Somewhat mystified, the party broke up, the others going off in the van and Evans driving away with Lewis in the Vauxhall. As they crossed Fairwood Common on the way back to Gowerton, the superintendent gave some instructions to Lewis.
‘I want you to go back to that factory of his while Prentice is not there and speak again to that chap you saw. He seems to know all about the technology that’s going on.’
He gave his inspector some more detailed instructions and when they reached the police station, he turned the car over to Lewis to make the journey into Swansea.
THIRTEEN
As Edward Lethbridge had gloomily anticipated, Agnes Oldfield was cock-a-hoop, as soon as she had the news that Molly Barnes’s claim had been demolished by the exhumation. She insisted on a meeting with both her solicitor and Trevor Mitchell, so the lawyer thought it wise to invite Richard Pryor along as well, partly in order to deflect the inevitable demands concerning her own claim.
They arranged to meet at his office in Lydney on that Wednesday afternoon and the three men were already there when she arrived. As they rose, she swept in through the door opened by a secretary and imperiously took her seat alongside the desk. Richard, a keen cinema-goer, was reminded of Dame Edith Evans’s portrayal of Lady Bracknell in Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of being Earnest, as she wore a long black coat and an ornate hat. As it was raining outside, she also had a thin umbrella, upon which she rested a gloved hand, as she sat ramrod straight on her chair.
‘Well, I told you it was Anthony!’ she began without any preamble. ‘I knew from the start that the Barnes woman was an impostor.’
As she had never laid eyes on the woman, Richard wondered how she knew that, but he kept his peace.
It was Lethbridge’s task to try to put the brakes on Agnes Oldfield’s certitude.
‘Madam, we have only managed to prove that the remains were not those of Albert Barnes,’ he said rather nervously. ‘It does not advance us one inch in establishing that they are those of your nephew.’
She glared at the solicitor. ‘Of course it must be Anthony. Now we must prove it!’
‘That’s what we’ve been trying to do for over a year, Mrs Oldfield,’ said Lethbridge, in gentle exasperation. ‘We have spent a lot of time – and I may add, you have spent a lot of money – in trying to trace your nephew, with no success whatsoever.’
‘But now it’s different,’ she said triumphantly. ‘You have had the actual remains to examine by a specialist.’
She gave Pryor a regal wave and a fleeting smile.
Richard felt he should make some contribution to help out poor old Edward.
‘Yes, Mrs Oldfield, but unless we can discover some unique characteristic in your relative that can be matched to the bones, we are no further forward.’
‘Such as what?’ she demanded.
‘Did he have any old injuries, for example? Had he been in hospital for anything?’
As he said it, he knew he was being false, because there was no sign of any old injuries or disease in the remains that could be matched to anything. In fact, if the missing Anthony had had any such features, it would exclude him from being the body at the reservoir.
The old lady pondered for a moment. ‘I just don’t know, Professor! You see, until the last year or so, my nephew was often abroad. For all I know, he might have broken a leg in the Alps or caught beriberi in Africa!’
She looked across at Trevor Mitchell, who was trying to keep as quiet as possible.
‘Mr Mitchell should be able to help. He can find out from various hospitals and perhaps embassies overseas, if Anthony was ever treated there.’
The ex-detective groaned inwardly, trying to imagine himself touring the clinics of Europe and the consulates of far-flung countries.
‘I’m not sure that’s really feasible, madam,’ he pleaded.
Agnes turned her attention back to Richard Pryor.
‘I was told that one of the ways in which you destroyed that woman’s claim was by means of blood groups? Surely that would give you the answer?’
Richard took a deep breath. ‘I’m afraid it’s a slim hope. The blood group of the remains was the second most common in Britain. Out of interest, do you happen to know your nephew’s blood group?’
Mrs Oldfield looked severely at the pathologist.
‘Indeed I do not concern myself with such matters! But there must be some way of discovering it.’
‘Was he in the Forces?’ asked Richard. ‘They might have it in his records.’
She shook her head. ‘No, he was exempt during the war. He had such an important job in his father’s aircraft factory, you see.’
Trevor took a turn in the discussion. ‘Was he ever a blood donor? There might be a card amongst his possessions.’
Again his aunt had no knowledge of this, but promised to search amongst the belongings he had left at her house. It then transpired that he had lived with her in Newnham only for a short time, having previously lived in a flat in Cheltenham. He was supposed to be seeking another place of his own and some of his furniture and other possessions were in store until then.
Having delivered her orders that proof must be found, she departed, leaving the three men to gratefully have the tea that Lethbridge’s secretary brought in on a tray.
‘She’s a real old battleaxe, isn’t she?’ said Richard.
‘I reckon her nephew is well out of it, dead or alive.’
‘They didn’t get on that well, apparently,’ said Trevor. ‘When I was snooping around at the start of this job, I talked to neighbours and friends of the family and they said they had heard the old girl and Anthony going at each other hammer-and-tongs sometimes. He used to push off on holidays and trips a lot, just to get away from her.’
‘Didn’t he have a job of any sort?’ asked Richard.
‘No, he was rolling in it. I don’t know why he didn’t get himself his own place again in the first week.’
‘That’s why she’s so keen to have him declared dead, so that she can get probate, as there’s a lot of money involved,’ commented Lethbridge.
‘Well, he has been gone for over three years,’ said Trevor.
‘Why is she so convinced that this chap at the reservoir is Anthony?’ asked Pryor.
‘This is the third time she’s been convinced that a body was his,’ said the solicitor. ‘But this time, there was no head and no means of saying it wasn’t him, which was what eventually happened with the others.’
‘What about this ring and the watch, then?’ persisted Richard. ‘Does she claim to have recognized those?’
Mitchell shrugged. ‘She’s deliberately vague about it. He had been married many years ago, his wife died and the old lady says he did wear a wedding ring. As for the watch, she never noticed whether it was an Omega, just says that being Anthony, it must have been an expensive one!’
Their tea finished, Richard and Trevor rose to leave.
‘So what more can we do now?’ asked Lethbridge.
‘If we could find Anthony’s blood group, it might get her off our backs, if it’s not Group A-positive,’ said Richard.
‘I’ll have a scout around and see what I can find in various records,’ offered Mitchell. ‘But let’s hope it’s not A-positive, or she’ll be absolutely convinced it’s him!’
Inspector Lewis was once again talking confidentially to Michael Prentice’s technical director at the industrial estate on Jersey Marine. They were in his small office upstairs, Lewis having checked that the black Jaguar was not in the compound outside.
‘I can’t tell you why I need to know this, and I can’t legally tell you to keep it from your partner,’ he said to Eric Laskey. ‘It’s about that additive you told me about when I was here last?’
The engineer looked puzzled, but went along with the inspector’s request.