Bryant & May 03; Seventy-Seven Clocks b&m-3

by Christopher Fowler

  In the 1970s, most murders still took place at home. Women were more likely to die there than men, nearly half of them suffering at the hands of a husband or lover. Men were slaughtered by acquaintances and strangers, simply because they got out of the house more often than their partners. Ethnic gang violence was unimaginable. Drug-related crimes were unheard of. East Enders still mentioned the Kray brothers in shocked reverence, but nobody really thought they were gentlemen.

  May knew that the statistics of death were inaccurate: doctors were pulling more victims through, more crimes were reported, technological breakthroughs were being made, lawyers were disputing terminology, the boundary lines were shifting. They could be certain of just two facts. Murder was more likely to be committed within the family. And each passing year brought rising figures.

  But as for this…

  He looked around at the accretions of more than a century, relics of the past, overflowing from every corner. There was a touch of Robert Louis Stevenson here, the sense of a long-standing family feud reaching a flashpoint. Over what? A contested inheritance? A missing will? The idea sounded unnecessarily Gothic but promising, especially as the family lawyer had also been killed. What other possibilities were there? An unrighted wrong? Stolen virtue? A debt of honour? The danger was that they would overlook the answer in a rush to pin the blame.

  Senior officials were already pushing for a fast arrest. Raymond Land, the unit’s acting head, had already paid a visit to May’s office. The Whitstables weren’t just anyone, he explained; they were a well-connected family whose opinions still carried political clout. Peter had been a personal friend of Montgomery, for God’s sake. He had been with the Eighth Army on the east coast of Italy. He had been decorated for his part in the Normandy invasion. His grandparents had left bequests to Balmoral. Brother William had been introduced to the queen at Sandringham, although Land was unsure of the reason for this.

  But if William Whitstable was such an establishment figure, May had asked, why would he have wanted to risk damaging the Common Market conference by attacking a politically sensitive painting? Could it – a long shot here, thought May – could it be that someone in government circles had taken revenge for the act?

  The meeting had been adjourned with Land virtually accusing him of treason.

  May knew that the political dimension of the case would allow him to limit press damage, but journalists wouldn’t be held at bay for long. A speedy resolve was essential; this was the newly independent division’s first investigation in the public eye, and everyone was watching for results.

  Nothing like a little pressure from above to help a case along, thought May, as he raised the lid of another packing crate. This box was filled with books on heraldry. Wedged along one side was a slim mahogany case with a small brass key in its lock. They had not been granted clearance to search the house, but May was prepared to bend the rules a little until the next of kin arrived.

  According to his information, Bella Whitstable, the younger sister, had been abroad on a business trip for the past six weeks. She had left a forwarding address with Peter, and had been informed by him of the tragedy that had occurred to their brother. What she did not know, as a British Airways flight returned her from Calcutta, was that her remaining sibling had also suffered a violent death.

  By all accounts the Whitstables were not a close family, but with Christmas approaching Bella had planned to stay with her brothers for a few days. Now she would find herself facing a double funeral. May hoped she was a strong woman. There was nothing so disturbing as coping with death at Christmas.

  He turned the key and opened the case, examining its contents. Inside was a robe of thin blue silk bearing a woven shield, guarded by unicorns. Underneath, the words Justitia Virtutum Regina had been stitched in dark golden thread. He felt sure that these were the symbols of one of the City of London guilds. It seemed logical that the brothers belonged to such an organization. He gently closed the case and returned it to the crate. The collected contents of the attic would help them build a picture of the Whitstables, although he doubted they would provide a clue to their killer. Like most upper-class families, the Whitstables were closing ranks at this time of crisis. The press had yet to break the bond of silence that kept the more scandalous details of upper-class crime from public attention. Reporters still worked in Fleet Street, their code of behaviour set by the powerful print unions. The competitive free-for-all that would change the face of British journalism was still a decade away, and accurate information about the aristocracy was hard to come by.

  May returned downstairs and placed a call to Raymond Land.

  “They’ve just got back to me on your bomb,” said Land. “Your partner was right. It’s a rather unusual mechanical device, extremely effective. Can you call by when you finish up there?”

  By late Monday afternoon the barber shop at the Savoy had been examined by forensic experts, cleared, and restored to its former pristine condition, with the exception of a six-foot area ribboned with demarcation tape. Arthur Bryant stepped over a section of freshly dusted floor and stood studying his reflection in the tall beveled mirrors above the sinks. What a scruffbag, he thought. I need some better-fitting dentures and a decent winter coat, one without threads hanging from it. He needed a haircut, too, but places like this weren’t his style. The gleaming chrome and ceramic sinks, the iridescent tiling, and hard white towels all belonged to a prewar world of manservants and valets, and Bryant knew where the class system of the time would have placed him: on the side of those who served.

  His own father had begun life in service. He had kept his family well provided for, and had always maintained his dignity. It had never occurred to him that he might be as worthy as those upon whom he waited. In later years it became a constant source of conflict between father and son.

