The Death of the Elver Man

by Jennie Finch

  ‘I don’t suppose you know anything about these “new lines of inquiry” do you?’ she asked. Eddie shook his head.

  ‘No, not heard anything about that,’ he said. ‘Mind you, I wonder if it has anything to do with Big Bill. The timing is certainly suspicious.’ He looked at her and continued, ‘Big Bill – well William Boyd really – was found murdered out on the Levels the beginning of this week. His throat was cut apparently, a nasty way to go and not an easy way to kill someone especially a man as big and strong as Bill.’

  Alex waited for more information but Eddie was focussing on the rough surface beneath his nice new suspension.

  ‘And?’ she prompted. ‘What has that got to do with Kevin?’

  ‘I’m not sure, but Bill‘s an important member of Derek Johns’ gang – you know, Newt’s dad? If someone is trying to make a reputation in the area they might be going after people they see as rivals. Now, the Elver Man was Peter Smithson, rumoured to be a didicoy from round Bath way and it’s a very lucrative position. Maybe someone wanted him and Bill out of the way. Just a theory, mind. Whatever the police found at the scene, they’re not saying anything to anyone just now.’

  ‘So they might think the two murders are connected,’ Alex mused. ‘That would certainly let Kevin off the hook seeing as they had him locked up at the time.’

  Eddie nodded. ‘Pretty good alibi. Here we are.’ He pulled up in front of the house and added, ‘I’ll pop back to get you in about an hour. I’ll sound the horn if you don’t mind. Ada and I don’t quite see eye to eye on a few things.’

  Alex climbed out of the car wondering what on earth Eddie had managed to do to alienate Ada. Eddie was the most easy-going person in the office, habitually cheerful and always willing to go the extra distance for his clients and their families, but the speed with which he took off down the track suggested it was more than a little tiff over Kevin’s attendance. As she approached the front door she realized she’d not broached the issue of the raft-race and whatever that might entail. Cursing Eddie and his manipulations she sidled up to the house and knocked, calling out as she did so.

  There was a clanking, a rattling of chains and Ada peered out as the door opened. Alex was hustled inside and Ada replaced the impressive collection of chains, turning the main lock – a deadbolt, Alex noted – before ushering her into the front room. Rather perversely, the back door was ajar and the back windows open to let the warm air flow in to the living room. Ada saw her puzzled look and said, ‘I’ve the dogs out there, keeping eyes out. There’s fence and hedges – come on, I’ll show yer.’

  The garden was bursting into life all around the house, a marked contrast to the shambles at the front. As she stepped out on to the cinder path the dogs rushed up to her, huge and menacing until Ada stopped them with a word. Mouse, the grey dog, took his place behind them and Alex had to stop herself glancing at him as they processed through Ada’s little kingdom.

  Rows of neat lettuces were interspersed with carrot tops, waving in the gentle breeze. She could identify potatoes and the tendrils of green and runner beans reaching greedily upwards towards the warmth of the sun, but many of the plants were unfamiliar to her.

  ‘These here is radishes,’ said Ada, picking her way along the path. ‘In here,’ she indicated towards the home-made cloches, ‘there’s marrow and a few cucumber. Got me some peppers this year, under that glass,’ she waved towards a couple of old windows propped up against the greenhouse, ‘and tomatoes inside of course.’ The door opened reluctantly and the smell of earth and the tomato plants each neatly staked and beginning to put out the first bunches of fruit brought back a vivid memory of Alex’s grandfather. Some of her happiest times as a child had come from long, warm afternoons spent pottering by his side, mixing compost and thinning seedlings as she helped the old man with his garden. She realized she was standing with her head around the door, a silly grin on her face and recalled with a shock the reason for her visit.

  ‘Ada, I’ve some news about Kevin,’ she said. Ada stepped back, closed the greenhouse door carefully and glanced around, wiping her hands nervously on her skirt.

  ‘Come back inside then. Don’t want to be blabbing on out here,’ she said, shooting anxious looks over the surrounding fences.

  ‘What are you scared about,’ asked Alex once they were safe inside once more. Ada shook her head and scowled fiercely.

  ‘Don’t you be worrying about that now, What’s you got to say about Kevin? He’s alright ain’ he?’

