Hidden Depths

Chapter Twenty-Three

When they’d finished with Clive Stringer, Vera took Joe home. She could tell he was fretting about his pregnant wife and his daughter. But she couldn’t settle. She called into the police headquarters at Kimmerston and raged around the building, demanding action and answers. Holly was out, but Charlie was there, hunched over his desk, staring at the computer screen. His waste bin was overflowing – empty Coke cans, burger cartons, greasy chip paper. She remembered hearing that his wife had recently left him for a younger man. Like Vera, he probably didn’t have much to go home to.

‘Nothing unusual about Lily Marsh’s bank account,’ he said. ‘She had a bit more money this year because they get a grant for doing the post-graduate teaching course, but she still spent pretty much up to her student overdraft limit. No mysterious payments to suggest a rich boyfriend. She was paid direct into her account by the dress shop, but it wasn’t a fortune. Better than the minimum wage, but not by much.’ He paused. ‘Something a bit odd, though. I can’t tell how she paid her rent. Not by cheque and it wasn’t covered by standing order. No regular withdrawals of cash either.’

‘Maybe she had a different account,’ Vera said. ‘Building society. Internet account. Perhaps there’s a statement in that material we recovered from her flat. Get onto it, Charlie. She was living beyond her means. She should have been massively in debt. But she wasn’t. Something doesn’t add up.’ And she stamped away without giving him the chance to complain.

She set off for home then, but she knew she’d only start drinking as soon as she got in. She was in that sort of mood. A large whisky before she scratched together a meal and downhill from there. Passing the Morpeth turn-off she decided to call on Samuel Parr. She’d have seen them all, then. The whole group. The four birdwatchers who claimed they had nothing to do with the murders except being present when the body was found, but who seemed tangled up with the case all the same. Gary, who had fallen for Luke Armstrong’s mother. Clive, who, as a kid, had known Luke Armstrong’s best friend. And Peter Calvert, who worked at the university where Lily Marsh had been a student. In the north east there were a lot of small communities, all interlinked. There were always going to be connections. Perhaps it was of no significance, but she couldn’t ignore it. And where did Samuel Parr fit in?

He looked as if he had not long arrived home. When she rang the bell of the small stone house, he answered immediately. He’d been standing in the hall. Perhaps he’d just shut the door behind him. There was a briefcase at the foot of the stairs. He wore a linen jacket, slightly crumpled.

‘Is this convenient?’ she asked. Samuel Parr was a minor local celebrity. She’d looked him up. His stories had been read on Radio 4. He’d got an OBE in the people’s honours for service to libraries. She’d best treat him with a bit of respect. At first, at least.

‘Yes, of course, Inspector. Come in. It’ll be about that business on Friday night. Dreadful.’ He took off his jacket and hung it on the banister. ‘I’m late home. A meeting in Berwick. Awful traffic on the A1.’ He was tall, bony and his hair was very short.

She remembered hearing one of his stories. She never bothered much with television, but the radio was on all the time at home. It had been a domestic tale. A man and a woman in a loveless marriage. A stranger in town who had become a lover. The ending had been horrific and quite unexpected. The couple had collaborated in killing the lover. They needed the stability and routine of their marriage more than the excitement of love or of loss. Vera tried to remember what they had done to the body. She knew it had been disturbing. Not explicit in the description of the violence, but so chilling, that it had haunted her for days. So chilling perhaps that she’d forced it out of her mind and the details wouldn’t return. Now, looking at this quiet, middle-aged man, she found it hard to believe he had dreamed up the tale. She thought she should get the anthology out of the library. See how the story had ended.

‘I always indulge in a glass of wine at this time of the evening. Can I tempt you?’

She thought he was playing up to the stereotype of the librarian. Surely he didn’t talk like that while he was in the watch tower and the skuas were streaming past in a northerly gale. Then he’d shout and swear like the rest of them.

‘Thank you,’ she said.

‘I only have red, I’m afraid. I live alone, so I just buy to suit myself.’

‘You never married, Mr Parr?’

‘I’m a widower.’ There was a pause. ‘Claire, my wife, committed suicide.’

‘I’m sorry.’ She’d always thought suicide the most selfish act.

‘She’d suffered from depression since before I knew her. I didn’t understand how desperate she was. Of course I’ll always blame myself.’

He’d led her into a long narrow room, which covered the width of the house. He opened a window and let in the song of a blackbird, the smell of cut grass. He turned his back on her to stand at a Victorian sideboard and open the wine. She couldn’t make out if he was as calm as he seemed. She wanted to ask how his wife had killed herself. Had she drowned? It wasn’t a question to ask over a glass of Australian Shiraz, and anyway she’d be able to find out. There’d be a coroner’s report. And where had she been treated for depression? On the wall, there was a photograph of a woman, her head thrown back, laughing. Claire? It seemed to be the only record of the woman in the room.

He turned now and held out a large glass of wine to her. She nodded at the picture. ‘She was very pretty.’ He didn’t answer.

She took the wine, sat on a scarred leather Chesterfield, waited for him to speak. He told stories for a living. Let him go first.

‘It was a terrible shock, finding the young woman’s body,’ he said. ‘Hearing James scream, my first response was irritation. I never felt any desire to have children, even when Claire was alive. I know we should encourage them into the library, but really my attempts are half-hearted. They’re so noisy. Such a nuisance. Then when we saw that young woman, her hair floating to the surface, her dress… I was reminded of a Pre-Raphaelite painting. The muted colours in the shadow. Perhaps it was because we were looking down at her, seeing it at a distance.’

