by Lou Peters
‘Yes, but I was in bed. I worked the eight till four shift last night. By the time I’d got home it was gone five, so I didn’t get up until after midday.’
‘And you’re off to work again, now? You don’t get a lot of time to yourself.’
‘Tell me about it,’ Mrs. Purvis smiled. But it’s not that bad. I’m only doing a half shift today, so will finish about eight thirty. Then I get four days off, coinciding nicely with the week-end, this time. I’ll have more chance to see the twins, give Brad a break.’ She smiled again, but this time there was sadness reflected in her eyes.
‘Your husband doesn’t work Mrs. Purvis?’
‘No, he’s not been well. He had to give up his job. But it’s handy having Brad at home, and of course he’s able to spend more time with the kids. How many dads are able to say that? Bev Purvis was putting a positive spin on what was obviously a bad situation. ‘Anyway, I’ll have to dash, don’t want to be late. The girl I’m replacing can’t go until I get there.’
The DI bid the woman goodbye. Reminding her that if she did recall anything that might prove helpful to get in touch. He handed her his card. She slipped it inside her coat pocket, before hurrying to her car, parked in the street a couple of doors further down.
Walters found Cooper in the kitchen, a mug of steaming coffee grasped firmly in his fist, appearing like an extension to his arm. In front of him, on a colourful paper plate, was what once could’ve been described as a large slice of homemade chocolate cake. However, it had somewhat diminished in size after a couple of bites from the detective. The admiration Walters felt for the woman who’d just rushed off to work escalated, as he thought of her making the time to bake a cake, as well as do everything else in her hectic schedule. ‘Mr. Purvis.’ Walters extended his hand across the table towards the man who’d risen from his seat at his entry. The handshake was firm and the eyes unflinching, the makings of a credible witness? Walters would like to think so. It wasn’t hard to see the man had been unwell and still hadn’t won the battle with his illness. His body was slight as if the cancer had eaten the flesh off his bones, the face almost skeletal. The man’s hair was non-existent. Not because he’d been following the latest style trends, but more to do with the chemotherapy treatment he’d been receiving. Walters made a snap diagnosis to himself. He hoped for the family’s sake he was proved wrong. ‘I see you’ve already been spoiling my sergeant.’
‘Please, sit down. I’ll get you a coffee.’
‘Thanks.’ Walters drew out a chair and sat down opposite Cooper. The kitchen, like the lounge he’d walked through a second ago, was festooned with streamers and brightly hued balloons in various shapes and sizes. Some quite small, as though blown up by little mouths or by someone who’d ran out of puff. ‘Hi kids.’ The DI addressed the boy and girl who were positioned at the further end of the table. Remnants of spaghetti hoops on toast smeared on their faces and on the plastic Rudolph tablecloth. The two children giggled behind their reddened hands. They were not identical twins. However, they had the same colouring and similar features. Both brown haired like their mother, but with their father’s blue eyes. Only where his were dull and listless, the children’s eyes sparkled with mischief.
‘And how old are you?’ Walters enquired of the two.
‘Four and three quarters,’ one of them answered, setting them both into another fit of the giggles.
‘I hope you’ve been good all year, because Father Christmas has a list, you know. He only brings presents to all the good boys and girls.’
‘We know, the naughty and nice list. But we have been good, haven’t we daddy?’ The little girl’s face was serious, her eyes round, full of shining innocence.
Bradley nodded his head and smiled, ‘as good as gold. Now eat your spaghetti up, before it gets cold.’
The twins didn’t need telling twice and knuckled down to the task at hand. No way were they going on the naughty list, with Christmas just around the corner. To the amusement of the watching detectives, it appeared to be a race to see which one would finish their food first. In the event it was a tied result.
‘Okay Jen, James, hop it into the lounge, I need to talk to these nice gentlemen,’ Bradley said, setting a mug of steaming coffee down in front of Walters.
‘But we haven’t had our cake,’ James said, his bottom lip protruding.
‘Nor our milk,’ his sister added, not wanting to be outdone.
‘You can have them later. Go and switch the telly on, your programmes will be starting.’ He reached into a cupboard and brought out a couple of tubes of colour coated chocolate sweets and threw one to each of his children in an act of bribery. ‘Don’t tell mummy she’ll have my guts for garters.’
