Barry Maitland - The Malcontenta

‘A week or two before that Sunday.’

‘What happened?’

‘Tanner came back quite quickly to say that Alex was an EU citizen, without a criminal record, that his papers were in order, and that nothing could be done unless he was found guilty of a criminal offence. Well, I knew that if he did get into trouble with the law he’d expect me to help him, so I didn’t see any hope there. However, I thanked Tanner and left it at that. A couple of days later he spoke to me again about Alex. He seemed to know quite a lot about him, where he worked, and my connection with Stanhope. He asked if Alex was still being a problem to my friends. I said yes, and he asked me if I would like him to have a word with him, to persuade him, as he put it, to behave himself. I said I didn’t think that a warning from the police would have any effect in this case, and he just laughed and said that, with respect, I didn’t have much idea about what he called “practical policing”.’

Long was sweating freely. The crisply ironed shirt that his wife had thrown out of the bedroom for him was now limp and stained around his armpits and in the small of his back.

‘Did you take him up on his offer?’ Kathy was speaking more gently to him now, coaxing rather than pushing him along as his explanation became fuller and freer.

‘No, although I thought quite a lot about what he had said. Anyway, I had arranged to have a few days at Stanhope and decided I would bring things to a head with Alex while I was there. It was very difficult. He refused to take me seriously. When I told him I would have nothing more to do with him, he simply laughed. He also reminded me …’ Long paused, swallowed, as if each awful memory had to be digested afresh each time he dredged it up. Kathy passed him a glass of water, which he gulped before continuing. ‘He reminded me that he had a personal letter I had written him and some photographs he had taken.’ Long hung his head, it was a nightmare, you see. An utter nightmare.’

‘What did you do?’

‘That was on the Friday. On the Saturday I saw him briefly and arranged to meet him the following afternoon. My idea was to make one final attempt to come to an arrangement with him, a financial arrangement to settle our …’ He paused again.

‘Affairs,’ Kathy said.

‘But I wasn’t optimistic, so I phoned Chief Inspector Tanner. I explained that Alex was becoming more difficult and was threatening my friends with blackmail. They were going to make one final attempt to settle things, but if that wasn’t successful, then it might be necessary to seek Tanner’s help.’

‘You were still saying it was friends who had the problem?’

‘Yes, but I’m fairly sure that he suspected the truth by that stage.’

‘Go on.’

‘I gave him details of the meeting the next day, and he suggested that I ring him afterwards. If it wasn’t successful, he would come over and speak to Alex.’

‘Wasn’t that risky?’ Kathy asked. ‘Weren’t you worried about what Alex might tell your Inspector?’

‘It was a last resort. I just wanted the problem solved. I saw no other way.’

‘How did Alex react to your offer of a financial arrangement?’

‘He was outrageous. I was prepared to be generous, very generous, but he simply laughed. He said that he would take my money and my help. He said I could refuse him nothing and that he would prove it to me. He did.’

The room was very silent.

‘How?’ Kathy said.

They waited, but Long said nothing.

‘What happened?’

Long looked up suddenly at the ceiling, eyebrows raised as if trying to recall some prosaic event in the distant past. ‘When it was over … as I was leaving, I said I had a friend I wanted him to meet. I asked him to wait there in the gym for him. Then I went out and phoned Tanner. I was upset. He could tell from my voice how upset I was. I mentioned the letter and photographs, and he asked me about Alex’s room, whether he had a car or a flat outside the clinic, things of that kind. He said that I should go to my room and then ring him again later that evening.’

‘Give me the times of all this. When did you leave Petrou?’

‘I’m not exactly sure. Perhaps a quarter to five. I went upstairs to the public phone to ring Chief Inspector Tanner.’

‘Did you see anyone?’

‘No, it was very quiet. I went to my room and had a shower and came downstairs for the evening meal, then the recital. When it was over I rang Tanner. He asked if I’d heard anything concerning Alex, and when I said no, he said there was no need for me to worry any more, he had taken care of everything.’

‘What were his exact words?’

‘I’m not sure. Just that, I think. He had taken care of everything with Petrou. There was nothing more to worry about.’

‘What did you understand by that?’

I was amazed, frankly. I didn’t dare believe it. I asked him what had happened, but he wouldn’t say, only that I needn’t worry any more. I asked about the letter and photographs, but he just repeated that everything was taken care of. He was very calm and matter-of-fact, and as I began to believe him I was quite overcome with gratitude. I told him I couldn’t begin to express my thanks, and he said he would like to talk to me about a couple of matters in a day or two.

I had absolutely no idea that anything had happened to Alex until you told me the following morning. I couldn’t comprehend it at first. I thought what an extraordinary coincidence it was, and how, as things had turned out, I’d gone through all that worry for nothing and involved Tanner unnecessarily. In fact, as I came to realize that I need never have involved Tanner at all, I started to worry about what he must have thought of the whole thing, what Alex might have said to him about me and, above all, what had happened to the letter and photographs.’

So many worries.

‘I tried to contact him during that Monday to find out what he knew. It took several calls to get hold of him, and eventually he said he would come to the clinic to meet me that evening in the car park.’

Kathy remembered her encounter with Tanner in the canteen at Division that first evening of the investigation. He must have gone to Stanhope after that.

‘I began by telling him about the turmoil the day after Alex was discovered, and of course he knew — he said that Sergeant Kolla was reporting to him. I said, in the light of Alex’s suicide, I felt I had put him to a lot of unnecessary trouble on behalf of my friends. I said’ — a flush spread upwards from Long’s neck — ‘my friends wanted to thank him for his trouble, confidentially, wanted him to have a drink on them.’

Long paused. ‘Did you offer him something?’ Kathy prompted. He nodded. ‘An envelope with five ten-pound notes inside. He counted the money and laughed. I didn’t really understand at first. I thought he was insulted by the idea of a gift. I didn’t realize it was the amount that he found laughable.

‘He called me “an old woman” and then explained that Alex hadn’t committed suicide. He told me he had gone to speak with him after I telephoned on the Sunday afternoon. He had been in his car near Edenham when I rang, and it only took him ten or fifteen minutes to meet up with Alex in the gym. He said he soon realized that Alex wasn’t going to be easily intimidated and also how indiscreet Alex was — apparently he told Tanner things, about me, and about other Friends … And finally, Alex said something to make Tanner angry. I don’t know what it was, he wouldn’t say, but I know how clever Alex was at picking up on things that provoke people. So Tanner killed him.’

There was total silence in the room.

‘He told you that?’