  ‘He’s more than all right; he’s on his way back home. The court gave him bail today and Mr Smythe’s driving him down right now. They’re dropping the murder charge.’

  There was a suspicion of tears in Ada’s eyes as she stared fiercely at the front door, as if willing Kevin to walk through that instant. She turned her burning gaze towards Alex and said simply, ‘Thank you,’ and in that moment Alex remembered why she wanted to do this job, why it meant so much to her and how much she believed in it.

  She was still on a high on the journey back to the office and nodded absently to Eddie’s conversation until she realized he was talking about the raft-race.

  ‘It’s not all that far really,’ he was saying. ‘Maybe a touch under four miles …’

  ‘Four miles?’ said Alex, aghast at the thought. ‘Four miles in the sea? Are you all crazy?’

  ‘Now that’s where you would be so valuable,’ said Eddie. ‘A qualified life-saver on board – and everyone has to wear life jackets so it’s quite safe.’

  Alex snorted in disgust. ‘Eddie, you wear life jackets when there’s some danger of actually drowning. Are we wearing life jackets at the moment? No. That is because we are quite safe, here in the car. Out on the open seas on a raft – oh no.’

  ‘You’re wearing a seat belt,’ said Eddie calmly. ‘Does that mean we are about to crash?’

  ‘Of course not,’ she snapped, all her good humour gone. ‘It’s just a precaution.’

  ‘So is a life jacket,’ said Eddie. ‘The seatbelt of the waves. Anyway, there are life boats out and marshals around all the time. Come on Alex, you might enjoy it.’

  ‘Eddie, the sea is freezing. I’m used to a pool – that’s just water with no waves and preferably with heating. I learnt my life saving in a pool, not out on the sea. I don’t even like those new wave machine things they’re using in the big pools.’

  Eddie sighed as he pulled in to the car park, turned off the engine and gave Alex the full force of his disappointed, teddy-bear look.

  ‘We really need something like this to focus the lads,’ he said. ‘They’ve spent a good few weeks on the raft in the workshop and I don’t know how I’m going to tell them it’s all for nothing. You know what that sort of let-down can do to them. Please – I’ll owe you.’

  Alex tried to avoid those wide, brown eyes but she felt her resolve crumbling.

  ‘Oh bloody hell – all right but – you never, never ask me to go yomping over the hills on walks. Ever. Deal?’

  Eddie reached over and gave her a hug. ‘Deal. And thank you so much.’

  Alex climbed up the steps to the reception area and was confronted by Lauren, who was leaning on the counter, a sardonic grin on her face.

  ‘Let me guess, you’re doing the race,’ she said.

  Eddie hurried through the lobby behind her. ‘I’ll drop off the training schedule,’ he called, as he disappeared up the stairs, taking them two at a time.

  Lauren called over her shoulder, ‘Told you all. Pay up now – ’tis a long while to pay-day!’

  Alex scowled at her. ‘Is there anything you lot won’t bet on?’ she growled.

  ‘Likelihood of death,’ said Lauren cheerily, ‘but most other things is fair game.’

  Iris woke as if from a long, nightmare-riddled sleep to find her world fractured and her home dirty, untidy and stinking. The morning was warm with a gentle breeze and she hurried around the house opening the windows, drawing the curtains back as far as she could to
let in the light. She was hungry, desperately hungry, but could not bring herself to sit down at the kitchen table whilst it was covered in crumbs, splashes of tea and smears of old food. She wiped everything down with bleach and went to empty the bin only to find it was upside down, rinsed out as Bill had left it. She frowned at it for an instant, recalling his visit vaguely. It certainly wouldn’t have been Derek, she thought, and there was no-one else around. Tears flooded her eyes and she felt her throat close up as grief threatened her tenuous hold on the present. She stood for a minute, eyes closed, with her face turned towards the sunlight. Then with a deep breath she righted the bin, took it inside and started on making breakfast. She knew Derek was not in the house by instinct. Some sense of calm told her he was not about to appear, scowling and wanting tea or toast or her complete attention for his stories. She had loved him once, been swept off her feet by his dark good looks and easy charm. Some part of her sensed the darkness he brought in his wake but at just eighteen that only made him seem more attractive. Her mother had disapproved, resisted the match as hard as she could.

