Harry gave him a sorrowful look. ‘Not a good idea. Even if it was, you’re too late. I told the police I left you at half nine. Time enough to put us both in the frame.’
‘Oh fucking hell! Thanks very much!’
Brett jumped out of his chair and began to pace around the room. ‘I wouldn’t mind betting that they’re battering their way into my place even as we speak. I can’t go back there now. I’ll have to keep driving.’
‘You’re overreacting. Of course they want to talk to you. Mitch Eggar isn’t stupid. You’re a possible suspect. Me too, come to that. But they’re not going to bang up a solicitor without plenty of hard evidence. A claim for damages for wrongful imprisonment would bring tears to the eyes of the police authority treasurer. I reckon we’re safe as long as we don’t do anything stupid. Like doing a moonlight flit.’
‘That’s what you reckon, is it?’ Brett came up close to him, standing there with his hands on hips. ‘You’re satisfied that I’m innocent?’
‘Aren’t you?’
Brett’s face turned crimson. He waved an arm angrily, knocking over a pile of files. ‘For Christ’s sake! Whose side are you on!’ he shouted.
Harry stood up. ‘I take it that means “yes”? Then why don’t you stop acting as if you have something to hide?’
The door was flung open. ‘Everything all right in here?’ Jim demanded from the corridor.
‘Fine, fine,’ Harry said hastily.
As Jim stepped into the room, he saw Brett and raised bushy eyebrows. ‘Hello, old son. I wondered what was happening when I heard the raised voices. You’re not consulting my partner for legal advice, by any chance?’
‘He’s not that desperate,’ Harry said. ‘Things are a bit fraught this afternoon, that’s all.’
‘So I gather. What’s this Suzanne tells me about you and the police?’
‘I decided to pay Nerys Horlock a visit. Only one drawback. She was dead.’
Jim swore. ‘You pick your moments, don’t you? What’s the story?’
Harry ran through what he had gleaned from Mitch Eggar. ‘He’s playing his cards close to his chest. Can’t blame him for that. She may have died during an arson attack. My bet is, she was killed first and the fire started to cover up the crime.’
‘Then why were you given a grilling?’
‘Brett and I were together last night. But I left his place before Nerys was killed.’
‘Wonderful,’ Jim said heavily.
‘No-one could seriously suspect Harry,’ Brett snapped.
‘I’d better take that as a compliment,’ Harry said.
‘You see, it’s different for me. Why beat about the bush? It’s too late for that. I hated them both. They ruined my life.’ Brett expelled a breath. ‘Fact is, I’m glad they’re dead.’
‘Can’t fault you for honesty,’ Jim said, ‘but if I were you, old son, I’d be a tad more discreet when the police interview you.’
‘I’m not sure about talking to the police,’ Brett said, running his hand wildly through his hair. ‘I don’t want to find myself fitted up.’
‘Come on now,’ Harry said. ‘That isn’t going to happen.’
‘You can be so fucking naïve at times! Of course it could happen. You’re a lawyer, you’ve seen what goes on, just as much as I have.’ Brett wagged a finger at Harry. ‘I’ll tell you something. It isn’t going to happen to me. I’ve been screwed around already more than enough for one lifetime.’
With that, he strode quickly out of the room. Harry made as if to follow him, but his partner laid a restraining hand on his arm. ‘Let him go. He’ll calm down soon enough.’
‘You think so?’
‘He always had a temper. The slightest thing could set him off. So what on earth were you and he up to together last night?’
‘He took me for a ride in his taxi.’ Harry grinned at his partner’s expression of bafflement. ‘Didn’t you know? He’s decided to turn an honest penny, so he’s jacked in the law and become a cabbie.’
‘After our last meeting at the bank, I can see the temptation.’
‘Me too. I bumped into him after he’d just had a row with his girlfriend. Who happens to be Andrea Gibbs, by the way. Ever come across her? Slinky, dark-haired girl. Used to work for Symons, Horlock and Young. Now she’s chained to a telephone hot-line over at Queen’s Dock. He offered me a lift, we got talking and finished up at his place. You’re right, of course, he is a twitchy bugger. He almost throttled me when I teased him about her.’