The children obviously thought the expression hilarious, scrabbling on all fours as the cardboard tubes rolled away and onto the floor. Once retrieved, they came to the side of the table their Dad was seated. Wrapping sticky fingers around his neck they each gave him a peck on the cheek, leaving smears of tomato sauce on his face. ‘Thanks daddy. Love you daddy,’ they trilled, before leaving the room. It was enough to bring a tear to your eye.
‘Nice couple of kids you’ve got there,’ Cooper swallowed his emotion. Big as he was, he’d still found the scene touching.
‘Yes we’ve been very lucky that Bev got pregnant when she did. Doubly fortunate under the circumstances, it was twins. Chemo doesn’t do your fertility any favours. Anyway,’ the man said brightening. ‘You’ll want to know what I saw yesterday morning.’
‘Firstly Mr. Purvis, can I ask you how well you knew Mrs. Montgomery. Your wife it appears only knew the old lady by sight; would that be the same for yourself?’
‘Not exactly... Eh, let me explain. We moved here at the end of June this year. We used to have an apartment the other side of Boynton. However, with the kids getting older we thought it would be better for them to have some outside space for them to play in. Bev still worked at the Brambles before we’d moved to Rasburgh. She did the day shift then and she continued to do that for the first few months after we’d arrived here. She prefers days, but the money’s better working nights, and when the opportunity arose she grabbed it. What with our finances being a bit stretched at the moment…’He sheepishly offered the unnecessary explanation, as though he was blaming himself for the family’s financial problems. ‘Being here mostly on my own during the summer months, the twins were away visiting both sets of grandparents over the school holidays, gave me a greater opportunity to get to know the near neighbours, wherever I could. Mrs. Montgomery would often stop for a chat. She was a lovely lady. I can’t believe this has happened to her. It doesn’t make any sense. I’d been into her house a couple of times for a coffee with her and her neighbour Mr. Headley and likewise, they’d been in here to try out my chocolate cake. Are you sure you wouldn’t like a slice inspector?’
‘No thanks Mr. Purvis,’ Walters realised he’d jumped to the wrong conclusion about the confections originator. Not having a hope of baking a cake himself, he’d presumed all men were equally deficient.
‘How about you, sergeant?’
Arnold would have loved another slice of the delicious cake, but a look from the DI made him politely refuse the offer.
‘As far as I can recall there was nothing of real value in her house, nothing worth committing murder for anyway. It’s such a shock. I can’t get my head around it.’
‘How about the niece and her husband, did you ever meet them?’
‘Only on the one occasion inspector, and to be honest I didn’t really hit it off with Rowena. Don’t know what it was. I suppose you can’t get on with everyone you meet.’
Yeah, a right pain in the arse. Walters felt like saying. Instead he said, ‘Right, Mr. Purvis, if we could now go back to yesterday morning. If you can tell us in your own words what it was you witnessed.’
‘Yes certainly. As I’m sure you’re aware, none of these houses have a large front garden. In fact it’s not a garden at all rea
lly, just a concrete square in front of the house, with a shallow wall surrounding it. The back gardens are quite a reasonable size, which is one of the reasons we bought the house. Another was the lovely tree lined crescent. Anyway, sorry, I digress. Last month I was rather lacking in energy, so I hadn’t got around to clearing up the pile of leaves which had accumulated against the wall in the front and so yesterday, I thought while Bev was asleep in the back bedroom, I would clear them up. I’d seen Ruth’s niece arrive about nine, nine fifteen. I was just setting up then with bin bags and brush and shovel and what have you. She didn’t stay long; ten minutes at the most, I would think. Then about ten o’clock, I know it was that time because I’d not long heard the church clock strike the hour. I saw a man walking up the street from the direction of the main road. There was something about him, some hesitancy in his movements, as though he wasn’t quite sure where he was heading. That was what first drew my attention to him, that and the fact there was no-one else around. The man seemed to be checking out the house numbers as he walked along.’
‘What did he look like?’ Cooper asked, pen and pad at the ready.
‘About as tall as the detective inspector, or perhaps a little taller, not as tall as you though. He had dark, rather longish hair, but plenty of it, if you know what I mean, slim...