  Bryant turned away and examined the black leather barber’s chair. Someone had done a good job; after being dusted for fingerprints it had been buffed to a fierce shine. You’d never think that just that morning someone had been murdered in it.

  The girl was slouching guiltily by the towel rail, contriving to act suspiciously even when there was nothing to be suspicious about. She had a habit of looking down at the ground as she spoke, so that her auburn hair fell across her face, obscuring her eyes.

  “Well?” asked Bryant, settling down in the barber’s chair and raising his shoes from the floor. “You walked in and there was Major Whitstable with the razor sticking out of his mouth. Where was the barber?”

  “He wasn’t here,” said Jerry. “He could have attacked me as well, you know.”

  “I realize that,” said Bryant.

  “There’s a tradesmen’s entrance to the salon, leading to an alleyway behind the hotel. He had a perfect escape route at hand.”

  “So I see. Has someone warned you about not speaking to the press, by the way?”

  “I wouldn’t want to.”

  “And you’re absolutely sure you saw no one other than the Major in here or outside?”

  Jerry shook her head and stared at the door. Thank God the young were so resilient, thought Bryant. The child had witnessed two deaths, which should have marked her as a suspect, except that anyone with an ounce of common sense could see that she wasn’t. She appeared shaken, but intact. Still, there was a chance that she was holding something back.

  “Which brings us to the big question: what were you doing up here at all?”

  “I was going to ask Maurice if he would give me a free haircut,” said Jerry. “What happened to him?”

  “It doesn’t matter.” The less the girl knew, the better. Apparently someone had rung the barber on Saturday and warned him that they were closing the salon to refit some water pipes. Maurice had been told not to come in until Tuesday. Bryant swiveled the chair around to face the girl. “I wonder if you know more than you’re telling me?”

  “Look, I just work here.” Jerry hung her head, picking at a thumbnail.

 
; “If you remember anything else, no matter how insignificant it may seem, will you be sure to inform me or Mr May?” asked Bryant, rising. “Every sudden death is tragic, but this could also destroy the reputation of a hotel, even one as venerable and respected as this one. You must come to me before speaking to anyone else.”

  “Mr Bryant?” She raised her eyes to him.

  “Yes?”

  “Is this to do with Mr Jacob?”

  “Your guess is as good as mine.”

  “It must be, mustn’t it? I mean, didn’t they know each other?”

  Bryant was not supposed to discuss the unit’s cases with outsiders, but frequently did so. He figured they needed all the help they could get. “It’s too much of a coincidence for it not to be, don’t you think? But we deal in hard facts, and those seem to have been carefully removed.”

  “I want to help,” she said. “I’m already involved. I can find things out for you.”

  “I’m afraid that’s not really allowed.”

  “But you’re in an experimental unit. It’s been in the papers. If you wanted me to do something, nobody would be able to tell you otherwise.”

  He patted her on the arm. “I’ll bear that in mind. You’d better get back to work. I’ll probably need to speak to you again.”

  Making his way back to Mornington Crescent, Bryant tried to connect the events of the past week. The situation was not only unique; it was absurd. Three deaths – by snakebite, by explosion, by razor. What next? Death by hot air balloon? Cannon? Trident? For a moment he wondered if the whole thing might be an elaborate joke designed to discredit the unit.

  ♦

  “Watch this.”

  Dr Raymond Land handed the experiment over to a pasty-faced young man in a lab coat, who produced a small test tube of what looked like liquid mercury and a paintbrush. Carefully dipping the brush in the solution, he painted a thin strip of liquid on the side of a child’s building block. Bryant withdrew a pair of smeary reading glasses from his top pocket and put them on. May was sitting on the only chair in the room.

  “We have to wait a few moments for it to dry,” said the young lab technician. “It’s something we haven’t seen for years. A form of silver acetylide. You titrate it through ammonia and it comes out like sludge.” He held up the test tube. “While it’s in liquid form it’s fine, but if you let it dry out…” He picked up the child’s block and checked the line of paint. Satisfied, he tossed the block on to the desk. There was a loud bang, and the clearing smoke revealed a blackened pit in the desk top.

  “…it becomes totally unstable,” concluded the technician, somewhat unnecessarily.

  “That’s state property,” said Land, examining the damage.

  “What would a device designed to house such a chemical reaction look like, do you reckon?” asked May. “How big would it have to be?”

  “Not large at all, just so long as the drying area for the liquid was maximized sufficiently. Here.” He produced a pad from his pocket and began to draw. “Working from a reconstruction incorporating the slivers of metal we found in William Whitstable’s stomach, we get something like this. The liquid is contained in a section here…”

  “I wondered why one piece was silvered,” mused Bryant. “It was part of the liquid chamber.”

  “A preset clockwork mechanism releases it into a flat drying chamber that might work from, say, the heat of the body. As soon as it’s dry, the device is armed and lethal.” The technician held up the finished drawing to reveal a metal chamber the size and shape of a pocket watch.

  “Just the sort of thing that a smart Edwardian gentleman would carry upon his person,” said Bryant. “Thanks for the demonstration.” He tapped May on the shoulder with the back of his hand. “Come on, you. We’ve an appointment to keep.”

