The Scent of Death--A Sukey Reyholds British police procedural

by Betty Rowlands

  ‘I only got the invitation yesterday evening,’ said Sukey, ‘and in any case there was always the chance that something might break and all leave cancelled.’

  ‘Instead of which the most interesting job has landed in your lap,’ said Tim. ‘Even though it was my idea,’ he added with a touch of resentment.

  ‘Most interesting in more ways than one,’ said Vicky, giving Sukey a sidelong glance which she pretended not to notice. She finished her coffee and threw the plastic cup into the bin. ‘Let’s go and get our orders.’

  ‘Right,’ said Rathbone when they assembled in his office. ‘We came away from Mr Leach’s office with basically three lines of enquiry to follow up: Rainbird’s private life, his possible relationship with a particular member of staff and ditto with one of the members of Freeman’s party. Sukey, you will take care of the first; Mr Leach has made it clear to me that as you’re going to be in London on a social visit the only expenses you’ll be entitled to claim are those directly connected with the time actually spent in your investigations in and around Rainbird’s home. And in the meantime you can help Vicky go through the list when she gets it from Freeman. Understood?’

  ‘Yes, Guv,’ said Sukey.

  ‘Mike, you will interview the staff at Dallington Manor and I’m going to draft in DC Penny Osborne to help you,’ Rathbone continued. ‘I think she should be the one to talk to Gunn about Reg Law, but give her a thorough briefing first. This will involve more than one visit, and bearing in mind the hotel staff work shifts arrange as much over the telephone as possible in advance to keep mileage claims to a minimum. Is that clear?’

  ‘Perfectly, Guv,’ said Mike. ‘Do you think I should speak to the hotel manager first, out of courtesy?’

  Rathbone nodded. ‘Yes, he won’t like it so be diplomatic. Vicky, you will get on to Freeman and sweet talk him into coughing up the list of phone numbers. As soon as you get it, you and Tim can settle down to some telephoning, OK? Is everyone clear what they have to do? And before anyone asks what I’ll be doing,’ he added before anyone had a chance to speak, ‘it occurs to me that Justin Freeman’s private life might be worth looking into as well. I might look up one or two of his former colleagues. Any questions? No? On your way then.’

  Back in the CID office Vicky said, ‘I guess we’d better take a little time to decide how we’re going to approach people. They’ll all have had their fill of questions and a bit of what Sir calls “sweet talk” might be necessary. That should take us up to lunchtime; meet me back here at two.’

  EIGHTEEN

  ‘So, now that we’re on our own, are you going to come clean about your trip to London?’ asked Vicky as she and Sukey settled with their lunch trays at a table in a corner of the canteen. ‘Is lover boy there on some special assignment for which he needs your expert assistance?’

  ‘He’s there to cover the trial of the cannabis farmers at the Old Bailey,’ Sukey explained. ‘I don’t think he wants me around for my expertise – just my company over the weekend.’

  ‘Lucky old you,’ said Vicky. ‘Whenever I have a free weekend Chris seems to be extra busy with the hotel full of people taking special offers. Your Harry manages to land some interesting jobs,’ she went on. ‘I’m expecting to hear any day that he’s decided to start writing detective novels based on his experiences as a crime reporter.’

  ‘I’m not sure I want to encourage that idea,’ said Sukey. ‘He’d be forever running his ideas past me for feasibility. Anyway, in answer to your question, his editor has decided it’s cheaper for him to stay in a B and B in town while the trial lasts than to commute every day. I’m not all that keen on the idea as it means I don’t see him during the week while the trial lasts and it could go on for ages. But when I mentioned I was free this weekend he suggested I join him, and needless to say I jumped at it.’

  ‘Well, I hope you’ll be staying in something more exotic than a B and B,’ said Vicky before taking another bite from her tuna baguette and washing it down with a mouthful of apple juice.

  Sukey hesitated; she ate a forkful of chicken salad to give herself time to decide how far she was going to confide in Vicky. ‘I’m going to suggest he finds a quiet hotel somewhere in the Richmond area, within striking distance of where Lance Rainbird lived,’ she said.

