‘I just need to clear up one simple point, Mrs Crowther.’
‘Who else knows about this?’
‘Nobody,’ he replied. ‘And I’m talking to you in confidence. Nothing you tell me will become public knowledge. I’m not here to delve into your private life. I simply wish to confirm an alibi.’
She stiffened. ‘Alibi — you surely don’t suspect Horrie?’
‘I just wish to eliminate him from our enquiries.’
‘Why is that, Sergeant? What has he done? What has he said?’
‘He knew the deceased,’ said Keedy, ‘and there was bad blood between them. I interviewed him as a matter of routine. He has a number of witnesses — including your son — who can vouch for his being at the Weavers Arms yesterday, but he admitted that he did slip away for an hour or two. At first, he refused point-blank to say where he’d been.’
‘So I should hope,’ she said, grimly.
‘It was only when I threatened him with arrest that he was forced to disclose your name. My question is simple, Mrs Crowther. Was he or was he not here in the course of yesterday evening?’
Maud Crowther took time to mull things over. As she did so, she looked Keedy up and down. A life spent in the licensing trade had given her the ability to make fairly accurate judgements about the character of any newcomers. Whatever test she applied to Keedy, he seemed to pass it.
‘It’s not what you think,’ she began.
‘I make no assumptions, Mrs Crowther.’
‘And nobody must ever know about it. People wouldn’t understand.’
‘Can you confirm what Mr Waldron told me?’
‘Horrie is not such a bad man, Sergeant,’ she said, her voice softening. ‘I know he’s been in trouble with the police before but never for anything really serious. Whoever killed this poor young man, it couldn’t have been Horrie. He just wouldn’t do anything like that.’
‘Did he call here yesterday or didn’t he?’
‘So you can stop treating him as a suspect.’
‘You haven’t answered my question, Mrs Crowther.’
She made him wait. ‘He might have done,’ she said at length.
‘And might he have been here for one hour or two?’
‘One hour.’ She struggled to her feet. ‘I’ll show you out.’
Still reeling from the shock of what she’d been told, Ruby Cosgrove was unable to return to work that afternoon. Instead of taking her home where her mother would act as a chaperone, Gordon Leach guided her towards the nearest park. They found a bench and ignored the cold. Ruby was on the verge of tears. Leach slipped an arm around her and they sat there in companionable silence. Instead of being able to enjoy a stolen afternoon of togetherness, they were lost in their respective thoughts. It was Ruby who finally broke the silence.
‘What are we going to do, Gordon?’ she asked.
‘I don’t know.’
‘I can’t stop thinking of what happened to Cyril.’
‘It’s driving me to distraction as well.’
‘He never harmed anyone in his life.’
‘Cyril was a conchie,’ he said, flatly. ‘Some people don’t like us.’
She grabbed at his coat. ‘Are you saying that they may be after you as well?’
‘No, Ruby. For some reason, Cyril was picked out. I don’t know why.’
‘Do the police have any idea who did it?’
‘I gave the inspector the name of one person,’ he said with a slight surge of importance. ‘And the more I think about him, the more convinced I am that it could be him. He hated Cyril.’
‘Have the police gone to arrest him?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘But he might do it again.’
‘We don’t know for certain that he is the killer, Ruby.’
‘Who is this man? Does he know where you live?’
‘Forget about him,’ he said, tightening his grip on her shoulder. ‘Let the police get on with their job; Inspector Marmion seemed like a shrewd man. He knows what he’s doing. All we have to consider is what we’ll do.’
‘There’s nothing much that we can do,’ she said. ‘And what about Fred and Mansel — they’re in the same position as you. All four of you swore to do the same thing when they tried to force you to join the army. Now that Cyril has gone, the rest of you might feel different.’
‘I don’t,’ he declared, ‘and neither will Fred and Mansel.’
‘They might be frightened by what happened.’
‘That won’t change their minds. Conscription is an infringement of our human rights. Nobody can make me put on a uniform and kill people.’
‘What if it gets worse?’ she asked, dabbing at tears with a handkerchief. ‘You saw those awful things they painted on the wall of Cyril’s house. Suppose they do that at the bakery? And it’s not only you that suffers, Gordon. Because they just don’t understand, my parents keep saying that you ought to join up. As for the women at work,’ she went on, ‘they’re already passing remarks about me. I’ve got some good friends at the factory but there are some nasty ones as well and they keep taunting me for getting engaged to a coward.’
‘I’m not a coward!’ he protested.
‘I know that, Gordon. But lots of people think otherwise.’
‘They can think what they damn well like. The only person whose opinion I respect is yours. As long as you support me, Ruby, I can face anything.’
‘And so can I!’
In a display of ardour, he pulled her close and kissed her on the lips. Then she huddled into his shoulder and they lapsed into silence again. An old lady with a dog went by, casting a disapproving glance at him. When an old man shuffled past, he couldn’t resist shooting Leach a look of scorn. Instead of sitting on a park bench — he seemed to imply — an able-bodied young man should be abroad with his regiment. The baker had been subjected to so many contemptuous stares that he took no notice of them. Ruby, however, did. The old man’s hostility jolted her.
‘How can he be so unfair?’ she wondered.
‘Ignore him, Ruby.’
‘I can’t stand that look they give you. They don’t know what a kind person you really are. You wouldn’t dream of hurting any of them, yet they turn on you as if you’ve done something really horrible.’
‘In their eyes, I have. I’ve stood up for pacifism.’
‘But that’s a good thing, isn’t it?’
‘Yes, Ruby — and one day, God willing, people might realise that.’
‘I’m so proud of you, standing up for what you believe in.’
‘Cyril did that,’ he reminded her, ‘and he paid with his life. I’ll never forget that. He’s been my inspiration. It’s the same for Fred and Mansel.’
‘I’m only interested in you,’ she said, pulling away to look into his eyes. ‘Nobody else matters. You’re everything to me, Gordon. That’s why I can’t wait to become Mrs Leach.’
He looked at her with sudden intensity as an idea whirred away in his brain. The date for their wedding had been set in the summer. If he was compelled to join the army — or imprisoned for refusing to do so — then the marriage might not even take place. Patient years of waiting would come to nothing. Their mutual passion would fall cruelly short of consummation. It would be unbearable.
‘I love you, Ruby,’ he said, impulsively.
‘And I love you.’
‘Do you know what we should do?’
‘What?’
‘We should get married.’
‘But it’s already been arranged. We’ve even worked out the guest list.’
‘No,’ he said, grasping her hands, ‘we should get married now. There’s such a thing as a three-day licence. It’s what some soldiers have been doing before they get sent abroad again.’
She was distressed. ‘But they don’t do it properly in a church.’
‘Does that matter?’
‘It does to me, Gordon. I’ve set my heart on a church wedding. Auntie Gwen has already started making my dress.’
‘There’s nothing to stop you wearing it at the register office.’
‘It’s not the same.’
He was crestfallen. ‘Don’t you want to marry me?’