Devil Daddy by John Blackburn

Author:John Blackburn
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Valancourt Books
Published: 2021-09-11T00:00:00+00:00

Ten

‘Please take a seat, madam. Inspector Moxton won’t be long.’ The desk sergeant motioned Tania to a bench. As Steele had promised, a patrol car had arrived almost as soon as he rang off and rushed her to Asterford, a quiet market town with a police station that fitted the locality. The notices displayed in the reception hall were all concerned with rural pursuits: fishing rights and shotgun licences, fowl pest and Colorado beetle, strayed and stolen animals.

‘They should never have let me see him, should they?’ A room on her left had a badly fitting door with glass panels and Tania could see and hear a middle-aged couple being interviewed by a plainclothes man. ‘I’ll never get over the shock, will I? Not as long as I live.’

‘I’m sure it was a most harrowing experience, madam, but if we could continue with your husband’s statement.’ The detective turned to the man, who had bloodshot eyes and a pronounced stubble on his receding chin. ‘I understand that the pigs had not been fed for a considerable time, Mr Seaton-Osterbury.’

‘Not since ten o’clock yesterday morning, officer.’ The man’s arms were folded and Tania suspected he had adopted the pose to hide trembling hands. ‘I mean the day before yesterday, of course. I’d forgotten it was after midnight.’

‘Yes, that’s a very considerable period, isn’t it?’ The policeman looked at a sheet of typescript on his desk. ‘Do you often neglect your livestock for so long, sir? Don’t think I’m being impertinent, but I must know if it was common knowledge that those pigs were sometimes in a ravenous condition.’

‘You don’t dare answer that, dare you, Arthur?’ Her husband had remained silent with his head slumped and the woman took over. ‘Yes, officer, he was always forgetting to feed the animals and the whole village knows it. Why, didn’t an inspector from the R.S.P.C.A. get on to him not so long ago? He’s an alcoholic and an idler and he was drunk all day yesterday. That’s why the beasts were kept hungry.’

‘Thank you, madam.’ The policeman made a marginal note. ‘It was common knowledge, in fact.’

‘Yes, and it’ll be common knowledge what the brutes did, won’t it?’ The woman was bristling with fury. ‘Who’ll buy ’em now, do you think? Would you like a slice of corpse-fed bacon on your breakfast plate, Arthur?’

‘Ah, Lady Levin.’ Moxton had appeared from a corridor and held out his hand to Tania. ‘I do appreciate your willingness to help us and if you would come this way—’ He led her down the passage and into a room where Steele and two other men were waiting. ‘May I introduce Inspector Brown of the Surrey C.I.D., and Dr Croxley, the local police surgeon. Constable Steele you know, of course.’

‘How do you do, Lady Levin.’ Croxley was large and elderly, with an old-fashioned black suit, and a watch-chain draped across his ample belly. ‘I know your husband by reputation, naturally, and it is a great pleasure to make your acquaintance.

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