‘Could C be for carat?’ said Marvel. ‘Could that be the size of the diamond?’
Reynolds frowned and ran his finger down the entries. ‘Yes!’ he exclaimed. ‘Sir, I think that’s right! In every case it’s a similar value – from zero point two to zero point seven-five, followed by a C.’
He beamed at Marvel, who nodded grimly. ‘We’re not there yet.’
‘I know, I know.’ But Reynolds was enthused all over again. They knew dates. And now they knew for sure that each string of numbers and letters somehow resolved into details of the knife as well – most probably the price and the buyer. It was only a matter of time.
They pulled into Reading services and all got out for a pee and some coffee, then headed west again.
Jack curled up on the back seat and fell asleep again almost immediately.
In the front seat, DS Reynolds opened the Book of Knives with new determination. He was sure that cracking the code that could link Adam While to the murder weapon was only a matter of time.
Reynolds frowned, and flicked through the pages to check. ‘Jack’s right,’ he said suddenly, glancing at Marvel. ‘Only one entry ends with a letter.’
‘Yeah? Which one?’
Reynolds bent over the book for the hundredth time, flicking pages, his finger seeking, eyes checking …
12OC98W799h 223988iFH5lABT e0.5CTA1110250R
‘The knife sold in October 1998.’
‘That’s two months after Eileen was murdered,’ said Marvel quietly. ‘Adam While had his knife for years before that.’
‘But what if he had both?’ said Reynolds. ‘What if he had the knife before and afterwards? What if he murdered Eileen with a knife he’d bought or been given years earlier? And then he panicked and threw it away at the scene? He went back to the lay-by to try to find it, but it was only when he was picked up that he realized the police had already found it.’
Marvel nodded. ‘He was one of a small handful of people who knew the police had found the murder weapon.’
‘Exactly! For all he knew, they’d be releasing pictures of it to the press and someone like his wife might see it and start asking questions about his knife. So he needed to get another one as soon as possible because, after all, how could the police have his knife if he still had it? It was watertight.’
Marvel joined in. ‘The problem was, he couldn’t just buy an identical knife off the shelf, because it’s not one of thousands, it’s one of one.’
‘Or, in this case,’ said Reynolds, ‘one of two.’
‘So R is for replica,’ said Marvel.
Reynolds nodded. ‘Or replacement. Or re-order. Or re-issue. But all of them mean the same thing – Adam While had to commission a new VC knife to cover his back. Ordered at the end of August and finished in October.’
Reynolds grinned like a fool. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt so good. Marvel glanced at him with a look in his eye that he’d never seen before, so it took him a moment to realize it was respect. And although DS Reynolds thought that DCI Marvel was an arse, he still felt proud.
‘Once she’d made a replacement in a rush, Veronica Creed must have known he was guilty of something,’ said Marvel. ‘That’s probably why she took off so fast after our little visit.’
‘Exactly,’ said Reynolds, and bent back over the book.
Now he focused on that single entry. He took out his notebook and wrote out the code so he could break it down and play about with it, like an anagram. All the letters, all the numbers. Where he knew the first six characters were the date, and the 0.5C was a half-carat diamond, and R stood for replica. Or replacement. Or re-order, or re-issue, or rush …
After that, it was only a matter of time.
Near Swindon, he took the knife out of the glove compartment and measured it and put it away again with a proud click.
‘Got it!’ he shouted.
Jack woke up and yawned and rubbed his eyes and hung over Reynolds’ shoulder to hear what he had to say.
‘All the information we need is right here! All she’s done is break it up and mix it up so it looks like gibberish, but once you crack it, it’s easy to read!’
He showed them. With Marvel glancing across as he drove, and Jack Bright breathing hard in his ear, Reynolds broke the code down for them, drawing lines to show breaks, and circling letters …
12OC98W799h 223988iFH5lABT e0.5CTA1110250R
‘The first six characters are the date. We already know that. Then comes a random capital letter. Then a number always starting with seven. All mobile phone numbers in this country start with zero-seven. You see? She’s just removed the zero to make it less recognizable, and broken the number into two parts, with what looks like a random letter either side!’ He beamed at Marvel, who nodded.
