Thanet nodded at Lineham. ‘Charge him,’ he said, in disgust.
TWENTY-ONE
‘Agon? And Virginia? That’s incredible!’ Mintar’s mouth twisted in revulsion and he buried his face in his hands, shaking his head in disbelief. ‘How could she?’ he groaned.
Thanet wasn’t sure that Mintar had even taken in properly the fact that Agon had been charged with Virginia’s murder. Thanet had tried to be tactful but nothing could disguise the sordid nature of the whole affair and Mintar had obviously focused on the fact that his wife had slept with the man his daughter was engaged to – a man whom Mintar abhorred and who was moreover young enough to be Virginia’s son. And there was of course more bad news yet to impart. How was Mintar going to react to the news of Caroline’s disappearance? Now that they knew the barrister was innocent Thanet’s sympathy for him was unbounded. By now he would have expected the man to have begun to pull himself together just a little, but so far there was no sign of this. Increasingly haggard, careworn and unkempt with every day that passed, Thanet thought that Mintar’s colleagues would scarcely have recognised him if they saw him in the street, and he had to admit he was both surprised and puzzled; he would have expected Mintar to have more steel in him.
‘I’m sorry to bring such bad news, sir. This must be an awful blow to you.’
‘And Rachel!’ Mintar raised his head. ‘How is she going to take all this?’
How indeed? thought Thanet.
There was silence for a few moments and then Mintar said with a weary sigh, ‘Well, I suppose the only good thing that can come out of all this is that she will at last see what Agon is really like, and that will be the end of it.’
Thanet sincerely hoped Mintar was right. In affairs of the heart young girls frequently failed to follow the dictates of reason. Still, Rachel had obviously loved her mother and been very distressed by her disappearance, so perhaps he, Thanet, was being unduly pessimistic. In any case, there was no doubt about it, both she and her father were going to have a very bad time when all this came out in Court. Meanwhile . . .
‘Let’s hope so,’ he said. ‘Meanwhile, I’m afraid there’s more bad news.’
‘What?’ Mintar’s tone was flat, his eyes dull. He obviously felt that after what he had just been told, no news could possibly be of interest to him.
Someone tapped at the door and opened it: Rachel.
Thanet cast a warning glance at Mintar. Don’t tell her about Agon yet That was one conversation which needed to be conducted in privacy. ‘Ah, Rachel,’ he said, pre-empting any questions she might ask, ‘just the person I wanted to talk to. You might be able to help.’
‘Me? How?’
She was, Thanet was glad to see, looking much better. Just as well, in the circumstances. She was going to need all the resilience she possessed today. ‘I was just going to tell your father—’
‘Bad news, Rach, he said.’ Mintar put out a hand to her and she crossed to stand beside him. Still seated, he put his arm around her waist and pulled her to him. We’ll face this together.
‘About Mummy?’ she said fearfully.
‘About your sister.’ Thanet looked at Mintar. ‘You remember I told you yesterday that we were making another attempt to find Caroline?’
Mintar and Rachel exchanged apprehensive glances. ‘What do you mean, bad news?’ said Mintar.
‘We have finally managed to trace Dick Swain.’
They both looked stunned for a moment and then Rachel burst out, ‘But that’s marvellous! Brilliant! Where are they?’
Her father said warily, ‘Why should that be bad news, Inspector?’
‘Because Caroline is not with him. He is living in Scotland and I spoke to him myself this morning. He tells me that on the night they were supposed to have eloped she never turned up and he was so fed up about it he decided to take off by himself, leave without her.’
They both stared at Thanet in silent disbelief. Thanet found it impossible to read Mintar’s reaction, so complex were the emotions which chased each other across his face: incredulity, obviously, and then – what? Relief? Excitement? Perhaps. And finally, as the implications dawned, anxiety and finally fear.
‘But that’s not possible!’ Mintar said at last. He released Rachel and stood up. He began to pace about in agitation and it was obvious he was thinking furiously. Finally he stopped and said vehemently, ‘The man’s lying, he must be!’
