Tiger Blood (DS Webber Mystery Book 2)

by Penny Grubb

  ‘If Pamela knew more than she let on about her husband’s death,’ Ahmed said, ‘maybe Drake and Stevenson knew about it. I had no hint of anything untoward from Michael Drake. Pamela was just a good friend who’s sadly no longer with us.’

  ‘What did Kowalski think of Robert Morgan?’ Suzie asked.

  ‘She didn’t like him; thought Pamela had thrown away a university place because of him, Cambridge at that, and believe me, in China Kowalski’s world that’s a biggie.’

  ‘Big enough to be a motive to kill him?’ Suzie spoke the words as though trying them for size.

  Webber pulled a face. ‘I don’t think so. I mean I’ve seen worse done for flimsier motives …’ Worse? Ahmed felt his eyebrows rise … ‘but no, I don’t much like it as a theory. The teacher Meyer said the group fought a lot but never anything physical.’

  ‘I guess we should get back to him.’ Ahmed made a note as he spoke. ‘Check out her story against his recollections. Michael Drake too.’

  ‘I’ve spoken to Meyer. I rang him on my way back yesterday.’ Ahmed was aware that Suzie tensed in annoyance. He felt the same. Webber might have been the only one on hand to tackle Kowalski but he needn’t have butted in on Meyer again. It was as though he didn’t want anyone else talking directly to the man. ‘The university thing,’ Webber went on. ‘Kowalski, Gary Yeatman and Pamela Morgan all had places at Cambridge. Edith Stevenson tried but didn’t get in. Kowalski told me that Drake had a place at Oxford. Meyer says not. He was pretty sure Drake was advised against applying to Oxbridge. He can’t remember if he did but said he wouldn’t have got in. And in the end he didn’t go on to university at all.’

  ‘Because he married Tina Tippet.’

  ‘Well, that’s another thing I got from Kowalski. According to her Tina Tippet was pregnant when they married. An old-fashioned shotgun wedding. She was convinced Michael Drake must have resented his wife for stopping his career in its tracks.’

  ‘That’s not how it comes across,’ said Ahmed.

  ‘No, I don’t think it’s how it was. Drake landed on his feet in the Tippet’s firm. Tippet senior was glad to have him. He was a better prospect for the firm than Brad.’

  ‘And I didn’t think Drake had any children.’

  ‘Kowalski said Tina miscarried. I wonder if it was a face saving thing for Drake. Once he knew he wouldn’t be going to any university, he told the quintets he’d given up a place at Oxford.’

  ‘Could he have got away with that?’ Suzie said.

  Webber nodded. ‘I ran the idea past Meyer. He said Pamela would have seen through it but she might have backed him up all the same. And if Pamela said she believed something, the rest of them followed suit. Kowalski mentioned the Yeatmans too. She was at Gary’s funeral. She told me Pamela had sung their praises about the way they’d helped her after Robert’s death. You were right, Ayaan, Pamela Morgan didn’t know Joyce Yeatman well before Gary died. Kowalski thought they’d become closer afterwards for mutual support, both husbands dying suddenly.’

  ‘Did Kowalski know that Yeatman’s death was classified as suicide?’ Ahmed asked.

  Webber narrowed his eyes. ‘I got the impression she’d known but had forgotten. I also thought she might have contradicted me if she’d had the energy, tried to argue foul play for him too. But it was Pamela’s death that was the important thing for her. So what about Joyce Yeatman? We know she doesn’t talk about her husband’s death as suicide but there might be all sorts of reasons for that. What did you get on that, Ayaan?’

  ‘Uh … well …’ Ahmed tried to gather his thoughts. He wanted to be back across the corridor listening to Davis, not discussing ancient history with Webber. ‘Frankly the suicide verdict looks dodgy to me. It’s all based on his note which isn’t exactly clear. I haven’t found anything to back up the financial problems. Oh, and you know Mrs Yeatman seems to have had a big insurance pay out. I asked about it and she was cagey.’

  ‘Cagey? How do you mean?’

  He’d tried to read Joyce Yeatman. In some ways she’d come across as transparent, in others he hadn’t been so sure. ‘It was as though I was touching indelicate ground; her profiting from her husband’s death. She said he didn’t kill himself, said the verdict was a nonsense. She’d have challenged it but there was no point. It wouldn’t bring him back. That’s when I asked about the insurance. Accidental death … suicide … it can make a difference.’

