Close To Home by Peter Robinson

Author:Peter Robinson [Robinson, Peter]
Language: eng
Format: epub

Before she went off duty – though such a thing was somewhat of an illusion in the thick of a major murder investigation – Annie had made a few inquiries around the bookshops, asking after the couple who had tried to sell Norman Wells books he believed were stolen, but she drew a blank. Before meeting Banks for a drink at the Queen’s Arms, she had also checked recent shoplifting reports but turned up nothing there, either. The artist’s impression would be in the evening paper, so she would see what happened after that. There was something else she had intended to do, but it was like that name you can’t quite remember, the one on the tip of your tongue. If she put it out of her mind, it would come to her eventually.

Banks was already waiting for her at a corner table, and she saw him before he saw her. He looked tired, Annie thought, and distracted, smoking and staring into the distance. She tapped him on the shoulder and asked him if he wanted a refill. He came back from a long way and shook his head. She bought herself a pint of Theakston’s bitter and walked over to join him. “So what was that mysterious message about your wanting to see me?” she asked.

“Nothing mysterious about it at all,” Banks said, brightening up a little. “I just wanted to deliver a message myself, in person.”

“I’m all ears.”

“It looks as if you’re off the hook as far as Luke Armitage’s death is concerned.”

Annie felt her eyes open wide. “I am? How?”

“Dr. Glendenning pegs time of death at least three or four days ago.”

“Before-”

“Yes. Before the kidnap call even came in.”

Annie raised her eyes to the ceiling and clapped her hands. “Yes!”

Banks smiled at her. “Thought you’d be pleased.”

“How? He didn’t drown, did he?”

Banks sipped some beer. “No,” he said. “Pending tox results, it looks as if cause of death was a blow to the cerebellum, quite possibly the result of a fall.”

“A struggle of some sort, then?”

“Exactly what I thought. Perhaps with the kidnapper, very early on. Or whoever he was with.”

“And that person decided to try and collect anyway?”

“Yes. But that’s pure speculation.”

“So Luke died somewhere else and was dumped in the tarn?”

“Yes. Probably wherever he was being held – if he was being held. Anyway, there’d have been a fair bit of blood, the doc says, so there’s every chance of our still finding evidence at the original scene.”

“If we can find the scene.”

“Exactly.”

“So we are making progress?”

“Slowly. What about the girl?”

“Nothing yet.” Annie told him about her meeting with Norman Wells.

She noticed Banks was watching her as she spoke. She could almost see his mind moving, making the connections, taking a shortcut here and filing this or that piece of information away for later. “Whoever they are,” he said when she’d finished, “if Wells is right and they had been shoplifting, then that tells us they’re short of money. Which gives them a motive for demanding a ransom if they were somehow responsible for Luke’s death.

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