A Dedicated Man

10
ONE

Anne Downes was both nervous and excited to find herself in the police station. Not that it was much of a place, but it was alive with important activity: people coming and going, phones ringing, the ancient telex machine clattering. The two other girls paid less attention to their surroundings and seemed more preoccupied with their internal sense of unease. Hazel was the worst, biting her nails and shifting position as if she had St Vitus’s dance; Kathy pretended to lounge coolly, casually uninterested in the whole affair, but she was biting her lower lip so hard it turned red.

The policewoman had been friendly enough when she’d picked them up at the coffee bar and driven them the short distance to the station, and the small attractive chief inspector had smiled and said he wouldn’t keep them long. But they all knew there was something going on.

Anne was the first to be called into the tiny interview room. Its walls were bare and the mere two chairs and a table made the place seem over-furnished. It was the kind of room that made you claustrophobic.

Banks sat opposite Anne, and a policewoman with a notebook in her hand stood in the corner by a narrow barred window.

‘I’d just like to ask you a few questions, Anne,’ Banks began.

She looked at him quizzically from behind the thick lenses and nodded.

‘First of all, I suppose you know why I want to see you again?’

‘Yes,’ Anne replied. ‘You think Sally’s been murdered because of something she knew.’

Banks, taken aback by her directness, asked what her opinion was.

‘I’d say it’s possible, yes,’ Anne answered, her young brow furrowed in thought. ‘I’ve already told you that I don’t believe she’s run away or got lost, and that doesn’t leave much more to choose from, does it, especially with this other business going on?’

She’d make a good detective, Banks thought – quick, perceptive, logical. ‘Have you got any other ideas?’ he asked.

‘Maybe I was wrong,’ Anne said, her voice beginning to shake.

‘Wrong about what?’

‘When I said Sally was all talk, all big ideas. Maybe she really did know something. Maybe she thought she’d make a name for herself by following it up.’

‘Why should she do that?’

Anne adjusted her glasses and shook her head. The thick lenses magnified the tears forming in her eyes. ‘I don’t know,’ she answered.

‘Did she tell you anything at all that indicated she knew who the person was? Think about it. Anything.’

Anne thought, and the tears held off. ‘No,’ she said finally. ‘She just hinted that she knew things, that she’d solved some kind of mystery. I mean, yes, she did sort of say that she knew who it was, but she didn’t give us any names or anything. She said she had to make sure; she didn’t want to cause any trouble.’

‘Do Sally’s parents have a telephone?’

‘Yes. They’ve had one for ages. Why?’

‘Can you think of any reason why Sally would use a public phone box on Friday afternoon?’

‘No.’

‘Not even if she wanted to call Kevin or some other boyfriend? I know that parents aren’t always understanding.’

‘There was only Kevin, and Sally’s mum and dad knew about him. They weren’t a hundred per cent keen, but he’s a nice enough boy, so they didn’t make a fuss about it.’

‘Did Sally say where she was going on Friday evening?’

‘No. I’d no idea she was going anywhere.’

‘Thank you very much, Anne,’ Banks said.

The policewoman showed her out and brought Kathy Chalmers in next. Kathy was upset by then, but there were no tears, and although she seemed to realize dimly what it was all about, she had nothing to add.

The last girl, Hazel Kirk, was another matter. She knew as well as the others what was going on, but she pretended ignorance. She said she couldn’t even remember whether Sally had said anything about knowing who the killer was. The more Banks questioned her, the more fidgety and edgy she became. Finally she burst into tears and told Banks to leave her alone. He nodded to the policewoman, who moved forward to speak to her, and left the room.

Sergeant Hatchley was sitting on the edge of Weaver’s desk looking over reports from provincial police and railway authorities. He glanced up as Banks approached. ‘Any luck?’

Banks shook his head. ‘The first one’s the most intelligent, but even she couldn’t tell us much. What she did say confirms our suspicions though. If Sally thought she knew who the killer was and arranged for a meeting, then we can be pretty sure what’s happened to her. It must have been someone she knew, someone she wasn’t afraid of. There’s got to be a motive, dammit, and it’s got to be right before our eyes.’ He banged his fist on the desk, surprising Hatchley with the sudden violence. It reminded the sergeant that his boss came from a tough patch. He wasn’t a plodder; he was used to action.

‘Got a cigarette?’ Banks asked.

‘Thought you’d stopped and taken up pipe puffing,’ Hatchley said, handing over his packet of Senior Service.

‘Not any more. I never could stand the blasted thing.’

Hatchley smiled and gave him a light. ‘Then I suggest, sir,’ he said, ‘that you start buying your own.’

The door of the interview room opened and a pacified Hazel Kirk came out to rejoin her waiting friends, who had all been whispering, wondering what was going on. The policewoman, looking concerned, stood in the doorway and beckoned Banks over.

‘What is it?’ he asked, closing the door behind him.

‘The girl, sir,’ the PC began. ‘Why she was upset. It might mean something.’

‘Well? Go on.’