  Webber nodded. ‘Oh, and I got an interesting snippet about Tilly Brown,’ he said. ‘If Kowalski had Pamela on a pedestal, Tilly Brown was on a higher one.’ Webber outlined what he’d heard.

  ‘Edith Stevenson said Tilly Brown had been eaten by tigers?’ Suzie said. ‘What would have made her say that?’

  ‘Will Jones,’ replied Webber. ‘Turns out Edith Stevenson knew Will Jones even back then and he was already involved in campaigns against circus animals.’

  Ahmed whistled through his teeth. ‘That’s a turn up. So Jones was around the quintets longer than we thought.’

  ‘And he was the result of quite a bit of in-fighting. It went under Meyer’s radar because it happened outside school. Michael Drake fell out with Edith Stevenson, he thought Jones was an idiot. Kowalski clearly thought much the same. She told me she recalled advising Stevenson to steer clear of trouble.’

  ‘How about Yeatman?’ Ahmed asked.

  ‘Seems Gary Yeatman was the peacemaker in this one, but Kowalski told me he didn’t like Will Jones either. None of them did.’

  ‘Except Edith Stevenson,’ murmured Suzie.

  Webber looked at her. ‘Kowalski said she didn’t think Stevenson thought much of him either, just let him hang around. The last time she remembers seeing him was at a reunion in 1985, the year before Morgan died. She told me Stevenson had told them she was fed up with Jones and his campaigning. He shouldn’t have been at the do, it wasn’t his school. As far as Kowalski remembered, Jones had tagged along as Edith’s plus one. She and Yeatman were ready to throw him out and it was Michael Drake and Pamela Morgan who stopped them. Anyway …’ Ahmed saw Webber glance at the clock. Maybe they’d be allowed back in time to get the nub of Davis’s briefing after all. ‘There’s some kind of mess of motives in all that lot that need unravelling. Jones and Morgan. It’s all on tape, my chat with Kowalski. They’ll have uploaded it by now. I think those were the headlines.’

  ‘Why would Michael Drake and Pamela Morgan pitch in on Will Jones’s side?’

  Ahmed shot Suzie a furious glare. It was all on the tape. Why was she keeping Webber talking?

  Webber nodded. ‘Didn’t like him but didn’t want to see him publically humiliated is the way she remembers it.’

  ‘And the rocking horse?’

  Ahmed felt his jaw tighten. They’d never get away if she kept on with the irrelevant questions.

  ‘Yes, I mentioned it. It certainly got a reaction. She was … how can I put it … as though I was accusing her of something. It made me wonder if she’d been responsible for the broken saddle all those years ago. She said “That’s got nothing to do with Pamela.” She was cagey, didn’t want to talk about it. It was odd.’

  When they were finally let go, it was to return to a rapidly emptying office. Ahmed’s gaze raced across the boards and desks, looking for new names, new ideas, anything to give a clue about what had been happening.

  He sidestepped the crowd, losing Suzie and cornering the colleague most likely to leak details. ‘What’s the latest?’ he hissed.

  In answer, he found himself on the receiving end of a friendly punch on the arm and a whispered, ‘Still no name, but we’re not far off now.’

  He turned to see Suzie beckoning. She had claimed the corner by the radiator as everyone else bustled away. ‘Ayaan, quick before we’re disturbed. I need to get you up to speed. You know where I was yesterday.’

  ‘No, I don’t.’ He spoke with a level of indignation thinking of the briefing he’d had to keep away from so as not to betray her absence.

&
nbsp; ‘Yes, you do. I was at the hospital. And you know who else was there?’

  ‘Who?’

  She gave a tut of impatience. ‘Come on, Ayaan. Wake up! We want the inside story. Who’s going to be in just the right frame of mind to dish the dirt? And what better way to get it than to catch her when she’s at her most vulnerable? Tiffany Drake, of course.’

