A Cotswold Mystery Part 14

Over breakfast they tried to compile a sensible action plan. Jessica quizzed her mother on every person she had met in Blockley since Sat.u.r.day morning, and what her impressions of them had been.

'It's a short list,' said Thea. 'Granny. Giles. Thomas and Ick. That's it.'

'Are you sure?'

'Oh, and Gussie from Todenham, with a son in Paxford.'

'And did they all know Julian?'

'Gussie didn't mention him, but it's bound to be safe to a.s.sume she did.' Thea spread her hands helplessly. 'We can't possibly take it for granted that one of these people is the murderer.'

'No,' Jessica nodded, 'but we have to start somewhere. Granny and Thomas both claim to have been his friend more or less for ever. Giles as well, probably. And we forgot Nick. He has to be on the list.'

'And the police have surely interviewed all of them.'

Jessica shook her head. 'Not Gussie, for a start. Except maybe for a basic house-to-house, which might still be ongoing.'

'I don't see any point in counting Gussie. She's a red herring, I'm sure. It was entirely random that I happened to pick her up when I did.'

Jessica narrowed her eyes. 'Not necessarily,' she said. 'That was Sunday right? Julian had been dead for only a few hours by then. She might have been in on it, knowing full well that you were the house-sitter. You could have been followed when you went to Todenham, and waylaid by her for some reason.'

Thea laughed. 'That's crazy,' she protested. 'You could work anybody in if that's your method.'

'Anybody who's met you, yes.' Jessica was serious, bouncing her pen on the table as she a.n.a.lysed her notes. 'Whoever did it will know you're here. Isn't it almost certain that the departure of the Montgomerys was the trigger for the attack on Julian?'

'And what if your idea about Granny is right?' Since Jessica's alarming a.s.sertion on their return from Upton the previous afternoon, no more reference had been made to the theory of senile old woman as murderer. Thea flung herself back in her chair. 'It's no good. It's like trying to do a jigsaw with more than half the pieces missing. We don't know enough to even guess what happened.'

'Not true at all. We have to start with some hypotheses, and test them out, based on what we do do know. Some won't work, but others might.' know. Some won't work, but others might.'

Thea frowned sceptically. 'Is that the approved method for solving a murder, then?'

'Very likely not, if you've got access to the police records and all the rest of it. If you're investigating privately, I don't see what's wrong with it.'

'Oh, I see.' Thea gave her daughter a penetrating look. 'You've decided to abandon your training as a police officer, and become a private investigator instead. Jessica Osborne, PI. No case too trivial, no crime too terrible. That sort of thing?'

'Not at all. Don't be stupid.'

'Sorry,' Thea backed off, knowing she'd gone too far, cursing herself for failing to take a murder sufficiently seriously for her daughter's liking. Somewhere there lurked the abiding idea that she was on holiday, despite being paid to take care of the house and the old woman in the cottage.

'What we need to do is to make things happen,' Jessica a.s.serted. 'Put people together and see what they do. It's no good talking to them one at a time. They can tell all kinds of lies if you do that. You get a much better idea of what they're capable of if you let them spark off each other.'

'I can see that,' Thea said. 'But how do we manage it? Throw a party? I'm not sure Ron and Yvette would approve.'

'Dunno,' said Jessica. 'I'm still at the hypothesis stage.'

'Doing it your way will end up with us just playing a game for the next three days. Hardly different from Cluedo Granny stabbed him with one of his own knives because he knew her daughter was really her grand-daughter. Grandson Nick did it with an archaeological pick, because Julian had evidence that Nick's research was rubbish. Icarus Binns did it because Julian had seen him having s.e.x with Thomas Sewell and threatened to tell the tabloids. The landlord of the Crown did it because he thought Julian had written that terrible review of the food. Gussie did it because Julian refused to give her son a job reference.' She paused for breath. 'And those are just off the top of my head,' she added after a few moments. 'I could probably think of four or five more at least.'

Jessica's eyes were sparkling. 'They're all brilliant!' she applauded. 'What an imagination you've got!'

'And that's all it is. Even if one of them was true, we'd never prove it. Leave it to the police, love, and forget the whole thing.'

'But I thought you wanted wanted to do it. You said only an hour ago-' to do it. You said only an hour ago-'

'Yes, I know I did. But now it seems silly. It's bound to have been a burglar he interrupted in the early hours of Sunday.'

'Burglars hardly ever kill people,' said Jessica. 'That much I have have learnt. Maybe I ought to ask Uncle James if there've been any developments. Do you think he would tell me?' Jessica played with her pen for another minute, and then answered her own question. 'No, he wouldn't,' she admitted. 'Would he?' learnt. Maybe I ought to ask Uncle James if there've been any developments. Do you think he would tell me?' Jessica played with her pen for another minute, and then answered her own question. 'No, he wouldn't,' she admitted. 'Would he?'

'I can't imagine why he would,' Thea confirmed. 'And asking him would bring him over here with a long lecture about minding our own businesses.'

'Mmm.'

They washed and dried the breakfast things, gave Hepzie a bowl of milk, and listened for sounds from the cottage. 'She is a quiet old thing,' Jessica remarked. 'No telly or radio that I can hear.'

