Edward Marston - Timetable of Death

‘That won’t make them go away.’

‘No, Inspector, but it will stop children sneaking into the churchyard to peer into that grave. I chased a couple of them away this morning. Bert Knowles needs to get busy with his spade.’

‘Then why doesn’t he?’

The smile was back. ‘Bert is a law unto himself.’

‘On the night of the murder,’ said Leeming, ‘you were in Duffield, or so you told me. Is that right?’

‘Yes, Sergeant, I stayed with friends.’

‘Can they vouch for you?’

‘Why should they need to?’

‘I just want to establish the facts, sir.’

‘I was there ,’ insisted Hockaday.

‘Then why did the stationmaster here remember you getting off the last train that night? I asked him if he recognised anyone who got off at Spondon. Your name was the first one he mentioned.’

‘You can’t have been in two places at once,’ said Colbeck.

‘Which one was it, Mr Hockaday,’ asked Leeming. ‘Duffield or Spondon?’

The cobbler glowered at them.

As they sat around the bed, it was difficult to know if their mother was asleep or not. Her eyes were closed and her breathing shallow but she seemed to react to comments they made. Stanley and Lucas Quayle had been impressed by the way that their sister had handled the situation. Once their mother had been found, Agnes had brought her back to the house and taken her up to her room. The doctor eventually arrived to examine the old woman and decided that, though her early morning venture out of the house had caused no visible harm, she needed rest. Her sons joined her daughter at Harriet Quayle’s bedside. Without warning, she opened her eyes.

‘What are you all doing here?’ she asked.

‘We’re looking after you, Mother,’ replied Agnes.

‘I pay a doctor to do that.’

‘You need company,’ said Stanley.

‘Then where have you been for the last few days? I needed company then but you didn’t come anywhere near me.’

‘I did,’ said Lucas, softly. ‘I looked in whenever I could.’

‘But I was the one who actually stayed with Mother,’ said Agnes, virtuously.

Stanley was critical. ‘Then how did she manage to get out of the house?’

‘That’s unjust,’ said Lucas. ‘We owe Agnes a great deal. This little incident has shown that.’

‘Well, it mustn’t happen again.’

‘I went for a walk, Stanley,’ said his mother. ‘Surely I can do that.’

‘It might have harmed you, Mother.’

‘But it didn’t — the doctor agreed.’

‘You’ve got limited strength and you must conserve it.’

Harriet said nothing. She lay back and looked at each of her children in turn. Agnes was a picture of sympathy, Lucas was concerned and Stanley was anxious to leave. As she studied her elder son, Harriet felt that he looked more like his father than ever, impatient, animated and eager to get back to work. She gave an incongruous giggle.

‘You don’t need to sit around my deathbed yet,’ she said.

Stanley was shocked. ‘That’s a terrible thing to say, Mother.’

‘I don’t think it is,’ said Lucas, getting up to kiss her on the forehead. ‘I think it’s a good sign. Get some rest, Mother.’

‘I was resting quite happily in the summer house until I was disturbed,’ she pointed out. ‘Why didn’t you leave me there?’

‘You’re safer here.’

‘Agnes will look after you,’ said Stanley, rising to his feet.

‘Yes,’ murmured his sister, ‘Agnes will look after you.’

As all three of her children hovered over her, Harriet raised a skinny hand.

‘Away with you,’ she said, weakly. ‘I want to sleep.’

The meeting with Philip Conway was a happy accident. The detectives were approaching the Union Inn when he came into view. After an exchange of greetings, they stepped into the inn and found a table. Colbeck ordered drinks and they were able to talk at leisure. The reporter was interested to hear about their confrontation with Jed Hockaday.

‘What did he say when you caught him lying?’ he asked.

‘Oh, he came up with all sorts of excuses,’ replied Leeming. ‘The one he finally settled on was that he got so drunk in Duffield that he didn’t realise his friends had probably put him on the train that night to Spondon.’

‘Did you believe him?’

‘No,’ said Colbeck. ‘And when we asked for the names of the friends with whom he spent that evening, he prevaricated for minutes. We had to chisel their names out of him. He was understandably resentful. As a constable, Hockaday is used to asking awkward questions instead of being forced to answer them.’

Leeming issued a warning. ‘You’d best keep out of his way, Mr Conway.’

‘Why is that?’ asked the reporter.

‘He’ll blame you for setting us on to him.’

‘All I did was to describe his behaviour in the churchyard.’

‘He lied about that as well,’ said Leeming. ‘I wouldn’t have a man like that under me. I think we should report him to Superintendent Wigg.’

‘No,’ decided Colbeck. ‘Let’s make sure that we have proper grounds for dismissal before we do that. We’ve frightened him and people don’t always act sensibly when they’re in that state. Keep an eye on him, Sergeant.’

‘What do you think he’ll do?’

‘Well, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if he didn’t rush off to Duffield at some stage to tell these friends of his what to say when questioned. We know they exist because Hockaday wouldn’t dare to give us false names.’

‘You can see why he’s not that popular in the village,’ said Conway.

‘Policemen never are,’ moaned Leeming. ‘When you put on a uniform, you lose a lot of friends. I discovered that. In Hockaday’s case, there’s another problem. He tries hard to be liked but he’s just not very likeable.’ He tasted his drink. ‘This is the best beer I’ve tasted in Spondon.’ He put the tankard down. ‘The inspector was telling me what you said about Mr Haygarth.’

‘What did I say?’

‘That your editor finds him a nuisance.’

‘Mr Haygarth is always complaining about something or other.’

‘What about the late Mr Quayle?’ asked Colbeck. ‘Did you have the same trouble from him?’

‘No, not at all — he was on amicable terms with the Mercury . He certainly didn’t charge into the office breathing fire the way that Haygarth does. My editor says that Haygarth is the opposite of the superintendent. Elijah Wigg does everything he can to butter us up but all that Haygarth does is to find fault. However,’ he went on, ‘they have one thing in common. They possess foul tempers.’

‘I know. I’ve had both of them shouting at me.’

‘They should be grateful that we came here,’ said Leeming.

‘We’ll never get gratitude out of the superintendent,’ warned Colbeck. ‘He sees us as trespassers. Mr Haygarth couldn’t have been happier to see us at first. But the moment I started to ask about his link with Spondon, he became angry.’

‘I thought he was born here.’

‘He was, Victor, but he doesn’t like to be reminded of the fact. He left the village as a boy and hasn’t been back here for decades.’

Conway was astonished. ‘Is that what he told you, Inspector?’

‘Yes, and he did so in no uncertain terms.’

‘Then he has a very poor memory. He attended Mrs Peet’s funeral.’

‘I didn’t see him there,’ said Leeming.

‘Then he must have made sure that you didn’t for some reason.’

‘It was easy to miss him in that sea of hats.’

‘Not really — his hat was somewhat taller than the others.’

Colbeck’s ears pricked up. ‘Are you certain that it was him?’