  By eight-thirty p.m. the concourse at Victoria Station had only a light groundswell of homebound commuters passing between the trains and ticket windows.

  Bryant stood at the barrier watching the arriving passengers. “You realize if she’s anything like the rest of the family, she’ll be wearing a crinoline and bustle.” He looked across at May, who was checking his watch.

  “That must be her.”

  Bryant followed his partner’s pointing finger. Bella Whitstable was broad and stocky, a woman who looked like she spent her time beekeeping or repairing dry-stone walls. She came at them with a purposeful gait and sensible shoes. The practicality of her winter jacket was lightened with a spring of lapis lazuli, and gold earrings balanced the severity of her haircut. Her handshake was firm and dry, her manner direct.

  “I don’t want you to mollycoddle me,” she informed the detectives. “It’s no secret that we didn’t get along, William, Peter, and I, but of course it horrifies me that they met such terrible ends.”

  “So you know about Peter,” said May, surprised. “It would have been hard to avoid items like this,” replied Bella, holding up a copy of the Evening Standard.

  DEATH RIDDLE OF SAVOY SHAVE

  Dead man was brother of Tube explosion victim

  The press were well and truly on their tails now. As Peter Whitstable’s identity had yet to be divulged, May wondered how they had managed to link the two deaths so quickly. The official statement for the Hampstead Tube bombing suggested that a technical fault had occurred in one of the carriages. The subterfuge had been necessary to prevent the public from worrying that the IRA was renewing its Christmas attacks on the city.

  “I’m sorry you had to find out in such a manner,” said May, taking her bag. “There was no way we could contact you in time.”

  “I quite understand,” said Bella, with considerable coolness. “It will take me a while to fully appreciate what has happened.”

  “Under the circumstances I wouldn’t advise staying at the house.”

  “I’m sure you wouldn’t, but that’s where I’d like to be. I have family belongings there. I’m not fond of London, and intend to spend as little time here as possible.”

  They made their way to a waiting squad car. “You can ask me anything you like,” said Bella, seating herself. “I have just returned from a city where sudden death is part of everyday life. I won’t get sniffly on you.”

  “You say you didn’t get along with your brothers?” Bryant reminded her.

  “The feuds between us all seem so trivial now. I couldn’t bear all that living in the past. It seemed so unhealthy. William didn’t approve of my finding a partner so soon after our mother died, and put an end to the relationship. I never forgave him for that. There were other things – certain financial arrangements that caused problems. It’s hard to be specific. You’ll have to give me some time to think.”

  “We will need details of the beneficiaries to the wills. I suppose Peter told you that their lawyer, Max Jacob, is also dead.”

  “Yes, it seems so extraordinary. I wonder if any of us are safe. I wish I could throw some light on all of this, but I simply don’t know where to begin.”

  “There is the question of the funeral,” said Bryant gently. “Although perhaps you’d like to discuss this later…”

  “William and Peter will be interred together. There is a family vault at Highgate,” said Bella, looking out of the window at the retreating station. “It would seem to be the best thing.”

  “We want your permission to maintain a police presence at the service,” said May. It was not uncommon for a murderer to attend the burial of his victim.

  “I understand. Do you have any idea of the kind of person you’re looking for?”

  “We’re hoping that you can help us there,” said Bryant. “Why do you think William lived so much in the past?”

  “Oh, we’re an old-fashioned bunch. The family’s history is the history of England.” Bella rummaged in her bag, produced a vast linen handkerchief, and gave a brisk honk into it. “I don’t think William was even aware of the modern world. The late nineteenth century was our grand time. Our ancestors’ fortunes grew with the
empire, and so did the family. Sons and daughters in every outpost. Unforgiving Christians and hard-nosed businessmen. It was the same with so many old families. Now they’re like us, in sad decline. Although I don’t suppose they’re disappearing in quite the same lurid manner. I wonder if we have any business rivals at the moment. You should check that, Mr Bryant.”

  “We’re trying, although it will be more difficult to do so now that Peter has died. Had both of your brothers retired?”

  “Apart from a bit of dabbling on the Stock Exchange. I heard about William and the painting. What an appalling thing to do.”

  “You have no idea why he might have committed such an act?”

  “None at all. I can’t imagine that either of them had any real enemies. And who would want to kill them over a painting? It wasn’t even of any importance, from what Peter told me.”

  “How well did you know Max Jacob?”

  “I didn’t, I’m afraid. He handled the family estate and all of its financial dealings, but he only ever dealt with William.”

  “He lied to his family about coming to London,” said May. “If he met up with William, we have no evidence of it.”

  The car had reached St John’s Wood. Bella was momentarily distracted by a passing apartment building. “Look at that,” she said, pointing to a sign on the wall. “Tadema House. What a marvelous painter Alma-Tadema was. How we all loved the Pre-Raphaelites, Peter included. Mother owned several, you see. All donated to galleries now, of course.”

  “Did she own any paintings by Waterhouse?” asked Bryant.

  “No, I don’t think so. Is that what my brother destroyed, a Waterhouse?”