First Blood

by Claire Rayner

  ‘Well, if you need anything, let me know. I’ll be here. We’ll – er, we’ll both be glad to help in any way we can.’

  ‘I never for one moment doubted you, Charles,’ she said and hung up, leaving him sitting with the phone in his hand, wondering. Had she put an emphasis on the penultimate word? And if she had, what did it mean?

  ‘Oh, Fliss, what a bastard it all is. How are you coping?’

  ‘As you’d expect.’

  She was tired, he thought. Certainly she sounded weary rather than distressed. ‘Who told you?’

  ‘Mmm? Oh, it was the police. They sent a girl in a fancy uniform. So careful not to upset me that I was terrified half out of my wits. It was easier once she told me. It seems there was digitalis there.’

  ‘Digi – I hadn’t heard that.’ He was silent for a while. ‘The policewoman told you that?’

  ‘No. I phoned the pathologist, what’s her name, Barnabas.’

  ‘Ah, yes. George.’

  ‘Whatever. She seemed a little worried at first about saying anything but I pointed out that as his wife …’

  ‘Yes, I imagine she would be sensible.’

  ‘Is that what you call it? I call it giving in to the right sort of pressure properly applied. I’m quite good at that.’

  ‘Yes, I’ll grant you that, any time. Listen, Fliss, are you sure – er – that –’

  ‘Oh, do stop it. You know me better than this! If I put on a great act of being heartbroken you’d be disgusted. I’d be disgusted! I’m not heartbroken or anything like it. To tell the truth, I breathed a sigh of relief last week when he died. I could do without this complication, I’ll grant you that, but it’s been a long time since Richard actually quickened my pulses any.’

  He took a sharp little breath. ‘You’re still as hard as they come, Fliss.’

  ‘Oh, for Christ’s sake, do you have to talk like a cheap women’s magazine? I’m practical, yes. Efficient, yes. Intelligent, yes. Sentimental, no. Now, there’re things I have to do.’

  ‘Yes, of course. Can I help?’

  She laughed, a short bark of a sound. ‘If anyone else turns up to offer help with this funeral it’ll be like a state event. Either that or a positive camel of a committee-designed abortion. No, forget that. Perhaps I’m a bit more bothered than – Anyway, I need no help, thanks. If I do I know where to get it. Thank you for calling.’ And she hung up, crisply, leaving him with the buzzing handset still held to his ear.

  *

  ‘Not today, damn you. I’ll let you know when.’

  ‘It’s convenient for me today.’

  ‘Well, it isn’t for me. The last thing we want is you turning up in the middle of –’

  ‘But what the hell difference can it make? It’d be a bloody sight better than me being caught with the bloody things here. I warned you right from the start. I warned you I wasn’t taking chances like that. They’ve been here too long as it is.’

  ‘There’s been developments here. They’ll be buzzing around the bloody place like –’

  ‘All the more reason why it won’t make no difference. I made a deal with you, my old mate, and I’m not buggering around with it now. They’ll be there today and there’s the end of it.’ And he hung up.

  ‘Oh, Christ!’ The man holding the phone almost moaned it. ‘Oh, Christ.’

  ‘Mr Formby?’

  ‘Yes. May?’

  ‘Have you heard?’

  ‘Heard what?’

  ‘About Mr Oxford?’

  ‘What now?’

  ‘Murdered he was, Mr Formby.’

  ‘Ye Gods, May! Everyone knows that! The porter at the gate told me when I drove in, and I’ve been told by everyone else I’ve seen since I got here. I thought you had something new, like who murdered him.’

  ‘I’d tell you if I knew.’ She sounded hurt and he took a deep breath. No sense in upsetting her. She could sulk for a week if she was upset.

  ‘I’m sure you would. If that’s all then …’

  ‘Oh, no, Mr Formby. Mr Herne wants a word –’

  ‘What? Why didn’t you say so at once? I’ll go right over.’

  ‘He’s on the phone, Mr Formby.’

  He stopped worrying about upsetting her. ‘For Christ’s sake, and you’ve kept me blathering on about Oxford? Put him through, woman!’

  She put him through, and he could feel her flouncing as she did it. God help him for the rest of the week. His coffee would be disgusting. So would the pained silences.

  ‘Mitchell?’

