An Advancement of Learning

by Reginald Hill

  Pascoe had been tempted to question him very roughly about his last sighting of Fallowfield, but remembering Dalziel’s invocation of his charm, decided he would leave it till later and start elsewhere. So, leaving Halfdane striding sentry-like up and down outside the study door, he set off on his delayed journey to the playing-fields.

  He had missed the day’s main excitement, it seemed. Half-way through the afternoon one of the umpires, an elderly man with a gouty toe which made the time-lag between overs even longer than it usually is, had fallen into a kind of sun-induced trance at square-leg and had to be nursed back to consciousness with iced lemonade in the pavilion. Subsequently he had been weaned on to strawberries and cream and the prognosis seemed good. But his place had been taken by the portly figure of Henry Saltecombe who, determined not to suffer the same fate, protected his bald pate with an incongruous pork-pie hat. The hat was the most interesting thing on the field as far as Pascoe was concerned. It would bear looking into, as the actress said to the conjuror, he thought.

  His informant about the affairs of the day was George Dunbar who masochistically was hanging on to the bitter end, despite his expression of distaste for the game.

  Perhaps he wants to establish exactly where he is, thought Pascoe, laughing at his own conditioned suspiciousness, but not dismissing the suspicion.

  ‘Mr Fallowfield around?’ he asked casually.

  ‘Fallowfield? He’s got more bloody sense.’

  ‘Oh. What’s he do at week-ends then. Golf?’ asked Pascoe at random.

  ‘No, he hasn’t got that much sense. Why’re you asking, eh?’ Dunbar glanced keenly at the sergeant who grunted non-committally.

  ‘If he’s wise, he’ll be at the quack’s,’ Dunbar went on.

  ‘Quack’s?’

  ‘The doctor’s!’ said Dunbar exasperatedly. ‘Did you see him yesterday? Man, he looked ill. All this business must have been a strain. I reckon he’s heading for a crack-up, myself.’

  He spoke with some relish.

  ‘So you haven’t seen him today?’

  ‘No. Not a sign. Now, why do …’

  But Pascoe had already moved on.

  He stopped trying to be subtle after a while, deciding that even if he just asked people what time it was, they would start wondering what this had to do with the investigation.

  Only with the group of students round Franny Roote and Cockshut did he have any success.

  ‘Yes, I saw him this morning, going towards college,’ said a little square, ugly girl.

  ‘Time? I don’t know. About half-nine, wouldn’t you say, hey, Franny?’

  ‘Whatever you say, lovey, whatever you say,’ chanted Roote melodiously, lying on his back still, smiling happily. Pascoe wondered if he was slightly drunk.

  ‘But you didn’t see him later?’ he pursued.

  ‘Well played, sir!’ cried Roote, clapping his hands, his eyes fixed rapturously on the sky.

  ‘Christalmighty, you’re a detective, go and detect.’ It was Cockshut of course. ‘Anyway, why doesn’t that fat crud come out and ask his own questions instead of sending the help?’

  A shout from the middle of the field and a ripple of applause round the perimeter drew his attention back to the match. The last wicket had fallen and the players were straggling off. Pascoe started heading for the pavilion with the intention of cutting off Saltecombe but someone called his name and he stopped. It was Halfdane.

  But surprisingly Halfdane seemed to be in a much more conciliatory mood. He was still far from apologetic, but at least he didn’t open with too much aggression.

  Not again! he thought with an inward groan. What’s he want? A fight?

  ‘I’ve been thinking,’ he said. ‘This business has got to be cleared up. It’s stupid for me to withhold information out of pique.’

  What’s he want? wondered Pascoe. Applause for acknowledging what nobody but a criminal or a moron would deny? Or perhaps he’s just clearing the decks so that he can get down to disliking me with a clear conscience.

  ‘Mind you,’ said Halfdane, ‘what I’ve got to say is probably irrelevant and I hope you won’t want to do anything about it if it is.’

  Again Pascoe produced his non-committal grunt.

  ‘Anita Sewell,’ said Halfdane, ‘was there any evidence that she’d been taking drugs?’

  ‘’Why do you ask?’ said Pascoe.