‘He’s been married for the last three years to someone else – I’ve spoken to her, too, a very nice young Scotswoman.’
‘Then where’s Caroline? What’s he done to her? If any harm has come to her . . . You’re not letting the matter rest, I hope?’
‘Of course not! If necessary we shall ask the police where he is living to investigate at that end. But the obvious thing to do is begin here.’
Rachel hadn’t said a word, was still standing frozen with shock. Now she whispered, ‘But if she isn’t there, where is she?’ She turned to her father. ‘Dad, where is she? Where is she?’ Her fragile composure was fast disintegrating again and her father put his arms around her and held her close.
‘Shh,’ he said, soothing her, stroking her back, her hair. ‘Shh. This isn’t going to help Caroline, is it?’
She took a deep breath, straightened her shoulders and pulled away from him a little. ‘No,’ she said, ‘it isn’t.’ She looked at Thanet. ‘What did you mean, I might be able to help?’
‘Perhaps we could try to talk about this calmly,’ said Thanet. ‘If you would both sit down?’
Without being asked, Lineham fetched an upright chair and set it down beside Mintar’s. When father and daughter were both settled, he said in response to Thanet’s nod, ‘We just wanted to ask a few questions about the night she left, miss.’
‘I don’t understand any of this. She said in her note she was going away with Dick.’
‘We know that,’ said Thanet. ‘There doesn’t seem to be any doubt about what she intended to do that night. But on the face of it, it seems that she didn’t do it.’
‘And we think we might know what went wrong,’ said Lineham. ‘If you remember, that same evening your grandmother arrived home unexpectedly, a day early, from one of her expeditions. She tells us that on such occasions it is usual to have a family celebration and that that night was no exception.’
‘That’s true,’ said Mintar. ‘But what’s that got to do with Caroline’s disappearance?’
‘We think that in all probability this meant that Caroline wasn’t able to get away as early as she intended and that when she therefore did not show up Dick Swain simply thought she had changed her mind and, as he was all packed up and ready to leave, he decided to do so anyway.’
‘And he never tried to contact her again?’
‘He says not,’ said Thanet, ‘that he decided to put the whole affair behind him. I had the impression, though he didn’t actually say so, that with hindsight he suspected it wouldn’t have worked anyway.’
Rachel had been listening intently and now she suddenly said, ‘You’re right! I remember now . . .’
Everyone looked at her. ‘What?’ they all said, together.
‘Normally Caroline was pleased when Gran came home. We both were. It’s such fun. Gran is always full of stories and usually brings us all really exciting presents. I’d forgotten until just now, but that night Caroline was really put out, said she’d made other plans. She even said she thought she’d give dinner a miss, but I told her she couldn’t possibly do that, Gran would be too upset. So she stayed . . .’ Rachel stared at Thanet with an expression of dawning horror. ‘So this is all my fault, isn’t it? If I hadn’t persuaded her to change her mind, she’d have gone off with Dick and she’d still be living with him. But now, we haven’t got a clue what happened to her. If he didn’t wait for her, she’d surely have just come home again, wouldn’t she?’
‘Or have gone to his house to look for him.’ Mintar was looking grim and now he stood up again, as
if propelled by an invisible force. ‘This time I’m going to get the truth out of that bloody woman if I have to knock the door down!’
‘You’ll do no such thing, sir!’ Thanet was on his feet too. ‘It wouldn’t help Rachel to get yourself into trouble, would it? Besides, we’re ahead of you in your thinking. Our first move will obviously be to interview Dick Swain’s mother and, as she has been so uncooperative in the past, we have even taken the trouble to obtain a search warrant and bring reinforcements with us in case we need to make a forcible entry. I just wanted to put you in the picture first.’
‘Good!’ said Mintar. ‘Then I’m coming with you! I want to hear what she has to say for herself the minute she says it!’
Thanet hesitated. He should have foreseen this, he realised. In Mintar’s position he would feel exactly the same. And judging by the mulish expression on Mintar’s face, nothing short of physical restraint would stop him.