  Chapter 39

  Ahmed tensed. Suzie was flirting with professional suicide. He wondered if he would be able to steer clear of the fall-out when it came. Behind her head, beyond glass panels that cut out all sound, the group that contained both Davis and Webber shifted around as it focused on something Ahmed couldn’t see. Webber pulled a face. Davis looked up, said something. Ahmed saw his lips shape themselves around the words Boots Boy. He could be imagining it, but his lip-reading was good and Boots Boy was a term he’d heard tossed about. Boots Boy … something … streetwise… He grasped at the straws knowing he had barely got his finger ends on to anything solid.

  ‘Uh … yeah … OK.’ He murmured a response to a half heard comment from Suzie. She was going to have him sitting with earphones on all day making sense of Webber’s talk with Dr China. He mustn’t feel annoyed with her. Webber was right about all that stuff the year before Robert Morgan died; Will Jones had been involved for way longer than they’d realised. It had a bearing.

  Will Jones had become their prime suspect for Robert Morgan’s murder. Gary Yeatman might also have been involved. The problem was that it left them chasing dead guys. And nothing he’d heard filled the gaping hole labelled ‘motive’; mild dislike of Robert Morgan didn’t fit with such a brutal killing.

  Of course Edith Stevenson was still alive and well. According to what Webber had said, she had wanted to be rid of Jones. The tiger stunt had certainly done that for her, but it hadn’t needed Robert Morgan’s death. He had no idea what her role might have been 30 years ago, but hadn’t lost his certainty that she had a role to play in something right now and nearer to home.

  ‘How did Michael Drake react to what Tiffany did?’ Suzie asked him. He pulled his gaze back to her. The conclave across the corridor was breaking up. ‘I mean was he angry, upset, indifferent … what?’

  Ahmed shook his head. ‘Angry upset I suppose best describes it. By the time I got there, he was in shock, physically. His body was shutting down. They were seriously worried about him. If he hadn’t grabbed the phone he might have collapsed and that would have been the last of them both.’

  ‘That’s a point,’ said Suzie. ‘Find his emergency call, listen to that. I’d like to know. Tiffany told me he’d been really angry with her for what she’d done.’

  ‘Can you blame him?’

  ‘Have you any impression of how he feels about her? It was clearly never a love match, I’ve had the story from her, but she’s a player. Tiffany Drake is very much out for number one.’

  Takes one to know one, Ahmed thought as he went over his brief interactions with the Drakes. ‘I think he cares about her more than she cares for him. She seemed to resent having to rely on him. I’ve only met her the once. Do you know where she went when she left hospital?’

  Suzie shot him a warning look. He became aware of Davis approaching. Suzie pointed towards the headset lying on the desk. ‘We need to concentrate on that reunion a year before Robert Morgan’s death …’ She stopped as though just aware of Davis and looked up at him.

  ‘OK?’ he said. ‘How’s it going?’ but even as he turned his attention to the screen and paperwork in front of them, Ahmed could see that his mind was elsewhere.

  Suzie pointed at the headset, outlining their plans to go through Webber’s encounter, ferret out the nuances of what China Kowalski had said. She settled into her seat as she began to expand the detail. Ahmed ducked his head to hide a smile as Davis held up his hand to stem the flow. ‘Yes, yes, good. You carry on. I’ll catch up later.’

  Suzie’s stare tracked his departure. ‘Right, that’s got shot of him. If he comes sniffing round, tie him up in the psychology of it all. He won’t stick around for that. How old would they have been at that reunion?’

  ‘Uh … 29. Yes, it was the year before the tiger stunt.’

  ‘Why 29? Wouldn’t you normally wait for a round number, like 30?’

  ‘China Kowalski was going to Malaysia. It was the last time they’d all be together in England.’ As he spoke Ahmed realised he’d paid better attention to Webber’s account than he’d thought. It had been Suzie’s attention that had wandered. ‘But as it went they were all together the next year; solidarity with Saint Pamela at Robert’s funeral.’ He nodded his head towards the door where Davis had disappeared. ‘Why the diversion? What aren’t we telling him?’

  ‘I’m going to have a dig around the records on the first Mrs Michael Drake. I didn’t like what I was hearing yesterday. I’m not seeing a link yet but we have Pamela Morgan’s husband targeted for no good reason. What if someone has it in for Michael Drake’s wives?’

