by John Gardner
‘Bloody interesting,’ Suzie said, sotto voce, and Tommy gave her a sharp look.
‘Going to see Paula today,’ he continued. ‘Just drop in unannounced. Laura, what’s the situation over there? Can we keep obbo on the place, understand you were out there ’til all hours?’
Laura Cotter was quite a wizard at a number of jobs, one of them being surveillance. She was a short dark-haired girl with little dress sense and, according to Billy Mulligan, she could fade into the background with almost chameleon ease. ‘Put her in a crowded room and she becomes the wallpaper. Put her outside a house and she blends into the brickwork across the road,’ Billy had said when giving his pitch to get her into the Reserve Squad.
‘It’s not easy, on the other hand it can be done, back and front.’ Even her voice was quiet and she spoke with minimum movement of the lips. ‘You know that “River Walk” stands on its own and the front of the place has a stand of trees shielding the façade. Well, the address is “River Walk”, River Road. Diagonally across from the house is the corner of a children’s playground that’s gone almost to ruin. Dodgy swings and those chain things on a pole, like a maypole, they’re rusted to blazes. Kids do go up there, but you can get yourself nicely tucked in among the bushes on that corner and the view is straight through the trees, spot on to the drive she uses for her car. Takes in the front door and you can also see if anyone goes round to the side door. I was up there with a pair of night glasses yesterday and it’s great. There’s also a telephone box less than a minute’s walk, through the side gate of the playground.’
‘Good,’ Tommy grinning. ‘Where’d you get night glasses from, Laura?’
‘Did a favour for a naval lieutenant, sir.’
‘Must’ve been a big favour.’
‘It was, sir. Favour of the month.’
Laura Cotter, top of the bill comedienne.
‘Really, and what about the back, Laura?’
‘Oh, it’s fine now, sir. Just twisted it a bit doing the favour.’
Laughter, rolling in the aisles.
‘I mean the back of “River Walk”.’
‘Oh, easier still, Chief. Little coppice about fifty feet from the far boundary of the garden. It’s on higher ground, looks down on the whole place. You can see everything.’
‘And communication?’
‘Not as quick sir, but you can do it and back within seven minutes. Timed it last evening.’
‘Another telephone box?’
‘Yes, sir. Armby Road. Spit and a stride, sir.’
‘Right, Laura, I want you to take Peter and Dennis — Peter Prime and Dennis Free — show them these two obbo spots, lend Dennis your night glasses, will you?’
‘For a small favour, sir. Yes.’
Another little ripple of laughter.
‘Okay. We’re going over with the search warrant for “River Walk”. Just a gentle stroll, all the cars and all of you. Suzie and I’ll go in and have a little chat with Paula and Thetis. Tell her it’s for her own good, having the place searched: Pip on the loose, prowling round, could be thinking of pouncing on her and/or Thetis. Put the wind up her and the girl, find out how much she really knows. Also find out where she’s been.’
There was a murmur and nodding of comprehension from the team.
‘I want you all to stay in the cars. Outside. In plain view. Everyone except Dennis and Peter. Laura’ll show you two around, put you in place so that you can keep the house under surveillance. Got it? Good, do that quietly, don’t make a fuss. Just stay put. We’ll call the rest of you in when we’re ready to do the search. In the unlikely event of me finding some reason to bring Paula and Thetis in to the nick, give ’em a verbal going over, we’ll signal you. That’s unlikely though. Questions?’
There were none.
‘Good. We’ll go in about four this afternoon. Teatime. Hope she’s got a few custard creams in. I’m partial to a nice custard cream. Cool your heels and have lunch and we’ll leave here around three fifteen.’
Suzie suddenly felt cold. Like the shiver you get when they say somebody’s walking over your grave. She felt unhappy about the whole thing but couldn’t tell why. Silly, superstitious rubbish, she told herself.
Chapter Twenty-One
‘You going to tell Mr Tait over at King’s Lynn nick, Chief?’ Molly asked as they went out to the cars, three fifteen in the afternoon, sun shining, birds flying around, as someone once said, just for the hell of it.
