Edward Marston - Five Dead Canaries

Keedy looked at Maureen. ‘You told us that she was very happy when you got to that outhouse,’ he recalled, ‘but that she began to drink as soon as you arrived. Was she maudlin in any way?’

‘Well …’ said Maureen, uncertainly.

‘Was she tearful, sentimental or full of remorse about something?’

‘I didn’t really stay long enough to find out.’

‘Wait a moment,’ said Diane in disbelief. ‘Are you saying that this man might have planted the bomb? I thought you already knew who did that.’

‘We believe we know,’ said Marmion, ‘but this other man is of interest to us as well. That’s why we need Maureen’s help. Yesterday,’ he went on, ‘we were interrupted at a crucial point. I asked you if Agnes Collier had ever described this friend of Florrie’s to you.’

Maureen nodded. ‘She told me a little bit about him, Inspector.’

‘And?’

‘Well, she only saw them together that once. It was an evening when I’d stayed behind for a meeting of the football team. Agnes wasn’t in that, so she went home on her own for once. I remember her telling me that she was making her way to the railway station when this car pulled up at a junction.’ Maureen shrugged. ‘She saw Florrie in the front seat beside the driver. He was an older man.’

‘It could have been her father,’ said Diane.

‘It couldn’t have been Mr Ingles because Agnes had met him. Anyway, this man wasn’t as old as that. She said he might be in his late thirties.’

‘Go on,’ encouraged Marmion.

‘Agnes only saw him for a few seconds but she did say he was handsome and had a dark moustache. Also,’ she said, slowly, ‘it was a new car.’

‘Didn’t she ask about it the next day?’

‘Of course — but Florrie said it was just an old friend who’d given her a lift. Agnes didn’t believe her because she was all dressed up. She didn’t dare to have a row about it with Florrie. You didn’t argue with her, Inspector.’

‘How long was this before the birthday party?’

‘Oh, it was two or three weeks at least.’

‘And she was never seen with the same man again?’

‘Does that satisfy you?’ asked Diane, worried at the pressure that her daughter was clearly feeling. ‘There’s nothing else Maureen can tell you.’

‘Yes, there is,’ said Keedy. ‘Let’s go back to the party.’

Maureen gulped. ‘I’d rather not.’

‘You left early because you were feeling unwell.’

‘That’s right.’

‘Did you feel ill when you were at work?’

‘No, I didn’t.’

‘What exactly was wrong with you?’

‘I don’t see what this has got to do with the case,’ complained Diane.

‘Answer my question, please.’

‘I had an upset tummy,’ said Maureen, feeling her stomach.

‘It must have been bad if you were forced to leave a celebration like that.’

‘It was, Sergeant.’

‘Were you sick when you got back here?’

Maureen moistened her lips. She looked from Keedy to Marmion and back again. Both were gazing at her intently. She felt as if a great weight was pressing down on her. It seemed to get heavier and heavier. Her heart began to race and her cheeks were burning. The pain was steadily increasing. When she could no longer bear it, she burst into tears and buried her head in her hands.

Diane put an arm around her and glared at the detectives.

‘Do you see what you’ve done to her now?’ she said, angrily.

Neil Beresford was still trying to distract himself from his grief with frantic activity. Dressed in shorts and singlet once again, he was pushing himself harder than ever. On the last leg of his run, he sprinted the length of the street, then paused at the corner to recover, using the lamp to support himself.

‘Someone is feeling energetic this morning,’ said a voice.

Beresford looked up. ‘Oh, it’s you, Mr Jenks.’

‘You won’t find me doing anything like that.’

‘I like to keep myself fit.’

‘That’s what Enid told me,’ said Jonah Jenks, who’d just come round the corner. ‘The first time she came to watch a football match, she saw you jogging around it before the match with the whole team.’

‘It was a good way to warm them up and it paid off. Most of the teams we beat just couldn’t match us for fitness. We wore them down in the last fifteen minutes.’

‘Are you still planning to contest the cup final?’

‘Oh, yes,’ said Beresford, ‘I’ve written to everybody who’ll be in the team. My wife and Jean Harte are no longer here, of course, and I’ve had to leave out Maureen Quinn. It would be an imposition to include her.’

‘She may want to come and watch the match.’

‘That’s highly unlikely, I’m afraid.’

‘Well,’ said Jenks. ‘You know her best. She’ll be at the inquest, no doubt. I was hoping they’d have made an arrest before that takes place. I’m still shocked that my daughter was indirectly involved. This whole business started when Herbert Wylie took an unhealthy interest in Enid.’

‘That’s no reflection on her.’

‘Why haven’t they caught that monster yet?’

‘Have patience,’ advised Beresford. ‘The search is nationwide. It’s only a question of time before they find Herbert Wylie.’

With his collar turned up and his hat pulled down over his forehead, the man let himself into the church and closed the heavy door behind him. The only other person there was the cleaner, using a dustpan and brush in the side chapel. He hurried across to the bell tower and went in, climbing the first of many stone steps on the circular staircase. He was slow but methodical, going ever higher as he brushed his shoulder against the ancient wall. When he reached the bells, he didn’t even pause to look at the dangling ropes. He simply opened the little door that led to a second flight of steps. They seemed to curve up to infinity and his legs began to tire. By the time he finally reached the top, he was panting for breath and aching all over. Unlocking the last door, he went out onto the balcony and stared over the parapet. People moving below resembled a colony of giant ants, darting in all directions.

It took a supreme effort to haul himself up onto the parapet. After a prayer for forgiveness, he fell forward and hurtled through the air towards destruction.

Over a cup of tea at the police station, Marmion and Keedy wondered why Maureen Quinn had reacted so dramatically to their questioning. Keedy had felt all along that he’d never got the full details from her of the events on the day of the birthday party. He was more convinced than ever now that she was hiding something but it was difficult to prise it from her when her mother was there to protect her. One way or another, the Quinn family was causing them a lot of problems.

‘Oh,’ said Keedy, ‘I forgot to mention something that Alice told me.’

‘What was that?’

‘She’d had a letter of her own from Paul. He wanted to make it clear that he was very happy with the fact that she and I had got engaged.’

‘I see.’

‘It meant so much to Alice — and to me, of course.’

‘Could we keep our minds on the case, please?’ asked Marmion with undue sharpness. ‘We’re not here to discuss family matters.’

‘I thought you might be interested, that’s all.’

‘And I might be — at a different time.’

‘You can’t keep shying away from it for ever, Harv,’ said Keedy, reasonably. ‘I’m going to marry the woman I love and that just happens to be your daughter.’

‘I hear the message loud and clear.’

‘I just don’t want it to come between us.’

‘Then stop going on about it every minute of the bloody day!’

Marmion immediately regretted his momentary loss of control and he gestured an apology. The telephone rang several times before he picked it up. Claude Chatfield was on the line and he gave Marmion scant opportunity to say anything. For the most part, the inspector was confined to nods of agreement and expressions of surprise. When he put the receiver down, he slumped into his chair.