Martin Edwards - The Coffin Trail

It must have been his imagination, but the clock was getting louder. Tick, tick, tick.

‘Sorry, Daniel,’ she said coldly. ‘It must be me. Perhaps I’ve had a drop too much, maybe it’s all the — stuff that’s been going on lately. My head’s throbbing and I’m afraid you’re not making it any better.’

He stood up. They were a yard apart, facing each other. ‘You reminded Miranda of the name of the character in a book by Arthur Ransome, didn’t you? A girl called Dorothea.’

‘Sorry?’ Her face was a mask and he guessed she was trying to freeze-frame the conversation in her mind and identify what exactly she might have said.

Tick, tick, tick.

‘You both identified with the escapism in the story. But what matters is that you were familiar with the name.’

Tash spread her arms. ‘I must have come across it somewhere.’

‘Not as a child in Russia, though. My sister was devoted to those books, she couldn’t get enough of the fun and games with Captain Flint, even though it was a fantasy world. Totally different from life at the local comprehensive. Mind you, Arthur Ransome was married to Trotsky’s secretary, wasn’t he? One of my favourite bits of Lakeland literary trivia.’

She stared at him. ‘You’re not talking sense.’

‘It comes down to this. I can’t believe that when you were a kid, Swallows and Amazons and Winter Holiday were recommended reading for Moscow schoolgirls. But — maybe I’m wrong. Or maybe you read Ransome after you came to England.’

‘Maybe I did. What are you talking about, for God’s sake? I invite you in as a friend and now you are practically persecuting me.’

The voice hissed: This is your last chance. Stop now.

But an almost sexual exhilaration was blazing within him and he knew he could not let go. No stopping now, he was past reason. Like when he and Miranda stripped off inhibitions along with their clothes and made love to each other that first time in Tarn Fold. Had his father felt this hot excitement, when he closed in the solution to a case? At last he knew why detecting crime had meant so much to Ben Kind. It kidnapped you, this burning urge to rip away all the wrappers and reveal the truth. It consumed you, it was everything.

Tash’s hands were on her hips. Inside, for all he knew she was breaking apart, but her lips were pressed together in a defiant line. He’d never seen eyes so cold and empty. She would not yield.

He took a step towards her. With each bit of flotsam, each snippet of information swimming into his mind, he could feel himself gaining strength. The strength he needed to confront her with the truth.

You’d never imagine she was a foreigner.

He turned the King of Diamonds into the Ace of Spades.

Tell me who your friend is and I’ll tell you who you are.

Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick.

‘So Eldine Webber was the first?’ he asked.

‘Eldine Webber?’ Her voice broke. No mistaking her alarm.

She was playing for time, he could see it in her eyes. Making calculations. How much did he know, how much was guesswork?

‘Surely you haven’t forgotten him?’

‘He was — he was a friend of Gabrielle’s.’

‘Yes,’ he said quietly. ‘And Gabrielle killed him, didn’t she?’

Her face was ashen. ‘What are you saying?’

‘Gabrielle killed Eldine Webber. And you know that better than anyone, don’t you? You never were Natasha. You were always Gabrielle Anders.’

‘This is absurd,’ she said.

‘So much is absurd,’ Daniel said. ‘Including the idea that you and Gabrielle could exchange identities and get away with it. No offence, but neither of you exactly made a success of your acting careers. Even so, it worked. You played your part as if you were up for an Academy Award, but this performance carried on day in, day out. No one had the faintest idea that you weren’t who you claimed to be. Not even Simon, am I right?’

Tash — he couldn’t help thinking of her as Tash — stared at him. ‘You haven’t any proof of this.’

‘Come on, we’re past that stage, aren’t we?’ He spoke as patiently as any counsellor, but how could you counsel a recidivist murderer? ‘Webber was a brute and somehow you killed him. From what I’m told, no one could blame you. I suppose it was an act of despair. But it meant you were in danger. Webber had plenty of enemies, but he also had ruthless friends. So you did a deal with your friend Natasha. In return for the money Webber had lavished on you, she agreed to swap identities. Why not? She was sick of the low-life in Leeds and she had an incurable wanderlust. It was a chance for a fresh start, for both of you. Something we all yearn for. Believe me, I know.’

‘If you say so.’

‘It was a conjuring trick.’ He mimicked his father’s jokey tone, that wet afternoon with Barrie Gilpin. ‘Hey presto! and you became Natasha. Before our very eyes! she became Gabrielle.’

The clock was still ticking. So loud now, he could scarcely hear himself speak.

‘You took her passport, everything. She headed for America and you ran off across the Pennines and fetched up in the Lakes. Where you couldn’t resist trying your luck with another rich man. Had you heard of Simon through Eldine Webber? Doesn’t matter. You crossed his path and the rest is — well, history.’

‘I love him.’

‘I know,’ he said. ‘And you love the Lakes. “The most perfect place in the world.” Which is why Gabrielle’s return was such a catastrophe. She threatened your security, she could destroy you with one careless word. You gave her money, lots of it, but that didn’t work. She was enjoying herself too much to be bought off so easily. You were terrified, thought you’d never be free from danger.’

Tash didn’t speak. Her expression had frozen, as though all the muscles in her face had ceased to work. If she was still making calculations, he could not guess what they were. Right now, he didn’t care.

‘You’re keen on scapegoats, aren’t you? People to blame make things so much simpler, so much safer. Changing places with Natasha got you off the hook with Eldine Webber’s associates. When you decided that she had to die, you didn’t have far to search for a fall guy. Poor Barrie Gilpin. I suppose you made up the story about his being a Peeping Tom and started all the gossip?’

She moistened her lips. ‘Call it artistic licence.’

‘You persuaded Natasha to meet you. An offer of more money, something like that? But then you killed her and made it look like the work of a maniac. You lured Barrie out on to the fell and then you had a stroke of good fortune. In his panic he lost his footing and plunged into the ravine.’ He paused, trying to stifle his bitterness. ‘It must have been a horrifying way to go. Slow, painful, inescapable death. But so what? Who cares, as long as you are free?’

‘Listen, he may not have peeped through my bedroom windows, but he loved getting an eyeful of my cleavage whenever he could. Whenever he worked well, I wore a low-cut top and no bra, that was his reward.’

‘Talk about performance management, huh?’ Daniel said mirthlessly.

A bleak smile. ‘I never saw anyone so motivated. He wasn’t exactly subtle, your friend. He fancied Natasha like mad, I could tell that from the start. The way he tried to chat her up, it was pitiful to watch. I rang him up that night, pretending to be her. I took her mobile from her bag, so the call couldn’t be traced to me. It was scary, becoming Gabrielle again after so many years, a few minutes after I’d hit her over the head and then — used the axe. I didn’t enjoy that, I promise you, but it had to be done, it was part of the narrative. Just like bundling her body into the four-by-four and taking it up the fell. When I called Barrie, I could almost hear him salivating as I suggested getting it together on the Sacrifice Stone.’