‘Not likely. Not prior to going over to King’s Lynn, Molly. Maybe when we get there I’ll get on the blower, just to be courteous.’
‘Bet he’ll know though, Chief. His little dicky bird’s just passing by,’ pointing out Wally Titcombe, cycling through the Market Square and looking their way.
‘Bugger it,’ Tommy said, showing off his university education.
The DCS went in the Wolseley with Suzie, Brian at the wheel. Molly drove Laura, Peter Prime and Dennis Free in the spare car while Doc took Shirley Cox and Ron Worral in the claret-coloured Railton.
They arrived just before four o’clock, Suzie and Tommy getting out of the car, walking up the flagstone path, everyone else staying inside, the cars drawn up so that they blocked the road, not allowing anyone else to get near.
Laura waited until the Chief and Suzie were inside the house, keeping the ladies happy before taking Dennis Free and Peter Prime to the surveillance points. Tommy had already told them they could be in for a long wait.
Paula Palmer opened the door, looking beautifully groomed in a camel skirt and a white blouse with a complicated gold design on it, her hair styled in gleaming waves and rolls circling her head, the hair itself with a sheen to it, smooth, silky. To Suzie she looked like a woman that all men would desire, the kind of woman who men could die for. ‘You’ve brought a lot of your friends, Chief Superintendent,’ she said. ‘Are they coming in, or will they be happy waiting in the cars?’
‘They’ve come to do you a favour, Miss Palmer. But I’d like a word or two first.’
She nodded pleasantly, and pulled the door wide open, with what looked like a benign smile and a twinkle of amusement in her eyes.
Thetis came out of their drawing room, into the hall. She also looked untroubled, not in the least concerned that the police had called again, greeting them as though they were old friends, ushering them into the room. Tommy thought they looked like people who had got away with something unspeakable, and knew it.
Tommy sat down next to Suzie on a long settee, the material covering it decorated with clusters of tea roses.
‘Care for a cup of tea at all?’ Paula asked, very gracious, lady of the manor.
‘That would be delightful,’ Tommy smiled back and Suzie said she would love some custard creams if there were any. There were no custard creams but Paula had made a cake that morning. ‘We’ve been away for a few days so the larder was fairly bare. But I managed to get some good strawberry jam in Scotland. Brought it back and made a jam sponge.’
‘Mummy makes super jam sponges,’ Thetis said, and Suzie looked around to see if Thetis kept a jolly hockey stick around anywhere. She thought if she found one she could belt the girl round the head with it. Oh, Mummy makes super things for tea. La-di-bloody-da. She raised her head and through the window caught a glimpse of Laura skulking off with Dennis and Peter: taking them to the obbo points.
Finally they were settled, bone china on a silver tray with solid handles at each side and a larger plate on which rested the magnificent jam sponge. They had smaller plates and cake forks: all these things appeared to be very important to Miss Palmer, who now asked the most obvious question, in an even more obvious way, ‘So, to what do we owe this honour, Chief Superintendent?’
He switched a smile on and off. ‘Several reasons.’ Tommy had changed down in his approach, serious now, no smiles, face grave. ‘I’ll explain in a moment. You say you’ve been away? Scotland was it?’
‘Yes, Dundee. I have friends there.’
Du
ndee, where the cake comes from, Suzie thought, nearly said it but stopped herself in time and wondered why she was being so frivolous, came to the conclusion that she was nervous. Possibly frightened as well. Probably amazed by the two women’s controlled demeanour. Underneath the calm exterior, getting away with murder, but both mother and daughter occasionally displayed concern, the worm in the eye, the wariness of manner.
‘Nice, Dundee,’ said Tommy, unhurried, taking his time. ‘Miss Palmer, I must ask you how much you know about Pip Ascoli, Fillipo Ascoli. Max Ascoli’s brother?’
Now he saw the worm deep in her eyes, the worm that moved and gave away her secret. Suzie saw it also and felt her heart skip and her stomach turn over. Paula Palmer was about to lie, she thought, about to tie them up in knots.