  Vicky gave her a shrewd glance. ‘Just between ourselves, how much are you going to tell him about what you’re planning to do? He’s a journalist first and foremost and he’s sure to put two and two together. He’s probably done his own ferreting around; for all you know he may have located Rainbird’s address and done a few house-to-house enquiries of his own.’

  ‘I wouldn’t put it past him, but if he’d come up with anything useful I’m sure he’d have told us,’ said Sukey. ‘Look Sarge, can you forget rank for a moment?’

  Vicky glanced round to make sure no one was within earshot, but lowered her voice just the same. ‘You’re going to tell me something you don’t want to get back to our newly promoted Sir?’ Sukey nodded. ‘You have my word. Do tell,’ she went on eagerly.

  ‘Like DCI Leach, I had this feeling we were missing something significant, something that would give us a definite answer to the question as to whether Rainbird was murdered or not – and if so throw up some sort of lead. We’ve pulled out all the stops to find evidence and a motive; the nearest we’ve got is that stuff about Rainbird tackling Freeman about his phoney degrees and wanting to do his accounts, but it’s all circumstantial and it seems that even Sir is beginning to have his doubts. Knowing Harry was going to be in London I asked him if he’d be willing to do a spot of sleuthing around Rainbird’s house in his spare time and let me know if he came up with anything.’

  ‘I hope you didn’t confide in him too much,’ said Vicky dubiously. ‘You’ve told me more than once how persuasive he can be.’

  ‘I promise you I didn’t tell him anything he didn’t need to know,’ said Sukey. ‘I didn’t say anything about Rainbird’s connection with Luke Grayson or the rows about religion, or even tell him the name of the firm where the two of them worked.’

  ‘And then you just happened to mention that it was your weekend off and he suggested you join forces in the sleuthing?’

  ‘Well, yes. I’ve made him swear not to breathe a word to his editor – or anyone else – until I give him clearance.’

  ‘In that case all I can do is wish you the best of luck!’ said Vicky.

  Sukey swallowed the last mouthful of chicken salad and raised her glass of mineral water in salute. ‘Thanks, Sarge!’

  When the team foregathered in the CID office at two o’clock DC Penny Osborne joined them. ‘I’ve been working with the Gloucestershire mob on the cannabis farm case, Sarge,’ she said to Vicky. ‘They’ve got connections in our area, but DI Rathbone said …’

  ‘Yes, I know,’ Vicky said briskly. ‘As the case has gone to court he thinks they can manage without you from now on, and you’re needed here to help us on the Dallington Manor case.’

  ‘Oh, great!’ Penny’s eyes sparkled. ‘I’ve picked up bits of info about it from James and it seems it’s quite a puzzler.’

  ‘James who?’ asked Vicky.

  ‘PC James Bond,’ Penny explained.

  ‘So you’ve been chatted up by Double Oh Seven?’ said Sukey. ‘I thought you and PC Dandridge were an item.’

  ‘Oh, we are, but I asked James about the Dallington Manor case out of interest. Anyway, Inspector Rathbone told me to forget the cannabis farmers and meet you here, Sarge,’ she said to Vicky.

  ‘That’s right,’ said Vicky. ‘The situation so far is that we’ve been concentrating on asking questions about people’s movements, has anyone seen anything suspicious, the usual stuff, but we haven’t gone into relationships among the people who were present at the time of the deaths. We’re pretty sure that Lance Rainbird was murdered and you may have heard that we’ve questioned one suspect, but we haven’t found enough evidence to charge him and DCI Leach wants us to spread the
net a bit wider. One area about which we know little or nothing is Lance Rainbird’s private life. We know quite a lot of his history but so far no one has checked on his flat or talked to his neighbours. He lived in Richmond and it so happens that Sukey will be in London at the weekend so she’s been assigned to that job.’

  ‘Not exactly the short straw,’ Tim muttered in Mike Haskins’ ear.

  ‘Yes, we know it was you who put forward that suggestion,’ said Vicky, ‘and you know why the job has landed in Sukey’s lap instead of going to you. You have to accept that you can’t win ’em all.’ She turned to Penny. ‘Mike and Tim will fill you in on everything we’ve dredged up so far and then we have to start making some telephone calls. Sukey, Sir wants us – you and me that is – to spend the next couple of days trawling through the people in Justin Freeman’s party. That could take time – he’ll probably want to contact them all before we do, just to warn them to expect to hear from us. Will you give him a call? I’ll join the others in case they need any guidance.’

