She followed Betty into the small living room, which was stifling, with a three-bar electric fire on and the window closed.
‘Sorry about the cold, luv, but I ain’t got central ’eating — I can turn the fire up if ya like.’
‘I’m fine, thanks.’
Jane looked around the room. It had two armchairs and an old side cabinet with various black and white, and color, family photos arranged on it. In the corner of the room there was a small dining table, on top of which there was a half-completed jigsaw depicting a shallow river, with a man driving his horses and cart through it.
It looked familiar.
‘What’s the jigsaw you’re doing, Betty?’
‘Don’t know, I just liked the picture on the box, so I bought it. Me ’ip’s ’urtin’, luv, so I needs to sit down.’
She lowered herself gingerly into an armchair.
‘Are jigsaws your hobby?’ Jane asked, picking up the box lid. Of course, she thought: The Hay Wain, by Constable.
‘Pretty much since me Albert died. We used to like goin’ out to the countryside on the train when ’e was alive; now ’e’s gone the jigsaws remind me. I don’t get out much as me ’ips are so bad... Doing jigsaws ’elps keep me mind tickin’ over and brings back ’appy memories. I got loads of ’em in me cabinet there.’
‘You said no one had been round to take a statement off you about the robbery...?’
‘Not a dicky bird, luv. The only person who spoke to me about it was Fi, cause she seen the driver as well, like.’
‘Did she tell you she’d made a statement?’
‘I don’t know about a statement, but she did say she’d spoken to a detective and ’e might want to speak to me.’
‘Did she say who the detective was?’
Betty paused. ‘It was King, I think.’
‘Could it have been Kingston?’
She pointed a finger. ‘That’s the name. Fi said ’e was a nice chap and told ’er not to tell anyone that she saw the driver’s face. She said I should keep schtum about it as well.’
‘And have you?’
‘On me life, sweetheart, I ain’t told a soul,’ Betty replied firmly.
‘What happened when the driver opened the car door?’
‘I was on me way to get some bits an’ bobs from the shops an’ the bastard nearly knocked me off me effin’ feet when ’e was getting out of ’is car. Brown, it was. The car... I told him to mind what ’e was doin’ an’ use ’is bloody eyes, but ’e just pulled ’is cap down an’ walked off. I called ’im a rude word, but ’e still ignored me.’ She looked angry.
Jane asked her to describe the man, and she confirmed the details they already had: the newsboy cap, sideburns and ruddy cheeks.
‘Would you recognize him if you saw him again?’
‘Me ’ips is bad but me eyes ain’t — an’ I got a good memory for faces.’
‘Did you see anything else?’
‘When I came out of the shops the robbery was takin’ place. I nearly had an ’eart attack when the gun went off an’ that poor lad fell to the ground. Then quick as you like the brown motor pulls up an’ the three robbers jump in an’ piss off. The driver was wearin’ a balaclava this time, but I know it had to be the same bloke in the cap, because of what Fi told me.’
‘When did you last see Fiona?’ Jane asked.
‘Yesterday evening at six, when I popped in for my usual two bottles of Mackeson.’
‘Did she have anyone helping her behind the bar, Betty?’
‘No, she was on her own... has something happened to Fiona?’
Jane took a deep breath, crouched down beside Betty and took her hand.
‘I’m sorry to have to tell you Fiona is dead.’
Betty started to rock back and forth, her eyes open wide with disbelief.
‘No, no, not my Fi, she can’t be dead... It’s gotta be a mistake.’
‘I’m so sorry, Betty, but we’re sure.’
She squeezed Jane’s hand and started to cry.
‘Oh my poor, poor Fi... She was like a daughter to me... What ’appened?’
‘It looks like she fell down the cellar stairs and hit her head on the floor.’
Jane did her best to comfort her, then once she’d stopped crying she made her a cup of tea.
‘Is there a neighbor you’d like to come and sit with you for a bit?’
‘No thanks, luv, I’d rather be on me own right now,’ Betty said with a sniff.
She shuffled over to the dining table, where she sat down and started doing The Hay Wain jigsaw without another word.
Jane walked back to the pub with a heavy heart, but also feeling puzzled. It was abundantly clear Betty was far from being senile, and she couldn’t for the life of her understand why Kingston had dismissed her as a credible witness. When she got to the car, Teflon was talking to a young man. Teflon turned to Jane.
‘This is DC Reid, early turn CID from Leytonstone. The divisional surgeon’s pronounced life extinct to Paul Lawrence, who’s in the pub, and Murphy is on his way. Did Betty say who was working behind the bar?’
‘She was on her own when Betty saw her at six. Poor thing’s absolutely heartbroken about Fiona’s death. I’ll go and have a word with Paul.’
‘I filled him in about our investigation and Simpson being a witness. He said he’s looking forward to seeing his young protégée.’
Jane stood at the top of the cellar stairs and could see Lawrence, with his back to her, crouched down over Fiona’s body and bending her arm at the elbow joint, testing for rigor mortis.
‘How’s it going, Paul?’
‘Hello, Jane.’ He gently released Fiona’s arm.
‘Can I come down?’
He grinned up at her. ‘Of course you can.’ He opened his arms as she came towards him and they shared a tight hug. ‘How’s life as the first female on the Flying Squad?’
‘Well, I’ve only been on it since Thursday, but I think it’s going to take some time before they accept me as one of “the Dirty Dozen”.’
‘“The Dirty Dozen” — what’s that all about?’
‘I won’t bore you, but some of them have the mentality of a child at times.’
‘You’ll win them round, you always do.’
‘I’m not so sure this time. What was the state of rigor?’
‘She’s cold and stiff. Considering she’d probably have closed the pub between eleven and twelve last night, the rigor fits with her being dead eight to ten hours.’
‘Any signs she was pushed down the stairs?’
Jane went over her earlier observations with Paul about the cellar light being off, the locked doors and the beer garden gate. She then showed him the set of keys.
‘I didn’t have an exhibits bag so I had to put them in this coin bag; whoever last used the Chubb key on the back door might have left their prints on it.’
‘Good thinking.’
He pulled out an exhibits bag from his pocket and dropped them in.
‘I’m worried her death might be connected to our robbery?’
‘Why?’
‘Just a gut feeling at the moment. If I’m right, there are only two ways our suspects could know she was a witness — one, the getaway driver saw her looking at him, or two, someone told them.’
Paul tilted his head and raised his eyebrows.
‘Are you implying you’ve got a leak on the squad?’
Jane sighed. ‘I don’t know, Paul, but there are one or two things that don’t add up. Then again, I could be jumping to conclusions and seeing things that aren’t there.’
‘That sounds familiar,’ he remarked with a grin. ‘You’ve already observed there’s no sign of any struggle or assault in the bar or hallway area leading to the cellar. It’s the same down here, and there are no broken bottles, which means she wasn’t carrying anything up or down the stairs at the time. There are quite a few footprints, but they could be from any number of people who’ve been down here recently. From the blood pooling and position of her body, I’d say she fell backwards and smashed her skull on the ground.’