‘You think he could have killed Carl and Nerys, then?’
Harry rubbed the bristles on his chin. ‘I suppose the answer has to be yes. And he’s bound to be the prime suspect so far as the police are concerned.’
‘You don’t sound altogether convinced.’
‘Correct. There’s another way of looking at all this, isn’t there?’
‘Which is?’
‘Two of Brett’s former partners have been killed in the space of forty-eight hours. If he isn’t the culprit, he might just be the next victim.’
Chapter Twelve
‘I can’t believe she’s dead,’ Suki Anwar said.
In the hubbub of the Maritime Bar, Harry had to lean close to hear her low voice. His bar stool wobbled dangerously and she put a hand on it to steady him. He was conscious of her proximity, of her perfume.
The place was packed with people in suits. This was where the city’s young professionals came after a hard week’s fee-earning to spend a slice of their profit shares on over-priced Harvey Wallbangers. In one corner, a group of stockbrokers were chortling about an insider trading scam, in another half a dozen partners from Boycott Duff were toasting the liquidation of one of the city’s oldest ship repair companies. Three hundred people out of work; a dozen smaller suppliers out of pocket and on their uppers; another slice of the city’s history gone for ever. But the legal fees would pay a year’s alimony for the partners’ ex-wives. Harry could hear Rick Spendlove braying with laughter, telling old jokes about the sure signs of an insolvent company: personalised number plates on the directors’ Mercs, an aquarium in the reception area, a flagpole in the car park.
‘Did you know her well?’
She withdrew her hand, gave him a wary look. ‘I suppose you could say that we were good friends. At least, once upon a time.’
‘You had a disagreement?’
‘It was silly. Something and nothing.’ She said it so quickly that he guessed she was underplaying the extent of the rift. ‘I suppose we were both to blame. And now we can never make it up. I’ll always regret that.’
‘No point in regretting the things we left unsaid,’ Harry said, more brusquely than he had intended.
She put her glass down on the counter and gave him an enquiring look. ‘Are you thinking about your wife? She was murdered, wasn’t she? Someone told me. I’m sorry. It must have been dreadful for you.’
‘I survived.’
Her gaze became intense. He felt as if she were trying to hypnotise him. ‘Yes,’ she said softly, ‘but you’ve never found anyone else, have you? Not long-term. The way I heard it, your wife left you a couple of years before she died. A long time ago, but you’ve never lived with anyone since then.’
He looked away for a moment. Even in the overheated bar, he felt a chill on his spine. ‘You’ve been checking up on me.’
‘Don’t be cross,’ she said. ‘We’d bumped into each other in court on the odd occasion, but I knew very little about you. When I heard you were the one who discovered Carl’s body, naturally I was curious. So I asked around and learned a few things, okay?’
‘Such as?’
‘Seems like you’re a dangerous person to know. I gather you have a habit of getting involved with murders.’
‘Everyone tells me I’m too inquisitive for my own good. This afternoon, I realised they were right.’
‘What happened?’
‘I popped over to Nerys’s office hoping to have a word with her. Bef
ore I knew what was happening, I found myself under interrogation.’
‘The office grapevine has been working overtime today. We were still struggling to take in the news of Carl’s death when someone got word that Nerys had been murdered.’
‘I suppose there’s no doubt it was murder?’
‘The police seem pretty sure, by all accounts. But they’re playing their cards very close to their chest. They don’t trust us, you know. We’re supposed to be on the same side, but you’d never guess it.’
‘They think you’re too soft, eh?’
‘Of course. We insist on evidence before we launch into a prosecution. Gut feel isn’t enough. You might think Carl was pretty hard-nosed, but even he didn’t take enough cases to court so far as the police were concerned. I don’t think they shed too many tears when he was killed.’
‘Did anyone?’
‘If they did, they composed themselves soon enough,’ she said grimly. ‘Tell you something. They don’t trust us on this one. I don’t think they’re giving us the full story about Carl’s murder.’
‘Which was why you wanted to pump me last night?’
She laughed nervously. ‘Oh dear. Was I so obvious?’
