by John Harvey
I hung up my coat and hat and followed her through the door she had opened. It was a good pastime. I thought that I could get used to it. Following her, I mean.
I was wondering whether I would ever catch her up, when some guy thrust his hand at me and I found myself shaking it and looking up into a handsome enough face. Handsome enough for a fiftyish man who’s allowed himself to go soft and who has lines and dark patches under his eyes from missing too much sleep.
‘I am Crosby Blake, Mr Mitchell.’
I felt like telling him that I didn’t think he was Santa Claus, but somehow I didn’t figure my sense of humour would be appreciated.
‘Would you like a drink, Mr Mitchell? It’s a cold evening.’
It was and I accepted a large scotch. Stephanie poured it and she made her move towards the drinks trolley a shade before he asked her if she would mind. Obviously a girl with a good knowledge of her own duties.
I sat down in an armchair that sank so low I had the feeling I was about to pass through space. I sipped at the scotch and looked across the room at my new employer.
Crosby Blake was around fifty years old right enough, but maybe I’d misjudged the softness. There was something about the set of his body that suggested a time in his life when he had to fight for what he had got.
He was a little under six foot in height, with a head of dark hair allowed to grow fashionably long so that it brushed against the edge of his collar. His mouth was the only really troubling feature about him. Somehow the lips were too thin, the tightness too controlled. I wasn’t sure what it made me think, but whatever it was I didn’t like it.
‘Miss Miller will not have told you of the events the night that Cathy disappeared. I had better begin there.’
He waited to see if I was going to say anything. I wasn’t.
He carried on. The story he gave was basically the same as that I had got from Gilmour. I said so.
‘You mean you went to the police before coming to me?’ he asked, affronted.
‘Sure,’ I replied.
‘Do you think that was necessary?’ he asked.
‘If I hadn’t thought that, Mr Blake, I wouldn’t have wasted my time doing it.’ I put down my glass and leaned forward. ‘I’m a professional and what you’re buying when you buy me is my professional ability. Which means that I use my own judgment and do things in my way. Or I don’t do them at all.’
I looked hard at those tired eyes and saw something begin to flicker deep within them.
‘Just so long as that’s clear,’ I said.
I allowed myself to sink back in my chair. I felt better for that. Crosby Blake obviously didn’t. He wasn’t used to being spoken to in that tone of voice and right now he was trying to work out whether he should snap back at me or sit there and take it.
He finally decided that he was going to take it—for now.
From the corner of my eye I could see that Stephanie was looking at us with some interest. She wasn’t used to seeing anyone talk to him like that, either. What I couldn’t tell was whether she approved or not.
‘May I ask you, then, Mr Mitchell, why you allowed me to go through the story once again?’ The voice was calm, easy—restrained.
‘I would have thought the reason was fairly obvious,’ I told him. I was beginning to. enjoy this.
He looked at me and the thing that had shown in his eyes was more obvious now. It was temper. Pure temper. I wondered how long he would be able to keep himself under wraps if I kept needling him. But maybe now wasn’t the best of times to find out.
‘You wanted to see if there was any interesting discrepancy between my version to you and the one you got from the police.’
Smart boy, I thought.
‘Right,’ I said. There wasn’t much point in pushing my luck right now.
‘And are you satisfied?’ he asked.
I nodded my head. ‘Perhaps you could tell me about the ransom demand?’ I asked.
He said he would.
‘And could I refill my glass,’ I said, holding it up.
Stephanie Miller was quick on her feet. She took the glass from my hand, giving me a strange half-smile.
‘Let me, Mr Mitchell. We don’t want you overusing your professional abilities, do we?’
‘The phone went at exactly seven in the morning,’ Blake began, ‘and I went to answer it. I was anxious, naturally. I thought it might be Cathy. It wasn’t, of course.
‘At first I didn’t think it was anybody. There was this silence that I thought would break when the person at the other end put the phone down. A wrong number or something like that.
‘But nothing happened. I became conscious of someone breathing. It was really most unpleasant. Then he spoke. It was an odd voice, rather muffled and unclear—afterwards I realised that the person was probably talking through a handkerchief or something like that in order to disguise his voice.’
I thought he could leave the detective work to me. I said, ‘What did he say?’
Crosby Blake blinked across the room, glanced at Stephanie for a moment, then went on.
‘He said that he had Cathy. That she was all right. That she would stay that way as long as I did what he said.’
‘Which was what?’
‘I was not to talk to anyone about Cathy’s disappearance. If he saw anything about it in the papers or on television then … then …’
He had stopped and a slight tick was bouncing along merrily above his right eye. He shifted his position in the chair, as though he had become suddenly aware that he was sitting in the middle of some wet and nasty mess.
‘And then?’ I prompted him.
‘Then I would never see her alive again. No-one would ever see her alive again.’
The voice had broken into an odd tremble and the nerve above the eye was working overtime. If he kept stopping like this I’d never get to hear all of the story.
Stephanie got up and went over to him.
