First Cut is the Deepest (Harry Devlin)

by Edwards, Martin

  ‘Murder it is, then.’

  Mitch Eggar folded his arms, said nothing. Time to regain the initiative.

  ‘Was she burned to death - or killed in some other way?’

  ‘Such as?’

  Harry swallowed. ‘Carl was stabbed in the chest - and decapitated for good measure. With Nerys, was it the same…?’

  Eggar was watching him closely. ‘What makes you imagine that it might have been?’

  ‘Come on. This isn’t your usual patch. Why would you be involved in both inquiries if there wasn’t a link between the deaths?’

  ‘Carl Symons and Nerys Horlock were once in partnership together. They’re killed within a matter of days of each other. Isn’t that enough of a link?’

  ‘Maybe. But you haven’t given me an answer. Was her head cut off?’

  ‘All I’ll say is this.’ The smile had vanished. Harry had never known Eggar’s tone so bleak. ‘In life, she wasn’t such a bad looking woman. In death - not a pretty sight.’

  For a few moments both men were silent. They were sitting in a mobile incident room parked across the road from the burned-out building. It was turning into a long afternoon. Outside it was pouring down. Harry could hear the rain slamming down on the roof above them.

  ‘For the record, I didn’t kill her. Or Carl. I had no reason to, no reason at all.’

  ‘They were fellow lawyers, both with a reputation for being hard-nosed. The sort who upset other people. Did a legal dispute get out of hand? Maybe they’d given you a rough time in court.’

  ‘If I went around murdering everyone who gave me a rough time in court, the legal profession in Liverpool would be down to single figures by now. And I can think of a few members of the judiciary and tribunal chairmen who’d be keeping the undertaker busy as well. To say nothing of learned counsel.’

  Eggar weighed him up, as if called upon to make a tight umpiring decision. ‘Let’s move on. What do you think Nerys Horlock wanted to talk to you about? What was so urgent that couldn’t wait for the morning?’

  ‘Can’t help you. I wish I could. Obviously she wanted to get something off her chest.’

  Eggar looked at him curiously. ‘You hadn’t been screwing her, by any chance?’

  ‘Are you kidding?’ Harry didn’t know whether to be flattered or appalled. ‘She wasn’t exactly my type.’

  ‘And what is your type?’

  A sexy redhead married to a violent ex-loan shark. He tried out a lazy smile. ‘You know, Mitch, I’ve always had a bit of a soft spot for winsome charm. Hayley Mills, perhaps. Jenny Agutter. Nerys Horlock didn’t qualify. She had balls of steel. Not someone to mess around with. And I can promise you, she never showed the slightest interest in me. You may wonder that she was able to resist falling into my arms, but believe it or not, she didn’t seem to find it much of a challenge.’

  ‘Yet she rang you,’ Eggar persisted. ‘Went to the trouble of tracking down your home number. Can’t have been business, according to what you told me. So it must have been personal.’

  ‘We’d spoken a couple of times since Carl’s death. On the morning after he was killed, I bumped into her in the law courts. Yesterday we had a five-minute conversation at Dale Street. We talked about Carl’s death, naturally. It did cross my mind that she was keeping something back.’

  ‘She gave you that impression?’

  ‘Yes. When I found she’d called, I wondered if she’d decided to take me into her confidence after all.’

  Eggar cast his eyes to the heavens. ‘Doing your detective number again?’

  ‘I found Symons’ body, don’t forget. It’s not entirely bizarre that I wondered who might have killed him - and why.

  ‘Any idea what she wanted to tell you?’

  ‘Been racking my brains. I can only assume it was something to do with Carl. Some secret he’d been trying to hide, maybe.’ He spread his arms. ‘Not sure. Perhaps she was simply suffering from delayed shock after his death and wanted a shoulder to cry on.’

  ‘Bit odd, though. If the two of you weren’t close, why should she choose you?’

  ‘Perhaps she couldn’t think of anyone else,’ Harry said helplessly. ‘She wasn’t the kind of woman who had many friends. There had been a couple of affairs that I’d heard gossip about, but nothing that lasted.’

  ‘Tell me more. Did she ever sleep with Symons?’

  ‘Hard to believe she was that desperate. She wasn’t blind. As far as I can tell, she always found him physically repulsive. She said as much when I said I’d heard a rumour that Carl and Suki Anwar had been an item. Nerys would have none of it.’

