Pix (Volume Book 24) (Harpur & Iles Mysteries) (25 page)

‘ “Suspects”. “Thinks”,' Harpur said. ‘ “Believes”.'

‘Corl?' Hazel said. ‘Maurice Corl? So, Meryl guesses that the Toyota had been with them since the Chandor interview, but they hadn't noticed earlier on their visits to the Monty and Low Pastures.'

‘She looks up the street and the Toyota's gone. Maybe they had something else to do, and left one man to keep an eye on Meryl,' Jill said. ‘And this man they left – he's got some big title.'

‘Director of Strategic Planning,' Hazel said, ‘if it was Corl.'

‘Yes, “if”,' Harpur replied.

‘He's supposed to be Director of Strategic Planning, and yet he's doing a night watch shift in the street,' Jill said. ‘What sort of a firm is that, dad? I mean, it's like Prince Philip on sentry go at Windsor. What's it mean, Director of Strategic Planning? Snoop?'

‘I think Meryl Goss should go back to London now,' Harpur replied.

‘That's what I mean,' Jill said.

‘What?' Harpur said.

‘Your voice rough and sharp,' Jill said. ‘Anxious.'

‘You're afraid for her?' Hazel said.

‘Yes, it's foolish of Meryl to risk her job,' Harpur said.

‘Is that the only risk?' Hazel asked.

‘I think she needs protection in her quest,' Jill said. ‘That's what it is – a quest. Me and Hazel must be near her
and ready whenever we can arrange it. The reporter's not always available. The paper puts her on other work.'

‘ “Hazel and I”,' Harpur said.

‘Oh, great! You'll help? So, it's Hazel and you and me,' Jill said.

‘No, I meant you should say “Hazel and I” not “Me and Hazel”,' Harpur said.

‘Whatever,' Jill said. ‘The important thing is, are you going to help Hazel and I look after her?'

‘ “Hazel and
me
”,' Harpur replied. ‘ “Help Hazel and me”.'

‘Oh, God,' Jill said.

‘What does she mean when she says “dig”?' Harpur asked, knowing what she meant and unhappy with it.

‘Oh, you know, dad –
dig
,' Jill said.

‘How does she dig into the Chandor company and his activities?' Harpur said.

‘Sort of . . . well,
dig
,' Jill replied.

‘Focus on him and his outfit only,' Hazel said.

‘He's what's called “in the frame”,' Jill said.

‘Yes, but how does she intend doing it?' Harpur said. He felt he was losing them. They had told him as much as they thought he should know. ‘If she's going to ask questions all round about Chandor he'll hear of it.'

‘Is that dangerous?' Jill said.

Yes, dangerous. ‘He might resent it,' Harpur said. ‘The implications.'

‘Are they dangerous?' Jill replied.

‘Meryl Goss thinks Graham's dead,' Hazel said.

‘No,' Jill yelled.

‘Has she told you that?' Harpur said.

‘No, but I can see it in her face,' Hazel said.

‘No, no, we must search,' Jill said.

‘It's a hunt for the truth now, not a search for him,' Hazel replied.

‘Stop saying that, Haze. Stop!' Jill said.

‘Meryl believes he was killed,' Hazel said.

‘This is double guesswork,' Harpur said. ‘You're guessing that's what she thinks and, if she
does
believe that, she's guessing, too.'

But not bad guesswork.

‘So why hasn't his body been found?' Jill said.

‘These are smart people,' Hazel said.

Yes, they were smart people, and Harpur did not want his daughters running against them. He didn't want Meryl Goss running against them, either. But mostly he thought about his daughters. They were
his
focus.

‘I hate thinking he might be dead,' Jill said. ‘So sad for her.' She sniffed a little but did not weep.

‘We all hate it. But he might be,' Hazel said.

Jill sat stiff, staring at nothing much, as far as Harpur could tell, perhaps in a bit of shock. After a while she said: ‘If he's been killed and Meryl starts
really
poking about, digging, she might get . . . I mean, she might not be safe herself.'

‘That's why I think she should stop now, go back to London,' Harpur said.

Jill turned the stare on to him. ‘Signifying
you
think he's been killed, dad,' she said.

‘Signifying I think she's better off out of it,' Harpur said.

‘Can you arrange protection for her?' Hazel said.

‘There aren't any grounds,' Harpur said.

