‘Ah,’ said Annie. ‘We’ll try to be as quick as we can, then, sir. Have you been following the news?’ Annie asked.
‘If I had, I wouldn’t be asking what you want, I assume. Anyway, I’m afraid not. I’ve been away at a conference in Malta for the past week.’
Nice for some, Annie thought. Why couldn’t the police training college run courses in Malta instead of Hendon? ‘Then I’m afraid we have some bad news for you, Dr Randall.’
‘It’s Mr,’ said Randall, ‘but no matter. What’s wrong?’
‘Sorry, my mistake. I’m afraid a friend of yours has been found dead. At least we think he was a friend. Laurence Hadfield?’
Randall flopped back in his chair, rather theatrically, Annie thought. ‘Larry? Dead? Good Lord. That’s a shock, all right.’
‘So he was a friend of yours?’ Annie asked.
‘Yes, indeed, I’d say he was. To the extent that we played golf together frequently and enjoyed a convivial pint in a local hostelry every now and then. Larry also handled some of my investments, though they were rather small fish compared to his usual fare. I can’t understand this. As far as I know he was in good health. What on earth happened to him?’
‘We don’t rightly know yet,’ said Annie. ‘His body was found at the bottom of a gully on Tetchley Moor last Wednesday, skull fractured and neck broken as if from a fall, but we weren’t able to identify him until Friday.’
Randall frowned. ‘Bottom of a gully. I don’t understand. Was it some sort of accident?’
‘It very much looks like an accident,’ Annie replied.
‘But we’re not ruling out anything at the moment,’ Gerry added, glancing up from her notebook. ‘And we’ve no idea what he was doing there or how he got there. Can you help us at all with that?’
‘Me?’ Randall shook his head slowly. ‘I’m afraid not. It sounds like a tragic accident.’
‘The thing is,’ Gerry went on, ‘Mr Hadfield was wearing a suit and tie, and there was no sign of a car. We were also wondering if you could help us in regard to his movements over the past while?’
Randall ignored Gerry and kept looking at Annie as he spoke. ‘As I said, I’ve been away in Malta. From last Tuesday until this Saturday, as a matter of fact. Valetta. You can check, of course, if you feel it necessary.’
‘Thank you,’ said Annie, ‘but I shouldn’t think it will come to that.’
‘Just in case, though, sir,’ Gerry said, smiling, ‘would you give me the name of the conference and the hotel where it was held?’
Randall looked from one to the other, his face reddening slightly. ‘Of course,’ he said, and gave out the details more slowly than necessary for Gerry to write them down. He was treating her as if she were thick, Annie thought.
‘Thank you, sir,’ said Gerry.
Randall smirked. ‘What is this? Good cop, bad cop?’
‘Sir?’ said Gerry.
‘I don’t know what you mean,’ Annie said. ‘Who’s playing bad cop? We’re simply doing our job.’
‘I didn’t mean to be disparaging. It’s just that you seem quite polite and friendly, whereas your sidekick over there interrupts with rather rude implications.’
‘Sidekick? Implications?’ Gerry said. ‘What exactly have I implied?’
‘That I have something to hide. That I may have to provide an alibi.’
‘I assure you it’s just routine,’ said Gerry.
‘Do you?’ Annie asked.
‘What?’
‘Have something to hide. Need an alibi.’
‘I’ve told you where I was.’
‘Ah,’ said Gerry, ‘but we haven’t told you when Mr Hadfield died. All we said was he was found last Wednesday. I mean, it would be no use you telling us you were in Malta last Tuesday, say, if he was killed last Monday, would it?’
‘Was killed?’ Randall glanced at Annie again, his eyes narrowing. ‘Are you telling me now he was murdered? You said it was an accident.’
‘I said it looks like an accident, sir. It was you who called it a “tragic accident”.’
‘In our experience,’ Gerry added, ‘almost anything can look like an accident.’
‘Who’s asking you?’ Randall shifted in his chair. ‘Do I need to call my solicitor?’ he asked Annie.
Annie was starting to regard Gerry in a new light. At first, they hadn’t got on at all, then they had managed to build a few bridges, but now she was beginning to seem like a natural. They hadn’t agreed on a strategy for interviewing Randall, but had planned to play it by ear. That clearly suited Gerry. Annie decided to let things follow the course they were on for the moment rather than trying to placate Randall’s ruffled feelings.
‘Now, why would you need a solicitor?’ she asked. ‘You haven’t done anything wrong, have you? We certainly haven’t charged you with anything.’
‘It’s just the way this interrogation is going.’
‘It’s just an interview, sir,’ said Gerry. ‘Not an interrogation. We’re just here to talk to you. There’s nothing to be afraid of.’
‘I’m not afraid, damn you, I—’ Randall took a deep breath and clearly held his anger in check. ‘I am not afraid,’ he repeated with hushed fury. ‘I simply want to avoid being tricked into saying something I would regret.’
‘I don’t know what you mean,’ said Annie. ‘Why would you do that? I mean regret saying something. What do you think you have to say that you would regret?’
‘Look,’ Randall growled, ‘can we just get on with it and get it over with? I’m a busy man.’
‘Of course, sir,’ said Annie, with a pointed glance at Gerry that clearly discomfited Randall even further. ‘So far we’ve gathered that you were a friend of Laurence Hadfield’s, that you had financial dealings with him, and that you have been out of the country at a medical conference from Tuesday last week until the Saturday just past. Am I right?’
‘A world cardiology conference,’ Randall said. ‘I was giving a paper.’
‘So you’re a heart doctor, then?’ Gerry commented.
‘A cardiothoracic surgeon.’
‘Got it.’ Gerry made a scribble in her notebook.
Randall pointed to Gerry and said to Annie, ‘I don’t think she’s taking me seriously.’
‘Oh, I assure you, she is, sir. It’s one of the first rules we learn, to take everyone seriously, especially the professional classes. That way we can avoid misunderstandings later.’
‘Later? What misunderstandings?’
‘Well, if there is a later,’ Annie explained. ‘You know. Court. Solicitors. Judges. Stuff like that. The CPS are very strict about us getting all our ducks in a row.’
Randall sighed. ‘Can we please get this over with?’
‘Of course. Hearts to bypass and all that. Won’t be a jiffy,’ Annie went on. ‘The main reason we’re here is that you phoned Laurence Hadfield three times on the day we believe he disappeared.’ She glanced at Gerry. ‘You have the details, don’t you, DC Masterson?’
‘Yes, ma’am. Three fifty-nine, eight-o-two and eleven twenty-six. All p.m.’
‘Can you perhaps tell us why you called Mr Hadfield and what you talked about?’
‘I’ve told you. Larry was a friend. What’s so odd about ringing up a friend?’
‘On that quiz show, were you, sir?’ Gerry said, grinning. ‘Needed help with a tricky question?’
Randall ignored her.
‘Well, as far as we know,’ Annie went on, ‘those were the only phone calls Mr Hadfield received that day. Can you remember what you talked about?’
‘Not especially. Plans for a round of golf the following day, I think, a new investment opportunity. Something of that sort.’
‘The next day would have been Sunday, right?’ Annie pressed on.