‘Would you like a drink, Crosby?’ she asked quietly.
Her fingers brushed his shoulder only for a moment, but brush it they did.
I took another dip into my scotch and let the thoughts that were running after one another round my brain have their head. They were sure having fun in there.
Blake took the glass and drained it in one swallow.
‘I’m sorry, Mr Mitchell. This has all been rather a strain for me, I’m afraid. You see, I don’t have any children of my own and Cathy has always been like a … like a daughter to me.’ He paused and looked at me. Suddenly the temper was rising up behind his eyes once more. ‘I feel so helpless, Mr Mitchell, so stupid and helpless. It’s not a feeling I am used to.’
I allowed myself to sink a few more feet down into the chair.
‘Apart from telling no-one, Mr Blake, what other conditions did the man make?’
‘I had to get twenty thousand pounds in used five and one pound notes and have them ready at the house. He would get in touch with me and arrange where I was to leave the money.’
Blake looked up and his face was clearer.
‘That was all?’ I asked.
‘That was all.’
‘But you have seen the police?’
‘That first time, yes. They arrived almost as soon as I had put the phone down from talking to him. There was nothing I could do to stop that happening. But since then, I have only spoken here to the man in charge of the case. Gilmour. I went to the station that is directing the enquiry, but it seemed unlikely that he could be both watching me and the house as well.’
‘If either,’ I said.
‘But he said he would know if I got in touch with the police. That he would kill Cathy if …’
‘He tried to frighten you,’ I interrupted. ‘I would doubt very much if he stuck around here to keep an eye on what was going o
n. No, he’d bank on the media getting hold of it.’
‘Are you certain?’ he asked anxiously.
I stared at him. ‘No.’ I said flatly. ‘In things like this there’s not much you can be certain about. In fact there’s only one certainty when it all comes down to it.’
‘What’s that?’ It was Stephanie’s voice. I had almost managed to forget that she was there. Almost.
I turned to face her. ‘The certainty is death. She could be dead already. She could have already been several hours dead when that man phoned.’
She put her face in her hands. Blake jumped up from his chair and slammed the empty glass down hard on the nearby table. Then he walked over to the corner of the room and busied himself with examining the pattern that was embossed on the wallpaper.
It didn’t occupy his attentions for long.
‘How can you sit there and say that?’ he almost screamed at me.
‘Look, I can say it because I’m talking about a girl whom I’ve never seen and that I don’t know, don’t have any feelings for. I can say it because it’s a possibility, always has been ever since she left this house. I can say it because none of us must allow ourselves to become deluded by the prospect of ever seeing her alive again. I can say it because I can’t afford to have you breaking down at the crucial moment. So you’ve got to face it now and get it over with.’
I stood in the centre of the room and he lifted his face to look at me.
I said: ‘Your niece, Cathy, could well be dead. You have to know that. Know it and, acknowledge it.’
The head was lowered slowly; the voice was no longer either bossy or agitated; it barely travelled the distance between us.
‘I know it.’
We were standing there like that when the door opened and a woman appeared in the doorway. A small woman, rather round, rather dull, rather bewildered. She looked up at me. Her mouth opened, stayed open, then closed without having uttered a sound.
The door closed and she was no longer to be seen. At no time had she looked either at Blake or beyond me to Stephanie.
‘That was Cathy’s mother,’ Blake explained.
I nodded my head. I had known. I was thinking that there were a hell of a lot of things that I didn’t know. And wondering whether I wanted to know them.
Blake walked back to his chair.
‘Shall we sit down again, Mr Mitchell? This must be very wearing for you, walking in upon us while we are all in such a state. Although I imagine you must be used to it in your business?’
In a pig’s eye I was!
I sat down anyway.
‘He’s been in touch with you again?’ I asked.
‘Once. At seven the following day.’
‘That’s today,’ I confirmed.
He looked as though time had lost much meaning for him.
‘Of course,’ he said after a little thought. ‘I’ve been so preoccupied with this business every normal consideration has gone through the window.’
Then what were you doing this afternoon that was so all-fired important that you couldn’t meet me till tonight? I didn’t say it, just thought it. I carried on listening.
Blake carried on talking.
‘He asked whether I had got the money. I told him that I couldn’t lay my hands on that amount so easily. He told me that I had to have it ready by tomorrow.’
‘And can you?’ I shot at him.
‘Yes. I think so. He’s going to call tomorrow with instructions. That’s all I know.’
‘Did he say when he’d call?’
‘No, but up to now it’s been at the same time.’
‘So the police will be waiting to run a trace on him at seven.’
Blake looked confused for a moment. ‘I don’t … I mean, they didn’t say anything to me.’
‘No,’ I said, ‘they wouldn’t. They probably didn’t bother to tell you that the house was being watched either.’
This time he really looked rattled. Even Stephanie looked as though she would have dropped a stitch if she’d been knitting. Not that I could easily envisage her knitting; not for a good few years yet.
‘But that will throw everything away if the kidnapper finds out.’
