In Vino Veritas

by J M Gregson

  ‘The Hook residence. Bert speaking,’ he said, in that snooty voice which was a parody of something he had now forgotten.

  ‘It’s DI Rushton, Bert.’

  ‘I’m off duty, Chris. On official leave.’

  ‘You might want to revise that, when you hear this. There’s been a suspicious death. A man shot through the head in his car.’

  ‘Sounds pretty suspicious, that, right enough. Where?’

  ‘Not that far from you. Near a hamlet called Howler’s Heath, at the southern end of the Malverns.’

  ‘Sounds vaguely appropriate.’

  ‘Chief Superintendent Lambert said I was to let you know.’ It was always safer to pass the buck upstairs, when you were interrupting a man’s leave.

  ‘Quite right, too. They don’t pick their moments, do they, suspicious deaths? A man can’t even have a peaceful day off.’

  But as always, the CID man in him was intrigued. It sounded as though a hunt was beginning, and Bert Hook didn’t want to be left out of it. He drained his beaker at a single gulp and went to get dressed.

  Hook was combing his hair in front of the mirror when John Lambert rang. He would pick him up in ten minutes.

  At Abbey Vineyards, it was ten o’clock. Martin Beaumont’s PA was wondering whether she should contact his home when the call which made all such considerations irrelevant came through.

  Fiona Cooper was an experienced aide to senior executives and directors. She knew when to ask questions and when not to, when to be discreet and when to be forthcoming. But with the police, there was no room for diplomacy, let alone concealment. You had to be forthcoming.

  When the cool, detached voice of the man who had announced himself as Inspector Rushton asked her if she knew of the whereabouts of her employer, she did not even think of evasion. ‘I don’t know. I was getting anxious about him myself. I had expected him to be here before now. He has an appointment in half an hour and he usually wishes to make sure that he is well briefed for such meetings.’

  ‘You will need to cancel all his appointments, unless you think someone else can stand in for him.’

  ‘Why? What’s happened?’

  There was silence at the other end of the phone whilst Chris regrouped. It was a long time since he had done this. Normally he would have sent someone round to break the news of a death, as someone had indeed already been dispatched in search of the wife. But a junior officer might not get the right response and he was anxious to get as many basic facts as he could, as quickly as he could. ‘I have to tell you that a body has been found. A body which we think is almost certainly that of Mr Beaumont. I should be glad if you would keep this information to yourself for the moment. I shall get in touch with you when we have more facts, probably later in the day.’

  ‘Was this an accident?’

  There had been a long pause from the PA, but no tears, no hysterics. Rushton was thankful for that. ‘I am afraid that I am unable to reveal any further details at the moment, Mrs Cooper. Could you tell me when you last saw Mr Beaumont, please?’

  She felt curiously without emotion. This was a man she had served for the last five years, and yet she felt nothing except a profound shock. Perhaps the other things like grief would come to her later. ‘Late on Wednesday afternoon. He was still in his office when I left at five thirty. He told me to go and I think he was almost ready to leave himself.’

  ‘That is over forty hours ago. Did you not think it strange that you did not see him for the whole of yesterday?’

  ‘No. Mr Beaumont is the owner of this firm and its chief executive officer. It is his habit not to arrange any appointments for Thursdays if they can possibly be avoided. That leaves him free to visit other parts of the country, other concerns. Perhaps to develop new lines of business. To do anything, in fact, to further the interests of the company.’

  ‘Or perhaps to pursue more personal concerns?’

  Her instinct was to be loyal to her employer. But this was a senior policeman, and a situation which was outside even her wide-ranging experience. She said as severely as she could, ‘It was not my business or my concern to know where Mr Beaumont was and what he was doing for every minute of his day. All I can tell you is that a considerable amount of business has accrued over the years from his Thursday activities.’

  ‘I see. So neither you nor presumably anyone at Abbey Vineyards would think it unusual that you have seen nothing of him since Wednesday evening?’

  She picked her way carefully through this; it sounded as if her reply might be important at some future date. ‘The junior staff would, I am sure, have no awareness of the pattern of Mr Beaumont’s working week. He delighted in giving them the impression that he might turn up at any time and in any situation. It kept them on their toes, he said, as well as showing them that he was interested in people working at all levels in the firm.’

  ‘But your senior staff would be aware of his habit of leaving Thursdays free?’

  ‘I think they would, yes. He made no secret of it.’

  ‘And how many of those would there be, Mrs Cooper?’

  ‘Five.’ Fiona was surprised by the speed with which she had delivered a number. But Martin had regularly circularized these five with documents he thought appropriate only for them.

  ‘Could you give me their names, please?’

  Now, belatedly, she asked him a question, the way a good PA, operating for her boss and the firm, should surely be doing. She was glad she had followed her usual practice in jotting down the man’s name and title at the beginning of all this. ‘May I ask why you are requesting this information, Detective Inspector Rushton?’