‘We've just given you enough grounds, dad, haven't we?' Jill replied.

‘You mean, because she might have been tailed?' Harpur said.

‘No might,' Jill said. ‘It happened.' She had kept the stare on Harpur, an appraisal stare. ‘It's like something holds you back, dad. It's like you've got information but can't use it, or won't.'

‘And what information could I possibly –' The phone rang and Harpur felt glad he didn't need to complete this thought. He went into the hall to answer. Iles said: ‘They've got a bit of an awkward situation at the service flats in Pendine Road North, Col. Linklater House, Number 22.'

‘What awkward situation, sir?'

‘This is Matilda's brother.'

‘Laurent Shale?'

‘I'm getting over there personally now,' Iles replied. ‘I feel obliged.'

‘Why?'

‘Yes, I'm getting over there now, personally.'

‘What is this address?' Harpur said. ‘Whose?'

‘You'd better get there, too.'

‘I'd like to know what the –'

‘It's part of things, Harpur.'

‘Right. I'll come.'

‘I'm sure you will,' Iles said.

‘But what's it about?'

‘Manse has been informed. He'll be there. Possibly Sybil and Matilda, also. It's not just the girl who's disturbed, you see. We make a mistake in thinking boys are unshakeable. For instance, Harpur, as a youngster I was remarkably sensitive. People spoke of it.'

‘And are now, sir. I've often heard folk mention it.'

‘Which folk? Have you got names?'

‘Many. But what's Laurent Shale done?'

‘Number 22, Linklater House, Pendine Road North is occupied by a Carmel Arlington,' Iles said. ‘I have a captioned photograph of her outside it.'

‘Manse's Carmel?'

‘As was, perhaps. She has a partner there now, Philip Dell. Some of my photographs show both. I gather they're away in Italy. A camper van. The boy went looking for Carmel and became disturbed when he couldn't find her at Flat 22. If you ask me, Col, he's like his sister and thinks something bad-to-the-point-of-frightful happened to one of those women in the rectory while they were away. Perhaps he was especially fond of Carmel. Or perhaps hers is the only address he has of the three. He turns obsessive and goes there to check she's all right. He gets unhinged when he can't, kicking at the door and yelling. What I mean by sensitive. It can be a thing with the exceptionally sensitive, Col. They will become unhinged.'

‘That right, sir?'

‘What's that mean, you sly fucker?'

‘What?'

‘ “That right, sir?” Are you hinting
I
grow unhinged sometimes because my sensitive side cannot bear the thought of you with my wife?' So as utterly to disprove unhingedness, the ACC kept his tone to only a moderate shriek, and very little surplus spit interfered with his consonants or seemed to clog the mouthpiece.

‘First the girl comes to see you, now this,' Harpur replied.

‘Possibly a troubled mind takes a little longer to show itself in a boy than a girl. But the troubles are there, just the same, deep inside. It takes only a minor setback to bring them out. His behaviour is such that neighbours ring us, alarmed. I can show him the photos, to ease his mind, poor kid. Carmel spotted the photographer, so the photos catch her irate and pugnacious, but obviously alive.'

‘These are the photographs of all three women that you had done for Matilda?'

‘If she comes with Manse she can see them, too. Fortunate. I couldn't work out how to get them to her without seeming to – seeming to show an improper interest in a young girl, Harpur.'

‘That sort of thing doesn't usually bother you, sir.'

‘Do I go to her parents or schoolteacher and say I've got some photographs to show her? I'm an ACC, for God's sake. I mentioned her multi-pleated skirt and the socks to you, did I? Very white socks.'

‘I think so. Your larynx sort of seized up.'

‘I'm an ACC, for God's sake.'

‘It can be a burden.'

‘Look, I don't like talking about this sort of thing on an open line, Col. There's a hell of a lot of illegal intercepts these days.'

Harpur went back into the sitting room. ‘I have to go out,' he said.

‘Is this to do with Graham Trove?' Jill asked.

It might be, in some roundabout fashion. As Iles had said, ‘Part of things.' ‘No, not at all,' he replied.

‘But, obviously, an emergency,' Jill said.

‘An incident of some kind,' Harpur said.

‘Why can't Graham Trove be an emergency?' Hazel asked.

If his body turned up, he would be. ‘That was Mr Iles on the phone,' Harpur replied.