  ‘He’s a wrong ‘un that boy,’ she’d said. ‘He’ll bring nothing but heartache and danger, you see.’

  Iris had known in some tiny corner of her soul that her mother was right but it was too late by then. She was in too deep, already damaged goods and tainted by her association with the Johns clan. Even if she had found the courage to walk away, no-one else would have wanted her. No-one except dear, faithful Bill, that is. But Bill was a friend of Derek’s, his best friend, and there was no way he could court her in safety. Even if they had run away Derek would have hunted them down. That was the sort of person he was. Iris sat at the table sipping her tea as she wondered what she was going to do with her life from now on.

  The first thing Ada did when Kevin shambled through the door was to box his ears soundly. The second thing was to hug him, a fierce and protective bear hug that threatened to suffocate him.

  ‘Mum,’ he protested feebly, wriggling to get free.

  ‘Don’t you “mum” me, you stupid lad. Look at you!’ She held him out at arm’s length before giving him another hug. ‘There’s nothing on you. You’m skin and bone. Now sit down and I’ll make tea for us all.’ She turned to Smythe who was hovering in the doorway unsure of his welcome.

  ‘You come in and sit and all. I don’t know how to thank you, I really don’t. You’ve saved my boy, I just know it.’

  ‘Well, I don’t know about that,’ muttered Smythe, but his ears went pink as he blushed, pleased by the unaccustomed praise. It was not an easy life, being a defence solicitor in a small town like Highpoint and compliments were few and far between. Most days he figured himself lucky if they paid their bills. He sat on the sofa, glad to note the dogs were absent, and looked out over the garden with its vegetable plot and the occasional fruit tree. The row of books caught his eye and he was tempted to go over and have a look but wisely decided to stay where he was, for Ada swept back with tea, on a tray this time, and a fresh packet of biscuits.

  ‘Now, tell me what happened,’ she said, as she settled back in her armchair.

  Smythe sampled his tea cautiously, placed the cup on the table and leaned forwards. ‘Well, I’m not exactly sure of the details,’ he said. ‘The police say they are now “pursuing other lines of inquiry”, which means they must have some evidence to suggest another culprit. They didn’t say what it was in open court, so I’m afraid I don’t know any more about it, but it does mean Kevin is now cleared of the murder charge. He will have to go to court for poaching, of course, but that will probably be a fine and maybe a probation order. There is a lot of concern over the dwindling number of elvers and the river wardens are pushing for the highest penalties at the moment, so the fine may be substantial.’

  ‘They already got all my money,’ said Kevin sullenly. ‘They took it off I and never gave none back. ‘Twas over two hundred fifty quid too, all my subs for the Watermen, so far as I’m concerned they can go whistle for they fine!’

  Ada glared at him. ‘You keep a civil tongue now. Is all this Carnival nonsense as got you in this mess in the first place. Well, ’tis going to stop now. You is staying round here where I can keep an eye on you and you is paying any fine and doing what that lovely probation officer says. Less you want to go back to jail?’

  Kevin went white. ‘They won’t do that. I was in for nothing – wrongful imprisonment that was. Reckon they owes me a bit for that.’

  Smythe cleared his throat. ‘I agree it is very unlikely they will return you to jail, given the circumstances, but the option will be there if you fail to comply and I don’t think you have any grounds for the return of the money. It is, after all, the proceeds from a criminal act and so will have been confiscated, I’m afraid.’

  Kevin’s response to that earned him another clout around the head from his mother.

  ‘You go on upstairs and take them decent clothes off. I’ll be making some tea and you can give me a hand. There’s stuff needing doing, been waiting for you. Mind,’ she said, looking at his lanky frame, ‘don’t know you’ll have the strength. Goodness boy, didn’t they feed you?’

  Kevin stopped at the door and looked at her for a moment. ‘Didn’t like it. Don’t fancy eating it when it’s all full of spit.’

  Sue waltzed into Alex’s room that evening and said, ‘Come on, we’re going out to celebrate.’

  Alex looked at her over a pile of half-completed Part B forms and asked, ‘Celebrate what – me being suckered into this raft-race?’