  This time it was Chris who paused. He could hardly tell her he wanted a list of potential suspects in a murder enquiry, as the people who had been closest to the dead man were likely to become. ‘It is standard practice, Mrs Cooper. As yet we know very little about the way Mr Beaumont died. It is those who were nearest to him at work and at home who can best give us a picture of a dead man.’ He had almost said ‘victim’. That showed how long it was since he’d broken news like this, he thought ruefully. It was usually left to junior officers to make the first contact and convey the news of a death, but he realized now that everyone should do it occasionally, to keep himself aware of the problems.

  Fiona said, conscious for the first time of a quickening of her pulse, ‘This is what you call a “suspicious death”, isn’t it, Inspector Rushton?’

  ‘It is exactly that, Mrs Cooper. I cannot tell you any more at the moment. I know very little more myself. I am following standard police procedures, as I said just now.’

  ‘I can give you the names and job descriptions of the five senior people I mentioned.’

  ‘That will be most useful information.’ He had been considering whether he should throw in Chief Superintendent Lambert’s name. Most local people were aware of his name and reputation, and the glamour of celebrity often persuaded them to volunteer information they would otherwise have been reluctant to offer. But it was too early to use Lambert’s name yet; time enough for that when this became officially a murder investigation. And this woman was being both efficient and cooperative, in DI Rushton’s opinion, the best possible combination of virtues to offer to a police officer. ‘If it causes you any embarrassment, we will not need to reveal whence this information came to us.’ He liked that last phrase; he had heard Lambert use it years ago, and filed it away for his own use.

  ‘There will be no need for secrecy, Inspector,’ came the prim response from the other end of the line. ‘I shall give you these names in no particular order of importance. Our finance director is Alistair Morton, aged forty-four. Our shop manager and retail sales director is Gerald Davies, aged fifty-seven. Our manager and director of residential accommodation is Vanda North, aged forty-six, who is also a junior partner in the firm. Our head chef and restaurant director is Jason Knight, aged thirty-eight. Our research and development director is Sarah Vaughan, aged thirty-three.’
r />   Fiona wondered why she had reeled off their ages as well as their names. Probably because she was reading from the employment records and the dates of birth followed the names, she thought. Or was it just the bitchy desire to indicate that pretty young Miss Vaughan was the youngest, most recently arrived, and thus most junior of these people who earned more than she did? She added a little guiltily, ‘Mr Beaumont always stresses that we are a small and dynamic organization, so that these roles are not definitive and inevitably overlap from time to time.’

  Rushton finished writing and said rather breathlessly, ‘Thank you. This will be most useful information, I am sure. Should it prove necessary to talk to any of these people, I or someone else here will contact you again, probably later today.’

  Fiona Cooper set down the phone and sat like a statue for several minutes. She was looking through the open door of the office at the round-backed chair which her late employer had so recently occupied. She had spoken of him throughout in the present tense, she now realized, though she had been told at the outset that he was dead. Not very efficient, really, for a PA, though the police must be used to it.

  They would already be contacting the people she had just named.

  Howler’s Heath was indeed no more than the tiniest of hamlets, as Rushton had told Bert Hook. As Lambert drove up the lane beyond it, the scene of the crime was soon apparent by the unwonted activity which surrounded it.

  The scene beneath the huge chestnuts was already cordoned off with the plastic ribbons proclaiming ‘Do not enter’, which always define the environs of a serious crime scene. Not that there was much danger in this remote spot of the curious crowds who often gather round the site of a murder in a town or suburb, at once attracted and repelled by the macabre glamour of the most serious of all crimes, the wanton termination of another being’s life.

  There were already two police cars at the point where the unpaved track left the lane. Lambert parked behind them; to drive on to the track itself might contaminate important evidence left by other vehicles. The civilians who now constitute most SOCO teams were already busily at work. The photographer announced as they arrived that he had finished his business, but would wait around in case the man in charge of the investigation required any further shots. His manner proclaimed that this was most unlikely.

  Two of the others were on all fours, systematically retrieving and bagging in plastic any items which might have a human connection, any detritus which might at a much later date become an important exhibit in a court case. Every calling has its dreams, and it was the aspiration of these worthy seekers to retrieve a piece of jewellery, an accidentally dropped pen or pencil, even at a pinch a soiled tissue, which would secure the conviction of a killer. It very rarely happened, of course. Evidence collected was usually cumulative and supplementary to other findings in building up a case. But very occasionally it did happen, and the hope of it sustained workers in what was essentially a boring task. Because of that, the dream was rarely disparaged by the Scene of Crime Officer or the senior detective in charge of the case.

  One of the men with tweezers in hand, a retired police constable who was now operating as a civilian, gestured towards the cigarette end he had recently bagged, which might have been a precious find in the right circumstances, and shook his head glumly. ‘Almost certainly pre-dates this crime, sir. I’ve bagged it to be on the safe side, but I’d say it’s at least a week old, possibly more.’

  Lambert nodded his sympathy and moved towards the big blue car. Although the site was remote, you could get to it easily enough by car, and for those who were aware of that it would afford an almost certain privacy. A perfect site for lovers who, for whatever reason, wanted to conceal conversations, clumsy gropings or more serious couplings, for instance. As if the thought had provoked the discovery, the woman at the other extremity of the site now produced with a despairing groan a used condom. She lifted it with tweezers, held it at arm’s length, and deposited it within her polythene container with a gargoyle moue of distaste.