  ‘If that’s a possibility, then shouldn’t we be alerting someone, not keeping quiet?’

  Suzie blew out a breath and shook her head. ‘Not after the way I got to know stuff yesterday. I might have been sailing close to the wind lately …’ She patted her stomach, ‘but I’m not ready to throw myself under the disciplinary express just yet.’

  ‘So where’s she gone, Tiffany Drake?’ Ahmed returned to the topic Davis had interrupted.

  ‘I don’t know. It was one of the first things I asked but she skirted round it. The best part of an hour and some strong coffees later I’d got her talking. I’d listened to her sodding life story, then we were getting on to the nitty gritty when the nurse came in.’

  ‘Hang on a minute. Michael said she hadn’t been allowed visitors. How did you get to see her?’

  ‘I know some of the medics. I used to work the rape crisis centre. They let me slip in. As far as Tiffany’s concerned I was just another patient in a hospital gown. I think she thought I was an attempted suicide too. She didn’t ask much, just wanted to talk … well, complain. The thing is, when I first went in she was asleep. Her records were there. I wanted to know about this mystery illness she’s supposed to have.’

  Ahmed felt his eyes widen as he swallowed involuntarily.

  ‘I know, I know,’ said Suzie, watching him. ‘If it comes out, I’m dead meat, but can you imagine trying to get at her medical records through official channels? I wasn’t letting that chance go by. Not that I was expecting to find anything. And I didn’t. Not really. But she’s not been making it up. She’s had a whole swathe of things wrong with her. Blurred vision, dizziness, nausea, sensitivity to sunlight, bone pain. None of it explained. She was hospitalised once with what should have been a minor infection. Turned out she hadn’t fought it off because she was immunosuppressed, but they never found out why. Sort of effect you might see in HIV patients or people on chemo.’

  ‘Are you saying it was something she’d taken … or been given?’

  She shrugged. ‘They didn’t find anything. Apparently it can happen, but it’s rare. It’s usually attached to some kind of chronic condition. They just haven’t pinned down what hers is. Or, like you say, it’s something she’s taking but if she’s self-medicating she’s got to have cottoned on by now that it’s not a great idea. I know she’s dabbled with herbal stuff. She told me. But she stopped when it wasn’t doing any good. She’s a real whiner but apparently she wasn’t exaggerating about the pain.

  ‘What if someone’s been feeding her stuff,’ said Ahmed. ‘Like the mystery friend she’s gone to? Michael told me she’d first got ill after staying with her.’ He found himself forming the syllables to say Edith Stevenson, but swallowed the words; mustn’t get obsessed with the woman.

  ‘Yeah, well, that’s why I want to dig a bit more into the first Mrs Drake … just check out what was wrong with her. And at least she’s been dead long enough that I can get at her records without causing a riot.’

  Ahmed looked at
her doubtfully. ‘It’s a long shot. What’s put you on this track?’

  ‘It was something she said. The thing about dabbling in herbal remedies. They hadn’t been married long. She said it was the first time she’d seen him angry. She suggested something or got something from somewhere. He went apeshit, said his first wife had lost a child through messing about with her own medicines.’

  ‘It’s a long time ago, Suzie. And it’s a bit tenuous.’

  ‘I know, I know. I can’t quite put my finger on it but get this; she wasn’t into herbal stuff before she married him. Someone talked her into it, advised her to give it a try. When I asked who, she said she wasn’t sure, but soon after that she went quiet – this is the woman who hadn’t stopped complaining since she woke up. It was like something had clicked. I have a feeling she remembered exactly who was involved in the herbal stuff. She changed tack, and started repeating what she’d said at the start, that she wasn’t going back to her husband; she was going to stay with a friend, only now she wasn’t sounding so sure. The way she said it, I think she was linking homespun remedies with who knows what in her head. She was having second thoughts, and if I’d had just a few minutes longer with her I think she’d have told me just what was bothering her and where she was planning to go.’

  ‘Why did she marry him? You said you’d had the full story.’

  ‘She went all round the houses about it, but what it boils down to is that she thought he was older and sicker than he is. He wanted someone to look after him. He has no family. She was working as a carer, badly paid, thought why not take on a longerterm job and get some real money out of it. She didn’t dislike him. They both went into it with their eyes open.’