‘Relax, Blake, that’s one hell of a big if.’
He got up and walked over to the curtains.
‘You’re sure?’ he said.
‘I’m positive. And don’t start twitching with those curtains. If our man is around he’ll probably think you’re making signals. Why don’t you sit down and tell me what you want me to do? I still don’t know.’
‘When the man phones again and tells me what to do … I just thought it would be a good idea if there was somebody here who knows more about this sort of thing … than I do.’
I was one step ahead of him.
‘And if I know the arrangements, I just might be able to think up some way in which you can get back your niece as well as the money. I mean, it’s not that you mind paying it out, but if you could get it back again real quick that would be better.’
Having almost regained his poise, he jumped up again. This guy had enough inner spring to double for Zebedee.
‘That remark makes, me sound a remarkably mean man, Mr Mitchell.’
I stood up, too. It was the growing thing.
‘Not remarkable mean. Ordinary. This place didn’t come from throwing your pennies around. Don’t worry, Mr Blake, nobody’s going to criticise you for trying to hang on to what’s your’s. However you got it.’
I let the last remark drop into the conversation as easily as a final raindrop into a pool. No-one said anything but the looks that passed between Blake and his secretary sure counted for a lot of ripples.
Stephanie stood up as well. Fine. Now we could all practise baton changing or something.
‘All right, Mr Blake, I’m sure Miss Miller made you acquainted with my terms. I’ll be here early in the morning.’
I turned and looked at Stephanie: ‘A couple of slices of brown bread lightly toasted, orange juice and strong coffee. I presume that in these troubled times you stay at the house. In one of the guest rooms, naturally.’
If looks had the power to maim, I would have spent the rest of my life walking around sporting a particularly ugly wound—like a hole in the head. But they didn’t, so I smiled back and headed for the door.
‘Mr Mitchell,’ said Blake, ‘naturally I had assumed that you would stay the night yourself. So as to be here early in the morning.’
I held the handle of the now open door.
‘Don’t worry, sleeping isn’t one of my problems. And thanks for the invitation, but too long in this kind of atmosphere gives me an acute sense of financial claustrophobia.’
As I was saying this, Cathy’s mother appeared in the hall. I said goodbye to Blake and Stephanie and smiled at the worried-looking woman.
‘Hello,’ I said, ‘Mr Blake has just hired me to help with things. I wonder if you could spare me a minute or two of your time?’
She looked confused, as though the last thing she expected was that someone would want to ask her about anything—except where the dinner was.
When it had finally sunk in, she glanced nervously over her shoulder. I could imagine Blake standing behind me in the doorway; I couldn’t quite picture the expression on his face, but I had a pretty good guess at it.
If my guess was anywhere close to being right, then the woman did a brave thing. She opened what turned out to be the door to the kitchen and ushered me in.
As she shut the door quietly behind her, I heard the slamming of another door across the hall.
The eyes still looked bewildered … and something else. They were plain sore from the perpetual crying, the endless rubbing with her hands.
She sat on a stool and I wanted to put my arm round her, hold her hand
for a while. I wondered if anyone had done those very simple, very important things since her daughter had disappeared. I doubted it.
But then neither did I.
‘Mrs … ?’
‘Skelton. My husband’s name was Skelton. My brother wanted me to change it back again after my husband had his accident, but somehow I didn’t like to. I don’t know why. It would have been wrong. A kind of betrayal almost.’
She looked at me and she had the expression of someone who was expecting to be shouted down.
‘Is that silly of me?’ she eventually asked.
‘No,’ I said, ‘I don’t think that’s silly. It might be a little unusual in these days, but it’s none the worse for that.’
I hadn’t held her hand but I had said that and she tried a weak little smile.
‘I wanted to ask you about Cathy, Mrs Skelton. Was she happy? Can you think of any reason why she might have wanted to have run away?’
The look of bewilderment returned.
‘But she didn’t run away, she’s been …’
‘I know, Mrs Skelton, but let’s suppose things were different. Can you see her wanting to run away?’
The mother seemed to shrink far away, back into herself, back into who knows what thoughts.
When she said something at last it was: ‘Of course not. Why, Cathy had everything she wanted here. A nice home, pocket money. She was doing well at school. She had a lot of friends. She …’
I had to interrupt again. I didn’t want to risk big brother coming in too soon.
‘How did she get on with her uncle, Mrs Skelton? What did she think of him?’
‘Oh, Crosby thought the world of Cathy. Always did, right from when she was a little girl. He would do anything for her.’
And right on cue Blake came in. She hadn’t answered my question and I didn’t know if it had been on purpose. I wouldn’t know now. At least, not yet.
Blake was standing there holding a photograph album.
‘With everything else we talked about, Mr Mitchell, I forgot to show you what Cathy looked like. If you would like to take this with you and bring it back in the morning … ?’
He handed me the album and I stood up and accepted it.
‘Don’t worry, Mrs Skelton,’ I said, ‘I’m sure it will all be all right.’