‘Sorry, sir. She got upset because Sally had told her she thought she knew who the killer was, and when she got home, Hazel told her parents.’ She paused, and Banks drew on his cigarette waiting for her to continue. ‘They just laughed and said Sally Lumb always did have an overactive imagination, but the girl’s father had had a bit of a run-in with Steadman a few weeks ago, and Hazel thought…’

‘Yes, I can imagine what she thought,’ Banks said. For all his virtues, Steadman had certainly been a thorn in the side of some locals. ‘What was it this time?’ he asked. ‘Arguments over land or charges of moral laxity?’

‘Sir?’

‘Sorry, it doesn’t matter,’ Banks said. ‘Go on. What’s the background?’

‘She didn’t say, sir. Wouldn’t. I’m brought in from Wensleydale. Constable Weaver might know something.’

‘Yes, of course. Thank you very much, Constable…?’

‘Smithies, sir.’

‘Thank you very much, Constable Smithies. You did a good job calming her down and getting her to open up like that,’ Banks said, then left her blushing in the interview room.

Weaver was on the phone when Banks reached the desk, but he cut the conversation short.

‘The weather people from Reckston Moor, sir,’ he explained. ‘They say it’d be madness to send out search parties on the moors for at least twenty-four hours.’

‘Bloody northern weather,’ Banks cursed. Hatchley, eavesdropping, grinned and winked at Weaver, who ignored him.

‘They don’t expect the rain to let up for a while, and the land’s boggy. Visibility is as bad as you can get up the valley sides. It’s all moorland above there, sir, both ways, miles of it.’

‘Yes, I know,’ Banks said. ‘And there’s nothing we can do about it, is there? Just make sure everything’s set to go the minute the situation improves. Have you arranged for helicopters?’

‘Yes, sir. Superintendent Gristhorpe’s handling it. But they can’t go out in this weather.’

‘No, of course not. Look, you know that girl who was in here a few minutes ago?’

Weaver nodded. ‘Hazel Kirk. Yes.’

‘Know anything about her father?’

‘Robert Kirk. Family’s been here for generations. Came from Scotland originally.’

‘What does he do?’

‘He works at Noble’s in Eastvale. You know, the big shoe shop in that new shopping centre near the bus station.’

‘I know it. Anything else.’

‘He’s very active in the local church, sir,’ Weaver went on. ‘One or two people think he’s a bit of a religious nutter, if you know what I mean. Touch of the fire and brimstone. Strong Presbyterian streak – his ancestors brought it with them from Scotland, if you ask me. Anyway, he’s always writing letters to the papers about too much sex on television. His latest fad is a campaign to ban rock videos and bring censorship into the music business. There’s not much support for that round here though, sir. Nobody really cares one way or another.’

‘What’s your opinion of him?’

‘Nutty but harmless.’

‘Certain?’

Weaver nodded. ‘Never been in trouble with us, sir. And he is very religious, like. Wouldn’t harm a fly.’

‘Religious people are often the most violent. Aren’t the Iranians religious? Anyway, have a chat with him, would you, and ask him what he argued with Harold Steadman about.’

‘There wasn’t any argument, sir,’ Weaver replied. ‘Kirk complained to the headmaster of Eastvale Comprehensive about letting someone with such lax moral standards as Harold Steadman mix with teenage girls.’

‘What?’

‘It’s true, sir,’ Weaver went on, grinning. ‘He’d seen Steadman with Penny Cartwright now and then, and to Kirk she was nothing less than the whore of Babylon. Remember, he was around when Penny left Helmthorpe in the first place; all those rumours of incest, then the Sodom and Gomorrah of the music business. Steadman would sometimes give Hazel and the other girls a ride home from school, and he’d take them on field trips and invite them to his house. Kirk complained. Nobody took him seriously, of course. I even overheard Steadman and his mates having a good chuckle over the business in the Bridge one night.’

‘Why didn’t you tell me this before?’ Banks asked. There was something in the icy quietness of his tone that sent danger signals to Weaver.

‘I- It didn’t seem important, sir.’

‘Didn’t seem important?’ Banks repeated. ‘We’re investigating a murder, laddie. Do you realize that? Everything’s important. Even if it’s not important it’s important if it has anything to do with the victim and his circle. Do you understand?’

‘Yes, sir,’ Weaver said shakily. ‘Will that be all, sir?’

‘Is that all?’

‘Sir?’

‘Is there anything else you ought to tell me?’

‘No, sir. I don’t think so, sir.’

‘Then that’s all. Come on, Sergeant Hatchley, let’s get back to civilization.’

‘Bit rough on him, weren’t you, sir?’ said Hatchley as they turned up their collars and walked to their cars.

‘It won’t kill him.’

‘Think there’s owt in it, this Kirk business?’

‘No. No more than there was in the major. Unless Kirk’s a serious nutter, and Weaver assures me he isn’t. Like nearly everything else in this case, there’s just too much damn gossip. That’s why it’s hard to tell the lies from the truth. Kirk, Major Cartwright – nothing but gossip. Better run a check on his background though, just to make sure. I suppose he thinks Steadman was trying to corrupt his angelic young Hazel.’

‘I wouldn’t blame him,’ Hatchley said. ‘The jeans these kids wear nowadays… You’d need a bloody shoehorn to get into them.’

Banks laughed. ‘Enough lewd thoughts about teenagers, Sergeant.’

‘Aye,’ Hatchley said. ‘It’s a bloody good job we can’t be arrested for what we think. Look, sir, there’s a tobacconist’s. And it’s open.’