so important?’ Smalacombe asked, because he had calculated that the mission was sponsored by the Spicers to avenge their daughter’s death and taken up by Constance, because he had perceived it was Winsom who had ruined him.

  ‘Well, ‘ee knew how much Budge felt for ‘er. Funny thing really, ‘twas the only time I ever seed that bloody animal show any feelings when he learned ‘er ‘ad been killed.’

  ‘So, Constance was doing a job for Budge as well.’

  ‘No, ‘twas off his own bat, as you might say. Truth is, Hillman and Winsom ‘ad ruined Brian so ‘ee wanted his own back, anyway. He was doin’ it for hissel’ but I s’pose ‘ee wanted somethin’ else to justify it. Final straw, like. He wanted to be sure I really did know about what went on, on the Sunday night. ‘Ee wanted to be sure I seed ‘em down by the river. So, I gived ‘en the earring, as proof if you like.’

  ‘I thought Budge took all the stuff off you?’

  ‘Well, ‘ee did, but it just so ‘appened I lef’ the earring ‘ome.’

  Smalacombe realised at this point that Eli had no knowledge of the Spicers’ input into all of this and he probably assumed Constance’s actions were retribution for what Winsom and Hillman had done to him.’

  ‘When us got there, there was a light on at the back, which was the swimmin’ pool. Brian forced the door, ‘ee had a bar with ‘en. Then ‘ee busted in. I stood by there and just looked in. ‘Er was in the pool with nort on,’ he paused for a moment. ‘Sight for sore eyes,’ he said wistfully. Tiley wondered how often Eli had seen women with “nort on”. ‘I didn’t go in, I tell ‘ee, for sure. I stood by the door. ‘Er was screaming for ‘en to get out and I heard ‘en shout, “You murdering cow,” and then ‘er shouted something about, what do you know? I think ‘twas. He said, “You fuckin’ ruined me, you destroyed Johnnie Hempson and then the Spicers and now Anna...’

  ‘Why did he mention the Spicers?’

  ‘I couldn’t work that out to start with,’ Eli answered to confirm Smalacombe’s suspicions. ‘ Well, ‘er was up the deep end, ‘er could see the gun, ‘er didn’t know where to go. Then ‘er started shoutin’ an’ flappin’ ‘er arms about and sinkin’. So, ‘er grabbed the bloody green tube thing in the water and that kept ‘er up. Then ‘er said, all sort of screaming, “I didn’t kill the Spicer girl,” so Brian told her twas her fault the maid ‘ad died.’

  He paused and a puzzled expression showed he was still confused. ‘I don’t know why ‘ee was concerned about the Spicer maid but then he told her he knew ‘er ‘ad killed Anna. He showed her the ring and threw ‘en in after ‘er. “That’s how I fuckin’ know,” he said. Her was screaming and shouting an’ pleadin’ with ‘en to stop.’

  He paused again, clearly upset by the scene he was reliving. ‘I never thought for one moment it would ‘ave been as bad as ‘twas. I knowed right away I’d done the wrong thing.’ He paused yet again trying to find the courage to continue. Finally he spoke, almost in a whisper. ‘Then ‘ee shot ‘er. Twice. Blood everywhere. He comed out an’ us went back up through the fields, like you said.’

  Smalacombe let the tape run on whilst they sat in silence. What he had just witnessed was probably the most honest thing Eli had ever achieved in his lifetime. When he had done, he seemed more relaxed.

  ‘’Ad to all come out in the end I spose,’ Eli said quietly breaking the inactivity. ‘I shouldn’t ‘ave said so much to ‘ee up the pub I spose, but I thought t’would throw ‘ee off the scent.’

  ‘Yea well, things will take their course. That’s all I can say.’ Smalacombe answered. ‘One more thing Eli, what was in it for you? I mean, you didn’t let him have the gun for a bit of fun.’

  ‘He gived me a thousand pounds. Well, when I looks back now I can see t’was funny ‘cos I knowed ‘ee was in financial trouble, so where did ‘ee get that from? I didn’t think about it at the time.’

  Smalacombe nodded to Tiley who announced the time and date and switched off the tape.

  CHAPTER 22

  Tuesday July 18th

  ‘This is becoming a habit, Mr. Smalacombe. I’m beginning to think that it’s all a front because you’re too shy to ask me out,’ Rita Golding said as they sat in the plush easy chairs of the hotel lounge.

  ‘I can’t afford you Rita. What would you do for thirty p.?’ he asked mischievously.

  ‘For you, I’d cross my legs provocatively and talk dirty. How would that do?’

  ‘Have you got any change, Sergeant?’ he asked.

  ‘Only enough for the crossing of the legs bit, sir.’

  ‘That’s fine; I can make up the rest.’

  ‘I take it you have
n’t come to arrest me then?’

  ‘Certainly not! You’re in the clear, but I have to confess that wasn’t how it appeared twenty four hours ago.’ A waiter was hovering above him as he spoke. He looked up, ‘Three coffees please, one black.’ He turned back to Rita. ‘I want some information.’

  ‘So, what’s new?’

  ‘Do you remember a Jayne Spicer at Longtor? She died of an overdose at the end of last year.’

  ‘Yes, I remember her. She was very young and beautiful and a live wire at first. But, then she became a coke head with Hillman’s help.’

  ‘He introduced her to it?’

  ‘Without a doubt. Freebies too! I mean, she couldn’t afford it as a student.’

  ‘Her parents are wealthy,’ Tiley intervened.

  ‘Oh come on, there are limits to what your parents will finance, even if they are loaded. He fuelled her up and screwed her at every opportunity, except when he was chasing Anna.’ She looked from one policeman to the other. ‘May I ask what all this has got to do with the case?’

  Smalacombe thought for a moment, he could see no harm in divulging some information; after all, the case was virtually wrapped up. ‘The Spicers paid Constance to murder Winsom,’ he said.

  ‘That fits.’ Smalacombe was at first surprised that Golding showed no emotion but then realised that her lifestyle had inured her to such revelations.

  ‘Did Hillman force the girl?’

  Golding smiled a smile that indicated her amusement at Smalacombe’s naiveté. ‘Of course not! She was an impressionable seventeen year old being screwed by a world famous film star. She didn’t need forcing for that and the drugs softened up any resistance anyway.’

  Tiley had been listening carefully to what she had been saying and there was something he needed clarifying. ‘You said she was a live wire at first. What did you mean by that?’

  ‘Hillman took her for himself, so to speak and filled her up with whatever she wanted and I don’t mean just his dick.’