Stick in the Mud: A riveting murder mystery

by Leo McNeir

  “You’re obviously more in touch with things than I am,” said de Groot. “Would you let me know when he returns. I really have to speak to him.”

  They agreed to keep in touch.

  “Why doesn’t the prof know what’s going on?” Anne said as they walked to the flat. “He’s the one in charge of everything.”

  “Beats me,” said Marnie. “I don’t know what to make of these archaeologists sometimes.”

  “What do you think we should do now?”

  “Have lunch.”

  Anne laughed. “Is that the sum total of your plans, O Wise One?”

  “How about this? We grab a sandwich from the deli and phone Judith.”

  “Okay by me. What’s the idea?”

  “I want another talk with her. I think she knows more than she’s saying.”

  “Amazing … and she’s not even an archaeologist.”

  *

  Judith agreed to see them at Dick’s rooms after her lunchtime shift ended, but asked if they could meet later than before. She had noticed that the lock key on her parent’s boat was not in its usual place and, after searching high and low, had concluded that it was lost. She wanted to call in at the chandlers to buy a replacement. She arranged to be at Dick’s place by four.

  Marnie booked a minicab, and they arrived in Wilberforce Street just as Judith was dismounting from her bicycle. Anne had bought a box of tea bags, a bottle of milk and two packets of biscuits, determined that their encounter would this time be more congenial.

  As soon as they shook hands on the doorstep it became clear that Judith’s demeanour had changed. There was a gleam in her eyes, and Marnie was uncertain whether it was caused by excitement or fear. While Anne occupied herself in the kitchen, Marnie and Judith carried out an inspection of Dick’s living room and bedroom. Nothing seemed to have changed since their last visit.

  Judith turned to face Marnie, taking hold of her arm.

  “Listen. I’ve found out something. It may be important.”

  “Go on.”

  “Dr Parfitt’s been here.” Judith paused, waiting for a reaction. “What d’you think of that?”

  “How do you know? Has he been in touch with you?”

  Anne came in carrying the tea tray. For a few seconds they were distracted, clearing space on the low table, passing round cups and taking biscuits. Marnie took up the thread.

  “You were saying, Judith …?”

  “Apparently he showed up here one morning, out of the blue.”

  “How do you know this?”

  “Jonathan was in his room upstairs. He’s one of the housemates … came back to collect something. Anyway, he heard someone come in and thought it must be Dick.”

  “Why did he think that?”

  “Because he came in here. Only Dick has his own sitting room-cum-study. Jonathan came downstairs, just to be sociable. He knocked on the door but got no reply. So he pushed the door open and found this chap standing in the middle of the room looking sheepish.”

  “Did Jonathan recognise him? Does he know Parfitt?”

  Judith frowned. “Er … no. I mean … I don’t know for sure. But he said he was a friend of Dick’s and had permission to fetch a book he’d lent Dick and now he wanted it back.”

  “Why do you think it was Parfitt?”

  “Jonathan described him. I’ve never met Parfitt, but I’ve seen photos of him with Dick, so I know what he looks like. I’m pretty sure he was the man who came here that day.”

  “When was this exactly?” Anne asked.

  “It was about the time Dick went missing.”

  “And this Jonathan just let a complete stranger come into the house and walk out with what could have been Dick’s property?”

  “When you put it like that, Marnie, it does sound suspicious. But he had Dick’s front door key and he told Jonathan the title of the book and where Dick had said it would be.”

  “They found it?”

  “Yes, on the bookcase exactly in the right place. It was just an ordinary text book – ethno-archaeology or something – and the man seemed pleasant and friendly, so Jonathan thought no more about it.”

  “Did he say if he left this man – let’s assume it was Parfitt – alone in here for any length of time?”

  Judith considered the question. “He didn’t say.”

  “Pity.”

  “You think it’s important.”

  “Don’t you?”

  “Then why don’t we ask Jonathan?” Judith said.

