Peter Lovesey - The Headhunters

Hen’s hopes plunged again. ‘For the twentieth anniversary. A barbecue.’

‘I missed that, I’m afraid. Pity.’

‘Invitations were sent out.’

‘I’ve moved recently. Perhaps mine got returned to the sender.’

‘You spoke of a couple of friends on the dig. Have you kept up with them?’

‘Noreen Chick and Peter Schooley. Wait a moment while I get my address book.’

Across the room, Paddy was waving. He’d traced another of the diggers. In the next half hour a list of Dr Sentinel’s team began to emerge. Fourteen names were scribbled on the display board, most with phone numbers.

Unfortunately, of the first eight questioned on the phone, not one had come to the barbecue or even received an invitation.

Paddy spoke for everyone when he commented that it was a real downer. They’d contacted twenty per cent of the original group and drawn a blank.

‘We keep trying,’ Hen said.

She’d had another idea. Jake Kernow was still in a cell downstairs. He’d been questioned in three long sessions about his links to the second victim, Fiona, and little of significance had emerged. The custody clock was ticking. Because murder was a serious arrestable offence he could be held for up to thirty-six hours without charge, but a warrant would be needed after that.

She had him brought to an interview room. Stella was sitting in this time.

‘You can do yourself some good now,’ Hen said to Jake. ‘This isn’t connected with what we talked about before. It’s about Meredith Sentinel, and you freely admit you met her. In fact you texted us and made a voluntary statement when you heard she was the dead woman on the beach. I appreciated that. This is safe territory, Jake.’ To underline the confidence-giving, she was entirely candid with him, telling him all she knew about the barbecue invitation.

He listened in silence as she expected, but there was more than a flicker of interest.

‘I’ll get to the point,’ she said. ‘You met Meredith more than once in London, at the Natural History Museum. I asked if she talked about coming to Selsey and you said she didn’t. Does that answer still hold?’

He gave his trademark nod.

‘You drank coffee together and talked about the rainforests and the ecology, but you must have touched on some personal matters as well. When people meet for the first time they look for things in common. She must have asked where you live, am I right?’

After some hesitation, another nod.

Leading the witness like this would be inadmissible in any court, but what else could you do with such a reticent man? ‘And then she would surely have said something like, “I’ve been to Selsey. I was there for a dig twenty years ago.” Is that what she told you, Jake?’

‘Yes.’

A small triumph.

‘Right. I need your help here. Did she tell you anything else about the dig?’

‘It was done in a hurry.’

He’d actually crafted a sentence.

‘Because of the tides, yes. Did she mention anyone else who was there?’

‘Dr Sentinel.’

‘No others? We’re trying to trace people. We believe she was murdered at the reunion.’

He leaned forward and his voice was more animated. ‘Why?’

‘That isn’t clear. We may be looking at a motiveless murder. A psychotic killer who takes any opportunity to strike. As you know, a second woman was drowned at Emsworth. And you won’t yet have heard that another body was found today in a private swimming pool in Apuldram.’

‘A woman?’

‘Not yet identified. She was discovered by two of your friends, Jo and Gemma.’

He released a long deep breath that developed into a sigh. He looked personally troubled.

‘Do you know anything about this, Jake?’ Hen asked.

‘No.’

‘If you do, and someone else is killed, she could be on your conscience for the rest of your days.’

Silence. He’d retreated into non-communication again.

She exchanged a look with Stella, who rolled her eyes.

‘Jake,’ Hen said, ‘I’m going to release you without charge. I’m sorry all this has been necessary, but you can’t deny that you acted suspiciously trying to avoid arrest. You’ll be driven back to your home. Get some sleep. If you can think of anything you haven’t mentioned, call me.’

He continued to sit there, deep in thought.

Hen was on her feet. ‘Come on, fellow, let’s get you out of here.’

He looked up, the dark eyes haunted by something unspeakable. ‘Have you… ’ The words faltered.

‘Have I what?’ she asked.

He got it out. ‘Spoken to Rick?’

On southern Counties Radio the same evening the lines buzzed with Selsey residents who remembered the finding of the mammoth. In the nature of chat shows, the focus of discussion kept changing. Some had watched from the promenade. One caller remembered a photographer falling over in the water. Another spoke about the fisherman who had first noticed the bones and thought he should have been given more credit and this started a spate of comments. Among all these, two of the original volunteers phoned in with their memories. Stella spoke to them later. Neither knew anything about the barbecue.

Hen was alone in the incident room when Stella returned.

‘I listened in to most of it. Worth trying.’

‘This barbecue is a mystery,’ Stella said. ‘Did we find out which stretch of the beach they used?’

‘The invitation was clear on that: the section where the dig was done. Paddy looked it up. The strange thing is, it was right where the body was found.’

‘I don’t see what’s strange,’ Stella said. ‘We’re assuming she was murdered at the barbecue.’

Patiently, Hen explained her thinking. ‘Picture it, Stell. The barbecue going. Music. Beer. Smoke. Some people standing about or sitting on the pebbles talking about what they’ve done in the past twenty years. The moon is up, and a nearly full moon at that, so they can see what’s going on. What do you reckon happens next?’

‘Someone suggests a swim?’

‘My thought exactly. They don’t have costumes, so they skinny-dip, or strip to their undies.’

‘All of them?’

‘This is the problem. In a party of people you’ll get a few bold souls, but not all will want to go in. The others watch. They may even come down to the water’s edge and shout encouragement. With all that happening, how does the killer carry out a drowning that can take up to five minutes?’

Stella tilted her head. ‘Tell me, then.’

‘It can’t have happened in the presence of everyone else, can it?’

‘Not the way you tell it, boss. I suppose they paired off- Meredith and the killer-and snuck away to another bit of the beach where they could be alone. He suggested a dip and they went in and he attacked her.’

‘Reasonable, except for two things. She was found on the exact section of beach where the original dig took place. And there was no evidence of a barbecue there.’

‘The tide must have washed over it.’

‘These things tend to be held high up the beach where the water rarely reaches.’

‘Well, I can’t think of anything better.’

‘Try this, then,’ Hen said. ‘What if the barbecue never happened?’

Stella blinked. ‘You’ve lost me now.’

‘We’ve been trying for hours to trace people who were there. Yes, we found about a dozen from the original dig who could have come. Not one of them did. They didn’t get invitations. And the reason is that there was no barbecue. It was never going to happen.’

Stella thought a moment and frowned. ‘Invented by the killer?’

‘Exactly. He’s devious. There was only ever one invitation and we’ve seen it. The killer sent it to Meredith as bait, to lure her to Selsey. Handsomely printed, official-looking, friendly. She was tempted. Her husband would be away, enjoying himself in Moscow or wherever. The dig had been a highlight of her student life, and now she makes her living as a fossil expert. Why not join in the fun and meet some friends from way back?’