  ‘Sorry to keep you, Matthew. Wretched girl put you through on the wrong line or something.’

  ‘Then you’d better get them checked, hadn’t you? Your responsibility, the phones, aren’t they? Now, listen, Mitchell. I’m most concerned. Most concerned.’

  ‘Oh?’

  ‘Oxford. Murdered you know.’

  ‘I had heard.’ Formby made it as non-committal as he could.

  ‘It’s the money that I’m worried about.’

  ‘Money? What money?’

  ‘For Barrie Ward, of course! What else?’

  Formby let his shoulders relax. ‘Oh, I see. Well, I’m sure we’ll find someone else to take over the chairmanship of the committee, Matthew. It’s early days, that’s all. I’ll suggest to that woman, what’s her name, the dressmaker one – Madeleine Schwab – I’ll suggest to Madeleine that she approach Felicity Oxford as soon as is decent, see if she’ll take over. I think she’d be best, you know, knows everyone on the committee and people are always sorry for widows. I don’t want to sound too calculating, of course, but we’re committed to a lot of building there and it’s important we keep the money coming in. And making the best use we can of our assets, like Mrs Oxford, would make sense –’

  ‘Do stop! I’m not concerned about the committee! Or not at the moment. It’s the money that Oxford was handling that worries me’

  ‘Eh?’ Formby was startled.

  ‘The takings of the concert, the last big Bring and Buy and the response to that special mailshot he did. He handled it all. I’ve checked on the computer account and there’s none of it in. The question I have to sort out is whether we have to get our lawyers on to it, or whether it’ll show up once the will has been sorted out. I’ve never been involved with a person who got himself murdered before.’ He spoke with an air of fastidiousness. ‘So I don’t know the drill.’

  ‘I can’t say I have either,’ Formby said a little drily. ‘What does the lawyer say?’

  ‘I told you, I haven’t asked. I have to decide what to do about lawyers.’ He sounded uneasy. ‘The problem is, it’s a lot of money. Thirty-seven thousand.’

  ‘Thirty – what?’ Formby’s voice squeaked its amazement. ‘How much?’

  ‘It was the mailshot. He got various big names to sign it. It brought in a lot – the thirty thousand part. The rest was all the work the committee’s been doing. It ought to be on the hospital computer by now.’

  ‘When did you realize it wasn’t?’

  Herne sighed. ‘I meant to speak to Oxford about it, but it wasn’t convenient. I thought I’d catch him at the concert, but of course he wasn’t there.’

  ‘No,’ Formby said. ‘He wasn’t, was he? He was busy getting himself murdered at the time.’

  ‘I can’t see how that happened,’ Herne said fretfully. ‘On his own, locked in his flat, how did he get murdered? It has to be a mistake, surely.’

  ‘Well, the police are the people you’ll have to ask about that.’ Formby was thinking fast. ‘As for the Fund money …’

  ‘Yes. What shall we do about that?’

  ‘I think you should talk to the lawyers. At once,’ Formby said, putting a definite emphasis on the word you. ‘If I’d been at all involved, that’s what I’d do. It’s up to you, of course. I’m just the one who agrees spending. I don’t actually handle the income.’

  Herne took a deep breath. ‘I see. Thank you for your help, Formby. Talking to you has cleared my mind a l
ittle. Yes, cleared my mind. Thank you.’

  He hung up.

  *

  ‘Carole? I’ll be late tonight.’

  ‘Oh, Bear, must you? I’ve been looking forward to getting out. I’ve been stuck in all day.’

  ‘Darling, I know. If I could be there, don’t you think I would? It’s just that there’s a panic on here’

  ‘What sort?’

  ‘That man who missed the concert, Richard Oxford. He’s been murdered.’

  ‘Ooh? Really? What a thing! Who did it?’

  ‘No idea. No one has, but there’re problems of course, what with money and things.’

  ‘Money?’ Her voice sharpened.

  ‘Coochie, I’ll tell you all about it tonight, I promise. You’ll be there?’