  ‘Suki the prosecutor? That’s interesting.’ Eggar stroked his chin. ‘I suppose Nerys might have been jealous if Suki had supplanted her.’

  Harry shrugged. ‘The idea never occurred to me. And I still don’t think it’s likely. Nerys was choosy. She’d much rather live alone than in a relationship that didn’t suit her. Above all, I reckon she liked good looks. A few years back, before she set up in partnership, I remember she was seeing a lecturer from the College of Law, a real smoothie. That finished when he emigrated to Canada. A while ago, there was gossip that she’d had a fling with Rick Spendlove. I’m not sure I believed it.’

  ‘Why not?’

  ‘I got the impression it was Rick who put the story about. I wondered if she’d rebuffed him and so he’d decided to get his own back.’

  ‘Do I gather you and he aren’t soul mates?’

  ‘He’s not my favourite person, I must admit.’

  ‘But he does well with the ladies?’

  ‘Scores more often than Michael Owen.’

  ‘I’ve heard Spendlove’s name. Picked up odd bits from the papers. Doesn’t he work for that big firm over at Albert Dock? I keep seeing his photo next to stuff about all the work he does for charity. A lawyer with a heart, it seems.’

  Harry scanned the detective’s bland expression for irony. ‘Let’s just say that Rick doesn’t believe in doing good by stealth. He lives in a different world from Nerys and me.’

  ‘Business lawyer?’

  ‘Insolvency. Or corporate recovery, as he likes to call it. The legal profession’s equivalent of the undertaker, really. Each night he goes to bed, he prays the roof will fall in on the economy.’

  ‘Any day now, he might get lucky. Suppose Nerys did sleep with Spendlove, though. If she dumped him, he might have taken it badly.’

  Harry wrinkled his nose. ‘I might not be a fan of Rick’s, but I can’t see him as a killer. Besides, he’s had two wives, countless girlfriends. If she did give him the elbow, it would be water off a duck’s back.’

  ‘You reckon?’

  ‘Sure. He likes to brag about his favourite chat-up line. Asks a girl if she knows the difference between pizza and oral sex. If she says no, he says, “Fine. Let’s do lunch.” Believe me, he’d soon have another girl in tow.’

  The policeman sniggered. ‘Tell me this, then. Was there ever anything between Nerys Horlock and Brett Young?’

  ‘The way he was talking last night, there was no love lost between them. But I don’t think that had anything to do with an affair gone wrong. He’s a good-looking bloke, but I can’t see Nerys mixing work with pleasure.’

  ‘But Young was bitter about the partnership break-up?’

  ‘He used to be a partner in a firm of solicitors. Now he’s driving a rusty Sierra round Liverpool in the small hours. Wouldn’t you be bitter?’

  ‘I might think I’d begun to move up in the world at last.’

  Harry grinned. He was relaxing a little, but in the back of his mind he couldn’t forget that this was when Mitch Eggar was at his most dangerous. You could never be completely off guard. Same as in the cricket match; just when you thought the ball that had rapped your pads was swinging away down the legside, he’d give you out and you’d be trudging back to the pavilion.

  ‘Blessing in disguise? I could just go along with that. At least Carl and Nerys gave him a reason to e
scape the drudgery.’

  ‘You left his place about when? Nine, did you say?’

  ‘More like half past.’

  ‘Where did you go afterwards?’

  ‘I walked straight home, like I said.’

  ‘A fair stretch.’

  ‘I needed the exercise. And to clear my head. By the way, before you ask, I don’t have anyone to vouch for me. I did see one of my ex-clients near the Cathedral, but he was fully occupied with a business transaction and I’m pretty sure he didn’t see me. Besides, he’s a black pimp with convictions for dealing in drugs, so I guess you might not regard him as an entirely reliable witness.’

  ‘I hope you’re not implying prejudice,’ Mitch Eggar said with pleasant menace.

  ‘Perish the thought. I’m sure you’d listen to him with an open mind and then decide impartially that he was a lying toe-rag. So what it comes down to is this. I have no alibi for either of the killings.’

  ‘Looks bad.’ Eggar gave a thoughtful nod. ‘Lots of detectives in my shoes would lock you up, you realise? Just on the off chance you were guilty.’

