Michael Ridpath: Final Venture

'I don't know the exact date. I can check with my diary?'

'Please.'

I waited a few seconds.

'Yes. Here it is. October tenth. Brunch. We were supposed to have dinner together, but he changed it.'

'He changed it?'

'Yeah. He called a day or so before, and said he'd met some "babe" who lived in New York who he wanted to see that night.'

'Daniel? A babe?'

'It sounded a little odd to me. I did try to pry, but he wasn't saying much. But, hey, everyone gets lucky sometime. He spent most of brunch pushing Net Cop.'

That much, at least, Daniel had told me. 'Did you see him that afternoon?'

'No. After brunch he headed off. I don't know where. Why all these questions?'

'Oh, nothing.'

'OK. I'll see you at the Net Cop board meeting next week.'

'See you then. Oh, and Jeff?'

'Yes?'

'Don't mention any of this to Daniel.'

There was a pause as Jeff tried to work out what I was fishing for. In the end he decided to trust me. 'OK,' he said and hung up.

'Well?' asked Lisa as I put down the phone. She was perched on Frank's desk beside me trying to follow my end of the conversation.

'Daniel switched dinner to brunch.'

We looked at each other.

Lisa exhaled. 'So, what do we do now?'

'Well, we don't have absolute proof. But the cops can check him out. They should find something to nail him, if they know what direction to look in.'

'Do we call Mahoney?'

I sighed. 'I'd rather not.'

'What about the Assistant DA? What was her name?'

'Pamela Leyser. Maybe. But I think we should talk to Gardner Phillips first.'

I dialled his home. His wife answered, and said he was out on the golf course. She gave me the number of his cell phone. I tried it. It was switched off. I called Mrs Phillips back, gave her Marsh House's telephone number, and asked her to make sure her husband called me as soon as he got in. It was urgent. She expected him back by eleven fifteen, although she said he might be home before then. I looked at the grandfather clock. Quarter to ten. An hour and a half.

The waiting was difficult.

'Shouldn't we call Mahoney?' Lisa said.

'I don't think so. I know Phillips. He'd definitely want me to speak to him first.'

'But we've proof it was Daniel!'

'I know. And I'm sure Phillips will want us to pass that on to the police. But I've screwed this up before, I don't want to do it again. Let's just wait till he calls back, shall we?'

'All right. But I'm not hanging around here,' said Lisa. 'I'll go crazy. I'm going for a walk. Coming?'

'No, I'll stay here, just in case he does call back early.'

Lisa grabbed her coat and walked out the door. Through the sitting-room window, I could see her tramp along the edge of the marsh to the right of the house.

I went upstairs to make sure the storm windows were securely fastened, my ears listening out for the ring of Frank's ancient telephone.

Instead, I heard the front door bang.

'Lisa! Did you forget something?' I ran down the stairs. 'He still hasn't called…'

I stopped short. There, standing in the middle of the living room, his hands thrust deep into his city raincoat, was Daniel.

'Hello, Simon,' he said casually.

My initial reaction was to bolt back up the stairs, but I fought to compose myself. 'Hello, Daniel,' I said in feigned welcome, as coolly as I could manage. 'What brings you here?'

He wasn't obviously carrying a gun. But he wasn't taking his hands out of his pockets either. I wasn't sure what effect a gun would have if fired from within a coat pocket like that. But from a foot or two's range, I didn't want to risk it.

'Oh, I'm meeting some people for lunch at Woodman's in Essex, and I thought I'd drop by on the way,' he answered. An extremely unlikely story, I thought. 'Where's Lisa?'

'She had to go into the lab,' I replied. 'She'll be there all day.' If the worst came to the worst, I didn't want Daniel hanging around waiting for her to come back from her walk. 'Can I make you some coffee?'

'Sure.'

I moved past him to get to the kitchen. He backed off, keeping his distance. For some reason he didn't want to show his hand yet. Why could that be?

As I fiddled about with coffee and filters, I thought it over. Another murder now would blow the case wide open again, something Daniel would want to avoid. He was here to check up on how much I knew. If I played it right, he might leave again.

'It's still quite warm for November,' I said.

'Yeah,' said Daniel. 'And October was quite pleasant too.'

In different circumstances, I would have laughed at Daniel's weather small-talk. It wasn't his style at all.

We moved back into the living room, Daniel still keeping his hands in his pockets, and his body a few feet away from mine. We sat in chairs opposite each other. I had decided not to jump him, but hope that he would talk and then go.

'So this is where Frank was killed, huh?' Daniel looked around.

The words acted like a shock, a reminder of what Daniel could do, as well as bringing back memories of finding Frank's body.

'Yes. Just there.'

I pointed to the section of scraped and scrubbed floorboard in the dining area. One of the things Lisa and I had intended to do that weekend was to cover the spot with a rug.

'And they still don't know for sure who did it, huh?'

'Not publicly. But I'm pretty certain they think it was Enever.'

'And you? What do you think?'

'I think it was Enever too.'

'Are you positive?'

I pretended to consider this for a moment. 'Yes. He killed himself, didn't he? He had everything to lose from news about the side-effects getting out. I'm sure it was him.'

'And Lisa? What does she think?'

'Oh, she thinks it was him, too.'

Daniel watched me closely. Then, seeming to come to a decision, he pulled a stubby revolver out of his pocket.

'I don't believe you,' he said.

I stared at the gun. This was not looking good at all. I had blown it. If I had jumped him when we were both standing up only a few feet away from each other, he with his gun hidden in the folds of his coat, I might have stood a chance. But now we were sitting down, ten feet apart, and he was pointing the weapon at my chest.

I swallowed. 'Why don't you believe me?'

'Because you and Lisa are too smart for that. I'd have been happier with a story about how you knew Enever wasn't responsible but you'd stopped worrying about it once you'd cleared yourself. That's what I was kind of hoping for. After the questions you were asking me yesterday, I thought I ought to make sure you hadn't jumped to any silly conclusions. Turns out I was right to be worried.'

'I know you killed him, Daniel,' I said.

'Have you talked to the police?'

I needed to play for time. I wasn't sure which answer would give me most.

'Well, have you?'

I shrugged.

'I need to know who you have spoken to.'

'And I won't tell you.'

He jerked the gun at me. 'I'll pull the trigger.'

I glared at him. I wasn't going to let him get the better of me. 'I know you will. I still won't tell you.'

I braced myself for the shot. But it didn't come. Daniel looked confused. He was thinking.

'Where's Lisa?' he asked at last.

'I told you. At the lab.'

'But you said you were both coming up here for the weekend?'

'She's coming this evening. She's got more work than she planned.'

'I heard you call out to her when I came in.'

'I thought you must be her. I assumed she'd left the lab early.'

Daniel scanned the room. 'Is that your bag, then?'

He nodded towards Lisa's black bag, lying on the floor.

'No,' I said simply.

'You're not being very truthful, are you, Simon?'

I shrugged.

'We'll wait here for her. She'll tell me who you've told. Especially when she sees me pointing a gun at you. How long will she be?'