Peter Robinson - Past Reason Hated

The woman might have arrived by car and parked close by. The nearest space, where Patsy said she and Ivers parked, was a fair distance to walk in the snow without boots. The woman might have driven to Caroline’s, found she couldn’t park any closer and ended up having to walk farther than she’d bargained for. Which meant it could have been someone who didn’t know the area well.

Given what Patsy had said about the walk, it sounded as if the woman had probably been wearing pumps or high heels – most likely the latter. That would explain her odd walk; trying to make one’s way through four or five inches of snow in high heels would be difficult indeed. And wet.

Was it, then, someone who had nipped out of a local function, committed the murder and dashed back before she was missed? There had probably been a lot of parties going on that night, Hatchley’s wedding reception among them. It couldn’t have been anyone from there, of course, as Banks knew most of the guests. But it was an interesting avenue to explore. If he could find someone who had been at such a function that night, someone who had a connection with Caroline Hartley, then maybe he’d get somewhere. Feeling a little more positive about things, he turned off the tape and went into the house.

Teresa Pedmorerented a two-bedroom house on Nelson Grove, in a pleasant enough area of town south of the castle, close to the river. The houses were old but in good repair, and their inhabitants, though only renting, took pride in adding individual touches to the outside trim. A low blue gate led to Teresa’s house, where her matching door was edged in white. Lace curtains hung in the windows.

Teresa professed to be surprised to see Banks, though he was never sure what to believe when dealing with actors. Faith could have told Teresa about the visit Banks had paid her earlier, though he thought it unlikely. That would have meant confessing what she had said about Teresa.

The front door led straight into the living room. Cream and red striped wallpaper covered the walls, where a number of framed prints hung. Banks, who had learned what little he knew about art from Sandra, recognized a Constable landscape, a Stubbs horse and a Lowry. Perhaps the most striking thing about the room, though, was that it was furnished with antiques: a Welsh dresser, a Queen Anne writing desk, Regency table and chairs. The only contemporary items were the tan three-piece suite arranged in a semicircle around the hearth and a small television set. Remembering the importance of the music, Banks looked around for evidence of a stereo but could find none.

Teresa gestured towards one of the armchairs and Banks sat down. He was surprised by her taste and impressed with her farm-girl looks, the blushes of red in her creamy cheeks. Her wavy chestnut hair framed a rather chubby, heart-shaped face with a wide, full mouth, an oddly delicate nose that didn’t quite seem to belong and thick brows over large almond eyes. She certainly wasn’t good-looking in the overtly sexual way Faith Green was, but the fierce confidence and determination in her simplest movements and gestures more than compensated. She was as tall and well-shaped as Faith, and wore a white silky blouse and knee-length navy skirt.

She picked up an engraved silver box from the low table and offered him a cigarette, lighting it with an old lighter as big as a paperweight. It was years since Banks had been offered a cigarette from a box, and he would certainly never have expected it in a small rented terrace house in Eastvale.

The cigarette was too strong, but he persevered. His lungs soon remembered the old days of Capstan Full Strength and rallied to the task. Almost before he had a chance to say yes or no, Teresa was pouring amber liquid from a cut-glass decanter into a crystal snifter. As she handed Banks the glass, the edges of her wide mouth twitched up in a smile.

‘I suppose you’re wondering where I get my money from,’ she said. ‘Policemen are always suspicious about people living above their means, aren’t they?’ She sat down and crossed her long legs.

Banks swirled the glass in his hand and breathed in the fumes: cognac. ‘Ave you living above your means?’ he asked.

She laughed, a low, murmuring sound. ‘How clever of you. Not at all. It only looks that way. The furniture isn’t original, of course. I just like the designs, the look and feel of it. And one day, believe me, I’ll have real antiques. I think the only valuable objects in the room are the decanter and the cigarette box, and they belonged to my grandfather. Family heirlooms. The Lowry is a genuine, too, a present from a distant, wealthy relative. As for the rest, cognac and what have you… What can I say? I like to live well. I don’t drink a lot, but I drink the best. I make decent money, I don’t run a car, I have no children and my rent is reasonable.’

Banks, who wondered why she was telling him all this, nodded as if he were suitably impressed. Perhaps she was trying to paint a picture of herself as someone who had far too much class and refined sensibility to commit so tasteless an act as murder. He sipped the cognac. Courvoisier VSOP, he guessed. Maybe she was right.

‘I suppose you think I should have stayed on the farm,’ she went on. ‘Married a local farmer and started having babies.’ She made a dismissive gesture with her cigarette.

For Christ’s sake, Banks thought, do I look so old that people immediately assume I’m a fuddy-duddy? Still, Teresa couldn’t have been more than twenty-two or twenty-three; there were sixteen or seventeen years between them, which made it technically possible for him to be her father. He just didn’t feel that old, and he could certainly understand young people wanting to escape what they felt to be claustrophobic social backgrounds.

‘What do you want to do?’ he asked.

‘Act, of course.’

She reminded Banks of Sally Lumb, another, albeit younger, Dales hopeful he had met during the Steadman case eighteen months ago. The memory made him feel sad. Such dreams often turn to pain. But what are we if we don’t dream? Banks asked himself. And at least try to make them come true.

‘James is trying to fix things so I get a part in Weymouth Sands. He’s doing the script for the BBC, you know. He knows all the casting people. It’s terribly exciting.’ The Dales accent was still there, despite the evidence of elocution lessons, and it made the upper-class phrase ‘terribly exciting’ sound very funny indeed. ‘More cognac?’

Banks noticed his snifter was empty. He shook his head. ‘No, no thanks. It’s very good, but I’d better not.’

Teresa shrugged. She didn’t press him. Fine cognac is, after all, very expensive.

‘You’re still on good terms with James Conran, then?’ Banks asked.

Her eyebrows rose. ‘Why shouldn’t I be?’

‘I heard rumours you’d had a falling out.’

‘Who told you that?’

‘Are they true?’

‘It’s that common little tramp, Faith, isn’t it?’

‘Was James Conran paying too much attention to Caroline Hartley?’

The name stopped Teresa in her tracks. She reached for another cigarette from the box but didn’t offer Banks one this time. ‘It’s easy to exaggerate things,’ she continued quietly. ‘Everyone argues now and then. I’ll bet even you argue with your wife, don’t you? But it doesn’t mean anything.’

‘Did you argue with James Conran over Caroline?’

Her eyes flashed briefly, then she drew on her cigarette, tilted her head back and blew out a long stream of smoke through narrow nostrils. ‘What has Faith been saying about me?’ she asked. ‘I’ve got a right to know.’