“But you now know that her real name was Emily Louise Riddle?”
“Yes.”
“How did you find out?”
“I told you. I saw it in the papers.”
“Are you sure you didn’t know before that?”
“How could I?”
“Perhaps the room in your house, the room in which I talked to her, was wired for sound?”
Clough laughed and glanced over at Simon Gallagher. “Get that, Simon. That’s a laugh, eh? My house bugged.” He looked at Banks again, no longer laughing. “Now you tell me why I’d want to do something like that?”
“Information?”
“What sort of information?”
“Business information?”
“I don’t eavesdrop electronically on my clients or my partners, Chief Inspector. Besides, it’s my home we’re talking about, not my office.”
“Let’s leave that for the moment, then, shall we?” Banks went on. “What was your relationship with Emily Riddle?”
“Relationship?”
“Yes. You know, the sort of thing human beings have with one another.”
Clough shrugged. “I fucked her once in a while,” he said. “She was okay in bed. A hell of a lot better than she was at giving blow jobs.”
“Is that all?”
“What do you mean, is that all?”
“Did you ever do anything else together? Talk, for example?”
“I suppose we must have, though I can’t say I remember a word she said.”
“Did you ever tell her anything about your business interests?”
“Certainly not. If you think I’d go around telling some bimbo about my business, you must be crazy.”
“Did she live with you?”
“She lived in the same house.”
“In Little Venice?”
“Yes.”
“Did she live with you?”
“We were together some of the time. It’s a big house. Sometimes guests come and forget to leave for a long time. You can get lost in there. You should know. You’ve seen it. Twice.”
“Is this what happened with Emily? She sort of got lost in your big house?”
“I suppose so. I don’t remember how she got there.”
“A party?”
“Probably.”
“Did you sleep together?”
“We didn’t do much sleeping.”
“Look, Chief Inspector,” Gallagher chipped in, “this all seems pretty innocuous, as the girl in question was of legal age, but I can’t really see where it’s getting us.”
“Did Emily Riddle know anything at all about your business dealings, Barry?”
“No. Not unless she spied on me.”
“Is that possible?”
“Anything’s possible. I’m careful, but…”
“What exactly is your business?”
“Bit of this, bit of that.”
“More specifically?”
Clough looked at Gallagher, who nodded.
“I manage a couple of fairly successful rock bands. I own a bar in Clerkenwell. I also promote concerts from time to time. I suppose you could call me a sort of impresario.”
“An impresario.” Banks savored the word. “If you say so, Barry.”
“Has a sort of old-fashioned ring to it, don’t you think? ‘Sunday Night at the London Palladium’ and all that.”
“Were you worried that Emily Riddle might have known too much about this impresario business of yours?”
“No. Why would I?”
“You tell me.”
“No.”
“Did she ever indicate that she did? Did she ask you for money, for example?”
“You mean blackmail?”
“Did she?”
“Emily? No. I told you, she was just some young bimbo I used to fuck, that’s all.”
“And now she’s dead.”
“And now she’s dead. Sad, isn’t it?”
“Yes,” said Banks, reining in his rising temper. “It is.”
Clough got to his feet. “Is that it, then? Can we go now?”
“Sit down, Barry. You’ll go when I tell you to go.”
Clough looked at Gallagher, who nodded again.
“Did you see Emily at all after she left London?”
“No. Easy come, easy go.”
“Were you at Scarlea House between December the fifth and December the tenth this year?”
“I can’t remember.”
“Oh, come on, Barry. You were there for the grouse shooting. You had your minder Jamie Gilbert with you and a young woman in tow. Amanda Khan. The pop singer.”
“Oh, yes. I remember now.”
“Last time I asked you, you said you were in Spain at that time.”
I get confused. I do a lot of travelling. What can I say? But I remember now.”
“You didn’t see Emily while you were staying in the area?”
“Why would I? Amanda gives far better head.”
“For old time’s sake?”
“Let go and move on. That’s my motto.”
“Perhaps to give her a glassine envelope of cocaine laced with strychnine?”
“Chief Inspector,” said Gallagher, “you’re treading in dangerous territory here. Be careful.”
“Did you?” Banks asked Clough.
“Now where would I get hold of strychnine?”
“I daresay you’d have your sources. Cocaine wasn’t much trouble, was it?”
“You know as well as I do, Chief Inspector, that there’s probably enough of that stuff around at any given moment to pay off the national debt. If you like that sort of thing. Not for me, of course. But strychnine… I wouldn’t know where to start.”
“While you were at Scarlea, did you have dinner with Chief Constable Jeremiah Riddle?”
“What if I did?”
“How did you know him?”
“Mutual acquaintance.”
“Bollocks, Barry. When Emily left, with the information you’d overheard from our conversation, you found out who she really was, where she lived. And when you found that her father was a senior-ranking policeman, you tried to move in and blackmail him.”
“Chief Inspector,” Simon Gallagher broke in, “I’m going to have to ask you to stop these absurd insinuations. If you want to question my client, go ahead and question him in the prescribed manner.”
“I apologize,” said Banks. “Why did you have dinner with Chief Constable Riddle?”
“Why don’t you ask him?”
“I already have.”
Clough seemed surprised at that, but he soon regained his composure. “We talked about his daughter. And if he told you anything different, then he’s a liar.”
“How did you feel when Emily left you?”
“Come again?”
“You heard what I said.”
“Feel? I didn’t feel anything, really. Why would I? I mean she was only-”
“Some bimbo you used to fuck? Yes, yes, so you said before. No need to keep on repeating yourself. But you don’t like your bimbos to run out on you, do you? You prefer to give them the boot yourself.”
“That’s exactly what happened. She’d served her purpose. It was time to move on. She didn’t get the message, so I had to help her along a bit.”
“By trying to toss her into bed with Andrew Handley?”
“Andy Pandy? What’s he got to do with this?”
“You do admit to knowing him, then?”
“He works for me from time to time.”
“Not anymore, Barry. He’s dead.”
“What? Andy? Dead? I don’t believe it.”
“He was found shot to death near Exmoor. Know anything about that?”
“Of course I don’t. It’s…”
“Sad?”
“Yeah. Andy was all right.”
“Is that why you pushed Emily into a room with him?”
“I did no such thing. I’ve told you before. If she went into a room with Andy, she went on her own accord.”
“Sure he didn’t get tired of taking your leftovers and decide to strike out for himself?”
“Look, Chief Inspector, my client has answered all these questions before. Unless there’s anything new-”
“Gregory Manners,” said Banks.
“Who?” said Clough.
“Gregory Manners. He ran the PKF operation for you at Daleview. Remember, I told you. Their van got hijacked on the way to a new location, and the night watchman at Daleview was murdered. Oddly enough, it was the same MO as the Andrew Handley murder.”