  ‘It’s just that, well, occasionally I’ve been to one or two student parties, or parties where there have been students. There’s usually pot available at these do’s. It’s just like another form of booze these days, and no more harmful.’

  He looked defiantly at Pascoe who still said nothing. Is this all the poor bastard’s got to tell me? he wondered. Confession of an ageing teenager.

  ‘Now, a couple of times I’ve noticed Anita, and she’s been really high. I mean really.’

  ‘And what did you do?’

  Halfdane tried to look surprised.

  ‘Do? She was an adult, she was responsible. But I did wonder what she was getting, whether she’d moved on.’

  ‘You mean, whether she had started taking a habit-forming drug which would eventually kill her?’ said Pascoe coldly.

  ‘For God’s sake!’ said the other in anger.

  ‘But I forgot. She was an adult. Who was she with?’

  Halfdane’s anger subsided.

  ‘That’s why I wondered about telling you this. You want names. If it’s anything to do with her death, fair enough. But if it isn’t …’

  ‘Names please, sir.’

  ‘Cockshut. Stuart Cockshut was the main one,’ he said reluctantly. ‘And Roote and all that gang. But especially Cockshut.’

  Pascoe made a note in his pocket-book, more for appearance than necessity. The information wasn’t all that helpful. It confirmed what he already suspected. It might explain Roote lying on his back, applauding the sky. But there had been no evidence of any sampling of ‘hard’ drugs in the autopsy on Anita’s body. And the dancing as described by Lapping had seemed to be sex - rather than drug-centred. Of course it depended on the drug. And if these people had access to anything more sophisticated than cannabis, despite any assurances Halfdane might imagine had been given, he and Dalziel were going to be very interested indeed.

  ‘Right,’ he said, closing his book.

  ‘I’d better get back and see if your boss has finished with Marion,’ said Halfdane with slightly nervous jocularity.

  That’s what he’s really worried about, that Bruiser Dalziel is going to stick something on his girl. So anything which seems to lead elsewhere he’s now happy to give me.

  Pascoe didn’t know whether the thought made him like Halfdane more or less. But another thought came swiftly and unbidden into his mind.

  Poor Ellie!

  ‘Right you are,’ he said. ‘If we want to talk to you again, we’ll let you know.’

  He was damned if he was going to thank the man.

  He resumed his walk towards the pavilion and Henry Saltecombe.

  ‘And that’s all he said?’ asked Dalziel sounding as incredulous as stout Cortez looked on stumbling across the Pacific.

  I didn’t have my Iron Maiden handy, thought Pascoe; but what he said was, ‘That’s all. Yes, it was his pork-pie hat; no, he hadn’t been wandering round the dunes at midnight last Thursday, he’d been sitting up late at home after all his family had gone off to bed so that he could watch a documentary on medieval industry. Anyway, if Anita was going into Fallowfield’s cottage a couple of hours later, what does it matter who disturbed the dance?’

  ‘There’s a porpoise close behind me and it’s treading on my tail,’ said Dalziel thoughtfully. ‘Of course those kids might have been dreaming. Or for that matter, it might have been some other long-haired beauty that Fallowfield’s having it away with. We won’t know till we find the man, will we?’

  ‘No, sir.’

  ‘And of course, if the kids are right, then everyone’s going to need n
ew alibis, aren’t they?’

  ‘That’s right,’ said Pascoe, brightening. ‘Including these bloody students.’

  Dalziel eyed him sardonically.

  ‘Watch it, Sergeant,’ he said. ‘Never forget, the country’s full of wonderful young people who stand up for pregnant women in buses and run errands for the aged and decrepit. The Daily Mirror said so last week. Or was it the Express?’

  ‘Then it must be true. What now, sir?’

  Dalziel glanced at his watch. It was nearly a quarter to seven. It had been a quick day and he still wasn’t sure whether they had advanced or gone back. But first things first.

  ‘Dinner,’ he said with satisfaction.

  After dinner, Pascoe sat in his room and contemplated the rest of the evening. He felt lonely. His meal had been brought to him on a tray as usual and used though he was to eating by himself, it always seemed a particularly lonely thing to have to do. He supposed no one would have thrown bread-rolls at him if he had appeared in the dining-hall, but he doubted if he would have felt less alone.