‘It looked staged,’ Vera said. ‘Posed, like a model for an artist?’

‘Yes.’ He looked up, surprised that she’d understood him so easily. ‘It wasn’t just that someone wanted her dead, it was that a point was being made.’

‘You didn’t recognize her?’

‘No.’

‘And now, having had time to consider, you’re sure you’d never met her?’

‘She didn’t look like a real woman,’ he said. ‘I can’t be certain I’d know. But the name means nothing to me.’

‘We found a Northumberland Libraries ticket in the belongings in her flat.’

‘I don’t know all our borrowers, Inspector.’

‘Why would she join if she lived in Newcastle?’

‘If she worked in Hepworth, she might find our branch there more convenient than the city library. It opens only a few hours a week, but it’s very close to the school. Perhaps she just wanted to access her emails.’

‘Would you be able to tell us what she borrowed recently?’

‘Is it important?’

‘Probably not,’ Vera said. ‘But I’d be interested to know. Curiosity…’ She grinned at him. ‘Probably something writers and detectives have in common.’

‘I couldn’t tell you now, even if I went into work. Our system will be shut down for the day. I could look tomorrow and let you know if there any books outstanding on her ticket. I can’t do more than that.’

‘Do you think you can tell what people are like from what they read?’

He laughed. ‘Absolutely not. Many of our readers are gentle old ladies, who adore the most gruesome American thrillers.’

Vera found that she was enjoying herself. It was the wine, but he was good company. Easy. She’d been expecting someone restrained and dull, but now he seemed more relaxed too.

‘What got you into birding?’

‘A good teacher,’ Samuel said. ‘He took us on field trips. I grew up in a suburb of the city and it was a revelation to visit the hills. I suppose I have a romantic response to natural history rather than a scientific one. I enjoy beautiful things.’

‘Dr Calvert takes the scientific approach?’

‘Yes. We went to the same school. He’s a few years older than me, but we met in the Natural History Society. Separated for university, but we’ve been friends ever since. He was into science; I loved reading.’

‘Why did he do botany? Why not zoology?’

‘He says he prefers to have birdwatching as a pleasure, not a chore.’

‘Did you know that Gary had a new girlfriend?’

The sudden switch in conversation didn’t seem to throw him. ‘I knew he’d fallen for someone.’ He paused. ‘It couldn’t have been the murdered girl, you know. That was the sort of woman he’d usually have gone for. But his latest conquest was different, I think. Someone older, someone he’d gone to school with. We laughed at him, asked if he was growing up at last. He’s in his thirties, but he’s always played the part of wild adolescent in our group.’

‘The new woman in his life is called Julie Armstrong. She’s the mother of a lad who was strangled in Seaton the Wednesday before Lily Marsh died.’ She looked up. ‘Hadn’t you heard? You’re such close friends, I’d have thought one of them would have told you. The others know.’

‘They might have tried to phone,’ he said. ‘I’ve been in meetings all day and I’ve only just got in.’

‘If Gary is the wild adolescent, what part does Clive play?’ She realized she’d finished her wine and put her glass on the table. She wondered if he’d offer her another, if she could accept it and still be under the limit.

Samuel thought for a moment. ‘Clive’s an obsessive,’ he said. ‘A brilliant birder. The best of us by far. He reads field guides like I read fiction, but he remembers every word. He’s not wonderful company in the pub. He doesn’t make us laugh. Not like Gary. Not like Peter even, if he’s on form. But he finds the birds for us. He reminds us what brought us together in the first place.’

‘Where were you on Friday before you arrived at Fox Mill for the birthday party?’

He looked at her over his glass. ‘Am I a suspect, Inspector?’ He wasn’t angry. He seemed to find the idea amusing.

‘I need to rule out anyone involved with the victim, even peripherally.’

‘I wasn’t. Not while she was alive.’ He set down the glass. ‘I’m sorry, Inspector, I shouldn’t take this lightly. You’re entitled to ask your questions. I was working on Friday afternoon in the library in Morpeth. I took some time back and left early. At about four o’clock. Then I came home. I was re-drafting a story. I wanted it finished to take with me that evening.’

‘A present for Dr Calvert? Something you’d written specially for his birthday?’

‘Nothing like that. Peter never reads fiction. Felicity enjoys my work. And I value her opinion. I wanted her to look at it before I sent it off to my agent.’

Vera wanted to ask what the story was about, but could see that it probably wasn’t relevant. Perhaps she just wanted to prolong the interview so she wouldn’t have to return to an empty house.

‘Can anyone confirm that you were here? Any phone calls or visitors?’

‘I’m afraid not. And I never answer the phone when I’m writing.’

‘Perhaps a neighbour saw you leave for the party?’

‘You can check, Inspector, but I’d be surprised. This is a neighbourhood where people mind their own business.’ He smiled. ‘Some more wine, Inspector? Just half a glass as I know you’re driving.’

She was tempted, but she shook her head and stood up. She wondered why he was being so pleasant to her. Men seldom bothered to make an effort with her and Samuel wasn’t flirting exactly, but he wanted her to like him. Was that habit? He worked with eccentric middle-aged women. Perhaps he’d developed it as a management style. Or did he have some other reason for wanting her onside?

He walked with her to the door, shook her hand, and stood in the small front garden while she opened her car door. Driving away she felt she’d been in a small way seduced by him. He’d controlled the conversation. Things had gone just as he’d wanted.