‘Tell you the truth, I did wonder why you called me this afternoon, if not to quiz me about Nerys’s death. Do you want to check whether I can tell you something the police are keeping quiet?’
She hung her head. ‘I’m sorry.’
‘No problem. I’m sure you’ve already been told, I’m a nosey parker myself. It’d be hypocritical for me to complain that you’re asking questions about things that don’t concern you. I do it constantly.’
‘I wouldn’t say Carl’s death doesn’t concern me.’ She was striving for a tone of lawyerly detachment, but not quite achieving it. ‘We worked together, don’t forget. I reported to him. As for Nerys, like I said, she’d been a friend.’
‘How did you meet?’
‘Oh, in court one day, I suppose.’ She made a vague gesture with her hands. No rings on her fingers, he noticed. ‘Does it matter?’
‘Maybe not. I can’t help you much, though. Mitch Eggar told me as little as possible and, frankly, my main concern was to persuade him that I had nothing to do with either death. I don’t have an alibi in either case, you see.’
‘Careless of you.’ She smiled, then asked with an elaborate lack of concern that he found unconvincing, ‘How was she killed?’
‘Mitch wouldn’t say. There’s obviously something he’s keen to keep back.’
She nodded. ‘Just like the Symons murder.’
He wondered whether to mention the decapitation, but decided to hold his tongue. No need for her to risk nightmares about what had happened to her erstwhile friend Nerys Horlock. And, it occurred to him, it was possible that she knew already, or had at least heard rumours. Perhaps the purpose of her questions was simply to test the extent of his own knowledge. But why would she want to do that?
‘You’d better watch out,’ she said, teasing him with mock solemnity. ‘The killer might think you know more than you admit. Has it crossed your mind that you might be next?’
He said slowly, ‘You think there will be another victim?’
She gave an artless smile. ‘You’re the murder expert, you tell me. But one thing seems clear. Two solicitors dead in the space of a couple of days. Looks as though someone out there doesn’t like us.’
‘Remember, those two people used to be partners in the same firm.’
She blinked at him. ‘You think that’s significant?’
‘No idea. But if I were Brett Young, I’d be looking over my shoulder.’
‘He had some sort of breakdown, didn’t he? Nerys used to say he brought all his problems on himself. She wasn’t sympathetic.’
‘Sympathy wasn’t something Nerys was famous for.’
Suki frowned. ‘She wore a lot of armour, but she could be kind. Trouble is, she always knew best, had to do things her way. To her, Brett Young was a weakling. I even wonder if…’
‘Yes?’
‘Oh, it’s nothing.’
‘Go on. Tell me.’ He was sure she wanted to.
‘I was only going to say that I’d thought of Brett as a likely victim. Then it crossed my mind that it’s just as logical to regard him as a possible culprit.’
‘I’m sure that has already occurred to the police. I was with Brett in my office when you called this afternoon.’
She stared. ‘You and he are friends?’
‘I wouldn’t say that. But I bumped into him last night after the Legal Group meeting. He was intending to pick up Andrea Gibbs. You know her?’
Suki nodded. ‘She trained with Nerys and Brett, didn’t she? A strange girl. Nerys said there was something spooky about her, nicknamed her Lady Macbeth.’
‘They didn’t hit it off, then?’
‘Nerys was so focused on her own career, she never had much time for anyone who wasn’t. Andrea was very bright, according to Nerys. If you wanted to know the chapter and verse of legislation, she was fine. But wasn’t it John Mortimer who said that what you need to succeed in the law is common sense and clean fingernails? Nerys said she was a dreamer, spent too much of her time with her head in books. I didn’t know she was still seeing Brett.’
‘For all I know, it may be finished after last night. They had a row.’
‘What’s Brett doing now?’
‘Driving a private hire car.’
‘Jesus.’
‘Quite a career change, yes? But I’m interested in why you think Brett might have hated Nerys so much that he would want to murder her.’
‘She once told me that she didn’t have a conscience,’ Suki whispered. Her eyes were downcast. With so much noise all around, he had to move closer to her to be able to hear the words. ‘She used to boast about it, but it wasn’t true. We all - know when we’ve done wrong, don’t we?’
