‘Lisa wasn’t a junky,’ said Winsome. ‘And she wasn’t “having it off” with Miller. I believe her on that score. She’s full of attitude, swears a lot, likes to sound tough, but she wasn’t a junky. She just said she had some personal problems. Besides, Lomax might have had other reasons for not doing anything.’
‘Like what?’ Annie asked.
‘I don’t know. Maybe something came up between Trevor Lomax and Gavin Miller? Maybe Miller only just found out that Lisa had been to see Lomax back then, that she had told him the truth and he had done nothing. Lisa said she didn’t tell Miller what she’d done, but maybe she’s not telling the complete truth about that. Maybe she told him shortly before he was killed. I don’t know for sure. All I know is that it’s given us a lot more to think about.’
Banks turned to Annie. ‘Maybe it’s time you and Winsome started to ruffle a few feathers at Eastvale College. Cooper. Lomax. Even that Dayle Snider woman. She might not work there, but she’s connected. Talk to the girls. Track down Kyle McClusky. Find out what Lisa Gray’s problems were. And someone should try to get in touch with the ex-wife in New Zealand. She might be able to tell us something.’
Annie made a note. ‘Where’s Gerry?’ she asked.
Banks glanced at his watch. ‘She should be here soon. The poor lass has been on the telephone and the Internet most of the day. She running down a few things for me.’
‘For you? What things?’ Annie asked. ‘Personal? Or is it something we should all know about?’
‘I honestly don’t know yet. Somebody else who might be lying. It depends on the answers.’
‘And then?’
‘Well, then,’ said Banks, ‘we’re either all back where we started, or we begin a new journey into the heart of darkness.’
‘You’re being a bit cryptic, aren’t you?’ Annie said. ‘Even for you.’
‘There’s something you’re not telling us, sir?’ Winsome prodded.
Banks sighed. ‘It might be nothing,’ he said, but he knew he had to tell them his concerns about Lady Veronica Chalmers.
It was after nine o’clock, and Banks was into his second glass of wine and Jesse Winchester’s first album when the doorbell rang. He put down the report on Lady Chalmers’ life he had been reading and went through to the front to answer it. When he got there, he found a very nervous Gerry Masterson standing on his doorstep in her jeans and woolly jumper, a scarf wrapped around her neck.
‘I’m sorry it’s so late, sir,’ she said. ‘But I thought I should come and report in person.’
Curious, Banks invited her to hang up the scarf by the door and led her through the little den and the kitchen into the conservatory. ‘Wine?’ he offered, brandishing the half-full bottle.
‘No, sir. Thanks. But I’m driving. A cup of tea would go down nicely, though. This is a nice place you’ve got, sir.’
‘I like it,’ said Banks. ‘Tea it is.’ He disappeared into the kitchen. The kettle boiled in no time, and he carried the teapot, mug and milk and sugar on a tray back to the conservatory. He also grabbed the packet of chocolate digestives on his way. Jesse Winchester was singing ‘Biloxi’, which Banks thought was such a beautiful song that it made you want to go there.
‘That’s lovely music, sir,’ Gerry said, leaning forward in her wicker chair. She had the CD jewel-case in her hand. ‘I can’t say I’ve ever heard of Jesse Winchester.’
‘Before your time,’ said Banks. ‘He was an American draft dodger who ended up in Canada. But I’m glad you like it. Now what brings you here at such an hour?’
‘The reason I’m so late is that I was waiting for a phone call from western Canada. They’re eight hours behind us.’
‘I never could get those time zones right,’ said Banks. ‘I always seem to get them the wrong way around and upset people. So what did you find out?’
‘Well, it wasn’t easy, sir. I mean, it was about thirty years ago, for a start. It’s hard to find the right people to talk to.’
‘But you managed, I gather? Milk? Sugar? Biscuit?’
Gerry accepted the tea and biscuit Banks handed her. ‘To cut a long story short, I managed to find out that Gavin Miller spent the years between 1979 and the end of 1982 teaching at a small college in a place called Nelson, British Columbia. It’s in the “interior”, apparently, or I think that’s what they called it. I assume that means it’s not on the coast. Anyway, the problem was that the college closed down in 1983, and the lecturers scattered to the four winds. That’s around the time Miller went back home to Banbury.’
‘So what about his travels around the US? Hanging out with the Grateful Dead, following Jack Kerouac’s trail?’
‘Tall stories,’ said Gerry. ‘He was teaching at the college year round. I’m sure he got a few weeks off now and then, though, and he may have travelled in the States if he made enough money — I really can’t seem to get anywhere with US Immigration on that — but most of the time he was working in the interior of British Columbia, Canada.’
‘I see,’ said Banks. ‘So I also assume it’s unlikely that he mixed with Lady Chalmers and her crowd in Beverley Hills?’
‘Extremely doubtful. Their time in North America overlapped, yes, but they would have moved in very different social circles, and so far there’s no evidence of his ever visiting California. It’s quite a long way. The thing is, though, and the real reason I came to see you in person rather than just phoning, is that I found out something else. Something that might be much more important.’ She put her mug down on the table and clasped her hands on her knees. Banks could see the excitement in her flushed face and glittering eyes. ‘Remember when I told you Veronica Chalmers’ age, and you were shocked because you thought she was much younger?’
Banks nodded.
‘And then you said it might be important. Well, it is. You were right in your suspicions. Gavin Miller and Veronica Chalmers were exact contemporaries at the University of Essex.’
‘Bingo,’ said Banks.
‘I got one of the admin assistants to dig back through the records. We’ve struck it lucky. Both Veronica Bellamy, as she was then, and Gavin Miller were students at the University of Essex between 1971 and 1974.’
‘How many students were there at that time?’
‘Around two thousand.’
‘That’s not very many. She said she didn’t know him, that she’d never talked to him before, but if they were exact contemporaries... Miller was visiting a lot of websites tracking down early seventies stuff — albums, movies, books and so on. On a nostalgia fishing trip. What if Veronica Bellamy was part of that? Part of that lost time he wanted to recapture? He even started smoking cannabis again. Did they know one another?’
Gerry seemed disappointed. ‘That I can’t say, sir. I’m going to have to dig a bit deeper for that. The admin assistant wasn’t around back then. I do know that Veronica studied History and Politics, and Gavin took English literature, so they probably weren’t in the same classes, though they may have had subsidiary subjects that overlapped. And uni is as much about social life and clubs and stuff as it is about learning. At least that’s my recollection of it. It’s certainly possible their paths crossed.’
‘You’re right. But we need more than that. Is there any way you can check whether they did meet? You know, whether they were members of the same clubs, societies, that sort of thing? I still don’t believe she’s telling us the full story.’
‘I should be able to get class lists easily enough. Maybe even society membership details.’
‘It’s a start.’