‘Dunno. ’E was def’nitely into it all, though. Wen’ an’ looked round Freemasons’ ’All, in ’is lunch hour.’
‘Really?’ said Strike.
‘Oh, yeah. I was walkin’ down Great Queen Street, just goin’ to one of me ovver jobs, an’ I seen Wright goin’ in there. I says to ’im, next time I seen ’im, “find any sacrificial goats?” Hahaha.’
‘And what did he say?’
‘Said ’e wanted to see Temple Seventeen.’
‘Why?’
‘Dunno, ’e wouldn’t say. Just said “I wan’ed to see it”. After I found out ’e was Knowles, though, I fort, “Temple Seventeen my arse, ’e was up to sumfing to do wiv the silver ’e was gonna nick”. They’ve got a museum in there, in Freemasons’ ’All, an’ a shop, wiv books in it. I fort, “’e was lookin’ stuff up. Tryina find out what it was all worf, that Whatsit silver.”’
‘Did you tell the police Wright had visited Freemasons’ Hall?’
‘Yeah, ’course,’ said Todd smugly.
‘Did Wright ever tell you someone might come looking for him?’
‘No,’ said Todd, ‘opposite.’
‘What d’you mean?’
‘I fort there was a guy watching the shop. I seen ’im ’angin’ around a few times. After I seen ’im the fird time, I told Wright, keep an’ eye out for ’im. Big guy, same kinda size as you. Just ’angin’ around. But when I told ’im, Wright said ’e’d seen ’im, an’ ’e worked at the Connaught Rooms. Didn’ give a toss. After, I fort, “accomplice, wannit”.’
‘Did you tell Pamela or Kenneth about this man?’
‘Didn’ wanna worry ’em. Anyway, it was Wright’s job, ’e was s’posed to be security.’
‘What about the police, did you tell them about this guy?’
‘Yeah, I fink I did. Yeah,’ said Todd, and he took another gulp of beer.
‘Did this man have dark curly hair?’
‘What? No. Straight ’air. ’Oo’s got dark curly ’air?’
Strike ignored this question, too.
‘So Wright never told you he was on the run, or needed to go into hiding, or that he’d been wrongly accused of anything?’
‘Like wha’?’ said Todd.
‘I don’t know,’ said Strike, ‘but he visited a website called Abused and Accused, on the Ramsay Silver computer.’
‘I know abou’ that website, police asked us about it,’ said Todd. He was no longer grinning. ‘They asked me if I’d ever bin on it. ’Course I ’adn’t. I never ’ad the password to the fucking computer. It’s on ’er if the silly tit was messin’ around on there.’
‘What d’you mean?’ asked Strike.
‘’Cause she was out, wan’ she? Pamela. The day that bloody Whatsit silver arrived, she pissed off early, an’ all.’
‘It’d be helpful if you could run me through what happened that afternoon,’ said Strike. ‘You were at another job when the silver arrived, weren’t you?’
‘Yeah. I said to Pamela, Fursday, “I’ll give you an ’and if you need it.” For overtime,’ he added, ‘’cause I knew one of the fings was massive. Kennef showed us it all, in ’is catalogue. I said, I’ll ’elp, if you need it.’
‘Wouldn’t the Gibsons man be expected to carry the silver downstairs?’
‘You seen them stairs?’ said Todd. Ever since the mention of the Abused and Accused website, his manner had been prickly, and he was now scowling.
‘I have, yeah,’ said Strike.
‘You fink people ’oo don’t ’ave to wanna risk breakin’ their necks? I was there before when a deliv’ry man wouldn’ carry stuff down there. ’Ealf an’ safety, innit? I said to Pamela the firs’ time, gimme a tenner an’ I’ll carry it down, ’cause that was before they got Wright.’
‘Was the previous delivery man who wouldn’t carry stuff down the stairs Larry McGee?’
‘’Oo?’ said Todd. He picked up his pint glass and drank again.
