Tregothnan. When I banned him, he gave as good as he got, believe me.’
‘No,’ he said flatly. ‘I don’t.’
‘Ah, you’ve been on the receiving end of my tongue when I was roused, haven’t you. Sorry, Copper, if you took any of it seriously . No hard feelings, I hope,’ I added lightly.
He didn’t reply. My God, he had taken my foul words to heart, hadn’t he? If not in the cold light of day, at least at three in the morning when you can only think of bad things.
I sat down again. ‘What happened to you that made you think I’d really cursed you?’
‘You see a lot of things as a police officer,’ he said in a remote voice, and left the room.
It would have been better if he’d raised his voice or slammed the door.
Fred Tregothnan wasn’t your sensitive type, not like Nick. He wouldn’t have turned a hair. Surely he wouldn’t. We’d talked once or twice about my distant ancestors after I’d told him off for calling someone a bastard gyppo. I’d told him I was entitled to have a foul mouth when roused – it was my only Romany legacy. But he had to watch what he called people, I said. He’d stayed away from the bar a couple of days on those occasions too.
But he hadn’t left the villagers in the lurch.
Maybe I ought to take a trip into Taunton Police Station myself – get my word in first.
It was a good job Nick wasn’t there to see me. I was playing ‘ confession is good for the soul’ with all I could give it, complete with tears and some sodden paper hankies.
‘I was very angry, Sergeant,’ I told the bored young woman who’d been landed with listening to the rants of this hysterical old woman. The fact that she was a good five foot six and no more than a size eight, if that, didn’t make her any more likeable. Even her hair was genuinely blonde. I pleaded, ‘I had to make him realise that what he was doing was completely out of order.’ God, I hated that phrase. What did it mean, for goodness’ sake? But everyone on
The Bill
seemed to say it, so perhaps I should try it on her.
She nodded, absently, from the way she kept fingering it apparently more interested in a stray spot on her otherwise immaculate chin than in me. ‘Are you saying a grown man would be so upset by a few hard words that he left the village and hasn’t been seen since?’
I managed a rueful smile. ‘Put like that it doesn’t make much sense, does it? I’m sorry, I’ve obviously wasted your time.’
But she wasn’t as bored or as stupid as I’d thought her. ‘On the contrary. You’ve been very helpful. Tell me more about the incident that made you so angry. It wasn’t you he was assaulting, is that right? But one of your staff. Would she have –’
‘Lindi was inclined to think the whole thing was a joke, a bit of silliness. She didn’t want me to say anything.’
‘Have you discussed it with her?’
‘Only in a motherly way. I made her practise saying “No” out loud. A bit of assertiveness training,’ I grinned. There was no answering smile.
‘It’s a close knit community,’ she began.
My ears pricked. So they hadn’t dismissed the disappearance out of hand.
‘Would anyone else have been offended on her account? A father? A brother? A boyfriend?’
‘You’d have to ask them,’ I said as blandly as I could.
‘We will, Mrs Welford,’ she smiled ominously, ‘we will.’
OK, the interview wasn’t going quite the way I’d intended – that was an exit line if ever I’d heard one – but maybe I could capitalise on my mistake. ‘People are saying the police are taking this case unusually seriously.’
‘I hope we take all our cases seriously, Mrs Welford.’ She was shuffling some papers and any moment would close the folder and pick it up to show the interview was over. She did better. She got up, just managing not to yawn.
This was the moment to tell her about the bloodstained stream and the blocked path. That would bring her up short. But a series of
‘No,’ he said flatly. ‘I don’t.’
‘Ah, you’ve been on the receiving end of my tongue when I was roused, haven’t you. Sorry, Copper, if you took any of it seriously . No hard feelings, I hope,’ I added lightly.
He didn’t reply. My God, he had taken my foul words to heart, hadn’t he? If not in the cold light of day, at least at three in the morning when you can only think of bad things.
I sat down again. ‘What happened to you that made you think I’d really cursed you?’
‘You see a lot of things as a police officer,’ he said in a remote voice, and left the room.
It would have been better if he’d raised his voice or slammed the door.
Fred Tregothnan wasn’t your sensitive type, not like Nick. He wouldn’t have turned a hair. Surely he wouldn’t. We’d talked once or twice about my distant ancestors after I’d told him off for calling someone a bastard gyppo. I’d told him I was entitled to have a foul mouth when roused – it was my only Romany legacy. But he had to watch what he called people, I said. He’d stayed away from the bar a couple of days on those occasions too.
But he hadn’t left the villagers in the lurch.
Maybe I ought to take a trip into Taunton Police Station myself – get my word in first.
It was a good job Nick wasn’t there to see me. I was playing ‘ confession is good for the soul’ with all I could give it, complete with tears and some sodden paper hankies.
‘I was very angry, Sergeant,’ I told the bored young woman who’d been landed with listening to the rants of this hysterical old woman. The fact that she was a good five foot six and no more than a size eight, if that, didn’t make her any more likeable. Even her hair was genuinely blonde. I pleaded, ‘I had to make him realise that what he was doing was completely out of order.’ God, I hated that phrase. What did it mean, for goodness’ sake? But everyone on
The Bill
seemed to say it, so perhaps I should try it on her.
She nodded, absently, from the way she kept fingering it apparently more interested in a stray spot on her otherwise immaculate chin than in me. ‘Are you saying a grown man would be so upset by a few hard words that he left the village and hasn’t been seen since?’
I managed a rueful smile. ‘Put like that it doesn’t make much sense, does it? I’m sorry, I’ve obviously wasted your time.’
But she wasn’t as bored or as stupid as I’d thought her. ‘On the contrary. You’ve been very helpful. Tell me more about the incident that made you so angry. It wasn’t you he was assaulting, is that right? But one of your staff. Would she have –’
‘Lindi was inclined to think the whole thing was a joke, a bit of silliness. She didn’t want me to say anything.’
‘Have you discussed it with her?’
‘Only in a motherly way. I made her practise saying “No” out loud. A bit of assertiveness training,’ I grinned. There was no answering smile.
‘It’s a close knit community,’ she began.
My ears pricked. So they hadn’t dismissed the disappearance out of hand.
‘Would anyone else have been offended on her account? A father? A brother? A boyfriend?’
‘You’d have to ask them,’ I said as blandly as I could.
‘We will, Mrs Welford,’ she smiled ominously, ‘we will.’
OK, the interview wasn’t going quite the way I’d intended – that was an exit line if ever I’d heard one – but maybe I could capitalise on my mistake. ‘People are saying the police are taking this case unusually seriously.’
‘I hope we take all our cases seriously, Mrs Welford.’ She was shuffling some papers and any moment would close the folder and pick it up to show the interview was over. She did better. She got up, just managing not to yawn.
This was the moment to tell her about the bloodstained stream and the blocked path. That would bring her up short. But a series of
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