Trap Lane

by Stella Cameron

  Photographs of major and not-so-major players in the case were already displayed together with lists of leads and salient details. Not enough leads – virtually none Bill had much faith in.

  He took a folding metal chair into a corner beside a radiator. At least it wasn’t winter, so the thing wasn’t hissing and popping and broadcasting an aroma of roasting dust. Plenty of dust swirled in a wide shaft of sunshine through the open door. Bill shoved his hands in his pockets and leaned his chair onto its back two legs. Molly Lewis would go over the post-mortem on Percy Quillam in detail late in the afternoon. She was an unpredictable woman but so good at her job that anyone who understood how important she was didn’t complain. Too bad she couldn’t be ready for him sooner.

  Since Hugh Rhys had admitted to seeing Sonia Quillam at Green Friday, they had quickly run through the normal channels trying to find her. They had already established she was not at the Quillams’ Hampstead home in London when they tried to make contact following Percy’s death. Now the net was flung wider but still no positive word had come in.

  Tomorrow her picture would appear in the media along with a request for information about her whereabouts. And throughout, searches continued: the hills and fields, the houses and farms around Folly had been scoured and intensive house-to-house carried out. Nothing. But although the window for finding her alive was technically closed, he had only intensified police efforts.

  They had determined she flew into Gatwick less than forty-eight hours before Hugh Rhys, by his own admission, received a telephone call from her. Now the tedious task of trying to track her through rental car agencies had begun in earnest. Sonia could well have used a different name but from photographs, she would be hard not to notice. Getting a definite description of whatever vehicle she’d driven to Folly could be golden, especially since they had no firm leads on that so far.

  He went through reports on his desk, flipping pages quickly. The car Hugh was seen driving that night, a BMW Nash, had been picked up the previous evening for forensics to look over. Negative results had come disappointingly quickly.

  In a single hurried step, Alex shot into the afternoon sun-spotlight in the doorway and blinked around, shading her eyes. She spotted Bill but immediately searched in all directions.

  He knew panic when it confronted him.

  Quickly, Bill got up and strode to usher Alex outside again. ‘Something going on?’ he asked as soon as they were walking toward the back of the parish hall and into the sunshine.

  ‘I’d say so, yes. Is it just me or do you feel anything really weird about this case you’re working?’ She touched his arm as he would have responded. ‘I know it’s nothing to do with me, or it shouldn’t be, but it’s getting pushed at me, Bill. Something’s going to blow up anytime soon. I can feel it.’

  ‘That’s the disclaimer covered,’ Bill said. ‘Now let’s have what you came for.’

  ‘I’ve got to put this in context and I don’t want to seem as if I’m trying to lead you to think one thing or another.’ Alex walked on until they reached the narrow lane that ran behind Pond Street. To their left, St Aldwyn’s churchyard, bursting with roses, rested behind a lychgate. On the right, the Burke sisters’ tea rooms and gardens backed onto the lane and churchyard.

  Alex pulled sunglasses from a pocket in her jeans and pushed them on. ‘It’s all a mess,’ she said. ‘You remember talking about Wells Giglio? He was Elyan Quillam’s agent and then, apparently, became Percy Quillam’s agent?’

  ‘I remember – that was only this morning.’ And he wasn’t looking forward to dealing with him again. A difficult man who thought his wants came first in all things.

  Alex looked sideways at him. ‘He was in Paris with Percy. He knew Percy came here and says it was to see Sonia. You said Wells would be here tomorrow.’

  ‘Where are you going with this?’ Bill stopped walking and Alex faced him. ‘I told you Wells was in Paris and we’ve been in contact with him. He said he had no intention of getting deeply involved with the Quillams’ business again but that he’d come tomorrow to take care of whatever needs to be done for Percy. He was grudging about it but in his words, he’ll talk to us.’ No need to mention that Giglio had been warned to keep in touch – even if there was little the UK police could do about it if he chose to duck out without returning.

  Alex jiggled on the balls of her feet. The sunglasses shielded whatever her expressive eyes must show. ‘First, Bill, I wanted to say something about Radhika.’ She touched his arm again, quickly. ‘No, don’t say anything yet. I shouldn’t interfere, but I care a lot about her and so does Tony. But you know that.’