She was standing with her ear against the connecting door. 'Maybe she isn't up yet. I wonder what she does does all day.' all day.'

'I wonder that about a lot of people,' said Thea from the kitchen. 'I think they can make a magazine last all morning, for a start.'

By a rapid a.s.sociation of ideas, Jessica asked, 'Do you think Icarus has gone back to London? It'd be great to see him again. After all, he is on our list of murder suspects. We ought to try to catch another glimpse of him.'

Thea sighed. 'And then what? Ask him for his autograph and embarra.s.s the poor chap?'

'He expects expects it. I bet he thought you were really weird when you didn't, on Sat.u.r.day.' it. I bet he thought you were really weird when you didn't, on Sat.u.r.day.'

Thea recalled the bemused expression on the rap artist's face, and could only agree. 'I think he did. He gave me a very funny look. I had no idea at all who he was.'

'You're a dinosaur,' her daughter told her, 'and you ought to be ashamed.' She was idly opening and closing a drawer in a rather fine antique side table, on which sat the telephone and a notepad. Her ear was still c.o.c.ked for sounds of Granny Gardner. The drawer slid smoothly in and out, causing Thea some irritation, as she stood in the kitchen doorway.

'Do you have to?' she asked at last.

'What? Oh!' Jessica looked down at what she was doing. 'I was just playing with it.' Then she peered closer at the actual contents of the drawer. 'My G.o.d!' she said.

Thea went closer, and tried to see what was there. The hall was shadowy, and the drawer only half open. She put her hand out to pull it further.

'Don't touch it!' cried Jessica.

'What is it?'

Jessica took a tissue from a pocket and covered her fingers delicately with it. Then she lifted out the article by the very edges of its handle. 'Strangely enough, it looks like a knife,' said Jessica.

'But not covered in blood,' Thea observed. 'Why wouldn't there be a knife in a hallway drawer? Useful for cutting parcel string and sellotape.'

'It has has got blood on it,' said Jessica in a low voice. 'See.' She pointed at the junction of handle and blade, turning the instrument towards the light. Thea could see a slight brown stain. The rest of the thing seemed very clean and s.h.i.+ny. got blood on it,' said Jessica in a low voice. 'See.' She pointed at the junction of handle and blade, turning the instrument towards the light. Thea could see a slight brown stain. The rest of the thing seemed very clean and s.h.i.+ny.

'How do you know?' she demanded, feeling no excitement or even much interest. 'It could be anything.'

'Mother,' said Jessica, using a term reserved for moments of profound impatience, 'does this look to you like a knife people would normally keep in a hall drawer?' She brandished it in Thea's face. 'Look at it!'

Thea did as instructed. It was an old-fas.h.i.+oned carving knife, sharpened so often that the blade had become narrow and curved, and very sharp. The sort of knife that cut through meat as if it were magarine in a tub. The tip was pointed.

'But wouldn't it bend?' she wondered. 'If you tried to stab with it? It isn't intended for that. See how narrow it is, after so much sharpening.'

Gingerly, Jessica fished a sheet of paper out of the drawer and wrapped it loosely around the knife. Then she tried to flex it. It would scarcely bend at all. 'It would work perfectly well,' she concluded. 'And there is is blood on it.' She twisted it again. 'It's been recently cleaned, but they haven't done a very good job. They missed a bit, look.' blood on it.' She twisted it again. 'It's been recently cleaned, but they haven't done a very good job. They missed a bit, look.'

Thea gave a quick glance, feeling unexpectedly squeamish. 'So why would the knife used to kill Julian Jolly be here?' she asked, all her imaginative skill deserting her. 'That's crazy.'

'First we have to find out whether it is is the murder weapon. I'll have to hand it in at the Incident Room. Did that chap say it was in the Village Hall? Where's that?' the murder weapon. I'll have to hand it in at the Incident Room. Did that chap say it was in the Village Hall? Where's that?'

'I don't know exactly. Past the shop and turn left, I think.'

'Come on, then.'

Before they left, Thea spent a few minutes worrying about Granny. 'I ought to be sure she's alive, at least,' she said.

'Why wouldn't she be?' said Jessica unfeelingly.

Thea just gave her a look.

'All right. Go and knock on her door, then,' Jessica conceded. 'Or whatever it is you usually do.'

'There isn't any usually usually about it. I have to make it up as I go along. At least the buzzer hasn't gone off, so we know she hasn't gone out.' about it. I have to make it up as I go along. At least the buzzer hasn't gone off, so we know she hasn't gone out.'

'Tell me again why you can't simply go through this door, and make sure she's OK? It seems daft not to use it.'

'I know. But those were Ron's instructions. He said it would scare her if I just appeared through it without warning her.'

'You could knock first, or sing, or something. After all, we used it yesterday.'

Thea looked at the door consideringly. 'It seems even more odd now,' she said. 'Finding the back door key like that in Julian's pocket, and then this door being unlocked. And the knife right beside the door. We should be able to workout what happened from all these clues.' She blinked at the idea which suddenly came to her. 'What if somebody popped through from the cottage and put the knife in the drawer, as the first hiding place they came to? After they'd murdered Julian early on Sunday. We know that the door got unlocked at some point.'