  ‘Right, Sarge,’ said Sukey. ‘I just hope he hasn’t gone off somewhere to take a break.’ She went to her desk and called Freeman’s number. To her relief, he answered after the first couple of rings.

  ‘Is there any news?’ he asked. ‘I’ve been turning things over in my mind since your visit in case I’d forgotten something, but nothing came to mind.’

  ‘We think it’s possible that Lance Rainbird had some kind of relationship or dealings with someone who was at Dallington Manor over the weekend, either a member of the staff or one of the people in your party,’ Sukey explained. ‘You’ve known him for some time because he’s been on other events, and presumably a few others among your regulars have known him for a while. Apart from his arguments with Eric Bowen, and the fact that he had a certain appeal to some of the ladies, have you noticed anyone else he spent time with or seemed to have something in common with?’

  There was a short silence before Freeman said, ‘After you let me go back to the hotel to collect my stuff I was buttonholed by a chap called Ashman. He said he was a colleague of Rainbird’s and he asked me more or less the same question. From what he said it’s obvious that different people had different impressions of the man.’

  ‘What did you tell him?’

  ‘What I’m about to tell you, that is I hadn’t noticed him being particularly intimate with anyone. Like I said before, he’d talk to anyone about music, but in some ways he seemed to be a bit of a loner. I can’t speak for everyone in my party, of course.’

  ‘I was coming to that,’ said Sukey. ‘Would you let us have their phone numbers, so that we can contact them and ask them the same question?’

  Freeman gave an audible sigh. ‘They aren’t going to like it,’ he said. ‘As it is, a few of them have cancelled their bookings for my next event, saying they found it too upsetting. I can’t afford to lose any more.’

  ‘I quite understand,’ said Sukey, ‘but we have instructions to contact them and it’s only out of courtesy that I’m speaking to you first. They will of course have given the hotel all the necessary details when they checked in, but we thought we’d put you in the picture before we start ringing around.’

  ‘That’s very considerate; thank you. I’m as keen as you are to get to the bottom of this so I’ll do everything I can to help. Supposing I call, say, the first few names on the list, tell them to expect to hear from you and then email you with their details. While you’re speaking to them I’ll ring another batch and then do the same. How will that be?’

  ‘That’s absolutely fine,’ said Sukey. A thought struck her and she said, ‘Would you put Miss Charlotte Lang and her companion in the first batch, please?’

  ‘No problem.’

  Sukey went over to the corner in the office where Mike, Tim and Penny were planning their strategy under Vicky’s supervision. ‘Freeman’s more than willing to play ball,’ said Sukey. She outlined the procedure he had suggested.

  Vicky nodded approvingly. ‘At least he’s a well organized sort of chap,’ she said.

  ‘I guess he has to be,’ said Sukey. ‘There must be more to running events like his than choosing the music. By the way, I asked for Charlotte Lang’s details to be in the first batch.’

  ‘Any particular reason?’

  ‘Only that she mentioned how one or two of the women seemed to warm to Rainbird in much the same way as the ones in his office. She might on reflection think of a particular one he spent some time with.’

  ‘It’s possible, I suppose,’ said Vicky. ‘To be honest, I’m not sure this is going anywhere. I’m pinning my hopes on your visit to his flat.’

  When Sukey called Charlotte Lang’s number Millie answered. She sounded flustered and said in a low voice, ‘Who is it, please?’

  ‘This is Detective Constable Reynolds,’ said Sukey. ‘We had a chat at Dallington Manor – you remember?’

  ‘Yes, yes, of course I remember; it was about poor Mr Rainbird, wasn’t it? But I don’t understand why …’

  ‘We still don’t know what happened to him and we are making further enquiries. May I have a word with Miss Lang, please?’

  ‘Oh dear.’ Millie sounded uneasy and Sukey could picture her casting an anxious glance over her shoulder. ‘The fact is, she’s watching her favourite programme on the television and I can’t, that is, she won’t like being interrupted.’

