Bloody Winter: A Pyke Mystery by Andrew Pepper Page B

left under a cloud. Do you think I should bother with her?’
    ‘Who …
Maggie
?’ Cathy tried to laugh but the tension in her voice was clear. ‘Not in a million years.’
    ‘Then why would your husband tell me she should be a suspect?’
    She looked down and fingered a frayed piece of lace on her dress.
    Pyke decided to try a different approach. ‘I met a friend of yours today. A man called John Johns.’
    That was sufficient to puncture her façade. Her expression suddenly fell and she shot him a pleading look.
    Pyke’s eyes darted around the room, aware for the first time that someone might be listening to their conversation. He stood up quickly and stretched. ‘That will be all for now. In the meantime, I’d just like to repeat what I said earlier. We will do our best to ensure that you and your son are reunited.’
    As he went to leave, her eyes were moist and she mouthed a silent thank-you.
    Dinner was an awkward affair; Jonah Hancock at one end of the table and Cathy at the other. Pyke was sitting opposite Zephaniah, who had to be fed by one of the servants. When Jonah wasn’t speaking, the only sound in the cavernous dining room was the clinking of silver cutlery on bone china. Zephaniah didn’t say much but his eyes didn’t leave Pyke.
    ‘In this household, Detective-inspector, we’ve always been assiduously reminded of your abilities.’ Jonah looked directly at Cathy, whose stare remained fixed on the food on her plate, which she barely touched.
    It had been a petulant remark and once again Pyke thought about Zephaniah’s claim from the previous evening.
My daughter-in-law has always carried a torch for you
.
    After dinner, the three men retired to the library to have theirbrandies and cigars, and discuss Pyke’s plans for the rendezvous at the old quarry the next morning.
    ‘You’ll have to trust me to do my job. The letter instructed me to go there alone and so I will go there alone.’
    Some of Jonah’s bonhomie had returned and he nodded briskly. ‘A sensible decision, sir. You have the hundred pounds?’
    Pyke nodded. Zephaniah Hancock had given him the purse full of gold sovereigns before dinner.
    ‘Let’s just hope that tomorrow we’ll be clearer about the second letter and whether or not it was sent by my son’s kidnappers.’ With a cigar in hand, Jonah Hancock blew a smoke ring up into the air. He watched it rise and then dissolve.
    Zephaniah looked at Pyke and smiled, as though they shared a secret. ‘I would trust the detective-inspector with my own life, son. He will do as he sees fit and we will support him.’
    Jonah seemed perplexed by his father’s changed attitude towards Pyke and it took him a moment to recover. ‘Quite so.’
    ‘Perhaps, sir,’ Zephaniah said, still staring at Pyke, ‘you would tell us your opinion of my radiant daughter-in-law?’
    Pyke saw Jonah stiffen. The old man was evidently savouring his son’s discomfort. ‘In what sense?’
    ‘Well, I believe you knew her when she was a girl. I was wondering whether you find her much changed.’
    ‘I’m sure that anyone who knew me as a child would find me much changed.’ Pyke took a sip of brandy and put the glass down on the table. ‘But to answer your question, sir, I find Catherine a charming, well-mannered young woman.’
    ‘Indeed so.’ Zephaniah’s eyes were glinting.
    Pyke had had enough of the old man’s games and announced he was ready for his bed. Jonah ushered Pyke to the door, patted him on the shoulder and wished him luck for the morning.
    ‘Whatever you may think of me, Detective-inspector, and my father, I do love my son very dearly. That’s all that matters here.’
    Pyke had climbed the stairs and was halfway along the landing when he heard her whisper his name.
    Cathy was waiting for him in an alcove, shrouded in darkness.
    ‘I had to talk to you away from prying eyes and ears,’ shewhispered breathlessly. ‘My husband and father-in-law have made it their business to know