Robert Goddard - Sight Unseen

'Where have you been hiding yourself?' was the old man's wheezily barbed greeting. 'And what's in that bloody box?'

'Some old research papers of mine. I was hoping you could hold on to them for me.'

'Till when?'

'Not sure.'

'You've got a nerve.'

'I boarded up the window for you, Bill.' Umber glanced at the back door. 'I see you've had it re-glazed.'

'Yeah, well, that was a kindness, I suppose. But this box…'

'No-one's going to come after it. I promise.'

'Better hadn't.' Larter hoiked an old cricket bat out from beside the fridge. 'I'll be ready for them this time.'

'Remember the one you called a smug-looking geezer?'

'What about him?'

'He won't be coming. Here or anywhere else. I can tell you that for a fact.'

Larter eyed Umber suspiciously. 'Do I want to know how you can be so sure?'

'No, Bill. You don't.'

'Spoke to George yesterday. Said he'd had a… message from you. "It isn't over." Right?'

'Right.'

'How long before it is?'

'Not long at all. One way or the other.'

'Shall I put in an extra rasher for you?' Larter gestured at the frying pan with his spatula.

'Can't stop.'

'Please yourself.' Larter nodded at the box. 'You can leave that if you've a mind to. It'll be good practice in case I have to go into left luggage to top up my pension.'

'I'll be in touch.' Umber dropped the spare set of keys Larter had given him on the table. 'Thanks, Bill.'

'Don't mention it.'

'I'll be off now.'

'Righto.' Then, after the briefest of pauses, he added, 'Good luck, son.'

Back to Liverpool Street, round the Circle line to Paddington, then a fast train to Reading. Door to door from 45 Bengal Road, Ilford, to the Royal Berkshire Hospital took Umber nearly two hours. Time was sliding through his fingers like sand. If the stitches in his head had not been causing him almost as much discomfort as his troublesome knee, he would probably have given the out-patients' clinic a miss, but, as the whims of the NHS would have it, he did not have to wait long for the stitches to be removed and felt instantly better for it, despite the nurse's less than encouraging assessment.

'How are you feeling, Mr Umber? You look a little under the weather.'

'I'm fine, thanks.' Which he was not, of course. But under the weather? No. That description did not do his condition any kind of justice.

By noon he was back at Reading station, waiting for a train to Bedwyn. And one and a half hours later, he was clambering off the connecting bus in Marlborough High Street. He had a plan. He knew what he was going to do. What it would achieve, however, was quite another matter.

His first port of call was W. H. Smith, where he grabbed a copy of the local weekly newspaper. He was still in the queue, waiting to pay for it, when he found what he was looking for among the funeral notices.

HALL, Jeremy. Died tragically in Jersey, Thursday 25th March, aged 33. Dearest son of Jane and Oliver, fondly remembered by Edmund and Katy. A service of celebration for his life will be held at Holy Cross Church, Ramsbury, on Friday 2nd April at 11 a.m., followed by interment at Marlborough Cemetery at noon. Family flowers only.

Umber reread the notice after he had left the shop. It had to be a coincidence, of course. But it did not feel like one. Jeremy Hall was due to be buried on the day and at the hour when the deadline Umber had been set to hand over Chantelle expired. The burial of the brother and the betrayal of the sister were paired events in a possible version of the all too near future.

He entered the Kennet Valley Wine Company little expecting to find Edmund Questred manning the till. In truth, he was faintly surprised to find the shop open at all. But Questred had found a stand-in – a plump, bespectacled, middle-aged woman with an engaging smile.

'Good afternoon,' she said. 'Can I help you?'

'I'm looking for Mr Questred.'

'I'm afraid he's not in today. There's been a family bereavement.'

'I know.' He held up his copy of the Gazette & Herald. 'A terrible business.'

'Yes, indeed.'

'I knew Jeremy as a boy. Nice lad. I, er, taught at his school.'

'Really?'

'Do you happen to know which undertaker is handling the funeral? The notice didn't say and I, er…'

'Umber.' The office door beyond the counter opened by a foot or so and Edmund Questred stared out through the gap. 'Come in here.' He glanced at the woman. 'It's OK, Pam. We know each other.'

Umber edged round the counter and moved through into the office. Questred closed the door behind him, then gestured for Umber to follow as he led the way out into the storeroom and switched on the lights. Fluorescent tubes flickered pallidly into life above the assorted boxes of wine.

'What are you doing here?' Questred looked and sounded too tired to summon up much in the way of overt hostility. 'And why do you want to know which undertaker we're using?'

The answer was that Chantelle might want to see Jeremy one last time before the funeral. But it was not an answer Umber could afford to give. 'I'm not sure. Just trying to draw something out, I suppose.'

'Haven't you the decency to drop all this now Jeremy's dead?'

'It's not a question of decency.'

'Are you going to tell me you think Jeremy was murdered, like you reckon your wife was?'

'No. I'm not. Though, as I recall, you agreed Sally's death was suspicious last time we spoke.'

'I agreed nothing.'

'Have it your way.'

'Is Sharp with you?'

'No.' Questred did not seem to know about Sharp's arrest. Nor did he appear even to suspect that either Sharp or Umber had been in Jersey the day Jeremy had died. 'I'm on my own.'

'At least one of you has realized you ought to back off, I suppose.'

'I'm sorry about Jeremy. Truly. How's your wife taking it?'

'How do you think?'

'Hard, I imagine.'

'And then some.' Questred frowned. 'You're not planning to show up at the funeral, are you?'

'Would it be so awful if I did?'

Questred shook his head, as if despairing of Umber's sensitivity altogether. 'You have no idea, do you? Jane's lost three children. Three. Jeremy's suicide has brought back the grief of Tamsin and Miranda's deaths as well. If it weren't for Katy, I'm not sure Jane would be able to get through this. But I'm sure seeing you won't help. I'm absolutely sure of that.'

'She won't see me.'

'Do I have your word on that?'

Umber looked Questred in the eye. 'No. You don't. All I can say is… she won't see me unless I feel she has to.'

'What's that supposed to mean?'

'Why do you think Jeremy killed himself?'

'The best guess is… Radd's murder sparked something off in his mind. Seeing his sisters killed in front of him…' Questred shrugged. 'Maybe he never really got over it.'

'He only saw one of his sisters killed, actually.'

Questred squinted at Umber in genuine bafflement. 'What?'

'Do Jeremy's friends in Jersey say he was depressed?'

'No. Well, not exactly. He'd been keeping himself to himself a lot lately, apparently. He hadn't been seen around. Maybe that was the start of it. Even before Radd.'

'Maybe it was.'

'You didn't speak to him, did you? You or Sharp, I mean. If Jane thought…'

'Would it make it easier having us to blame?'

'It might.'

'Then, tell her whatever you think it's best she believes.'

'Don't make tomorrow any more difficult than it has to be, Umber. Please don't do that to her.'

'I won't.'

'Is that a promise?'

'Yes.' It was one promise Umber was sure he could keep, if only because the events of tomorrow were so comprehensively beyond his control. 'It is.'