‘McGee delivered the Murdoch silver.’
‘Oh. No. I dunno, I never saw ’im, did I?’
‘So you’d recognise Larry McGee?’
‘No,’ said Todd. ‘’Oo was ’e?’
‘I just told you. The delivery man from Gibsons.’
‘Never ’eard of ’im.’
‘So when did Pamela phone you about the Murdoch silver, can you remember?’
‘Round free. I ’ad to wait till I could leave discreetly, ’cause I was at me ovver job.’
‘So you got there, when?’
‘’Bout ’alf an hour later, an’ Wright ’ad got most of it down wivvout me. It was jus’ the big crate ’e needed me for. Me ’an ’im carried it down.’
‘Did you go back to the Kingsway job after you’d put the crate in the vault?’
‘No, because then Pamela yells upstairs there’s bin a mix-up, and she tells Wright to go an’ get the fing what’d been delivered to ’er place, Bullen & Co, an’ she says to me, “you’ll ’ave to stay, an’ ’elp ’im get it dahnstairs when ’e’s got it.” An’ I says, “I’ve gotta go, I fort this was gonna be a five-minute job,” and she says, “you’ve gotta stay,” an’ I didn’ wanna, because of the ovver job, but she kinda, you know, guilted me into it.’
‘How did she do that?’ asked Strike.
‘Ah, you know, Ken an’ ’is wife an’ their son – you know their son died?’
‘I do, yes,’ said Strike.
‘So, yeah, I said I’d stay. ’E’s a good guy, Ken, I didn’t wanna let ’im down. So Wright gets back an’ we carry the fing dahn to the vault, an’ Pamela says, “Jim, bring me up my ’andbag,” an’ I did, an’ I fink I’m done, but then Pamela tells me I’ve gotta stay in the shop till Wright comes back upstairs, ’cause ’e’s down there ’eavin’ the fucking candelabra or wha’ever it was out the box. An’ then she bogged off, an’ I’m left stuck there, manning the shop.’
‘So you never saw what was in that last crate? The one that should have contained the Oriental Centrepiece?’
‘No. An’ then Wright comes back upstairs, an’ I says to ’im, “I gotta go, I gotta finish my ovver job” an’ ’e says, “’ow’m I supposed to set the alarm an’ all the rest of it?” an’ I said, “tha’s not my problem,” an’ I left. Fakin’,’ said Todd, ‘wannee? Saw ’is chance. Leave the door unlocked, leave the safe door open. It’s on ’er it ’appened.’
Todd’s interpretation might be open to question, but his account of what had actually taken place tallied exactly with what Strike had seen on the security footage, so he asked no further questions about Friday, but turned a page in his notebook.
‘You weren’t at Ramsay Silver over the weekend?’
‘No, I told you, I on’y do Mondays an’ Fursdays.’
‘Did you have keys to the shop, or the alarm code?’
‘No, never.’
‘The police will have asked you where you were on Friday night, I suppose?’
‘Yeah, I was playin’ cards wiv four ovver blokes at my place, an’ they all told the police that, an’ there’s CCTV on our corner showin’ I was back at my flat when—’
‘I assumed the police would have asked you,’ said Strike. ‘Can we talk about the Monday when the body and the theft were discovered? You were down in the basement when Kenneth opened the vault door, is that right?’
‘Yeah, I’d been cleanin’ the staff area downstairs. I was doin’ the bog at the time.’
‘What can you remember about the discovery of the body?’
‘I was in the bog,’ said Todd again. ‘I ’ad the door closed, ’cause if you leave it open it gets in the way of the stairs an’ the vault. I ’eard Kennef open up the vault. Then I ’eard ’im shout. I says, “you all right, Ken?” Pamela yelled somefing down the stairs, then I ’eard ’er comin’ down. Then she made a weird noise an’ all, so I says, “what’s goin’ on?” and I wen’ out to see.’