  Sue pulled a face at her. ‘Now don’t be like that. Anyway it’s to celebrate your success with Kevin Mallory. You put so much work into that and you did it – he’s out. That’s amazing.’

  ‘I don’t know it’s anything I did,’ said Alex.

  Lauren appeared around the door. ‘You kept on, kept believing in him. He was in court today because of you. Otherwise he’d still be in Bristol waiting for the coppers to notify the prosecution – could have been weeks before he finally got released. Come on Alex, don’t you want to drink my winnings?’

  ‘Winnings?’ asked Sue as they headed for the door.

  ‘Tell you later,’ whispered Alex.

  They headed for the Somerset Martyr, supposedly the hiding place for several rebels against the monarch in the aftermath of the Battle of Sedgemoor. Certainly it had the most gruesome pub sign Alex had ever encountered and she stared at it horrified until Lauren pulled her inside.

  ‘Did they actually do that to people?’ she asked.

  Lauren shrugged. ‘Them was traitors in the eyes of the King so that’s the traitors’ death,’ she said. ‘Was usually beheading for the important ones mind. Most of the little fry that survived was shipped off to the West Indies as slaves. Most of them was brought in front of Jeffries, though, so not that many didn’t hang.’

  ‘I remember reading about that at school – the Bloody Assizes, right?’

  ‘Well, round here it’s a bit more personal,’ said Lauren. She spotted an empty table in the corner and hurried over, tossing her bag on to it before levering herself up into a chair. ‘Go on, get some drinks in if you want all the details,’ she added.

  ‘I thought we were going to drink your winnings?’ said Alex as she headed for the bar.

  ‘Well now, I didn’t know I was going to be giving a history lesson,’ said Lauren.

  They settled into the corner with drinks and several packets of pork scratchings and Lauren gave them a potted version of the history of the Monmouth Rebellion with a rather unnecessary emphasis on the gorier parts of the tale in Alex’s opinion.

  ‘But was not the battle but more the aftermath people remember,’ Lauren said, peering into her empty cider glass. Sue got another round and hurried back to the table.

  ‘Was five hundred poor souls locked in the church up Westonzoyland overnight,’ said Lauren. ‘No food or water, not room to sit hardly. The next day they was taken out and some hauled off to prisons for trial bu
t some was hanged round the village and across the Levels. They was chopped up and the bits put on spikes for a warning. Is said some nights you can hear them five hundred crying and screaming in the church,’ she nodded thoughtfully. ‘People round here remember that and never had no time for kings and such after. That’s what Carnival’s about. That first float is always Guy Fawkes, pulled by hand and lit by real flaming torches. That’s how it all began.’

  A shadow had fallen over the group and they drank in silence for a moment before Sue said, ‘Come on, this is supposed to be a celebration. Kevin’s out, justice triumphs and Alex gets to be a hero. Let’s drink to that.’

  They raised their glasses and smiled at one another.

  ‘It’s also the first time Alex has been out after work since I arrived,’ added Sue.

  ‘First time ever I reckon,’ said Lauren, handing over the money for another round. ‘Get some of them crisps too, will you? See if they’s got any of them hedgehog ones left.’

  Alex spun round from the bar, a look of horror on her face. ‘You’re joking right? Hedgehog crisps?’

  The barman tapped her on the shoulder holding out a bag. ‘Just the one then, my beauty?’ he asked. ‘Oh, don’t be looking like that, there’s not real hedgehogs in ’em. ’Tis just a flavour, see?’

  Alex returned to the table considerably shaken and handed over the crisps between one finger and her thumb. Lauren tore them open and held out the packet. Sue took one, rather gingerly placing it in her mouth.

  ‘Actually they’re not bad,’ she said, taking another. ‘A bit salty and – not quite chicken more – a bit like thin pork scratchings. It’s only the idea of it being hedgehog that makes you think they taste odd. Go on – try one,’ she said pushing the bag towards Alex, who leaned back and shook her head. Sue sighed and helped herself to another crisp.

  ‘I was meaning to ask you,’ said Alex to Lauren, ‘you said the big boys at the pool called you “live bait”. What was that about?’