The Stranger from Home by Frederic Lindsay

Author:Frederic Lindsay [Frederic Lindsay]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780749018511
Publisher: Allison & Busby
Published: 2015-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

Peter Tarleton opened the door at the first ring, so quickly indeed that Meldrum took a half step backwards.

‘Did you find anything?’

‘Can I come in?’

Walking ahead of him, Tarleton didn’t stop talking. ‘All morning, I haven’t been able to settle. Up and down. Pacing round the house. I almost came up to the quarry when I heard what was going on, but I felt you might prefer me not being there.’ He glanced at his watch. ‘Is it that late? I’ve skipped lunch.’

There was a bottle of whisky and an almost full glass on the table beside the chair in which he settled himself. As he sat down, Meldrum noted that the bottle was half empty, but there was no telling how much had been in it when he started.

‘I can fetch another glass,’ Tarleton said. ‘Since you’re here by yourself, I hope you’ll feel free to join me if there’s something to celebrate.’

‘Finding a body isn’t anything to celebrate.’

‘No, absolutely not.’ He leant forward eagerly. ‘You have then?’

‘First, sir, it would help if you would go over again what you told me.’

‘About what I saw?’

Before, he’d been reluctant to give an account of what he’d witnessed. It had only been when Meldrum explained that Tony Carr had passed on to his next-door neighbour Violet Terry the odd story he’d been telling, that he’d been persuaded to talk. Now it seemed he’d overcome his doubts.

‘It was the Thursday. There had already been some talk about Rachel Croft not being around to celebrate the quarry getting a knock-back. We’d all been involved in the campaign. Even I’d done my bit, which was why I imagine I’d got an invitation that evening to have a drink with Violet, not a woman I care for, and her very attentive neighbour. When I came out, it was surprisingly late, after midnight. I’d drunk more than I should have, and decided to take a turn up the hill to clear my head. Walking along the street, I was surprised how many of the lights were already out. It was one of those nights, not a breath of air. By the time I reached the quarry, a poem had come into my head. It sometimes happens like that, not just an opening, but the whole two verses, a perfect little thing.’ Meldrum offered a silent plea that the man’s egotism wouldn’t require him to recite it. ‘I sat on a rock to go over it a few times in my head so I wouldn’t forget it. That must be why he didn’t see me. I looked up and there he was on the edge of the drop on the other side. Just the shape of a man and he held out his arms and then I heard the splash and knew he’d thrown something in. Something heavy. And then the whole scene was lit up as the clouds came off the moon and I recognised him.’

‘Can you describe what he’d been holding?’

‘Just an impression. As I say, this was before the moon came out.

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