  Did she have any idea how much he cared about Radhika?

  ‘She is upset. She blames herself for not going to you directly and telling you about the woman in the driveway at Green Friday. Radhika feels responsible. If she had made a call immediately she thinks she could have saved whoever it was from disappearing. Worse than that, she’s pretty certain she should just have gone right over there to see if she could help.’

  ‘Well she absolutely should not have done so. God knows what might have happened to her.’ She might also have been missing by now, Bill thought, and he set his jaw. ‘I couldn’t talk to you in front of Radhika. There was no point in upsetting her more. But tell me, did what she said about the woman in the driveway sound like Sonia Quillam to you? It did to me.’

  ‘Yes. Absolutely. That’s how Sonia would be described by almost anyone under the same conditions. Obviously, you’d have to be a lot closer to describe her face.’

  Bill nodded, yes. ‘What did you want to tell me? Or is that it?’

  ‘I don’t know why Wells told the police he didn’t intend to get mixed up with the Quillams again. He came to the Dog today, Bill, at lunch time. He didn’t stay long, probably because a customer a lot more imposing to look at than Wells encouraged him to leave, but he made a helluva fuss while he was there.’

  Bill screwed up his eyes while he took that in. ‘Giglio was at the Black Dog today? How long ago?’

  ‘He left not more than twenty minutes ago. I was floored when I saw him.’

  ‘I’ve got a feeling you’re going to tell me more.’ And they shouldn’t be chatting away in this lane where someone could be behind a hedge. He frowned, deciding where to go. ‘We’d better go back inside the hall. It’s not too bad in the balcony and I’ll make sure we aren’t interrupted unless we have to be.’

  Reluctance shadowed Alex’s eyes but she nodded and went with him. ‘This old parish hall has seen too much action in the past few years,’ she said wryly.

  Since you returned to the village after your divorce. Better not to voice the thought aloud. ‘We could use a decent interview room here, but I wouldn’t want to damn Folly by looking for one. It would look too much as if we expected to return.’

  Alex gave him a slightly sick grin. ‘You interviewed Hugh in Gloucester yesterday.’ She let the comment hang.

  ‘You know I can’t comment on that.’

  She colored faintly and fell in beside him. They crossed from the lane just as a tan Lexus, sunshine turning the very new exterior to gold, swung to a stop in front of the parish hall. LeJuan Harding slid his long body from behind the wheel and rested his crossed arms along the open door. He arched an eyebrow and swept an appreciative look over the vehicle.

  Bill laughed. ‘Too bad it isn’t yours, Balls. Dan get new wheels?’

  ‘Oh, yeah,’ LeJuan said, looking crestfallen. ‘And I thought I looked so natural standing here, you’d be sure it was mine.’ He smiled at Alex and gave her a salute.

  ‘Where’s the great man?’ Bill asked.

  ‘Dropped him at the Black Dog. He’s going to grab a bite and go with you to see Molly. The pesky … our psychologist sidekick is with him. I said I’d come over here and catch up with the grunts. In other words, it seemed a good idea to sound a warning and see what you’ve got that we don’t know about – without the interested audience.’ He loped
away toward the hall and Bill brooded over Dr Wolf’s motives.

  ‘Balls?’ Alex said, raising both eyebrows.

  Bill said, ‘As in he’s got them. If he’s ever been embarrassed, he blushes where no one can see.’ He winced. ‘To the balcony.’

  Treading on eggshells? Alex kept her fingers tightly laced together in her lap. More like stamping on raw eggs if she made a wrong move. Or used the wrong word or gave too much emphasis to the wrong name.

  That was what she was really worried about. Who she should or should not mention.

  With any slight move she made, the ancient wooden balcony chair whined and creaked. Ringing phones and sharp conversation came from the hall below. She didn’t know if she could or should keep Annie’s name out of what she had to tell Bill.

  His rapid footsteps sounded on the stairs to the balcony. He had asked her to come up alone while he spoke with his team.

