‘And you knew what the records were?’
‘A ledger Rupert kept, something on his laptop and something he had written in his little leather books. I didn’t know which ones, he had so many. Kinnear said they would be recent. He had seen one of them but he thought there might be more. He said to be on the safe side I should get them all, but I failed him, didn’t I. I tried to take them away when I helped with the search but the boy was always close by and I’d seen him poking around in the study. I knew he’d notice anything missing from the shelf …’ Marcus broke off. ‘I didn’t even know what to look for, I suppose. Not much use at anything, am I?’
‘You were unwise, not useless,’ Alec said. ‘Rupert hid the things Kinnear wanted. I’m not sure why he didn’t destroy them altogether, but maybe he didn’t have the time. Marcus, had Rupert been unwell in the weeks before he died?’
Marcus nodded. ‘He was always short of breath and complained of pains in his chest and arms. I believe he had a doctor’s appointment just days before he died.’
‘I think Rupe knew he didn’t have long left,’ Alec said.
Patrick stared at the overturned car. A motorist had stopped and was pacing around close by. Patrick shoved his poker into the hedge before the motorist should happen to see it. He thought it might take a bit of explaining.
‘Did you come from the house back there?’
Harry nodded. ‘We’ve called the police. We, er, heard the crash.’
‘Right. Joyriders most likely. We’ve started to get a few of the buggers round here. I just came round the bend and nearly hit it. Thought I’d better stop back there and get the hazards on. I’ve called the police too.’
‘Joyriders?’ Harry questioned. ‘Why?’
The motorist shrugged. ‘Obvious, isn’t it? The driver’s done a runner. No, he and his mates’ll be long gone across the field. Probably spend the evening boasting about it in some pub or other.’
In the distance Harry could hear sirens. ‘Sounds like the police,’ he said.
Patrick bent down and peered inside. The car had ended up on its roof, half in and half out of a ditch and wedged beneath the hedge. The window was open, not broken in the crash, so most likely had been open when the vehicle was being driven. The man who had chased Marcus must have climbed out through there. There was blood on the door, Patrick noted. Part of a handprint and crushed grass where he had fallen as he clambered out. The hedge behind was thick and thorny, but he remembered there being a gate just a little further along the road.
‘He was hurt,’ he told Harry as he went back to rejoin him, the police car had arrived now. ‘There’s blood on the door.’
Harry nodded. ‘Then I don’t imagine he’s gone far,’ he said. ‘The police should find him soon.’
Thirty
The hammering on the kitchen door startled Alec. He made his way warily through to the kitchen and then, hearing a young voice, he unlocked the door. ‘Danny, I presume? What on earth?’
‘He came to the farm. I saw him. I saw him talking to my mum and there was another bloke with him. I saw them. I’d forgot, then I saw the picture and I remembered.’
He was waving a copy of the local paper at Alec. Kinnear’s picture stared out from the front page.
‘Me dad gets the paper every day. He ain’t there right now. I saw this, saw his picture.’
‘You’re certain. Oh, of course you are.’ Alec relocked the door. ‘Come on in, it’s all getting a bit dramatic. I’m Alec, by the way. Danny, where’s your dad now, do you know?’
Danny shrugged and shook his head. ‘Always off somewhere,’ he said. ‘I fed the stock, watered it. I’ve not seen him this morning.’
Alec thought of Ellen March but said nothing. He led Danny through to the front living room and directed him to a seat. ‘You’ve met Marcus?’
Danny nodded. ‘He runs the antique shop where Rupert … Mr Friedman worked. Where’s Patrick? Why is there a car crashed into your porch?’
‘Patrick and Harry are down the road, they’ll be back very soon.’ The sound of sirens broke into the conversation and Danny leapt up and went to look out of the window.
‘Police cars? What’s happened, Alec?’
Alec’s mobile phone rang. It was Patrick.
Naomi told Danny what had been going on.
‘Chased him from the shop?’ she could hear the awe in his voice. ‘Shit! Sorry.’
‘No, I think the bad language is quite appropriate,’ Marcus said with dignity. ‘That is precisely the way I feel.’
‘Patrick says Fine’s arrived and is coming up with them. The scene’s been secured and SOCO called. There’s nothing more he can do until it’s released to him so he’s going to come and talk to us.’
‘What does all that mean?’ Danny asked.
‘It means they’ve found the car that hit Marcus?’ Naomi asked.
‘On its side in the ditch. No sign of the driver.’
‘The uniformed officer will have to make sure the scene is secured, that means no one can go into it. They’ll lay a single path that everyone has to follow, then the crime scene officers will come in and do their stuff. Then DS Fine will be allowed back and he’ll be told what’s been found so far.’ Naomi explained. ‘Alec, any idea what condition the driver might be in?’
‘Patrick says there was blood, but he’s nowhere close so … hard to tell. Danny, you say Kinnear came to the farm. Do you remember when?’
The boy shook his head. ‘Couple of weeks back.’
‘Before or after Rupert died. Do you remember?’
He thought about it. ‘Must have been before,’ he said finally. ‘The other man gave my mum a lift home and she said he was a friend she had met at this meeting with Mr Friedman.’
‘She hadn’t driven herself.’
‘Can’t have done if he gave her a lift home,’ Danny said reasonably. ‘I don’t know why. Anyway, they were standing talking and this other man came up. He just drove into the yard like and the dark-haired man took one look and said he’d better go. Mam didn’t say anything, but I could tell she didn’t like him much. Then a few days after he came to see my dad. I was in the barn and I stayed up there. They were arguing. I could see that, but I don’t know what about, except me dad and mam were in a fight later about her having her … friends come to the farm.’
‘Friends?’
Danny shrugged uncomfortably. ‘Dad called him her fancy man. But mam would never do anything with someone like him. Never.’
‘Danny, this is a difficult question, but the other man, the one your mum said was a friend. Did you get the impression that he was more than that? Or that she’d known him long?’
Danny stared hard at him, his body stiff and unease showing in the set of his shoulders. Finally, he shrugged. ‘I dunno,’ he said. ‘I dunno what she was doing. What’s the use in asking me?’
Fine announced that he would walk back up to Fallowfields and left his car parked on the verge at the end of their driveway. He raised an eyebrow as Patrick retrieved his poker from the hedge.
‘I thought we should be prepared,’ Patrick said. ‘But I’d better not leave it there now, someone might think it’s part of the crime scene.’
Fine laughed. ‘It might muddy the waters,’ he agreed. ‘I’m relieved you didn’t have cause to use it. I might have been arresting you too.’
Patrick shrugged. ‘You think he’d have gone far? You know who he is?’
‘Well, the descriptions point to it being Derek Reid,’ he said. ‘He was always top of our list. Funny though, he has no real history of violence. This seems out of character, at least from what I’ve seen of his sheet.’
‘Fear can make people behave in some very odd ways,’ Harry commented.
‘True. Is Marcus up to being questioned?’