  “Is he here?” Marnie asked, surprised.

  “No, but he has a mobile and I’ve got his number.”

  Judith rang the number and had an immediate reply. The only time the visitor was alone in the room was when he first arrived. Judith thanked Jonathan and asked if he could remember anything else from their conversation. The answer was one word: nothing. Marnie asked if she could have a word. Judith explained who Marnie was and passed her the phone.

  “How long was it before you came downstairs that morning?”

  “No time at all. I was coming out of the bathroom when I heard the front door shut. I went straight down.”

  “Didn’t you think it was odd that you got no reply when you knocked on Dick’s door?”

  “I suppose I did.”

  “Did you remark on that when you found the man in the room?”

  “I didn’t actually say anything, but we both knew it was an awkward situation. I think the other guy said something like he’d been surprised to hear a knock as he believed the house was empty. He felt rather embarrassed, like an intruder.”

  “After you located the book he wanted … who did that, by the way, you or him?”

  “I did.” No hesitation. “It was exactly where he said it would be.”

  “Okay, and then he just went away?”

  “Yes.”

  “Immediately? He didn’t ask to use the loo or anything?”

  “What an odd question. No, he didn’t. He had his book, thanked me and said he …”

  “Hallo?” Marnie frowned. “Jonathan, are you there?”

  “Just a minute.” A pause. “There was something … let me think …”

  It sounded as if Jonathan was talking to himself. Marnie waited patiently before he continued.

  “Yes … he said he just wanted to make a quick phone call before he left. I said we didn’t have a phone in the house, but he had his mobile with him. Not wanting to intrude, I went out of the room and left him to it.”

  “For how long?”

  “Hardly any time. I went to sit on the stairs to give him some privacy, but he came out almost as soon as I sat down.”

  “Had you heard him talking?”

  “No, but he said there was no reply. We made some remarks about the dreaded voicemails and I showed him out.”

  “Just two more questions.”

  “Okay.”

  “Was he carrying a briefcase?”

  “Er … yes.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Positive. He put the book in it.”

  “And did you check the room after he left?”

  “Funny you should say that. I did have a quick look round, but everything was the same as before.”

  “No doubt about that?”

  “None at all … I think.”

  *

  Back at the flat, Marnie phoned Ralph in the office. The main news was that Donovan had rung. He was going to call in at the university library and would phone again in the evening. Ralph had asked after Onkel Helmut and learnt that he was doing well.

  Anne tried Donovan’s mobile but only got as far as the message that he was not available. Both Marnie and Anne felt strangely unsettled and, as usual, went to look down at the riverscape from the window. The sky was still cloudy, casting a dull workaday atmosphere over the scene. In the distance the tallest skyscraper in Canary Wharf flashed its laser from the glazed top of the pyramid roof.

  In the bedrooms the overnight bags lay un
opened on top of the duvets. For a few minutes neither of them spoke, staring down at the Thames, mulling over what they had learnt that afternoon, trying to make an intelligible pattern of recent events.

  Eventually, Marnie suggested that they return to Glebe Farm. Neither could see any merit in remaining in London that evening. Both had the niggling feeling that something did not add up, but neither could work out what it was.

  30

  Donovan Returns

  Tuesday, 31 July, 1997

  Anne woke early in her attic room on Tuesday morning and immediately felt happiness wash over her for two reasons. The first was the sight of a narrow shaft of bright light cutting across the room from the thin slit in the gable end, her only window. The sunshine had returned and would be bringing Donovan with it. He had phoned the night before and arranged to drive up from London. Anne looked at the clock before rolling out of bed. Six-thirty. Knowing Donovan, he might already be on his way.

  Over supper on Sally Ann the previous evening, they had examined every aspect of Dick Blackwood’s disappearance. Ralph had surprised Marnie and Anne by playing devil’s advocate. Had it occurred to them that the visitor to Dick’s house might have been some other student? Gerald Parfitt was not the only archaeologist he knew, or who might have lent him a book. Nor was he the only person who answered to the description of a youngish man of medium height, medium build with sandy hair.