  ‘Sure. And if I’m innocent, it’s one more brief out of the way, so who cares?’

  ‘You get my drift.’

  ‘Yeah, but trouble is, you don’t believe I murdered anyone, do you? Plus, you don’t have any evidence. Not a shred. And the last thing you want is to let me have the satisfaction of sueing for wrongful arrest.’

  Eggar did his impersonation of an Easter Island statue. ‘Face it, you’re a suspect.’

  ‘And Brett Young? He hasn’t an alibi, either.’

  ‘Careless. Maybe you and your mate were in it together.’

  ‘One thing you need to face is this, Mitch. Plenty of people might have wanted to kill Carl. Nerys too. They never exactly courted popularity. Have you checked out disgruntled ex-clients of Symons, Horlock and Young? Surely that’s where you should be concentrating your inquiries.’

  ‘Don’t worry, we haven’t overlooked them.’ Mitch Eggar bared his teeth. ‘No stone unturned, eh?’

  ‘Another thing. I wouldn’t call Brett a mate. We’re acquaintances rather than friends.’

  Eggar narrowed his eyes. ‘Putting clear blue water between the two of you, eh? You sound like the Prime Minister when he finds a member of the cabinet has been a bit naughty. Think Young might be guilty, then?’

  ‘Just making sure you don’t get the wrong impression.’

  ‘You’d be surprised how often the wrong impression turns out to be dead right. We’ll see. Okay, that’s it for now.’

  ‘So I’m not under arrest?’

  ‘Not yet.’ As Harry got up to go, Eggar said, ‘Just one last question.’

  ‘Oh for Christ’s sake. Not the Columbo technique.’

  ‘Always admired that show. Taught me a lot.’

  ‘Your shabby raincoat is one of your proudest possessions?’

  ‘Don’t push it, Harry. What I wanted to ask is this. I came across Nerys Horlock in court perhaps two or three times over the last few years, that’s all. I didn’t know her. You did. What sort of woman was she?’

  ‘I told you before, we were never close.’

  ‘Sure, but what was she like?’

  Harry considered. ‘Tough lawyer. Ruthless. I can see that she and Spendlove did have a couple of things in common. She liked being a crusader. Muriel Scawfell raves about the way Nerys stitched up her old man. Not much private life to speak of, I shouldn’t think. If Rick’s a sex addict, she’s a workaholic. She came from a family with lots of kids and not much money. I think she was proud of her achievements, but somehow they’d distanced her from her background. She’d never found anything to replace it, so she threw herself into her work. I suppose that’s what she had in common with Carl. Lawyering had become a substitute for living.’

  ‘Fate worse than death, eh?’

  ‘I can think of worse.’

  And in his mind Harry could not help conjuring up a stomach-churning picture of Nerys Horlock’s severed head, wearing her trademark sardonic grin

  Brett Young was waiting for him when he arrived back at Fenwick Court. He was in reception, reading an out of date copy of Making a Will Won’t Kill You and sipping a cup of tea, apparently sobered up and oblivious to the admiring glances of Suzanne. Harry could not recall the last time she had made a client of his a drink of any kind. She’d even abandoned her book on Feng Shui. Definitely smitten.

  ‘You’re late,’ she said as he nodded at Brett and went to pick up his phone messages. ‘Mr Crusoe wanted to know where you were.’

  ‘Tell him I’ve been helping the police with their inquiries.’

  She gave him a thrilled look before adding, ‘And Mr Young has been here for the past twenty minutes. He doesn’t have an appointment, but I assured him that if he was willing to wait, you’d be happy to see him.’

  ‘Sure. Thanks for looking after him.’

  ‘My pleasure,’ she said, her cheeks reddening. Harry gaped: a blush from Suzanne was on a par with a visit from Halley’s Comet. The phone buzzed and she glared at it for an instant before answering. ‘Crusoe and Devlin … yes, he’s just walked in … no, no, at least I don’t think so.’

  She pressed ‘hold’ and said in a gleeful shock-horror tone, ‘It’s a Ms Anwar. Seems to think you may have been arrested.’