‘As a matter of fact I know rather a lot about him, Mr Livermore. After all, he was my daughter’s father’s brother and dear Max used to talk about him a great deal. He was constantly trying to get advice about Pip. For Pip. He didn’t think that his brother should be locked up year after year in that Swiss asylum.’
‘He tell you that? That it was an asylum?’
‘It was nuns, I know that, just as I know they called it a clinic.’
‘Ever meet him, Paula? Ever meet Pip?’
‘As a matter of fact, I did. Once. In the autumn of ’38.’
‘And how did you find him? Was he raving, crazy, or was he just a very nervous young man; nervous and misunderstood?’
‘Don’t like you calling him names, Mr Livermore. I found him charming, like all the Ascolis. Charming and cultured.’
‘Cultured people don’t usually go around shooting the faces off their brother and his family.’
‘Charming and cultured and terribly frightening. What d’you mean by that? About shooting off his brother’s face?’
‘So, you were frightened of him?’
‘Terrified.’ She spoke calmly, at odds with what she was saying. ‘What do you mean?’
‘What made you so frightened of him?’
‘His manner, his obvious delight in intimidating people. He was a very creepy man. What do you mean about shooting off his brother’s face?’
‘Did you know that Max brought him back to England again?’
‘I knew he brought him in ’38. I just told you.’
‘He didn’t tell you he brought him back again in ’39.’
‘In 1939? Just before the war? You say he brought him back?’
‘He did. Even people in Long Taddmarten have vouched for that, saw him walking around the village.’
‘Mr Livermore, what do you mean about him shooting off Max’s face? Mr Tait told me it was some itinerant, some troublemaker.’
‘I mean what I said, Miss Palmer.’
‘Really?’ Trying to sound wary, maybe concerned, her face showing the fear that she’d confessed to. Thetis, sitting in a large easy chair cringing back as if trying to force her body through the stuffed chair back. They had changed, suddenly after he had spoken about Pip Ascoli.
‘Yes, really, Miss Palmer. In fact we’ve come to the conclusion that it is probably Pip who killed Max and his family. We have a witness who saw him, or someone very like him, getting into a car driven by a woman at the junction of the main road and Knights Close in the early hours of 17th August. And that person had just been inside Knights Cottage; had just seen Max’s body.’
Thetis gave a little intake of breath, a noise of shock possibly. Either that or she was a good little actress.
‘The point is,’ Tommy continued, ‘we are most concerned for your safety. Pip Ascoli is on the loose; we think he killed Max and we’re concerned that he might wish to harm you or Thetis.’
Again the tiny jerk of shock from Thetis, like the sound of a small animal in pain, just for the fraction of a second.
‘I’m sorry, am I frightening your daughter? I don’t mean to, Thetis. But we must face facts. I think you are both in danger —’
‘Nonsense,’ from Paula, a touch strident, but she was looking around, as if searching for someone hiding in the room, or just outside the door.
Suzie thought the two women must be marvellous actresses because both of them were ashen in colour, Paula’s cheeks like parchment. You can’t just do that at will, Suzie thought. There was something wrong here; this was not acting, this was real, you could almost touch the fear.
Tommy had seen it as well. He spoke softly, ‘My people want to come in and give your lovely house a good going over.’
‘What d’you mean by a good going over?’ Sharp.
‘I mean they’d like to search the place, from top to bottom. They’d also like to search your garage and your car and anywhere else that you own.’
‘You sound as though you’re about to accuse me of something. Collaborating with Max’s murderer, or something.’
‘Nothing was further from my mind,’ he lied. ‘However, I’m exceptionally concerned for your safety. The safety of you both.’ Suzie could see he was disconcerted by the fear transparent in the two women. Again he spoke softly, ‘I’m afraid you have no say in the matter,’ reaching inside his jacket to remove the search warrant, explaining what it was, and giving the nod to Suzie, who went outside and gestured to Molly.
‘Are you sure there’s no other…?’ Paula perplexed, grasping for words.