  ‘That’s no problem,’ said Sukey. ‘I need to talk to you as well so we could have our chat first and then I’ll wait until Miss Lang’s programme is over.’

  ‘All right, although I can’t think what you want to ask me about. I’ll just go in the next room and pick up another phone.’ There was a click and a few moments passed before she came back on the line and said, ‘Here I am. How can I help you?’

  ‘You’ve told us where you were and what you were doing the night Mr Rainbird’s body was found and I remember you saying “Mr Rainbird never talks to me – not that I particularly want him to”. Why did you say that? Didn’t you like him?’

  ‘Well, it’s a bit hard to explain,’ said Millie. ‘I didn’t exactly dislike him; it was just, well something about him … and the way some people … that is, some women …’

  ‘Can you be a bit more specific?’ asked Sukey, as Millie seemed at a loss how to continue.

  ‘Oh dear; I’m not sure how to put it.’ Sukey sensed that she was embarrassed. ‘I heard one of the women, Mrs Pearson I think it was, say what a nice voice he had and she said it was – now, what was the word she used to describe it?’

  ‘Mellifluous?’

  ‘No, it wasn’t that, although I did hear someone else use that word. I think what Mrs Pearson said began with s.’

  ‘Sexy?’ suggested Sukey.

  ‘Yes, I think that’s what it was.’ Sukey could almost see her blushing. ‘And then,’ Millie went on, ‘she said, “He is quite sexy; I wonder if he’s got a lady friend tucked away somewhere”.’

  ‘If you don’t mind my saying so, you sound a little shocked at the suggestion.’

  ‘I just don’t like that kind of talk, that’s all. Maybe that’s what put me off Mr Rainbird. Oh, excuse me; Miss Lang has just rung her bell – that means she wants her tea. I’ll ask her to speak to you while I’m making it.’

  ‘For goodness’ sake, I told you all I know,’ said Charlotte when she came on the line.

  ‘I’m really very sorry to bother you, Miss Lang,’ said Sukey. ‘As you’ll have gathered, we are no nearer to finding Mr Rainbird’s killer, and—’

  ‘Oh, you’ve at last accepted that he was murdered,’ Charlotte broke in. ‘I told you so, didn’t I? All that waffle about an “unexplained death” was just to cover up the fact that you weren’t doing your job properly, and while your lot were messing about another two people died. I wonder you can sleep at night.’

  ‘There are times when it can be a problem,’ Sukey admitted. ‘What we are trying to find out now is whether people have noticed Mr Rainbird
appearing to have, how can I put it, an especially close relationship with anyone in particular, someone he spent more time talking to than anyone else?’

  ‘Close relationship – Rainbird?’ Charlotte gave a staccato laugh. ‘None that I’ve ever noticed. As I’ve already told you, some women seemed to find him attractive on account of his voice. I’ve even noticed the women in the office or on reception looking at him in a gooey-eyed sort of way.’

  ‘Well, that’s something we hadn’t thought of,’ said Sukey. She resisted the temptation to add ‘I take it you weren’t susceptible to his charm’ before thanking Charlotte for her time and ending the call.

  ‘That’s something to pass on to Tim and Mike,’ said Vicky when Sukey relayed the gist of her conversations with Millie and Charlotte. ‘I suspect “gooey-eyed” was an exaggeration – she really is a spiteful old cow; I wonder how Millie puts up with her.’

  ‘Maybe she doesn’t have a choice,’ said Sukey. ‘As for Charlotte – well, I might turn crabby if I was suddenly faced with the prospect of spending the rest of my life in a wheelchair. How about you – any luck with the names on your list?’

  ‘So far I’ve only spoken to Julie Pearson. She wasn’t at Dallington Manor last weekend of course, but she and her husband knew Rainbird from previous events. It’s obvious they never understood why we’ve been treating his death as unexplained; she said they suspected all along that he’d been murdered. She confirmed what we learned from the Days; they quite liked Rainbird but agreed that he didn’t say anything much about himself. She did confirm what Charlotte told you about the female staff; she said even Mrs Chapman, who always appeared very brisk and businesslike, seemed to warm to him, but she never noticed him show a particular interest in, or be attentive to, anyone in particular.’