Martin Edwards - The Hanging Wood

‘Back with us already, Hannah?’

Hannah looked up and saw Bryan Madsen on the balcony outside his first-floor office. A broad smile of greeting did not quite disguise his irritation that the police were still present in his holiday park.

‘They wanted to know if we found the chap who was trespassing in the Hall grounds,’ Kit said.

Bryan frowned. ‘He’s a nosey holidaymaker, not a criminal on the run.’

‘He reminded me of someone, that’s all,’ Hannah said.

Kit stared. ‘Who did-?’

She gave them a sweet smile. ‘I must have been mistaken.’

Louise was fretting over which dress to wear for dinner at Mockbeggar Hall, while Daniel checked his mobile for messages. The signal in Brackdale, and especially in and around Tarn Fold, was unreliable, and he found he’d missed a call. When he dialled voicemail, he heard the voice of Aslan Sheikh.

‘Daniel, it’s Aslan. Sorry to miss you, but it’s not important. Catch up with you next time you’re at the library.’

‘I’m off to have a shower,’ Louise announced. ‘Be honest, I can take it — don’t you think the black dress is a bit too revealing? Even a bit tarty?’

He made reassuring noises, knowing that she’d make her own choice in the end. No doubt she’d decided hours ago on the red gown with the high neckline, but felt the need to indulge in the formality of consultation, like a politician wanting to be approved for doing the right thing.

When she padded upstairs, he took his mobile out into the lane that petered out at Tarn Fold. As soon as he was clear of the trees, he dialled Hannah’s number. For once he got straight through, and he heard her excuse herself to a companion and step out into the street.

‘Sorry, I’m up in Keswick, at the police station.’

‘I wondered if you’d like to get together?’

A pause. He could hear traffic noise.

‘Love to.’

‘I’m tied up this evening. The Madsens have invited Louise and me to dinner at Mockbeggar Hall, would you believe?’

‘My sergeant and I called in at the caravan park today. You’ll probably have to listen to them complaining about our wasting their valuable time on a fool’s errand.’

‘Look, I wanted to talk to you about Orla. One or two things I’ve gathered from her colleagues at St Herbert’s. You wouldn’t be free tomorrow, by any chance?’

‘It’s Saturday, and the budget doesn’t allow for overtime. When and where?’

His spirits lifted. He liked Hannah’s directness, and the absence of fuss about needing to check her diary. ‘The weather forecast is fine, and I’ve an unfulfilled ambition to explore Derwent Water. How about meeting in Keswick and then we can go on the lake? Unless you’d prefer somewhere closer to Ambleside?’

‘Keswick suits me fine. Shall we say ten-thirty? I fancy taking a look at the market, so if we meet outside the Moot Hall?’

‘Perfect.’

‘So Callum Hinds might still be alive?’ Mario Pinardi said.

Hannah and Greg were debating the case in The Forge Brow, a tiny pub backing on to the River Greta. Half five on Friday evening, and the place was packed with people who had finished work and were getting in the mood for the weekend. Mario had bagged a table outside, on a small paved patio that separated the saloon bar from the river.

‘I have to admit, it’s the longest of long shots,’ Hannah said.

During the afternoon, her initial excitement at the possibility that Callum might have staged an audacious comeback had waned. She and Greg hot-desked at Keswick police station for a couple of hours, catching up on emails and chewing over their theory. The longer they talked, the more unlikely it seemed that Callum was back in town.

‘If Callum is alive, it would explain a few things,’ Mario said.

‘And raise plenty more questions,’ she said. ‘Like where he disappeared to, and what he’s been playing at all these years.’

‘Explains why you saw him at Lane End — looking out for his long-lost father. Maybe plucking up the courage to say, Hello, remember me ?’

Hannah found herself playing devil’s advocate. ‘Why would Callum leave a rose at a memorial to himself? I mean, narcissistic, or what? And why would his reappearance coincide with Orla’s suicide?’

Mario took a swig of orange juice. ‘It might explain Orla’s suicide, don’t you think?’

‘How?’

‘Suppose she met this bloke and got an inkling he was Callum. So she became insistent that her brother hadn’t died at the hands of Philip Hinds. But for some reason, things turned nasty. Did she discover he had some dark secret that explained why he’d stayed away so long?’

‘Must have been very dark for her to dive into a silo full of grain.’ Greg drained his glass. ‘Same again?’

He strode into the saloon bar, leaving them to watch the river rushing over stones set in shallow mud. Hannah found it hard to imagine that, only months before, the Greta had smashed through its banks during freakish floods that drowned large areas of Western Cumbria, claiming lives and wrecking homes. Scaffolding still shrouded houses along the riverside, and flood defences were being built in an attempt to make the buildings safe in case the waters ever swelled again.

‘Where are you up to with the enquiry?’ she asked.

‘Orla was a pisshead,’ Mario said. ‘She never settled to anything; jobs and relationships, none of them lasted. The most exciting thing that happened to her was that her brother was supposedly a murder victim. She was bright and not bad-looking, and Kit Payne did his best by her after her mother died. Decent education, she was a long way from destitute. But she wasted her opportunities.’

‘Callum’s disappearance defined her,’ Hannah said, almost to herself. ‘How life-changing must it be, to lose your brother in those circumstances?’

‘She moved away to make a fresh start, but it didn’t work out. Once she took the job at St Herbert’s, the old memories came flooding back. I’d say that in the end, they killed her.’

‘You’re still certain it was suicide?’

‘Her father’s farm and the Hanging Wood were just around the corner from St Herbert’s. There was no escaping the past. She persuaded herself that Callum was alive, then changed her mind, and couldn’t cope with the grief. End of.’

‘Is that what you really think?’

Mario flashed the smile that sent so many women weak at the knees. ‘Dunno. It’s a job for an ace detective, I guess.’

‘But where do you find one of them?’ Greg demanded as he returned bearing drinks. ‘Solved it yet?’

Mario tilted his glass. ‘Cheers, mate. Might be worth my having another word with the feller that Orla palled up with at St Herbert’s. He says they were casual acquaintances, no more than that. But the word is, she saw it differently. Perhaps he has something to hide.’

‘Hasn’t everyone?’ Greg said. ‘What was his name?’

‘Aslan Sheikh,’ Mario said.

Hannah almost choked on her lemonade. ‘ Aslan ?’

The two men stared at her.

‘What?’ Greg asked.

‘Did you never read C.S. Lewis?’

‘ The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe ?’ Mario asked.

Greg made a face. ‘Wasn’t that the film with Tilda Swinton? Saw it on Sky by mistake. Not my cup of tea.’

‘But The Chronicles of Narnia were Callum Hinds’ favourite books.’ Her voice was unsteady. ‘Aslan was a Christ-like figure who came back from the dead.’

‘The Hall dates back to the seventeenth century,’ Fleur Madsen said, ‘but it needed to be rebuilt after being burnt down the year Victoria came to the throne.’