  Marnie was stunned. She had to admit she had so convinced herself the visitor was Gerald Parfitt that she had closed her mind to other possibilities. Biting her lip, she brought her clenched fist lightly down on the table. Determined to fill in the gaps of Judith’s account of the conversation with Jonathan, she had overlooked a key question. Had the stranger in fact given his name? Ralph pointed out that that would be normal when confronted by an unknown person in a strange house. Surely, he reasoned, it would be the first thing you’d say to establish your bona fides.

  Anne climbed out of bed, descended the wall ladder and went through to the shower room. Turning under the hot jets, rinsing away the lather from the shower gel, she tried to clear her mind of all thoughts of Dick, Parfitt, Zoë, Horselydown and the whole sad affair.

  *

  After breakfast Marnie and Anne went through all the papers in their in-baskets. For two hours they dealt with correspondence, finance and designs and were so engrossed they put all other thoughts out of their minds. By the time Anne returned to her desk, armed with a to-do list and a bundle of filing, Marnie judged it was time for action. She announced that she was going to phone Gerald Parfitt and picked up the handset to dial the direct line for the departmental secretary at UEA.

  “I’m afraid Dr Parfitt can’t be reached at the moment, Mrs Walker.”

  Something about her tone rang an alarm bell in Marnie’s head.

  “I understood he’d be back by now. It’s really rather urgent that I speak with him.” Marnie looked across at Anne, crossed the fingers of her free hand, grimaced and added in an authoritative voice, “It concerns a multi-million pound project in London.”

  “Oh my goodness. I … don’t know what to say.”

  “You could tell me when it will be possible to speak to him. Sorry, I didn’t catch your name. I’d like to make a note of it.”

  “Oh heavens …”

  “You were saying?”

  “It appears … Dr Parfitt … hasn’t in fact been in Denmark.”

  “I see.” Marnie did not see. “So where has he been?”

  “I don’t know, Mrs Walker. But Dr Rasmussen from Roskilde University phoned to talk to him this morning. That’s when we realised he’d not been there at all.”

  *

  Ralph had an appointment that morning and was unable to spend much time discussing this latest development. He was meeting an American academic at his cottage in Murton, near Oxford. The professor from Northwestern University in Chicago would be renting the cottage from August to December, and Ralph had arranged to meet her to hand over the keys and give her the guided tour. They would then be having lunch with the Master at Ralph’s college, All Saints.

  Before leaving, he suggested that they discuss with Donovan that evening what, if anything, they should do next. When Marnie and Anne returned to the office after seeing him off, Marnie sat immobile at her desk for some time. It took Anne a while to notice this, being too occupied with routine clerical tasks. Eventually she spoke.

  “Planet Earth to Marnie. Come in, please. Over.”

  No reaction. Anne picked up her mobile and hit the speed-dial. Marnie’s phone rang and she picked it up. Before she could announce herself, she heard a strange voice with a drawl worthy of the Deep South, Kentucky or Georgia.

  “Anybody home?”

  Marnie looked totally mystified. “Sorry? Who is this, please?”

  “It’s me, you idiot.” Normal voice this time. “Anne with an ‘e’. Remember me?”

  Marnie looked up to see Anne waving at her from across the room. She laughed.

  “What are you playing at?” She put down the receiver. “Oh … was I somewhere else?”

  “In outer space, by the look of it, probably heading for the planet Tharg.”

  Marnie’s expression became serious. “It’s no use. For once I can’t agree with Ralph, can’t wait till we can all discuss it rationally. Sometimes you just have to take action.”

  “Royal Marines School of Management?” Anne suggested.

  “Exactly … seize the high ground.”

  “What are you going to do?”

  Marnie stared at Anne. “Much as it goes against the grain, I’m going to contact the police.”

