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“Must be worth a bob or two now,” said Banks.
“Oh, I’d never sell it.”
“Still… did he say anything?”
“About Robin Merchant? No. Well, it was nothing to do with him, was it? That was the next summer, after McGarrity had been sent to jail, and my dad’s heart was starting to show the strain even more. We never really talked about those sorts of things – you know, the music and hippie stuff – not after I came back from London. I mean, I was done with that scene, and my dad was grateful for that, so he didn’t go on at me about it anymore. Mostly I threw myself into my A levels.”
“Does this mean anything to you?” Banks brought out a photocopy of the ringed numbers from the back page of Nick Barber’s book.
Yvo
“We think it might be dates,” Banks explained, “most likely dates co
“Leaves it pretty wide open, doesn’t it, then?”
A
“No,” said A
“You’re welcome. I’m only sorry I couldn’t be any more help.”
“What do you think about what Yvo
“I think what she said should make us perhaps just a little more suspicious of Stanley Chadwick and his motives,” said Banks.
“Chadwick? What do you mean?”
“If he really thought his daughter had been terrorized and threatened with rape, and he was on a personal crusade… who knows what he might have done? I try to imagine how I would behave if anything like that ever happened to Tracy and, I tell you, I can really frighten myself. Yvo
“But the evidence says McGarrity did it.”
“No, it doesn’t. Everyone knew that McGarrity carried a flick-knife with a tortoiseshell handle, including Stanley Chadwick. It wouldn’t have been that hard for him to get hold of one just like it. Don’t forget, Yvo
“Because he’d already hidden it.”
“Or lost it, as he said.”
“I don’t believe this,” said A
“I’m just thinking out loud, for God’s sake, trying to get a handle on Nick Barber’s murder.”
“And have you?”
Banks sipped some Black Sheep. “I’m not sure yet. But I do believe that Chadwick could have obtained such a knife, tricked McGarrity into handling it, and got access to Linda Lofthouse’s clothing and blood samples. It might be a lot tougher now, but not necessarily back then, before PACE. Someone in Chadwick’s position would probably have had free run of the place. And I think he might have been driven to do it because of what had happened to his daughter. Remember, this was a man on a mission, convinced he’s right but unable to prove it by legitimate means. We’ve all been there. So in this case, because it’s personal, and because of suspicious and disturbing things his daughter has told him about McGarrity that he can’t use without bringing her into it and losing all credibility, he goes the extra mile and fabricates the vital bit of evidence he needs. Remember, apart from the knife there’s no case; it falls apart. And there’s another thing.”
“What?”
“Chadwick’s health. He was basically a decent, God-fearing, law-abiding copper with a strong Presbyterian background, probably deeply repressed because of his war experiences, and angry with what he saw around him – the disrespect of the young, the hedonism, the drugs.”
“Turned psychoanalyst now, have you?”
“You don’t need to be a psychoanalyst to know that if Chadwick really did fabricate a case against McGarrity, even for the best of reasons, it would tear a man like him apart. As Yvo
A
“I’m not insisting. I’m just trying it out for size. We’d never prove it now, anyway.”
“Except by proving that someone else killed Linda Lofthouse.”
“Well, there is that.”
“Who do you think?”
“My money’s on Vic Greaves.”
“Why, because he was mentally unstable?”
“That’s part of it, yes. He had a habit of not knowing what he was doing and he had dark visions on his acid trips. Remember, he took acid that night at Brimleigh, as well as on the night of Robin Merchant’s death. It doesn’t take a great stretch of the imagination to guess that maybe he heard voices telling him to do things. But Linda Lofthouse was his cousin, so if you work on the theory that most people are killed by someone they know, particularly a family member, it makes even more sense.”
“You don’t think he killed Robin Merchant, too, do you?”
“It’s not beyond the bounds of possibility. Maybe Merchant knew, or guessed?”
“But Greaves had no history of violence at all. Not to mention no motive.”
“Okay, I’ll give you all that. But it doesn’t mean he couldn’t have flipped. Drugs do very strange things to people.”
“What about Nick Barber?”
“He found out.”
“How?”
“I haven’t got that far yet.”
“Well,” said A
“Even so, Rick Hayes might be worth another look, too, if we can find him.”
“If you insist.” A
“What are you up to tomorrow?” Banks asked.
“Tomorrow? Browsing web sites, most likely. Why?”
“I just thought you might like to take an hour or two off and come out for Sunday lunch with me and meet Emilia.”
“Emilia?”
“Brian’s girlfriend. Didn’t I tell you? She’s an actress. Been on telly.”
“Really?”
“Bad Girls, among others.”
“One of my favorites. All right, sounds good.”
“Let’s just keep our fingers crossed that nothing interrupts us like it did the other night.”
For once, it wasn’t long after dark when Banks got home, having checked back at the station after his drink with A