‘Very well,’ he said with a sigh. ‘But I must insist that you give me your word not to interfere in any way.’
‘I promise.’
Rachel jumped up. ‘I’m coming too.’
‘No!’ said Thanet and Mintar together.
‘Why not?’ she cried.
‘It wouldn’t be appropriate,’ said her father.
An argument ensued, resulting in Rachel’s departure in tears, slamming the door behind her.
‘Perhaps I should have agreed,’ said Mintar, looking after her. ‘I hate to see her upset like that. God knows, she has enough to put up with at the moment. And we haven’t even told her Agon has been arrested yet! I shudder to think how she’s going to take that.’
‘I know. I’m afraid she’s in for a very tough time. But it’s better for her to stay here at the moment. It could get ugly, judging by Miss Swain’s past behaviour.’
The courtyard seemed full of police cars, though there were in fact only two beside Lineham’s. In view of the fact that it was only one solitary woman they wanted to question, Thanet had debated with Lineham whether even two would be one too many, but in the end he had opted for the former. He was devoutly hoping that the show of force would be sufficient to ensure that no actual force would be necessary. Now, as the little procession set off down the drive and turned right for the short journey, the doubts reared up again: was he taking a sledgehammer to crack a nut? No, crack that nut he must. It really was absolutely essential to interview Marah Swain and find out whether or not she had seen Caroline that night and it was quite on the cards that once again she would flatly refuse to talk to them. Much as he disliked the idea, it seemed to him that if she wouldn’t cooperate this time the only solution was to try to frighten her into doing so and hope that should he succeed he would be able to tell whether or not she was lying.
As pre-arranged, they all left their cars on the road and walked up the narrow track, Thanet equipped with loud-hailer and some of the officers carrying the heavy metal cylinder with side handles which is the contemporary version of the battering-ram. They had instructions to make sure that it and they were visible from the cottage windows, but to keep well back until called to action. Please God, let me not be making a fool of myself.
Even beneath the trees it was hot and still, the silence broken only by the shuffle of their feet in the leaves which, parched and crisped by the unremitting heat, were already falling prematurely from trees starved of moisture.
When they reached the clearing they stopped. With door and windows still shut fast the cottage continued to exude that air of brooding menace which had so affected Thanet yesterday. It looked impregnable, a symbol of the intractable mystery which surrounded Caroline’s disappearance. Well, he was soon going to change all that, thought Thanet grimly, his jaw setting in a determined line. He nodded, and his men fanned out around that section of the perimeter facing the cottage, with the steel enforcer in a prominent position. Mintar hung back as requested; Thanet didn’t want the sight of him to encourage Marah Swain to refuse them entry. Then, adrenalin beginning to pump through his system, he and Lineham crossed the clearing and knocked at the door. Once again there was that tell-tale twitch of the curtain at one of the downstairs windows and now that they were close to the house he could again hear the radio playing. Did she ever switch it off, he wondered?
Lineham knocked again. ‘Police. Open up.’
No reaction.
Further knocking produced no result and Thanet walked halfway back across the clearing and spoke through the loud-hailer. ‘Open the door, Miss Swain. We know you’re in there.’
Still no reaction.
Thanet gestured to the men carrying the enforcer and they moved forward a few steps. Then he tried again. ‘Look out of your window, Miss Swain. As you see, we have the means to make a forcible entry, and the warrant to justify its use, if you continue to refuse to let us in. You don’t really want us to break your door down, do you? Because that’s what’s going to happen, in just a few minutes from now.’
He paused, to give her time to absorb this. Come on, open up! Open up!
But still she refused to cooperate. Ah well, he told himself, I’ve given her plenty of opportunity . . . He raised the loud-hailer again. ‘Right,’ he said. ‘I’m going to count to ten, then we are coming in. One, two . . .’ He waved the men forward and they advanced as he counted. ‘. . . seven, eight, nine . . .’