‘Please,’ Thetis said, and it was difficult to work out what she was pleading for.
Then the rest of the team were in the house, starting their search, methodically moving from room to room, opening cupboards, tapping walls, their footsteps moving upstairs, their muted conversation in the hall.
‘They can go into the garage but they can’t see the car.’ Paula’s voice catching in her throat. ‘It’s off the road, in Hunter’s, the local garage. Left it in the car park at the station while we were away. Wouldn’t start when we got back last night. They came down and towed it away. I’d hoped to have it back today…’ trailing off.
‘Don’t worry, just stay quietly here, we’ll see to everything.’
‘Christ,’ Paula said, to nobody in particular. End of her tether, Suzie thought.
Tommy went out and brought Shirley in, told her to stay in the drawing room with Paula and Thetis, then took Suzie into the hall.
‘More confused than ever,’ he whispered, cocking his head, listening to the sounds coming from upstairs.
‘They really don’t seem to know about Pip, certainly the girl doesn’t. That’s real fear,’ Susie said.
‘Yes. Something very strange going on. Full of confidence when we arrived. Going to pieces at the first mention of Pip.’
Together they took a quick look around downstairs, calculating the number of rooms above them: a large house with six and a half bedrooms, two attics; and in the garden, the studio, built for Paula Palmer in the twenties.
Ron Worral had done the studio. ‘Not a thing,’ he said. ‘The house is clean, ordered, nothing out of place. Mother and daughter living here with people coming in every day. No sign of a third party either living here or hiding.’
‘You want to come upstairs for a moment, Chief.’ Molly whispering, leaning over the banisters.
Suzie went up with him, to the first landing, a wide carpeted area, doors leading off to little passages, left and right, and a large bookcase facing the stairs, heavy with old leather-bound books.
‘Must’ve had this built in at some point,’ Molly grinning like someone who’s found gold. ‘Look.’ She crossed to the bookcase. ‘Thought it was odd, a lot of the books are fakes,’ reaching up and pulling at the spine of a leather volume on the far left of the centre shelf. As she pulled so the entire bookcase swung out like an unusually thick door, revealing a long narrow room behind. ‘Nobody home at the moment,’ she said, making a gesture, showing off her find. ‘Measurements didn’t fit.’
The room was fitted with a thick white carpet, there were pictures on the walls, a single bed pushed against the left-hand side, and a small table at
the far end: no windows and no sign that the room had been recently occupied.
‘I wonder,’ Tommy said, as though the room had led him to the answer of a particularly knotty crossword clue, turning to Suzie. ‘Can you remember the name of that agent fellow who was doing that big deal for her?’
Suzie nodded. ‘Johnny Goodman. The Goodman Gallery, Bruton Street.’
‘Good girl. Think we should give him a bell?’
‘See if he’s at home?’ Suzie asked.
‘Close that up.’ He indicated the bookcase. ‘We never saw that room, right? We’re satisfied and we’re going home. Don’t know why they’re so frightened, but I think we should really go, just leave Dennis and Pete in place. I mean what’s it take us to get back? Fifteen, twenty minutes? I really think we should do it. Play it absolutely straight. If I ring old Goodman from the Falcon, it could just put the cat among the pigeons. Maybe.’
‘What’re you talking about, Chief?’ Suzie frowned.
‘Think about it. Who did she go to see the day Max was killed? John Goodman.’
He called for Laura, who came bounding up the stairs. ‘Laura, heart. Just nip out. Tell the lads we don’t think anything’s going to happen tonight. Everything looks fine here but we’d like them to stay in place. Right?’
‘Do it now, Chief.’
‘Hang on. Tell ’em we’ll come back later and relieve them before midnight. Shouldn’t be any trouble.’ He turned away, looking at the stairs. ‘Only thing I don’t understand is their terror. Don’t like that, but I can’t see that there’s any immediate threat. Not unless we do something about it.’
Suzie still couldn’t follow his logic, shaking her head, and Tommy had walked outside, watching Laura running across the road.