  Lambert walked across and bent over the car, opening the driver’s door gingerly with gloved hand. What remained of Martin Beaumont was slumped away from the door, hunched over the gap between the two front seats. It was the left temple which had been targeted, but there was no exit wound.

  The voice of the SOCO behind him said quietly, ‘He’s been here for some time, sir. The pathologist said rigor mortis had been and gone, but he wouldn’t commit himself to a time of death.’

  ‘More than twenty-four hours, though?’

  ‘It looks like it. He said he’d treat the post mortem as urgent and give you his report asap.’ He looked past the superintendent at the gory remnants of what had been a man. ‘It looks as though the bullet is lodged within the skull, sir. He seems to have hit the door and bounced back towards the centre of the car.’

  ‘Not a Smith and Wesson then. That would have blown most of the head away.’ The right eye and most of the face were undamaged. Even the left side of the features might clean up after the post mortem, so that the body could be presented as decently as possible to whatever relative had to undergo the formality of identification. ‘Any sign of the murder weapon?’

  But even as he spoke, he knew there wouldn’t be. Any prize trophy of that sort would have been triumphantly volunteered to the man in charge of the case as soon as he arrived on the scene. The SOCO said, ‘No. I should be very surprised if you ever see it again.’

  Lambert nodded sourly. Probably in the muddy depths of the Severn or one of its tributaries by now. Murderers were rarely so cooperative as to leave such key evidence around. And he was already sure that this was murder. The faint possibility of suicide had disappeared with the absence of the weapon. ‘Did you get anything from the car?’

  ‘A few fibres from the front passenger seat; one or two more from the rear seats and carpets. Impossible to tell how long they’ve been there. Forensic and their labs might find something more, when their boys and girls are released on to it.’

  Lambert looked again at that blank, unseeing right eye. How easy it would be for policemen if the old myth about the cornea retaining the image of what it had last seen had any truth in it. He waved a hand in futile dismissal of the flies, which would return within seconds to the blackening wound which had ended what had once been a man. ‘If the pathologist’s taken what he wants from here, you might as well have the meat-wagon in to remove the corpse.’ He said to the photographer, ‘You’d better stay until then, and take a shot of whatever’s underneath him.’

  Hook had been looking hard at the unpaved track whilst Lambert studied the car and its grisly contents. ‘You found any tyre tracks here?’ he asked the man who had been inspecting the ground.

  ‘Nothing which looks significant as yet. We’ll give it a detailed examination before we leave, but it’s been very dry over the last couple of days.’ The officer had the pessimism which was characteristic of such workers. They were reluctant to offer much hope to those conducting the case, fearful of being reviled as the producers of false dawns.

  Hook nodded, thinking of the bright scenes at his graduation yesterday, of the sun beating down on those happy, noisy, celebrating hordes of people from all sorts of backgrounds. The Jaguar and its ghastly contents had been here beneath these green trees through those same hours, silent and unremarked, save for the heedless singing birds and the flies which scented food.

  He was beset in that moment by an illogical guilt, as if his heedless rejoicing had in some way contributed to the fact that this corpse had been undiscovered through the vital first day of its existence. Lambert rejoined him and they removed from their shoes the plastic coverings used to avoid contamination of the crime scene, then picked their way slowly back along the grass verge at the edge of the track to Lambert’s old Vauxhall Senator car.

  When they looked back a hundred yards to the scene beneath the trees, two men were unloading the plastic body shell from the van the police called the ‘meat
wagon’ and were preparing to lever their blood-spattered cargo from the big blue Jaguar.

  And still the sun blazed steadily over the quiet scene, as if to remind them how tiny within the cosmos were the petty affairs of men.

  THIRTEEN

  It was a big house, as they would have expected of the man who had owned Abbey Vineyards. The grounds were tidy enough. A gardener in overalls glanced curiously at the police vehicle, then continued planting long lines of bedding plants alongside the drive. An impressive oak front door stood between the pillars which framed it in the mock-Georgian frontage. The exterior woodwork of the house looked as if it had been recently repainted.

  Nevertheless, the house itself looked curiously unloved and uncared for. The curtains of the room to the left of the door had been pulled back untidily and those in the room on the first floor above them were tightly drawn. The end of a newspaper protruded still from the letter box, though it was now two o’clock on this sunny Friday afternoon. They rang the doorbell twice. It was some time after the second effort that their ringing was answered.

  ‘Sorry. Mrs Forshaw comes in to clean on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but she isn’t here today.’

  The woman had straight black hair which fell almost to her shoulders. Her paleness was stark. It was accentuated by the loose-fitting black dress and shoes she wore. Her deep-set eyes must once have been an intriguing feature of the face, but now the rings beneath them made them look haunted, fearful of what might be at hand. Her thin nose seemed pinched, whereas within a healthier setting it would have been attractive. When Lambert announced himself and Hook with their ranks, she smiled and said, ‘Yes. I was told to expect you.’ Her teeth were regular and attractive. As that single smile briefly lit up the face, they had a glimpse of the woman she had been thirty years ago.