  He suddenly thought how lonely such a life could be for many of those permanently committed to it. Perhaps it just seemed so on the surface. Perhaps the seeming-lonely like Disney or Scotby really had troops of friends, tribes of loving relations, acres of exciting interests, at their beck and call.

  But it wasn’t just them. It was people like Marion, and Ellie as well. Halfdane too, even Fallowfield. The unmarried. Those for whom home was - this. He looked around the room. It was at least as comfortable as his own minute flat. And, God knows, he knew what it was to be lonely even in a job which often kept him at it for anything up to twenty hours a day.

  Therefore, he said, if all people are lonely some of the time and some people are lonely all of the time, it is not merely self-indulgence to thrust myself at them, it may even be a social service.

  The obvious person to thrust at was Ellie. He reached for the phone and dialled.

  ‘Hallo, Ellie.’

  ‘Oh, it’s you.’

  ‘Right first time,’ he said. ‘Look, I’ve been glancing through your manuscript. Very interesting. But I thought I’d get it back to you before I do something awful with it, like spill coffee all over it or lose it. Is it OK if I come round and return it now?’

  There was a pause.

  ‘Yes. No. Look, I’ll come and collect it. You’re in 28, aren’t you?’

  ‘That’s right. Worried about the kind of person seen going into your room, are you?’ he said with an attempt at lightness.

  ‘Piss off.’

  The phone went dead. He wondered if this meant she wasn’t coming, but within five minutes there was a tap at the door.

  ‘Hi,’ she said. She looked very attractive in a simple white dress with large black buttons right down the front. He couldn’t quite decide whether they were functional or merely decorative.

  ‘I enjoyed your book.’

  ‘Liar,’ she said calmly. ‘You haven’t had time to look at it.’

  ‘No,’ he protested. ‘Some of the characterization helped a great deal in understanding life here at the college. I’m looking forward to reading the finished thing when it’s published.’

  She sat down, smiling now.

  ‘It’s like listening to some sentimental song,’ she said. ‘Hackneyed tune, meaningless words, but it works on you. Keep talking.’

  There was a tap on the door. It was Elizabeth, neat as ever in her nylon overall, come to collect the dishes. It was nice to have such a pretty girl looking after him. She seemed very obliging. In fact earlier he had found her in the room tidying up. Perhaps she fancies me, he thought.

  She seemed a little disconcerted to find Ellie there also and let a fork slide on to the carpet.

  ‘Sorry,’ she said, bending down. Pascoe automatically stooped also and their heads nearly cracked together. They both rocked back on their haunches, smiling, the girl showing a lot of leg where the overall parted above her knees. Pascoe glanced down involuntarily. On the inside hem of the garment he saw the initials in indian ink E. A.

  There wasn’t a blinding flash. There rarely was. Just another certainty sliding into place. Fancies me, hell! he mocked himself.

  ‘Tell me,’ he said conversationally, ‘what time did you get back from the beach on Thursday morning?’

  The girl turned pale. Bull’s-eye! thought Pascoe.

  ‘Were you asked to keep a close eye on us as well, the superintendent and me?’ he went on pressing his advantage.

  The girl stood up, leaving the crockery on the floor.

  ‘I don’t know what …’

  ‘Come off it, love,’ said Pascoe. ‘You were there. That makes you a witness. You should have come forward, you know. But better late than never. We’ll need a statement. And you’ll want your bra back.’

  ‘I don’t know …’ she said again, then turned and hurried from the room.

  ‘What the hell are you doing to that poor kid?’ demanded Ellie angrily. ‘For Christ’s sake, I’d never have believed it. You’re like the bloody SS. Those sergeant’s stripes go all the way through, don’t they?’

  Pascoe threw up his hands in mock bewilderment.

  ‘That poor kid as you call her was big enough and old enough to enjoy a moonlight orgy after which a girl got herself killed. She also probably gets high pretty frequently on cannabis and doubtless does a bit of dabbling in the supernatural on the side. I should think she can stand a few straight questions from a policeman.

  ‘What the hell are you on about? You mean …’ For a few seconds Ellie was lost for words. For a few seconds.