‘Do you mean it was bushy, maybe afro?’
‘No, not bushy, he was white. I think his hair was just thick and a bit curly. To be honest I didn’t pay too much notice. He knocked on the door and Ruth answered it pretty much straightaway, allaying my initial suspicions.’
‘She didn’t hesitate at all before letting the man into her home?’
‘No, on the contrary, I would say she looked happy to see him, almost as though she was expecting his visit. She even waved across at me smiling, before closing the door. You don’t think he killed her do you...? Oh my God, you do. I could have prevented it. If only I’d gone over to check that everything was okay.’ The smile had left the sickly young man’s face, replaced by a haunted, anxious expression.
‘Did you see the man leave again?’
‘No, I’d carried on sweeping up and bagging the leaves till about ten thirty. The phone ringing had me rushing in to answer it before it disturbed Bev. It was my mother. I don’t know why she phones when she knows Bev will be in bed. Anyway, it didn’t wake Bev up and I forgot all about the man as I set about preparing lunch. I feel dreadful now. It never occurred to me until this moment, the relevance of the guy’s visit.’
‘Did they embrace on the step as if they knew each other really well, or could’ve been related?’ Walters asked.
‘No, she just shook his hand, but as I say she was smiling. I could see as the man passed in front of her to go into the house, Ruth Montgomery waved back at me still smiling.’
‘Did the man appear furtive to you? Perhaps hurried through the doorway as though he didn’t want to be seen?’
‘I don’t think so, he part turned in my direction as Ruth lifted her hand to me.’
‘Had Mrs. Montgomery ever talked about someone fitting the man’s description, possibly from her past, or even someone she’d met recently?’
‘No, we didn’t really talk about anybody. Ruth wasn’t a gossip. We would talk about mundane things, gardening, the weather, recipes the twins. If I’d only gone across the road,’ Bradley Purvis berated himself. ‘I was going to, you know. While I was sweeping up our leaves I was going to see if she wanted me to do her front yard. Only I didn’t want to disturb her, felt like I was prying and then the bloody phone rang.’
‘Thanks Mr. Purvis, you’ve been really helpful. Don’t beat yourself up too badly over this. Everything’s always clearer with the benefit of hindsight and we always wish we’d acted in a different way. We don’t know this mystery man was the murderer. We think that the crime may have occurred later in the day, or possibly the evening.’ Walters didn’t have to give out that information. After all, nothing had been confirmed yet by the pathologist. But he didn’t want this young man worrying about something he had no control over. Walters was sure he already had more than enough to worry about. ‘Finally can you describe what the man was wearing?’
‘Dark clothing, I think he wore a black leather jacket and dark coloured jeans, again possibly black, or dark navy.’
‘Did you notice if he was wearing gloves?’
‘Sorry, I’m not sure. I think possibly not, but I couldn’t swear to it.’
‘Was he carrying anything? Carrier bag, anything?’
‘No, that I am sure of.’
‘We’re presuming you didn’t know the man. Can you confirm you’d never seen him before.’
‘No. Never.’
‘And do you think you would be able to recognise him again?’
‘Well, I didn’t see him for very long. Only caught a glimpse of the guy really, but I think so, yes.’
‘Okay we’ll leave it at that for now. If anything else comes to light please let us know straightaway. Here’s my card. I hope you won’t mind if we have to call on you again?’
‘No, please do. Anything I can to be of assistance. If I remember anything more I’ll be in touch, you can depend on it.’
‘Oh, by the way, did Mrs. Montgomery give you a key to her house in case of an emergency?’
‘No, but I’m sure her niece had one.’
‘Anybody else that you know of? Mr. Headley perhaps?’
‘I’m sorry, I haven’t any idea. It never came up in conversation.’
They were almost out of the front door, when Bradley Purvis turned to Walters and said. ‘Did I mention the guy was wearing a scarf?’
‘I don’t think so…Cooper?’
‘No sir you didn’t.’
‘Yes it was black and yellow and with his collar length hair, I thought it made him look a bit like one of the early Doctor Whos.’
The detectives were on their way back to Boynton police station, heater on at full rev trying to warm up the chilled car.
