Reginald Hill - An April Shroud

'But you didn't get far. It was too wet. You came back to shelter.'

'Yes.'

'And you hid in Mrs Greave's room?'

'Yes.'

Dalziel nodded and scratched his nose.

'I thought it was Papworth,' he explained to Balderstone. 'Only, when I searched his room, I couldn't find any suede shoes. Any road, I doubt if he eats doughnuts for breakfast! We nearly bumped into each other once or twice, eh, lad?'

The boy nodded.

'So you were here all the time. And when I found you in the billiards-room with your rucksack, you hadn't just come back. No, you were just on your way out then. I wondered how you knew my name! You were waiting till Herrie got me safely out of the way to Orburn, then off you would go and as far as I was concerned the one person who could know nothing about Annie's death was you. Right? But you did know something about it, didn't you, Nigel?'

The boy nodded. His mother put her arm protectively over his shoulder. They were large shoulders, Pascoe realized. The large frame of the elder brother was all here, though unhung as yet with Bertie's superfluous flesh. He was a powerful young man, powerful enough to.. .

'I killed her,' he said blankly.

'Tell us about it,' said Dalziel gently.

Why doesn't his mother intervene? wondered Pascoe. There's no need to let him answer these questions now. She could get her solicitor here for a start.

'She just packed up and said she was going. I found her getting ready and when I tried to persuade her to stay, she just laughed at first. I tried to stop her and we had a fight. We ended up on the bed and, well, I thought it was going to be all right then. But after we'd finished, she just went back to her packing.'

He fell silent and glanced at his mother.

Dalziel coughed phlegmily.

'You were fond of her?' he said.

'Yes,' said Nigel lowly. 'I told her I loved her. I thought she felt the same. But she laughed again, told me to grow up. She'd never treated me like a child before. I started unpacking her case and she got angry. She pushed me away, I hit her, she said things about my father…'

'What things?' demanded Balderstone.

'About your father making love to her?' said Dalziel quickly.

'Yes. She said that. She said that I was being a bloody nuisance now like he'd been. I didn't believe her, but then she started saying things about my mother too. We had another fight, only this time.. .'

His agitation was quite clear now. His mother's arm tightened around him, but still she didn't speak.

'But you didn't mean to kill her,' urged Dalziel.

No wonder Bonnie doesn't bother with a solicitor, thought Pascoe. This was the unfamiliar intonation in Dalziel's voice. Defence counsel trying to lead his witness.

'No. I was just angry.'

'And afterwards you went out and found Herrie?' said Dalziel. He was recalling the photos he had looked at in Uniffs room. In one of them Herrie had been standing by the door, apparently talking to someone in the corridor. In the subsequent shots, the old man had disappeared. Everyone else was accounted for except for himself and Bonnie, upstairs on the bed (his mind quickly suppressed the image), Papworth allegedly drinking in the Green Man, and of course Annie Greave, already by this time he now knew lying dead in her room. His mind had been toying with the limited permutations for ten days now. Nigel had made an appearance at a subconscious level long before he would permit him to take the lead.

'Yes,' said the boy. 'I locked the door. Charley tried it, but I just kept quiet. Then I slipped out and nearly bumped into you and my mother.'

He turned to Bonnie and said, 'I was going to look for you but I couldn't say anything when I saw you with him, could I?'

Bonnie shook her head slowly.

'No. I'm afraid you couldn't, darling.'

Balderstone took up the questioning.

'Why did your grandfather and yourself put the body in Butt's car?'

'He wanted to use the Rover, but Mother had the keys and she was with Mr Dalziel. Mr Butt had left the keys in his car. Herrie thought that Mr Butt was so drunk he'd be hours. But just after we'd got the boot shut, he came out of the house. He didn't see me, but he saw Herrie by the car. They talked for a moment, then he drove away.'

No wonder the old man had believed he could offer himself as a decoy. If Butt's memory had been stimulated by interrogation, then the meeting with Hereward by his car would have been strong circumstantial evidence.

Pascoe wondered how far he had intended to go. Would his actions have been merely diversionary or was he willing to go the whole hog and confess in order to protect his grandson?

And how far would Nigel have let him go? There was in this boy, Pascoe suspected, a broad vein of the tough self-interest which characterized both his brother and, by report, his father.

'What about Mr Spinx?' Balderstone now demanded. 'Hadn't Annie rung him and asked him to give her a lift?'

Pascoe wondered if Dalziel had outlined his theory to Balderstone or if the local man had arrived at the same conclusion independently.

'I don't know anything about Mr Spinx,' said the boy emphatically.

'All right, son,' said Balderstone unexpectedly. 'That'll do for now. Mrs Fielding, we'll have to take Nigel down to the station with us, you realize that. You may accompany him, of course, just as you or your representative may be present at any further interrogations. Perhaps you'd like to put some overnight things together for the lad.'

As Bonnie left the room, Cross entered.

'I've got a statement of sorts from the old man,' he said. 'He doesn't half ramble on! The doctor's here now and he's given him a sedative. I thought there'd be plenty of time for another go later, when he's more himself.'

'Yes,' said Balderstone. 'Plenty of time. Would you take Nigel out to my car, Sergeant?'

The boy turned at the door and said very formally, 'Good night.'

'Watch how you go, son,' said Dalziel. 'By the way Sergeant Cross, I've been meaning to ask, you ever catch your chicken thief?'

'No, sir,' said Cross.

'We served chicken tonight. I've a notion Papworth supplied them. We never did find where he was the night Mrs Greave disappeared. And his room stinks. A word to the wise.'

'Thanks,' said Cross, ushering the boy out.

'Well, sir, that seems to wrap it up,' said the Chief Inspector. 'I was surprised that the mother was so co-operative, but it looks as if we'll have a nice detailed confession all signed and sealed before we get to bed.'

'It's good for the soul,' answered Dalziel. 'What's your guess – manslaughter?'

'Not for me to say,' answered Balderstone. 'You'll call to see me tomorrow, sir, and we'll get what you've got to say down on paper too? Then it's back to your own patch.'

'That's it,' said Dalziel. 'Eight sharp on Monday morning.'

'Right then. I'm sorry how it's worked out, all this,' said Balderstone making a vague gesture with his hands. 'Tell Mrs Fielding we're waiting in the car.'

He left and Pascoe came out of the bay.

'You still here,' grunted Dalziel.

'You forget, my in-laws have gone off home in my transport. Perhaps I should ask Balderstone for a lift.'

'No. He'll be crowded. You come along with me. I'll just put my gear together.'

'You're leaving?' asked Pascoe in surprise. Such diplomatic gestures were not usual in his superior.

'I can hardly stay on, can I?' said Dalziel. 'Not after… well, anyway, it's back to the Lady Hamilton for me. Fitting, really. That's where it all started. Which reminds me.'

He stuck his head out of the door and shouted, 'Charley!'

After a few moments, Tillotson appeared. With him was Louisa. On the whole, Dalziel decided, studying the effect of their almost identical silk tunics, Tillotson was the curvier of the two.