  ‘Look. OK. What’s the difference? If that’s the way she likes her sex, what’s it to you? It’s a lot to her though; these others, students, it’s nothing to them, a bit of embarrassment at home if mummy and daddy get to hear of it, but that’s all. But it’s that girl’s job. She’s not just a skivvy, she’s doing a training course in catering. And this kind of thing could easily get her chucked out on her ear.’

  Pascoe shrugged.

  ‘I’m sorry. It won’t come to that. There’s probably nothing she can tell us, no more than the students we’ve talked to. It’s unimportant.’

  ‘Unimportant! You didn’t make her feel it was unimportant!’

  ‘No. I’m sorry. Excuse me.’

  He picked up the phone again and dialled Dalziel’s room. There was no reply, so he tried the study.

  ‘Superintendent Dalziel.’

  ‘Pascoe, sir. I thought you’d like to know I’ve identified the owner of that bra found in the dunes. Elizabeth Andrews, the girl who brings our meals.’

  There was a snort at the other end of the line.

  ‘Yes, I know. I saw her leaving Roote’s room the other night. Is that all?’

  ‘Well, yes, sir. I thought she might have been keeping an eye on us for some reason.’

  ‘You haven’t talked to her?’

  ‘Well, yes, I have.’

  ‘Oh God,’ groaned Dalziel. ‘Now I’ll probably have my meals brought by some sour-faced harridan.’

  The phone was slammed down.

  ‘Well,’ said Ellie who had come close enough to hear both sides of the conversation. ‘He didn’t seem madly impressed. Strange. I should have thought the graduate wonder would always be miles ahead of the non-intellectual bluebottle.’

  ‘He should have told me.’

  ‘Poor sergeant,’ laughed Ellie, much mollified by his discomfiture. ‘Doesn’t the nasty super tell you everything then?’

  He grabbed her violently and kissed her till she gasped in pain.

  ‘Let’s go and start an orgy in the dunes,’ she whispered.

  ‘This will do me fine.’

  He kissed her again. Outside a bell began to ring and there was a distant confusion of voices.

  ‘What’s that?’ he asked lifting his head.

  ‘It’s the Union. There’s a students’ meeting tonight. They summon them like going to church.’
/>
  ‘Why? What’s up?’

  ‘Nothing. That’s the trouble. They’ve been organizing protests and boycotts on a small scale all year, but the big issue was going to break loose if she wasn’t reinstated. And all hell was breaking loose because Fallowfield refused to acknowledge the right of student governors to be present when he was giving evidence. But now Anita’s dead, they’ve lost their cause. No doubt they’ll find another.’

  ‘If we don’t hurry, I’ll lose my cause,’ said Pascoe.

  ‘Softly, softly. There’s a long night ahead,’ said Ellie drawing his head down again.

  The big black buttons, he was pleased to find, were functional as well as decorative.

  ‘Order, order,’ murmured Franny. ‘Will the meeting come to order?’

  He tapped his gavel gently twice on the table across which he surveyed the assembled members of his Union. There had been a good turn-out, considering the fact that this was a very warm Saturday evening in June, and it would not be necessary for Stuart to use any of the complicated manoeuvres he had devised for overcoming the lack of a quorum.

  Cockshut was at present on his feet refusing to give way to a thin, spectacled, crew-cutted youth who was attempting to turn a point of information into a speech. The secretary stood impassive, calculating the feeling of the meeting and watching Franny carefully. He observed the chairman’s enjoyment of the situation, his sense of self-parody as he requested order in a voice which even Stuart, who as secretary was positioned at one end of the official table, could hardly hear.

  A clown, thought Stuart. A self-centred, amoral, socially non-productive clown. He had known him for three years now and was still unsure how seriously the man took his own claims. He himself had never concealed his own scepticism for all the mumbo-jumbo of seances and magic ritual which Franny delighted in. And his philosophy, if it merited so respectable a title, was a lot of meaningless, anti-social crap. But the man had something; power, charisma, call it what you will. Such men had to be used, though never trusted. It had been wiser to join him rather than oppose him, Stuart reassured himself; politically wiser he meant, of course, uneasily aware at the back of his mind of the whole range of sensual delights the union had procured for him. Nor, he had to admit, had the political education of the college proceeded at quite the speed he had hoped for. The place was still fragmented, divided.