  ‘Well, I don’t know.’ He could see her pouting and felt the tingle at the back of his neck. ‘It’ll be so dismal if you’re not here, but I could go over to Barbie. She’s got a little party tonight and I thought we’d go on there together. But …’

  ‘Oh, Christ,’ he muttered and she said, ‘Mmm?’ in a questioning voice and he said loudly, ‘Nothing!’ and thought hard. ‘I’ll tell you what, sweetie. You get yourself all dolled up and I’ll be home by, say, seven. How’s that? The party won’t get going till after that, will it? Of course not. And I’ll dress so fast you’ll be amazed and we’ll go to Barbie’s together.’

  She squealed delightedly. ‘Oh, Bear, darling, you are adorable! I’ve got the most fabulous dress you ever saw –’

  ‘Another one?’

  ‘You said I could if I wanted to and –’

  ‘Oh, of course, of course,’ he said hastily. ‘Of course I did, angel. So, seven o’clock, hmm? Put my things ready for me to change. You never know, we might have time for a little this and that …’

  She giggled. ‘We’ll have to see about that, sweet old Bear. Maybe, if you’re very good.’

  ‘Oh, Christ,’ he said. ‘I want to come home now.’

  She giggled again. ‘Got crowded trousers, angel face, talking to your puss? Ooh, you are a naughty man! Shall I see you this afternoon, then?’

  ‘Shit, no!’ He was sweating a little. ‘I can’t. But I’ll be there as soon as I can. I do love you, Carole.’

  She giggled again and it made his neck crawl even more. It was a sound he needed to hear. ‘I’m beginning to think you do, my angel. See you tonight, then. I won’t dress till – oh, half past six. How’s that?’ And again she made that breathy little giggling sound and hung up and he sat there for a long time with the phone to his ear, listening to the buzz. It helped a little.

  ‘Beatrice? Is something wrong?’

  ‘No. Should there be?’

  ‘You don’t usually call me in the middle of the day.’

  ‘I had a call from Felicity Oxford.’

  There was a silence. Then he said carefully, ‘Oh?’

  ‘About her husband.’ Beatrice sounded impatient. ‘That he’d been done away with.’

  ‘So it seems.’

  ‘You didn’t tell me.’

  ‘I would have done tonight. I didn’t think it worth a special call.’

  ‘Oh? I would have done. However, she’s concerned about the Fund and the committee meeting. Kind of her, under the circumstances.’

  ‘Very.’

  ‘I told her I’m willing to chair it. It’s tomorrow.’

  ‘It might be better to cancel.’

  ‘Oh, I don’t think so. It’s important to keep ahead of things. I just want you to see to it that the agendae are printed ready and the various documents organized.’

  ‘I’m very busy just at –’

  ‘And tell your secretary to see to it this time the tea is hot. No committee I’m running will have to tolerate the sloppiness we’ve had to put up with.’

  ‘I’ll tell her, Beatrice. Anything else?’

  ‘Not at present.’

  ‘Then I’ll see you tonight.’

  ‘I need a favour,’

  ‘Oh, do you?’ she said sweetly. ‘Want me to let you off your bet?’

  ‘Not on your nellie! I always pay any debt of honour. Every penny of it. No! I’m glad to pay up. I need some help, that’s the thing.’

  ‘But you know I’m falling over backwards to help the police.’

  ‘So I’d noticed. You don’t have to be that acrobatic, mind you. All you got to do is … Look, one of the detective constables tells me you took pictures of the Oxford flat that night.’

  ‘What if I did?’

  ‘So I need to see them.’

  ‘Can’t you get your own?’

  She could almost see the chagrin on his face at the other end of the line. ‘Not the ones I want, bugger it. Some bloody idiot gave the wife permission to go in. So I don’t know what’s been moved and what hasn’t. The dickhead said he saw no harm, seeing it wasn’t a crime.’

  ‘But that’s what you thought.’ She sounded more sweet than ever. ‘They say that every organization takes its tone from the head, so you can’t blame your chaps if they thought it was just an ordinary death, can you?’

  ‘I’ve had enough of that,’ he said. ‘No need to push the shovel an’ all down me throat, is there? I’ve eaten enough crow as it is. But now I have to see what the place was like, before anyone wandered around unsupervised.’

  ‘With pleasure.’ She cooed the words with deliberate charm. ‘Come any time that suits you. It’s always a pleasure to help a colleague.’ And she hung up and sat back in her chair, her hands linked behind her head, grinning at the ceiling. It had been a long time since she’d been so pleased with herself. It was a very agreeable feeling.