‘They seemed like a really nice couple sir, shame about the guy’s illness.’
‘Yes,’ Walters agreed, ‘a real shame.’
‘And the kids.’
‘You’re not getting broody on me detective sergeant, are you?’
‘No way sir, I’ve yet to find a woman who’s prepared to put up with me.’
‘It would help if George Morris could’ve been more specific over the actual time of death. At the moment we’re working on the broad assumption, the murder occurred between the hours of three in the afternoon until one in the morning. Which, the thought occurs to me, is if it happened in the second half of the time scale we have, I bet Bradley Purvis would be struggling to provide a substantial alibi, with his wife at work and the kids in bed.’
‘You don’t suspect him though, surely sir?’
‘At this stage of the game, Cooper, everybody’s a suspect.’ Walters couldn’t get his wife’s words out of his mind. ‘Look for the least likely character, and he or she will be the one who’ll have done it every time.’ The Harrisons weren’t completely off the hook, either. They only had each other as alibis and if the woman had been killed mid or late afternoon, they’d be struggling. But then, that couple weren’t the least likely characters, quite the opposite in fact.
CHAPTER NINE
Thursday Evening 10 December 2009
Rachel stirred to find darkness had already fallen. Its crow black face pressed hard against the window panes like a peeping tom. Slowly she sat up, stretching her arms above her head, stifling a yawn. The coffee Jackie had made and left for her on the table had gone cold. While she’d slept a log had been placed amidst the scintillating coals. Maybe that’s what had disturbed her slumber. The wood crackled as the licking flames cast flickering shadows across the walls, bathing the room in a gentle glow. Jackie poked her hear around the door. Seeing Rachel was awake she breezed in, switching on lamps.
‘Feeling better?’ It looked like she was in sergeant major
mode, brisk and authoritative, about to lick Rachel into shape.
The unexpected brightness hurt Rachel’s eyes. She rubbed her scrunched up fingers into the sockets removing the last traces of sleep. ‘I’ll let you know after I’m properly awake. How long have I been asleep?’
‘Not that long, about an hour. I have to say, you don’t look much better for it.’
Before Rachel could comment on the remark Jackie had disappeared. Returning a short time later with a mug filled to the brim, a replacement for the untouched original.
‘Cheers, Jack.’ Rachel took a sip of coffee. ‘That’s better.’ She replaced the mug onto the table in front of her.
‘Are you ready for Doc Riley to start delving into your subconscious?’
‘Aw give us a mo. I’ll need to brave the sub-zero temperature of the bathroom before I do anything else. I’m bursting.’
‘Okay kid, but don’t be too long. I want to put my theory into practise.
After several unsuccessful attempts at prompting, finally Jackie had been proven right and Rachel started to recall the previously forgotten events of Tuesday. She’d known it was the second day of the week because that was the day the refuse lorry came to collect the bin sacks left out in the lane. The loud intermittent bleep of the vehicle’s horn as it reversed down the narrow gap to gain access to River Cottage, had woken her. Richard had already been downstairs. Hesitantly at first, Rachel started to share her recollections with Jackie, slowly piece by piece, as they entered her head. ‘We’d had breakfast, I think. Then Richard and I’d decided to go into Boynton.’
‘Boynton?’
‘Yeah, it’s a town not far away. There’s always an open air market on a Tuesday. We thought we’d go and have a look round. There were loads more people about than last time, pushing and shoving. We’d only been to the market a couple of times before and it hadn’t been like that then. Everywhere had been alive with hustle and bustle. I expect people preparing for Christmas, trying to get hold of bargains while they were on offer. I had to grab a hold of Richard’s arm in case we got separated.’ Rachel could feel the tears sting her eyes at the memory of his reassuring presence beside her. She forced herself to continue. Afraid she’d lose the thread of her thoughts if she stopped. ‘A Sally Army Band were playing carols, and although the sun was shining, there was a bitter wind. It made it feel really Christmassy. I even started to enjoy the crowds. That’s right – I remember, a tin was rattled under his nose and Richard fumbled in his pocket for a couple of quid to drop in.’ Rachel was feeling pleased with herself, when her words tapered off. She wrinkled her brow in concentration trying to grasp a further memory.