'You realise the obvious answer, I suppose,' said Jessica.

'Do I?'

'I was right about Granny all along. She killed him, and came through the door with the knife while you were out or upstairs, and popped it in the drawer after she'd cleaned it. We have to remember this door was unlocked, when you a.s.sumed it wasn't.'

'If she did all that before seven on Sunday morning, she's a b.l.o.o.d.y good actor,' said Thea, wondering why she felt so cross. Then a memory flitted across her mind. 'She said she had a knife,' she recalled. 'She threatened to cut Hepzie's tail off with it. What if she'd already decided to kill Julian, the moment Yvette and Ron had gone?' Her heart began to thump. Then she forced a laugh. 'You've got me doing it now. We're both mad, suspecting a little old lady like her of such a dreadful crime. It's like a Grimm fairytale.'

'It's grim, anyway,' said Jessica, missing the reference.

'Grimm, as in Brothers Grimm,' Thea persisted. 'Dark forests and wicked witches.'

'Right,' nodded Jessica. 'Sounds pretty much like this place, then.'

'Very funny.'

They walked, with the dog, to the police Incident Room, only to be disconcerted by the distance between the High Street and the Hall. The lack of intensity in the investigations was highlighted by the eventual discovery of two officers and a laptop computer in one corner of the building. Jessica produced the knife, neatly confined in a plastic bag, and told the story of how it had been found. Glad beyond expression at having something concrete at last, both men seized on it voraciously. They produced forms to be filled in, and carefully recorded every word that Jessica uttered. Then one of them literally ran outside to his car and sped off to more familiar urban territory where forensics could be recruited to examine the find.

The remaining policeman almost clung to his visitors in his urgent need for company. 'Weird place, this,' he muttered. 'n.o.body's been near us since yesterday morning. Where do they all go go?'

'To work,' said Thea. 'Junction Nine on the M5 is only about twenty minutes from here, and then the world's their oyster. Bristol, Birmingham, Manchester. They leave at seven and get home again twelve hours later, tireder and richer than they started. And far too preoccupied to think about the murder of a quiet old man they hardly knew.'

'Where are the farmers and the shepherds and all that sort of thing? I thought the country was all about that stuff.'

'Where are you from?' Thea asked, already having guessed from his accent.

'Solihull.'

'And you don't get out into the countryside much?'

'Days out with the kids,' he said defensively. 'Now and then.'

Thea gave up. Somehow it seemed unlikely that he would wander the hillsides with his bored offspring who would complain about smells and tired legs. At most, they might take the car for a spin to some small town with a castle or a newly opened theme park.

'It came as a shock to me, too,' said Jessica, in support of the man. 'There don't seem to be many proper farms left any more. So far, I haven't seen a single animal.'

'We'll go and look for some later on,' Thea promised her. 'There are still plenty of sheep around. Not many dairy cows, though. And you seldom see a pig.'

Both the others winced at this. Pigs were not a subject for ordinary conversation. Jessica hurriedly covered for her mother's lapse of protocol. 'I'm a probationer, actually,' she said. 'It was me who found the body on Sunday.'

The man nodded. 'Yes, I know. Your name's here on the screen, look.'

He swivelled the laptop for her to read, and with a sense of being permitted into a forbidden territory, Thea also looked over her daughter's shoulder. The font was too small to read properly, and the screen was divided into several boxes. It would take practice to interpret the information, and she found herself not sufficiently interested to pursue it.

'So I am,' said Jessica. 'It'll have linked to my personal file, I suppose.'

The man nodded. 'We've got everything about you right here at our fingertips,' he said proudly.

'But nothing on me, I hope,' said Thea, feeling queasy.

'Relations.h.i.+p with DS Hollis,' said the man carelessly. 'But that's not on the official database.'

It was too much for Thea. Frustrated rage threaded with fear threatened to loosen her tongue. This was not the place to deliver a lecture about human rights and personal privacy. It wasn't even the appropriate trigger to start such a rant. The man seemed to be saying it was little more than gossip anyway. Unbidden, the voice of Carl sounded in her ears. Carl, whose automatic position was on the side of liberty and minimal state intervention, was speaking now. 'This country is sliding into dictators.h.i.+p, with the police as the main instrument of suppression.' And yet he had made no objection when his daughter expressed the first hint of a desire to enter the police force. 'Fight it from the inside, eh,' he'd smiled, never questioning that she would remain firmly of his opinion.

'Come on,' she said roughly. 'We can't stay away too long. What about Granny?'

'What about her indeed,' said Jessica darkly. 'I'm right behind you.'

Granny was visible through her window when they got back. She had pulled the curtains aside, and her face was almost pressed to the gla.s.s. She was obviously looking out for somebody or something. Thea waved to her, and pointed a jabbing finger at the street door, suggesting she be admitted.

The old woman leapt to comply and was at the door in seconds. Jessica hovered behind her mother, unsure what she ought to do. 'She can certainly move,' she muttered into Thea's ear.