‘So now we know those numbers make up a phone number. Then there’s another two letters – two capitals and a number, followed by a lower-case letter and three capitals. FH5lABT. Given this comes just before the size of the diamond, this must be a description of the product. The knife. So I imagine it’s something like Folding Handle or Hunting, and five is the length of the blade in inches. Then the lower-case letter, and then ABT, which probably stands for something else about the knife …’
‘Titanium,’ said Marvel. ‘Titanium blade.’
‘Yes, of course!’ said Reynolds. ‘And Abalone handle! That’s AB for Abalone and T for Titanium! And then another lower-case letter before the carat value, followed by more capital letters, but I don’t know what they mean. TA1110250R.’
Marvel took it slowly. ‘What else was it that we said any manufacturer would want to record about a sale? Product, price, date, customer name and address—’
‘Address!’ said Reynolds. ‘TA is the postcode for Taunton.’
‘While was living in Taunton at the time of the murder.’
‘So, TA1 or TA11, which means this last number is the price, which would make that …’ Reynolds paused, and glanced at Marvel. ‘Ten thousand, two hundred and fifty pounds.’
Marvel whistled softly through his teeth. ‘She knew,’ he said grimly.
‘You haven’t seen the best bit yet,’ said Reynolds. ‘All these leftover letters scattered about that help to confuse the other information? Look at them …’
He held the notebook up so that Jack could see it more easily.
‘W—’ started Jack. Then he stopped and swallowed a lump in his throat. ‘While,’ he said. ‘They spell While.’
THEY GOT BACK to the Tiverton police station just after nine in the morning, with Marvel and Reynolds in rare matching good moods, and with Jack trailing a little way behind them, as if even Reynolds knew that he wasn’t going to run now.
Jack sat down on one of the cheap plastic chairs near the door and stuck his hands deep into the pockets of his hoodie to await what came next, with a feeling of calm in his belly that was unfamiliar but welcome.
‘Adam While’s our man,’ Marvel said. ‘We’ve got so much on him he’s never going to wriggle out of it now.’
Parrott and Rice both broke into broad grins. Parrott gave them a little solo round of applause, while Elizabeth Rice came over and gave Jack’s narrow shoulder a motherly squeeze.
‘Parrott, get a patrol car. We’ll go and pick him up now.’
‘Yes, sir,’ he nodded and hurried outside.
‘Rice, you’ll have to stay here, unless you can get anyone to relieve you?’
‘I’ll try,’ she said.
Marvel turned to Jack. ‘You can wait here if you want, but you’re free to go.’
Jack looked at Marvel in surprise.
‘Sir!’ protested Reynolds.
‘A deal is a deal,’ shrugged Marvel. ‘You want me to lock him up until we actually drag While into the nick in handcuffs?’
The look on Reynolds’ face said that was exactly what he wanted.
Marvel turned to Rice. ‘You don’t have any objection, do you, Rice?’
‘Absolute
ly not, sir,’ she said. ‘A deal is a deal.’
Jack stood up tentatively, unsure of whether he was allowed to go or not.
‘I made a lawful arrest,’ insisted Reynolds.
Neither Marvel nor Rice said anything.
‘A hundred homes burgled and vandalized! What about those victims?’
His words hung in the silence and Jack didn’t know what to do. Reynolds had arrested him – but a deal was a deal …
Inside his hoodie pockets, his fists tightened nervously – one around his phone, the other around the little figurine Mrs Reynolds had given him.
Mrs Reynolds.
Embarrassingly late, Jack put two and two together and made a startling – a wonderful – four!
Slowly he pulled the clown from his pocket and held it loosely in his hand, while looking DS Reynolds straight in the eye.
Reynolds saw it and flushed. ‘Where did you get that?’ he demanded.
‘My next-door neighbour gave it to me,’ said Jack carefully. ‘For fixing her lawnmower.’
Reynolds opened his mouth and then closed it again.
Tentatively, Jack reached out and gripped the door handle. Nobody stopped him. Not even Reynolds.
