Poisoned Cherries

Chapter 26

Ricky wasn’t too keen to take the commission when I told him about it later that evening. In fact his exact words were, ‘No fucking way!’

He hadn’t been totally pleased to see me when I’d rung his bell; I think he was still smarting over the way I’d rung it earlier on, when I found out he’d recorded my conversation with Alison. I didn’t really feel like apologising for that, but I did, for her sake. ‘Sorry about that, mate,’ I told him, ‘but if I hadn’t belted you, she’d never have believed that I wasn’t in on the act as well.’

‘You think that quick, do you?’ he grunted, doubtfully, as he dug a couple of beers out of his fridge.

‘Sometimes.’

‘That’ll be right. I’m still not taking the job, though.’

‘Of course you are. Come on, Ricky, you can’t turn down a challenge like that. I’ll bet that somewhere inside that conniving head of yours there’s a mad dream that your pal the new chief constable might reinstate you in the force. If you could pull off something like this. .’

He looked at me scornfully. ‘There’s no chance of that. Anyway, I told you; I’m making too much bloody money to even think about going back in.’

‘Fine. So clear Alison’s name, then sell your story to a tabloid. You never know, Miles might even fancy it as a movie plot.’

I saw pound signs rolling in his eyes like two-thirds of a one-armed bandit. ‘Maybe. But there’s a problem, Oz; she fucking did it!’

‘I don’t think so.’

‘Don’t give me it. You thought so when you left here; you were as sure as me. So what’s made you change your mind? Did she flash her eyes at you? Did she say, “Hold me, Oz, I’m scared”? Was that it?’

‘She tried that last Sunday and it didn’t work. No, she swore to me, on her life, that she didn’t do it. She’s taking the plea, but she still maintains that she’s innocent.’

‘Silly lass. She’d better shut up, or the crown office might hear her and call off the deal.’ He sighed. ‘Okay, if you’re convinced, I’ll give it a go. I owe her, I suppose. I feel a bit shitty about the way I set her up.’

‘Did you bug the bedroom as well?’ I asked him, jokingly.

‘Of course I did.’

I’m not easily surprised any more, but that one made me gasp. ‘You’re serious, aren’t you? You were banging her, and all the time you were hoping she’d confess to murder.’ Ricky looked at the floor. ‘Go on.’ I said, ‘get the tape out and play it. I’ve got to hear this.’

‘I wiped it afterwards,’ he muttered.

‘Very sanitary of you; now get the tape.’

‘Give it up, Blackstone. I feel guilty enough without you taking the piss. Especially now that I’m starting to like the girl.’

‘What? After she went for you with that knife? Mind you that’s appropriate, I suppose; you bone her, she tries to bone you.’

‘I’ve told you, chuck it!’ he shouted, but a smile crossed his face at the same time. ‘She’s got spirit in her, has Alison; she can hide it well at times, but it’s there. Right, I’m going to help her, and what’s more, I’ll do it for free. So where do we begin?’

‘You’re the detective.’

‘I know that. I was talking to myself, not you. We start with the murder weapon; she didn’t kill him, so someone must have planted it at her place. We’ll go there and look for signs of a breakin.’

I shook my head. ‘No. You’ll go there. I’m not involved in this. But you’ll be wasting your time; there were no signs of a breakin, and there was no need for one either. David Capperauld still had a key to Alison’s flat.’

Ricky scratched his chin. ‘Had he now?’ He was even starting to sound like a copper again. I know that chin trick; I worked for a lawyer once who did something similar. In his case, he used to light his pipe in the middle of a discussion. What he was actually doing was giving himself time to think.

‘I’d better get into his place,’ Ross said, eventually. ‘If the key’s missing, we need to know. That could be a bugger, though; I don’t want Ronnie Morrow to hear I’m doing this, or it could put Alison’s deal in jeopardy. But I can’t break into the place.’

I recalled that once, not that many years in the past, the same guy had broken into my flat, but I let that pass. I also let him off the hook. ‘Not a problem,’ I told him. ‘She had a key to his place as well, remember. That was how we got in last Sunday.

‘It was on the bunch of keys she gave me today, so I could pick up her stuff. . although as it happened, I didn’t need them.’ I took a brass Chubb key from my pocket, laid it on his kitchen work-surface, and slid it across to him. ‘It isn’t there any more.’

Ricky whistled, and smiled.