shouted, “you’ve taken something that belongs to me.”
She hesitated.
I yelled her name again. I started after her. I could see Digby opening the car door. Wouldn’t News on Sunday just love to have a picture of that gun?
Alice had started walking on again, without even turning round. She reached the front gate and groped for the catch, which was placed low on the post. Tricky, against the weight of the rucksack.
I negotiated that path in about six strides, angling my stick like a ski pole. I reached out and grabbed her arm with my free hand.
I said breathlessly, “I want it back. You’ve no right to take it.”
She turned and gave me a cold-eyed look. “Who are you to talk about rights? It wasn’t yours in the first place.”
I said, “I made you a present of the carving. Isn’t that enough?”
“That was something else,” said Alice. “What are you afraid of, Theo?”
I didn’t answer. Digby had hauled himself out of the Anglia and lumbered over to us.
He asked, “What’s all this? Do you require the services of an arbitrator?”
I warned him, “Keep out of this.” To Alice I said firmly, “Would you come back into the house, please?”
Digby said, “What is the young lady supposed to have done—walked out with the family silver?”
I said, “Sod off.”
Alice was looking thoughtful. She asked me, “Can we do a deal on this?”
The words I’d used on Digby were almost out of my mouth again before I thought better of it. She’d outsmarted me. I wanted the gun back. If she handed it to Digby, my story would be headlined in next week’s issue: MURDER BOY’S 20-YEAR SECRET. She had all the top trumps. I was bound to fall in with her offer.
I nodded to Alice and tilted my head towards the house. We left Digby standing openmouthed at the gate.
Inside, she took off the rucksack. I moved forward to reclaim the gun, but she waved me away. “Don’t come any closer, Theo. I have reinforcements out there.”
“What do you mean by a deal?”
“I want you to take me to Somerset and show me the farm where it happened.”
I screwed up my face in disbelief. “Why?”
“I thought you’d have my number by now. I want to find out what really happened at that place.”
“I told it to you last night.”
She shook her head. “Theo, I don’t want to seem ungrateful, but I find it impossible to believe. I’m not getting at you personally.”
“What’s so incredible about it?”
She sighed. “Let’s just consider the gun. You said you found it in the barn.”
“Correct.”
“So the murderer must have dropped it after he shot Cliff Morton, right? If it was my daddy, why would he do such a stupid thing, for crying out loud? He must have known it was vital evidence, an American Army automatic. Wouldn’t he have taken it away with him, gotten rid of it someplace else?”
I shook my head. “He was afraid the others would see it. He was coming back later, you see, to dispose of the body and clean up the blood. So he tucked the gun out of sight, between two bales of hay.’”
She clicked her tongue in disbelief. “I don’t swallow that, either, but let’s stay with the gun. He didn’t pick it up later, did he?”
“Because I’d already found it.”
“And you secretly kept it: that much I’m forced to go along with.”
I said ironically, “Thanks.”
Alice regarded me with that penetrating gaze of hers. “Theo, has it ever occurred to you that you weren’t actually protecting my daddy by withholding the gun from the police?”
I frowned back.
She went on. “If you’d handed it in, they would have asked the questions I just did. As it is, they assumed he got rid of the murder weapon himself, like the ruthless killer they made him out to be.”
A pulse started drumming in my forehead.
She said, “Disturbing thought, huh?”
I answered hollowly, “It’s another way of looking at it. It didn’t occur to me at the time.”
“Because, like everyone else, you
She hesitated.
I yelled her name again. I started after her. I could see Digby opening the car door. Wouldn’t News on Sunday just love to have a picture of that gun?
Alice had started walking on again, without even turning round. She reached the front gate and groped for the catch, which was placed low on the post. Tricky, against the weight of the rucksack.
I negotiated that path in about six strides, angling my stick like a ski pole. I reached out and grabbed her arm with my free hand.
I said breathlessly, “I want it back. You’ve no right to take it.”
She turned and gave me a cold-eyed look. “Who are you to talk about rights? It wasn’t yours in the first place.”
I said, “I made you a present of the carving. Isn’t that enough?”
“That was something else,” said Alice. “What are you afraid of, Theo?”
I didn’t answer. Digby had hauled himself out of the Anglia and lumbered over to us.
He asked, “What’s all this? Do you require the services of an arbitrator?”
I warned him, “Keep out of this.” To Alice I said firmly, “Would you come back into the house, please?”
Digby said, “What is the young lady supposed to have done—walked out with the family silver?”
I said, “Sod off.”
Alice was looking thoughtful. She asked me, “Can we do a deal on this?”
The words I’d used on Digby were almost out of my mouth again before I thought better of it. She’d outsmarted me. I wanted the gun back. If she handed it to Digby, my story would be headlined in next week’s issue: MURDER BOY’S 20-YEAR SECRET. She had all the top trumps. I was bound to fall in with her offer.
I nodded to Alice and tilted my head towards the house. We left Digby standing openmouthed at the gate.
Inside, she took off the rucksack. I moved forward to reclaim the gun, but she waved me away. “Don’t come any closer, Theo. I have reinforcements out there.”
“What do you mean by a deal?”
“I want you to take me to Somerset and show me the farm where it happened.”
I screwed up my face in disbelief. “Why?”
“I thought you’d have my number by now. I want to find out what really happened at that place.”
“I told it to you last night.”
She shook her head. “Theo, I don’t want to seem ungrateful, but I find it impossible to believe. I’m not getting at you personally.”
“What’s so incredible about it?”
She sighed. “Let’s just consider the gun. You said you found it in the barn.”
“Correct.”
“So the murderer must have dropped it after he shot Cliff Morton, right? If it was my daddy, why would he do such a stupid thing, for crying out loud? He must have known it was vital evidence, an American Army automatic. Wouldn’t he have taken it away with him, gotten rid of it someplace else?”
I shook my head. “He was afraid the others would see it. He was coming back later, you see, to dispose of the body and clean up the blood. So he tucked the gun out of sight, between two bales of hay.’”
She clicked her tongue in disbelief. “I don’t swallow that, either, but let’s stay with the gun. He didn’t pick it up later, did he?”
“Because I’d already found it.”
“And you secretly kept it: that much I’m forced to go along with.”
I said ironically, “Thanks.”
Alice regarded me with that penetrating gaze of hers. “Theo, has it ever occurred to you that you weren’t actually protecting my daddy by withholding the gun from the police?”
I frowned back.
She went on. “If you’d handed it in, they would have asked the questions I just did. As it is, they assumed he got rid of the murder weapon himself, like the ruthless killer they made him out to be.”
A pulse started drumming in my forehead.
She said, “Disturbing thought, huh?”
I answered hollowly, “It’s another way of looking at it. It didn’t occur to me at the time.”
“Because, like everyone else, you
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