He wondered what was on her mind. ‘I think so, yes.’
‘I’m sure she felt guilty about Brett. When their partnership broke up, she sided with Carl Symons. Much as she despised him, she thought he had a better business brain than Brett. Which wouldn’t have been difficult, from what she told me.’
‘She and Carl stitched Brett up, didn’t they? He took on the major liabilities of the firm. They walked away and lived to appear in court another day.’
Suki frowned. ‘I don’t know the details. If you’ve been talking to Brett, remember he’s not exactly impartial.’
‘Sure, but what he told me isn’t far off the mark, is it?’
‘Maybe not. Nerys and Carl hadn’t earned much, but they weren’t ruined and they were able to put it down to experience.’
‘Leaving Brett bankrupt.’
‘Nerys realised Brett had a raw deal. Of course, you could say it was his own fault. Everything that happened was perfectly legal.’
‘And your theory is that he resented her - and Carl - so much that he killed them in revenge?’
Suki shrugged. ‘Nerys used to say he was always a bit strange. He was obsessed with the idea of being a solicitor. The status meant so much to him. God knows why. All I do know is that I can’t think of a better explanation for the killings. Can you?’
‘Talking murder, are we?’ Rick Spendlove demanded. ‘All right, then, Harry, you’re the amateur sleuth. Whodunit?’
Harry had noticed Rick elbowing his way over to them. He nudged people aside with the same disdain he’d shown when shrugging off the tackles in his rugger days. And he hadn’t spilled a drop of his gin and tonic. Now he was studying the curve of Suki’s bosom with an interest apparently undiminished by her rebuff of the previous evening.
‘You’ve heard about Nerys?’ Harry asked.
‘Too right. Amazing, eh?’ Rick hiccupped. It was barely seven o’clock, but already he was talking loudly and Harry saw Suki wince as he breathed alcohol all over her. ‘I mean, who would have dared to murder Cruella herself? Plenty of people thought about doing he
r in over the years, I’m sure of that. But who would have the courage to go through with it? Extraordinary.’
‘She’s dead,’ Suki hissed. ‘Why don’t you shut your big mouth?’
‘Oh, excuse me,’ Rick said loudly. ‘Put my foot in it, have I? Mea culpa, as presumably they say in Bootle magistrates’. I certainly didn’t mean to offend the lovely Ms Anwar.’
She stood up. ‘Thanks for talking to me, Harry. But I’d better be going before I say something I regret.’
Rick put a hand on her wrist and treated her to a broad smile. ‘Hey, no need to be like that. Don’t run off. Let me make it up to you. What would you like to drink?’
She jerked his hand away. ‘Get your grubby paw off me, you shit.’
‘Now, now.’ Rick swayed slightly. ‘No need to get personal, darling. After all, you know what they say about people who live in glass houses.’
‘What do you mean?’ she demanded.
‘Leave it, Suki,’ Harry said. ‘He’s had a skinful, he doesn’t know what he’s saying.’
‘You don’t think so?’ Rick asked. He put his glass down on the table and wagged his finger in Harry’s face. ‘Listen, matey, I could tell you a thing or two about your lady friend.’
‘Look, Rick. In the nicest possible way, why don’t you piss off home and dry out?’
‘The knight in shining armour, are we? What’s the idea, fancy getting into her knickers, do you? Well, take a tip from me. Keep an eye out for the tattoo on her bum.’ Rick grinned broadly. A crowd was beginning to gather round them and, as ever, he was relishing the chance to be centre stage. ‘A single rose, very charming, I believe, though I haven’t had the pleasure of checking it out myself. Mind you, hope springs eternal.’
Suki picked up the glass of gin and tonic and threw the contents into Rick’s face. ‘You fucking bastard! I wish it was acid!’
Rick staggered backwards and lost his balance. As Harry watched, paralysed by dismay, Suki stood over Rick and spat on his face. As the gin and saliva trickled down his cheek, she uttered a choking sob and pushed her way with blind fury through the forest of suits in the direction of the door to the street.
First Cut is the Deepest (Harry Devlin) Page 15