  With rolled-back shirtsleeves and his tie loose he looked casually masculine and could have been in any white-collar job. When you met his startling light-blue eyes that noticed everything but betrayed little, he didn’t look like anyone ordinary. Alex already knew that Bill Lamb could be a hard man and didn’t fool herself he wouldn’t show that side again whenever he felt the need.

  ‘Sorry about that,’ he said, taking a chair beside her and scooting it until they faced each other. ‘It’s busy and getting busier. Sonia Quillam’s disappearance is burning through the news. There’ll be a live media announcement before day’s end but already the loony or lonely – or both – are coming out of the woodwork with tips.’

  ‘Must be annoying. Do any of them ever pan out?’

  ‘You can’t risk brushing anyone off. There can always be that snippet that leads to something useful. We’re glad to get calls.’ He hiked an ankle on the opposite knee, watching her steadily and letting her feel him waiting.

  ‘Of course.’ Alex cleared her throat, still mentally organizing what she would say.

  Bill ran a hand through his sandy crewcut and crossed his arms. The hum from below became a saw on Alex’s nerves.

  No point keeping up the silence. ‘Giglio was angry at the Black Dog. Fuming, actually. He announced Percy was dead as if everyone didn’t already know.’

  ‘Did he say anything about how Percy died?’

  ‘No. He just talked about Percy coming for Sonia and made a not very subtle accusation …’ She almost flinched, and waited for the inevitable.

  ‘Who did he accuse, of what?’

  And there it was – the inevitable question.

  ‘He was just flailing, Bill. Nothing he said made any sense. You know how melodramatic he is. He wants to find Sonia.’

  ‘Don’t we all.’ Bill leaned closer. ‘Who did he accuse, Alex?’

  He asked casually but took a notebook and pen from a pocket and flipped open the book. Alex puffed out a breath and tried to calm down. Bill wouldn’t let her get away without telling the whole story.

  ‘It wasn’t a direct accusation. Annie was there – of course he knows her from before. He said something ridiculous about it being natural for her to be there because she’d know everything. He asked her where Sonia is.’

  Bill sat back again and his gaze moved away from her while he considered.

  ‘It was just silly. He—’

  ‘Who was the customer who took Wells out of the pub?’

  ‘One of the Gentlemen Bikers Club. He’s been coming in lately. Seems a decent man and he obviously didn’t like Wells picking on Annie.’

  ‘His name?’ Bill’s pen hovered over the paper.

  ‘Oh … Saul. I don’t know his other name. He’s a friend of Harvey Peale’s. The potter – Carrie Peale’s husband.’

  Bill wrote down the name and tapped the end of his pen against his chin. ‘OK. We’ll want to talk to him.’

  ‘Wells is out of his depth,’ Alex said. ‘He doesn’t know which way to turn so he’s flinging accusations around. He’s theatrical.’

  ‘In the snug, when Hugh came down while we were there – why had Annie insisted on going to see Hugh? What was the matter with her? It sounded as if she was sick somehow.’

  This wasn’t going well. Exactly what she had feared might happen was unfurling – right out of her own mouth. ‘She’s had a lot of stress and hard times since Elyan was sent away. It’s just exhaustion. A break was what she needed and she’s getting it.’

  ‘Do you know why she went to Hugh?’

  ‘No, except she knows him and he’s been there for Elyan. They both visit him and she knows Hugh cares about him. She doesn’t have much, if any, family support anymore.’

  Bill ran a forefinger along the crease in a trouser leg. Coming was not a bad idea. She had to remain convinced of that. There would be enough spreading of reports, most of them embellished, from the people who had heard Giglio’s outburst at the pub and watched Saul hustle him outside. Since Saul was unlikely to think he should seek out the police, it was her responsibility to make sure the right story reached them.

  ‘Annie must have been with you before the three of you went to the Black Dog. Did she contact you first, Alex? Where were you when she found you? Or did you find her? Bear with me, I’m just trying to get all this clear.’

  Of course he was and she didn’t blame him – even if she did fervently wish he would simply thank her for coming and move on. She gave him a tight little smile. ‘She wasn’t really with us.’ Bill wouldn’t let that go. ‘We took her to the Black Dog when she asked to go. It seemed we might as well because she would have gone anyway, and it was late.’