Relief gushed through him as at last the door swung slowly open. Essential as it may have been to gain entry he knew that if they had had to break in his self-respect would have been badly dented. He handed the hailer to one of his men and then he and Lineham stepped inside.
So intent had he been on getting access, Thanet had temporarily forgotten about the smell. Sour, rank and stomach-turning, it almost stopped him in his tracks. He saw Lineham falter beside him before they both moved on.
Marah Swain was standing squarely in the middle of the room, defiance in every line of her stance, legs planted slightly apart, arms folded across her chest, head slightly down as if about to charge. Her long grey hair probably hadn’t been cut in years and straggled in greasy wisps down to her breasts and halfway down her back. It was the first time Thanet had seen her properly and she was wearing the ankle-length black skirt, woollen shawl and old cracked-leather boots described by Tanya. He wondered if she ever changed her clothes and was reminded of a book he had once read in which it was described how in remoter country districts in the nineteenth century children used to be greased all over before being sown into their underclothes for the duration of the winter. For that matter, the whole room seemed to exist in a time-warp. Tanya had not exaggerated: It’s like something out of the Middle Ages . . . doesn’t look as though it’s been cleaned for about a hundred years, with bunches of dried herbs and stuff hanging from nails all along the beams in the ceiling and every windowsill crammed with jamjars full of things I wouldn’t like to examine too closely. In the background a Radio Kent announcer launched incongruously into the lunchtime news.
‘What’s all the fuss about, then?’ she said.
‘It’s you who has caused all the fuss, as you put it,’ said Thanet. ‘If you’d let us in quietly in the first place none of this would have been necessary.’
‘Why should I let in any old Tom, Dick and Harry just because they ask to? It’s my house, I’ve got every right to refuse.’
‘Not in this case,’ said Lineham, producing the search warrant. He held it out to her but she refused to budge and he was forced to advance and hold it out for her inspection.
She gave it only the most cursory of glances, then shrugged. ‘Go ahead,’ she said. ‘Search all you like.’
‘Before we do, there are one or two questions we want to ask,’ said Thanet. Normally at this point in an interview he would attempt to make it less confrontational by suggesting they sit down but a brief glance around the room convinced him he would prefer to remain standing. Both the cushion on the only armchair and the stained and filthy cover on the sofa repelled rather th
an invited relaxation. Besides, Marah Swain gave the impression that she would in any case have refused to budge. Her solid bulk looked as though it had almost taken root in the spot where she was standing.
‘About Caroline Mintar,’ he said.
‘Oh, her,’ she said, and spat on the floor.
The gobbet landed near Lineham’s foot and Thanet awarded him full marks for self-restraint; the sergeant didn’t even flinch.
The light pouring in through the doorway was briefly blotted out and Thanet glanced back over his shoulder to see what was going on. Mintar was now standing just inside the room. Obviously his need to know what was happening had got the better of him. Thanet hoped he was going to keep his promise and stay out of the proceedings. ‘Yes, her,’ he said, turning back to face the old woman.
‘The bitch!’ she said.
‘It has always been understood that she and your son went away together, but we’ve now spoken to him—’
‘To Dick?’ For the first time, her expression altered. It was avid with curiosity. ‘You talked to Dick?’
‘Yes, this morning. And he tells us—’
‘How is he? Is he all right?’
‘All in good time, Miss Swain. He told me that Caroline never turned up that night and he went away without her. We know that she was delayed, but that she left home as intended. We assume that when she didn’t find him at their prearranged meeting place, she would have come here looking for him.’
‘Well, you assume wrong! And even if she had, I’d have sent her packing!’
Thanet’s heart sank. The woman was lying, he was certain of it. This wasn’t looking good for Caroline.
Marah Swain was still speaking. ‘If it hadn’t been for her, my Dick would never have gone away and left me.’ She stopped suddenly and looked at Mintar, and an expression of extreme malevolence narrowed her eyes and twisted her mouth. ‘Your Dick too, eh, lover?’
It took a few moments for the implications to sink in.
Mintar, Dick Swain’s father?
Dead and Gone Page 24