‘Did he ask about Hazel?'

‘Quiet, mange,' Hazel said.

‘He's gone cool since helping with Scott,' Jill said. ‘No, not cool. He's gone decent. Amazing!'

‘Keep out of it, earwig,' Hazel said.

When Harpur arrived at Linklater House, Pendine Road North, Sybil Shale said: ‘Yet more brass?'

‘There's no need for this – all you high officers here as well as the other cops because a lad goes a bit haywire,' Mansel said. ‘That's all – a bit haywire.'

‘King-pin Iles and now his sidekick turn up after a kid makes a small scene,' Sybil said. ‘Crazy. Or do I miss something?'

‘Laurent has been rather upset, Col,' Iles said. ‘These kind neighbours – Mr and Mrs Parry looked after him.'

‘He seemed so frantic, so desperate,' Mrs Parry said. ‘Attacking the door.'

‘A bit haywire,' Manse Shale said. ‘Everyone knows it can happen with boys.'

Iles said: ‘Laurent came here looking for someone and when he couldn't find her he became –'

‘Became really beside himself,' Mr Parry said. ‘Calling her name – “Carmel,” “Carmel,” “Carmel, where are you? Carmel, are you all right, tell me you're all right?” '

They were in the sitting room of the Parrys' flat, Number 24, next to 22. ‘We told him Carmel had gone to Italy in the camper van with Phil. But he wouldn't believe it,' Mrs Parry said. ‘He seemed to think something terrible had happened to her, not here but elsewhere. I mean, really terrible.'

Laurent said: ‘The mess at the top of the stairs – it's only sauce, you know. Definitely. A little accident, that's all.' He was sitting with a glass of water in one hand on a long, loose-covered settee. He looked pale and restive, but he
kept the glass upright and gave his statement perfectly, as though pre-recorded. The loose covers had a dark red Regency-type stripe on a silver background. The wallpaper continued this Regency theme.

‘He said this before,' Mrs Parry said, ‘about the sauce. I don't understand.'

‘Definitely only sauce,' Matilda said. She had on a navy track suit, not the pleated skirt, and trainers, with no socks, so Iles might be fairly all right.

‘I asked him, “Which stairs?” ' Mr Parry said. ‘Did he mean the stairs to the flats? He said, “No.” But he didn't say
which
stairs. There's something on his mind.'

‘It's only sauce,' Laurent said.

‘Definitely only sauce,' Matilda said.

‘This would be an unfortunate incident at home, but all put right now,' Mansel said.

Mr Parry said: ‘What we don't follow is how the accident with sauce . . . we don't follow how this accident with the sauce is connected with . . . well, why it would make Laurent come here looking for Carmel, and so urgent, so pressing.'

‘I wanted to see her,' Laurent said. ‘But she's not here. I know this is her address. She sent a card. Where is she? Where is she? That was only a little accident with sauce, but where is she?' His voice suddenly became a howl, almost like Iles in one of his sensitive fits.

‘She's gone to Italy, son,' Mr Parry said.

‘People say that,' Laurent answered, ‘but where
is
she?'

‘We decided we should all come over as a family,' Mansel said.

‘It's a real damn palaver, isn't it, but isn't it?' Sybil said. ‘I'm his damn mother but we're all here because he's bawling about some woman lodger who's at the rectory for . . . for what . . . weeks at a time, and with no real standing, none at all? So hurtful, so disgraceful. What will Mr and Mrs Parry think of our family, our household, Mansel? Did you ever consider the likely effect on the children of bringing these creatures into the property?'

‘Luckily, I have some photographs,' Iles replied.

‘Photographs of what?' Sybil said.

‘Oh, yes, these will settle things down, I'm sure,' Iles said. ‘All of them automatically date-captioned and wholly convincing proof that not just Carmel but other rectory guests are in bonny shape.' He had a briefcase near the armchair where he sat and picked this up now, opened it and spread about a dozen snaps of Carmel, Patricia and Lowri on the pink fitted carpet. In some of the Carmel shots, what must be Philip Dell also appeared.

‘Yes, this is Carmel,' Mrs Parry said, ‘taken in the road outside. And Phil. I don't know the others.'

‘I should bloody well hope not,' Sybil replied.

‘Why have you got these photos, Mr Iles?' Mansel said.