  ‘This is hard for you,’ Bill said. ‘I know it is, but I do have to find out the whole story. You did the right thing – coming right to me. We will pick up Wells Giglio.’

  ‘For what?’

  Bill laughed. ‘It’s not too late for you to join the force. You don’t miss a thing. He can’t throw accusations around – or threats, veiled or otherwise. That will do for a start. Where did you, Tony and Annie come from before getting to the Black Dog the other night?’

  She sighed. He hadn’t trapped her, she had trapped herself even if she had meant well in coming here. ‘From Leaves of Comfort. We met up with Annie there. She was upset and we couldn’t leave her like that.’

  ‘Granted. Why was she upset?’

  ‘I don’t know.’ It wasn’t a total lie. She didn’t have the whole story. At least Bill didn’t look incredulous and she was grateful for that.

  ‘Guv!’ It was LeJuan, calling up the stairs. He paused at the top. ‘Sorry to interrupt. My boss just rang. He’ll be over in fifteen.’

  ‘And Wolf will be with him?’

  Bill didn’t respond to LeJuan’s affirmative nod. He waited for the sergeant to clatter away before giving Alex all his attention. ‘I’ll want to take this up with you again later, but it would help if you could give me a couple of short answers to an outstanding issue.’

  ‘I’ll try.’

  ‘Neve and Perry Rhys.’

  Her face felt suddenly cold. ‘Yes. They’re staying at the inn.’

  ‘We know that, and that they are related to Hugh. His cousin and his cousin’s wife. Do you have any inkling of why they are here at this particular time?’

  ‘No.’ That was true.

  ‘Would you say Hugh and these family members were close?’

  Alex looked at Bill and didn’t respond.

  ‘I didn’t think so,’ he said after a pause. ‘The three of them have been observed together and it’s been suggested there’s hostility there.’

  ‘I couldn’t say.’

  Bill didn’t look amused. ‘Couldn’t or won’t?’

  ‘They may not be close.’

  ‘Right. Please chew on this topic for the next few hours. I have appointments until late afternoon but then we should take this discussion up again.’ He stood up. ‘I am grateful to you for coming.’

  ‘Yes,’ she said. ‘Thank you,’ and got to her feet. She started towar
d the stairs, desperate to get outside again.

  ‘You’ve got a dilemma,’ Bill said, following her down. ‘You think it would be disloyal to tell me everything you know. I want you to think about that, Alex. What does it really mean to be disloyal and that’s not really a question.’

  EIGHTEEN

  For a stocky man, Dr Wolf had an uncanny ability to melt into the background. Bill stood beside Dan in the morgue and tried not to glance in the direction of the motionless psychologist with his tiny voice recorder tucked into the elbow of one of his crossed arms.

  Percy Quillam’s body was on a slab again, face down with a neck block keeping his forehead tilted to the table. This time all attention was on his head and his scalp, separated and flapped away from the bone at the base of his skull.

  Molly wasn’t happy but Bill didn’t know why. She had hardly spoken since their arrival and looked at Wolf with open dislike. She had barely skirted asking what possible reason he could have for being present but picked up a warning cue from Dan – who didn’t look more pleased with the situation.

  ‘There are multiple lacerations and contusions everywhere the body wasn’t covered with layers of clothing,’ Molly said. ‘This isn’t news. What appear to be injuries to the head – and other places – they might well have been made by contact with rocks and general rubble. By the pond would be a good guess. But there’s this.’ She indicated an area low on the back of the head – first on the scalp layers, then by peeling that back to expose the bone.

  Leaning closer, Bill studied the areas she indicated.

  ‘He sustained a blow here – a significant blow that we believe was the result of an object being used to hit the head, or a heavy fall onto something, possibly of considerable size.’

  ‘Like what?’ Dan asked, looking up from his own close examination. ‘Why didn’t we see this before?’

  ‘Bruising continues to increase post-mortem.’ Molly stood back, a grimace pulling at her lips. ‘The blow didn’t fracture the skull but there is an indentation. You can see how bruising has blossomed. And if something had not got in the way, we would have identified this at once.’