  “You’re kidding!”

  They both knew that Marnie’s relationship with the police in the past had been … erratic.

  “I don’t see any other way. Do you?”

  *

  It was over an hour later that Anne stopped in her tracks in the courtyard. She was returning to the office after taking coffee out to the builders working in the farmhouse. Pricking up her ears, she heard a familiar rumbling sound. It was unmistakably the burbling of an air-cooled flat-four-cylinder engine. Donovan’s VW Beetle was coming down the slope. She rushed to the garage barn to meet him.

  “You’re later than we expected,” Anne said, hugging him warmly.

  “Jetlag.”

  “From Hanover?”

  Donovan kissed her a second time. “I had things to do before driving up.”

  In the office, after the usual greetings and enquiries about Onkel Helmut, Marnie switched on the answerphone, and the three of them made their way through the spinney to sit out on the bank beside Sally Ann.

  “So what’s new?” Donovan asked.

  Marnie brought him up to date on events surrounding Dick’s disappearance, including the news about Parfitt not going to Denmark and her contact with the police.

  “Let me get this right,” he said, raising an eyebrow. “You, Marnie Walker, phoned the police for advice?”

  “Yes, this morning.”

  Donovan sat back in his chair. “It’s gotta be a first. What happened?”

  “I got through to Sergeant Marriner. I told him we were seriously worried about Dick.”

  “Let me guess how he reacted,” Donovan said. “He told you Dick was a grown man and could go where he wanted. Being away for a few days after so much happening at the dig was no surprise.”

  Marnie sighed. “Yes. That’s more or less what he said.”

  “Did he point out that it’s not unusual for people to go on holiday in July, even to take a break on impulse?”

  Marnie nodded. “He said that, too.”

  “Did you tell him about Parfitt going off?”

  “I did, and he seemed interested in that. Also, he couldn’t come up with any reassuring theory on why Parfitt’s boat was found adrift out at sea.”

  “How did you leave it, Marnie?”

  “He said we should give it a while before doing anything else. He thought Dick
would come back with a reasonable explanation of where he’d been and why, and the same went for Dr Parfitt. He suspected they might be doing something together on what he called their secret treasure project.”

  Donovan looked thoughtful. “He could be right about that. You did well to get so much out of him.”

  “Yes, he was only partially interested, of course. The whole business is well outside his jurisdiction.”

  “So do you have a plan for what to do next?”

  Marnie shrugged. “Ralph thinks we should sit down together and talk through the options. He’ll be back this evening. I’m not sure he thinks we have any options, in fact.”

  Donovan stared out at the canal. Two hire boats went by, one of them flying a Swedish flag attached to the tiller. The people on board raised their hands to Marnie and the others, who returned the salute.

  “We need to think everything through, step by step,” Donovan said. “While I’ve been away I’ve been trying to get things clear in my mind.”

  “Have you reached any conclusions?” Marnie said.

  “This absence of Dr Parfitt from Denmark seems to me significant. Personally, I don’t think Sergeant Marriner’s comments have added anything new.”

  “Can you add anything new, Donovan?”

  “Before we go any further, I think we need to establish the latest situation from every angle.”

  “I thought we just did that,” Marnie said wearily.

  Donovan shook his head. “Not as of now, this morning. The situation’s changing all the time. We need to check with the Barbican University archaeology department in case they’ve heard anything, in case Dick’s suddenly turned up. We need to check out UEA in case they have fresh news of Parfitt this morning. Same goes for the marina.”

  “Okay.” Marnie began rising from her chair. “We’d better make a start. Shall we take one each?”

  “That’s not where we start,” Donovan said emphatically.

  Marnie sat down again. “No?”

  “No. The key point of contact is Judith. She’s the closest relationship he has. Her boat is his temporary base. That’s where he’ll keep his clothes and probably most of his research documents. If anyone’s going to have news of him, it’ll be her.”