Gallery Whispers

19

'As expected, Brian?' Martin sounded weary as he spoke into the telephone.

'Entirely,' Mackie replied. 'Avril Weston confirms that she and the Professor were at home together at the time of Gaynor's death. They were doing the Telegraph Crossword, as a matter of fact. The lady is indeed very pregnant, and she has difficulty sleeping, like he said.

'She knew about Gaynor's condition, apparently. Nolan told her about it after he did the operation at St Martha's; he was in a right state, as you could imagine.'

'Did she know what sort of a relationship her husband had with his ex-wife?'

'I don't believe so,' the superintendent answered. 'I did ask her very gently, you understand — whether she approved of his seeing her.

She told me that as far as she was concerned it was good for Raymond that his parents remained on friendly terms after their divorce. But she didn't give me the impression that she knew they were having it off.'

Martin heard a slurping sound come over the phone line, and guessed that Mackie must be drinking from a mug of coffee. 'The boy was up and about, by the way,' he continued. 'He seemed compos mentis to me so I asked him a few questions.

'He said that the first he knew of his mother's illness was when his father told him yesterday, when he picked him up from Aberdeen. The last time he spoke to her was on Wednesday night. She phoned him at his hall of residence; only just caught him, the boy said, before he went out to a Freshers do with his pals.

'She sounded okay, according to the lad, although it struck him at the time that she didn't really say why she was calling him. He knows now that she was saying goodbye.'

'Ahh, poor kid,' Martin murmured. 'Did you ask him about-'

'-his mother's sex-life? Yes. I was never happy with the idea of leaving that to the father. As far as he knew she didn't have any boyfriends. Obviously Futcher never went out to Oldbams while the lad was there. He did say that his mother used to go to SNO concerts and to the Opera, and he was under the impression that she went with

someone, although she never mentioned a name. It needn't have been a man.'

'Worth looking into, though.'

'I agree. I've asked Maggie and Stevie to go out to Oldbarns this evening to re-interview the Ball woman.'

'Christ, watch the overtime!'

'I didn't have any choice. She's off to the Canaries tomorrow morning, so we've got to catch her tonight.'

'You don't fancy her for it? Not even a wee bit?'

Mackie drew a breath. 'Nah, worse luck. There's something I never told you about Joan Ball. She has severe arthritis in both hands. She was given early retirement from the Civil Service three years ago on health grounds. No way could she have injected Gaynor; even fastening the plastic bag over her head would have been beyond her.'

'Jesus, this doesn't get any easier, Thin Man, does it.'

To Martin's surprise, a gentle laugh sounded down the line. 'Ah, but I haven't given you the good news yet,' said the superintendent.

'Arthur Dorward's clever people have managed to lift a saliva trace off one of the two wine glasses that were left in Mrs Weston's sink — the one without Mrs Weston's lipstick on it. Hopefully, it'll give us a DNA match; if only we can find the bugger who left it.'