Reginald Hill: Bones and Silence

He made them both sound like rodents.

‘Thank you, sir. Ten o’clock? That’ll suit me fine. And I’ll make sure them buggers carry on working regardless!’

He replaced the receiver.

‘Good morning, sir,’ said Pascoe. ‘I gather congratulations are in order.’

‘I believe they are,’ said Dalziel complacently. ‘Though Desperate Dan’s got mixed feelings. Doesn’t know whether to pat my back or stab it. Either way he’ll need a box to stand on!’

He was referring to Dan Trimble, Chief Constable, who, though small by police standards, was not a dwarf.

‘Mixed feelings? Why?’

‘Being out of practice at detective work, lad, you likely didn’t notice it’s like a bomb site down there.’ Dalziel had risen and was looking out of his window. ‘That’s Dan’s personal project. Part of his grand modernization plan. Rumour is he set the coroner up with a rent boy to get him to part with his garden. And he probably had to flog his own ring to get those tight bastards at County Hall to allocate the money. Trouble is, if the work’s not finished in March, the money is! That’s why Dan was all set to give me a kiss and a police medal till he heard who it was I’d nicked.’

‘And who was it, sir?’ asked Pascoe.

‘Swain. Philip Swain. Chap whose building firm’s doing the work down there. Or not as the case may be.’

He opened the window, leaned out and shouted, ‘Hey! What are you buggers on? A slow motion replay? If King Cheops had had you lot, we’d be looking at the first bungalow pyramid.’

He closed the window and said, ‘Got to keep ’em at it. At least till I’ve got my hands on Dan’s congratulation Glenmorangie. He wants to see you too, Peter. Nine-thirty sharp.’

‘Oh yes?’ said Pascoe, hope and unease stirring simultaneously.

‘That’s right. By God, it’s good to see you back! We’ve been snowed under these last few weeks. I’ve dumped a few things on your desk just to ease you back in again.’

Pascoe’s heart sank. Dalziel’s few was anyone else’s avalanche.

‘What exactly did happen last night,’ he asked by way of diversion.

‘Nowt much. I happened to see this chap, Swain, blowing his wife’s head off next door, so I went in and disarmed him and brought ’em both back here …’

‘Both? You brought the body as well?’

‘Don’t be daft. There were this other chap there, name of Waterson, it’s his house. He were scared shitless, could hardly move or talk. The quack took one look at him, shot him full of something and got him admitted to the Infirmary. Me and Swain had a little chat, he told a lot of lies, and an hour later I was enjoying the sleep of the just. That’s how neat and tidy we’ve been doing things since you’ve been away, lad, but no doubt now you’re back, you’ll start complicating things again.’

‘I’ll try not to, but I’m still a bit vague as to what precisely happened. This fellow Swain …’

‘Nasty bit of work. Just the type to top his missus,’ said Dalziel.

‘You’ve had other dealings with him?’

‘No. Only ever seen him twice before but some people you can sum up in a second,’ said Dalziel solemnly. ‘I gave him plenty of rope and he’s just about hanged himself, I reckon. Take a look at his statement and you’ll see what I mean.’

He pushed a photocopied sheet across the desk and Pascoe began to read.

I make this statement of my own free will. I have been told I need not say anything unless I wish to do so, and that whatever I say may be given in evidence. Signed: Philip Swain.

My name is Philip Keith Swain. I live at Moscow Farm, Currthwaite, Mid-Yorkshire. I am a partner in the firm of Building Contractors known as Swain and Stringer, working from the same address. I am thirty-eight years old.

A short while ago my company was engaged by Gregory Waterson of 18 Hambleton Road to convert his loft into a draughtsman’s studio. During the course of this work, he visited my premises on several occasions. These visits brought him into contact with my wife, Gail. I saw that they had become very friendly but any suspicions I might have had that the relationship went further I put out of my mind for two reasons. The first was that I simply did not want to risk a confrontation with Gail. For some time she had been behaving in an increasingly irrational fashion, bouts of deep depression alternating with moods of almost manic liveliness. When she was down, she talked sometimes of killing herself, more specifically of blowing her head off. I wanted her to see a doctor but, being American by birth, she had always refused to have anything to do with English doctors whom she regarded as mediaeval in both equipment and attitude. She did however promise to see an American doctor as soon as she returned to the States. And this was the other reason I made no comment about Waterson. I knew Gail was going back to California in the near future.

Early last summer her father had died. She was very close to him and I think it was from this date that her bouts of depression set in. The news that her mother’s health had gone into a rapid decline since Gail had returned to England after her father’s funeral made matters worse. I think she had blamed her mother for her father’s death and had not been careful to conceal her feelings, and now she was feeling guilty herself. These are necessarily amateur observations. All I knew for certain was that her mental state was far from stable, but everything pointed to nothing but good coming from her return to Los Angeles with the opportunity this would afford for sorting things out with her mother and also for consulting her family physician.

She was due to leave on Sunday February 8th. I had offered to drive her down to Heathrow, but despite the mild weather, she said she was worried about bad road conditions and she would go by train. She refused my offer to accompany her, saying she knew how much work I had on my plate, and then, when I persisted, demanding angrily if I didn’t think her capable of making a simple train journey alone. At this point I desisted and in fact went to work on the Sunday morning to take advantage of the continuing good weather, and thus did not even see her out of the house. I was therefore relieved when she rang me the following day, ostensibly from Los Angeles, to say she’d arrived safely.

I heard nothing further from her but a woman rang up a couple of times and asked to speak to her. When I told her Gail was out of the country, she made a sort of disbelieving sound and rang off. Then earlier tonight she rang again. I’m certain it was the same woman, she sounded young, with a Yorkshire accent though not very strong. She asked me if I still believed Gail was in America. I said yes, of course. And she went on to say that I was wrong and if I wanted to see Gail I ought to go round to 18 Hambleton Road. Then she rang off.

I immediately rang Gail’s mother in LA. I got through to the housekeeper-cum-nurse that Mrs Delgado, my mother-in-law, had taken on since her illness. She said Gail had never arrived but had sent a cable to say she was stopping off to see some friends on the East Coast and would get in touch as soon as she knew when she’d definitely arrive. No one was surprised as Gail was notoriously impulsive. I made light of the matter and advised the nurse not to mention my call to Mrs Delgado as I didn’t want her to worry. But I myself was very worried and the only thing I could think of to do was go round to Hambleton Road.

I arrived at 10.30. There were lights on but Mr Waterson took a long time to answer the door. When he saw who it was, at first he looked shocked. Then he said, ‘You know, don’t you?’ And as soon as he said that, I did.

The odd thing was I didn’t get angry, perhaps because I got the feeling he was almost relieved to see me. He said, ‘You’d better come in.’ I said, ‘Where is she?’ He said, ‘She’s upstairs. But don’t go rushing up there. She’s in a very strange mood.’ I asked what he meant and he said she had been drinking heavily and was talking about killing herself. I said something like, ‘So she’s putting you through that hoop too? Tough luck.’ And he said, ‘You mean you’ve seen her like this before? That’s a relief. But that gun scared the shit out of me. Is it really loaded?’