‘How long have you two been in partnership?’
‘We’ve had the business for fifteen years. But we’ve been together much longer. Next year is our twenty-fifth anniversary, as a matter of fact.’
‘Anniversary of what?’ Kathy couldn’t help asking, revising his age upwards.
‘Of when we were married. Yes, it’s true. Twenty-five years ago next spring, Errol and I were married in a church, on the quiet, by an obliging vicar we knew. I sometimes wonder why, but we’ve lasted longer than most of the straight couples we know. Are you married, luv?’
Kathy shook her head.
‘No, well. It has its ups and downs, but I think we’re getting to the stage when it’s just too much like hard work to look elsewhere. At least, / am. Sometimes Errol needs reminding.’
‘So what happened on Sunday?’
‘I thought something was going on when he said he was going to the shop to take stock of the non-food items for the VAT return. He never does that — leaves it all to me, the lazy bitch. After an hour I decided to go in and see if he really was there. Well, he was, and so was the doctor. They were having an argument about something, I don’t know what. They shut up when I walked in, and Fiendish-Cruel just glared daggers at me — at me! Then he marched out. I asked Errol what the hell was going on, and he got all sulky and said I was spying on him, which I was. He claimed Fiendish-Cruel just called in out of the blue with an order for fruit for Monday, but I could tell that wasn’t true — Fiendish never does the running around himself and, besides, Errol had that hurt, innocent look he always has when he’s telling lies. Anyway, I thought I’d made my point. But when Gordon came into the shop this afternoon and told me about this police investigation, I began to wonder if Errol was being used by that man and getting himself into deep water. He’s an innocent, you see, contrary to appearances.’
‘You knew Alex Petrou?’
‘I recognized the picture Gordon showed me, but I didn’t know his name. I’d seen him in the shop once or twice. Well, you couldn’t help noticing him. I’m not too old to look:
‘So you never met him socially?’
‘No, never. I’m sure Errol never has, either.’
‘I’ll have to talk to Errol. Is he at home?’
‘Must you? Yes, he’ll be home now. Probably wondering why I’m not there cooking his tea.’
Errol was in a belligerent mood. As Jerry closed the front door he shouted angrily, ‘Jerry? Is that you? Where the hell have you been?’
‘Scoring points,’ Jerry muttered softly.
Errol appeared at the end of the hall, his scowl changing reluctantly into a smile as he saw the strangers. He came forward to greet them.
‘This is Sergeant Kolla and Constable Dowling, Errol. They want to talk to us in connection with someone up at the clinic who died at the weekend.’
Errol stopped dead in his tracks.
‘Come through into the lounge,’ Jerry said, apparently not seeing the stunned look on his friend’s face.
They followed him and sat on a pair of old leather chesterfields.
‘You remember that Greek boy came into the shop a few times a couple of months ago? He’s the one who’s died. You hadn’t seen him since, had you, Errol?’
Jerry asked the question as if it was the most ordinary thing in the world, but they all heard the accusation underneath.
‘Jerry, we should speak to Errol on his own, if you don’t mind,’ Kathy said gently. ‘It’s standard procedure, you see.’
‘Oh.’ His lips tightened, then he swung to his feet. ‘Would you like a cup of coffee, then, or a drink?’ ‘No, thanks all the same.’
‘Well, I think I will.’ He marched out, closing the door pointedly behind him.
Errol was shorter than his partner, more pugnacious in build and appearance, and without any of his easy charm. He glared at Kathy defensively.
‘You had seen him since, hadn’t you, Errol?’ she said.
‘Had I?’ He adopted a look of wide-eyed innocence, which she took to be the symptom of guilt that Jerry had described.
‘Jerry assures us that you’ve never met Alex Petrou socially, but we know that isn’t true.’ She let it sink in. ‘Well?’
He took a deep breath, shrugged in resignation, raised his eyebrows as if it wasn’t a matter of importance anyway.
‘I bumped into him once or twice in pubs.’
‘Which pubs?’
He mentioned the Jolly Roger and the names of two places in Crowbridge.
‘You became close friends.’ Kathy phrased it as a statement rather than a question, and he flushed and puffed his cheeks.
‘Absolutely not! God, if you’re trying to insinuate…’
‘You weren’t ever worried about him being HIV positive?’
It was an unforgivable tactic, she knew, and deserved to fail miserably, but she was tired of being spoken to as if she were a robot.
He turned white and for a moment looked as if he might topple from his seat. ‘Oh Jesus,’ he gasped. ‘Holy Mother of God! He wasn’t? Say he wasn’t!’
She stared at him, holding his eye for a long while, then said quietly, ‘He wasn’t.’
Colour rushed up his face from the neck. ‘You bitch,’ he hissed, tears spurting in his eyes. ‘You fucking, fucking bitch.’
They waited for him to recover, and then he told them of his affair with Petrou, a ‘passing fancy’, he said, which had come to a definite end two weeks before when he had discovered that the Greek had another lover. ‘Who?’
‘I don’t know. He just mentioned it casually one evening. I got upset.’
‘How did you meet him without Jerry knowing?’
Errol bowed his head. ‘I go to a gym in Crowbridge couple of times a week. Jerry likes me to keep in shape. I used to meet Alex there. I don’t want Jerry to know about this, Sergeant. It would make him very … unhappy. Does he have to?’
Kathy shrugged, suddenly feeling depressed. ‘I’m not sure. Tell us about Sunday afternoon.’
‘Stephen Beamish-Newell rang me at home on Sunday morning. He insisted on meeting me, and I suggested the shop that afternoon — there was an old movie on TV that Jerry particularly wanted to see, so he wouldn’t offer to come with me.’
‘You knew the doctor?’
‘Yes, I do the deliveries for the shop and often go up to the clinic. I’d met him a few times over the years. Anyway, it turned out he’d heard about me and Alex. He wanted me to promise to stay away from him. At first I thought he was worried about the reputation of the clinic or something. But he got very emotional, wouldn’t believe we’d broken up. Then I realized he was jealous.’
‘Jealous?’ Kathy repeated.
‘Yes. I told him so to his face, and he went berserk. That was when Jerry came in. Just as well, even if it did cause me more trouble with Jerry. Beamish-Newell was getting violent.’
‘Really?’
‘God, yes. I reckon he’d have killed me. Manner of speaking.’
‘Errol, I want you to come back with us to County HQ and make a statement. I’ll also want your permission to take a sample of your blood.’
‘Shit. He did have Aids, didn’t he?’ Errol’s hand began trembling again.
‘No, nothing like that. We’re using blood tests to crosscheck witnesses. It’s a scientific procedure. You have nothing to worry about if you’ve told us the truth. Of course, you don’t have to agree to this. It’s quite voluntary, at this stage.’
It was well after eight that evening when they finished with Errol. Gordon and Kathy had a quick meal in the canteen, then returned to their office to check his account against the earlier statements of people at the clinic. It didn’t take long to confirm the information they needed.
‘Beamish-Newell left the shop at around five-fifteen, certainly no later than five twenty-five,’ Kathy concluded. ‘It’s a ten-minute drive to the clinic, but he wasn’t seen by anyone until he appeared for dinner in the dining room towards six-thirty. He had plenty of time to find Petrou and have a fight with him.’