  He snatched up the handset. ‘Suki. This is Harry Devlin. Why do you…’

  She sounded rattled. ‘Sorry. But there are all kinds of rumours flying around here. Nerys Horlock has been found dead and someone just said they’d been told Mitchell Eggar had picked you up.’

  ‘Wrong end of the stick. I turned up at Nerys’s office and Mitch took the opportunity to ask me a few questions about Nerys, that’s all.’

  ‘What sort of questions?’

  Harry glanced at Suzanne. She was hanging on his every word. Brett too had abandoned any pretence of reading about the rules of testamentary disposition. ‘Look, it’s a bit difficult to talk now.’

  ‘I understand … I don’t suppose we could get together later? It’s Friday night, I often finish up at the Maritime Bar.’

  A trendy place on the Strand, much frequented by the city’s yuppy professionals. ‘It’s on my way home. I can drop in there once I’ve cleared my desk.’ The latter phrase appealed to him so much that he couldn’t help repeating it. ‘Once I’ve cleared my desk.’ Well, a man could dream.

  ‘Marvellous. I’ll see you there.’

  He put down the receiver and gave Brett a sheepish grin. ‘Sorry to keep you. But I’m glad to see you’ve been looked after.’

  ‘Perfectly,’ he said, handing his cup back to Suzanne with an artless smile that reduced her to something like a special effect from The Blob. ‘Thanks very much.’

  ‘Any time. Really, any time at all. See you again, I hope.’

  ‘Hope so.’

  Brett’s gift, Harry thought, lay in his lack of self-consciousness where women were concerned. Whereas Rick’s charm was constantly rehearsed, Brett’s was entirely natural. No wonder he’d been able to hook Andrea Gibbs.

  Once they were in his office with the door closed, Harry sat down in a chair facing Brett on the client’s side of the desk and said, ‘I take it you’ve heard the news?’

  Brett nodded. ‘On the radio. I guess Nerys is the dead woman, but they didn’t name her. Do you know anything more?’

  ‘I’ve just come back from a session with Detective Inspector Eggar. And yes, she’s dead. The case is being linked with the Carl Symons murder, but I don’t know much more. Eggar plays his cards close to his chest, as you would expect. He wouldn’t tell me how she died.’

  ‘When did it happen?’

  ‘The fire took hold some time after ten o’clock, as far as I can gather.’

  ‘I heard sirens,’ Brett said. ‘Of course, I had no idea Nerys’s office was on fire.’

  ‘You heard them from your flat? Surely the fire engines didn’t pass right by? It’s not on the
main route.’

  ‘No, no. After you left, I decided to go for a walk, clear my head. I was overwrought, as well as pissed. Speaking of which, I’m sorry I gave you a hard time.’

  ‘Forget it.’

  ‘Listen, the things I said about Andrea - can you forget them, too?’

  ‘Sure.’

  ‘I was upset. Seeing her with Spendlove hurt. I wasn’t thinking straight.’

  ‘Uh-huh. So - you went for a walk?’

  ‘Yeah, I wasn’t far away from Nerys’s place when I heard the fire engines.’

  ‘I see.’

  ‘Don’t say it like that. I was walking round aimlessly, getting the booze out of my system. Trying not to get even more uptight about Andrea. I thought about ringing her at work and trying to patch things up. But in the end I was afraid to call. As for Nerys, I didn’t give her a second thought, let alone kill her.’

  Harry fiddled with the papers on his desk, not looking at Brett. ‘Why were you afraid?’

  Brett breathed out. ‘It’s just that - oh, doesn’t matter.’

  ‘Have you been in touch with her today?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘I told you last night, it’s crazy to be jealous of Rick. You know what he’s like. My guess is, Andrea wouldn’t give him the time of day. Why don’t you give her a call now?’

  ‘No! Not now.’

  ‘What’s wrong?’

  ‘It’s just that … oh, let’s just say I don’t want to have to crawl to her, beg her forgiveness for what I said last night.’

  Harry frowned. Brett’s excuse didn’t ring true, but he let it pass. ‘Think about it. You have enough problems without making them worse. For a start, you’re like me. A bit lacking as far as alibis are concerned.’

  ‘I was wondering,’ Brett said slowly. ‘Maybe we could do ourselves both a bit of good. If we said that you were with me until eleven, say, it would put us in the clear. Save the police from wasting time on us when they could be tracking down the real culprit.’