  14

  He looked again at the photographs, which were spread in a tidy pattern across her desk, and then sighed and swept them up into a pile. ‘It’s no use. I can’t remember that well. They look much the same to me, as though nothing’s been disturbed, but who am I to be sure? Just a bloody copper, after all.’

  ‘Supposed to be a detective,’ she murmured. ‘Supposed to see at a glance when things have been messed about with.’

  ‘Don’t you start again. You’ve been piling on the agony enough. You were right, I was wrong, and I’ve said so as handsome as I know how. Now lay off.’ But he didn’t sound all that angry. More amused, she thought.

  ‘I’ll try not to rub it in,’ she said kindly. ‘I can understand how much you must be smarting.’

  ‘Not me.’ He got to his feet and reached for his jacket, after pulling down his shirt sleeves and buttoning them. ‘I never look back at mistakes. Only forward to success. OK, I’ll take these and go and start some comparing.’

  ‘I’ll get my coat. Just give me five minutes to talk to Jerry about some stuff here. I can spare – oh, an hour, perhaps.’

  ‘Who asked you to come along?’ He stopped and lifted his brows at her. ‘I don’t remember saying anything about you coming along.’

  She reached forward, took the pictures from his hand in one neat movement and tucked them into the pocket of her white coat. ‘You didn’t have to. I’ve decided to come along.’

  ‘What for?’

  She sighed a little theatrically. ‘To do some comparing, of course.’

  ‘There’s the photos. That’s all I need.’

  ‘And I’ve got my memory to add into the mix,’ she said. ‘And let me remind you it’s a trained memory. I’m an observer. It’s what pathologists do best, you know, make observations. You need me.’

  ‘Haven’t you got anything else to do? They need you here, too, I imagine.’

  ‘I’m a good administrator.’ She smiled as serenely as she could. ‘So I can delegate.’

  ‘Listen, doll. I like your company. You know that. But I got the impression you weren’t that crazy on mine. So what’s this all about? I don’t generally expect the doctor to do a follow-up at the scene of the crime. So why are you being so pushy?’

  Her serenity wobbled and then melted away. ‘Pushy? Me? I like that!
I’m not being anything of the sort. But I do know what I’m good at and I’m good at noticing things other people don’t. I told you, it’s what pathologists do best. It’s what I do best, dammit. And since if it hadn’t been for me you’d have had this chap neatly in his grave and no one any the wiser that there was a murderer wandering around unchecked, it’s a bit rich to –’

  ‘All right, all right!’ He held up both hands in mock surrender. ‘I give in. I’ll allow you to come along with me, on one condition.’

  ‘You’re not allowing anything. I’ve told you I’m coming, so you can’t make any conditions. Only I can. And the first is you wait till I sort out a couple of things.’ She walked past him out of her office and into the big lab, feeling him follow her but paying no attention.

  ‘Jerry!’ she called. ‘I gather Sheila’s still over in Formby’s office sorting out the reagent orders?’

  ‘It’s what she said she was doing.’ Jerry looked up from his microscope. ‘Mind you, she’s been gone long enough to order a supply for the next seven years. But there it is, she’s got a lot of people to talk to on the way, I imagine.’ He winked at Jane who giggled and put her head down over her microscope as George turned to look at her.

  And then frowned. ‘Jane? Which microscope is that?’

  ‘This?’ Jane patted it. ‘It arrived an hour ago. Isn’t it great they moved so fast?’

  George went over and looked at it. Then she shook her head. ‘Who’d have thought they’d manage that? How long did you have to wait to get them in the first place? And Formby told me … Yet now they manage to get replacements as fast as this. Well, for once no one can complain. Have they all been replaced? Or is this the only one?’

  ‘They’re all back,’ Jerry said cheerfully. ‘This time I signed the delivery note and kept a copy. I put it on Sheila’s desk. She’ll put it through to you in the usual way, I imagine.’

  ‘Well, thank God that little business is settled,’ George said. ‘Now we can catch up with some of the backlog, I hope. Peter, let me have those livers from ICU as soon as I get back, will you? I have to go out for an hour. This murder …’ Behind her Gus snickered softly but she ignored him.