‘Thanks,’ said Jack, then grinned at them all. ‘Thanks for everything!’
And he walked out of the police station.
JACK WANTED SO badly to be home. Wanted to check Joy was OK and to give Merry the clown. Wanted to walk through the front door and find his father had restored the house to a home. Somehow …
With his spirits lifting in hope, he hurried past the benches and broke into a jog across the Tesco car park.
A car screeched and bounced to a halt at his hip and Jack slapped an angry hand on the bonnet and glared through the windscreen.
The driver was Catherine While.
‘Jack!’ she said through the open window. ‘Please help me!’
For a moment Jack didn’t move. He was so disorientated.
What’s your emergency?
Catherine While had been crying. Her eyes were red, and tears had led mascara down her face in ragged streaks. Her hair was a mess and she appeared to be wearing a nightdress.
‘What’s wrong?’ he said.
‘Jack,’ she said, and then had to stop and start again. ‘I think you might be right,’ she went on haltingly. ‘I think maybe Adam—’
She couldn’t finish, but Jack’s breath caught in his throat.
Time seemed to slow right down. He looked away from Mrs While, across the metal roofs of the cars glinting in the sun.
Was this really happening? Here? In a supermarket car park, three years later? Was he going to find out exactly what had happened to his mother right here? Right now?
‘Can we talk?’ she said.
He looked at her, dazed. ‘How did you find me?’ he said.
‘This is the only place I’ve seen you before,’ she said. And then she repeated, ‘Can we talk? Please?’
He nodded dumbly.
She waited. She waited. She was waiting.
For him, he finally realized. To get in the car. So they could talk.
Jack walked slowly around the front of the Volvo, opened the passenger door and got in.
It was hot inside. Baking hot. Even with the windows down.
Mrs While was squeezed behind the wheel so tight that it pressed against her big belly.
‘Thank you,’ she said with a wavering voice. Then she wiped her eyes and took a deep breath, and released the handbrake, and they drove slowly out of the car park.
Jack wondered if they’d talk in the car, or drive somewhere else. Not her home, he thought. He might be there.
They passed the showroom full of cars nobody could afford, and then they passed Jack’s house. He willed Mrs While to stop.
She didn’t stop, and they left his home behind.
He kept looking at her but she didn’t look at him. She was pale and her hands trembled on the wheel.
‘Are you OK?’ he asked, even though she was the grown-up and he was the child.
She nodded, but her mouth wobbled and she kept wiping her eyes, so he knew she wasn’t OK.
She drove to the dual carriageway, and headed north.
‘Where are we going?’ he asked.
She shook her head mutely and Jack felt a cold stone of unease settle in his belly.
‘Where are we going?’ he insisted.
A sob escaped Catherine While like a big bubble of fear and Jack turned too slow, too late, too stupid.
A bump in his back, a dark blur in his eye, and a knife at his throat.
Abalone.
NOBODY ANSWERED THE door at the While home.
‘Shit,’ said Marvel. Just his luck!
Reynolds and Parrott went round the back to see if anything looked out of place.
Across the road, a man washed an already very shiny car. Marvel went over to him and showed him his ID. The neighbour’s name was Norman Kent.
‘We’re looking for Adam While,’ said Marvel.
‘I saw him this morning,’ said the neighbour. ‘I heard him leave around seven.’
‘Did you see him?’
‘No, I just know the sound of his van.’
‘What kind of van?’
‘White, with a horse on the side and a red rosette on the back doors.’
‘Easy to spot,’ said Marvel, and Mr Kent nodded and smiled.
‘And what about Mrs While?’
‘She has a green Volvo.’
‘Have you seen her today?’
‘No, I haven’t seen her for a few days,’ said Mr Kent. He paused and then said, ‘Do you think she’s all right?’
Marvel looked at him sharply. ‘Why would she not be?’
‘No real reason,’ said Mr Kent. ‘It’s only that she hasn’t been herself lately. Usually she’s full of smiles and waves. But in the past few weeks she’s looked a bit anxious. I wondered if there was a problem with the baby, but you can’t just ask about stuff like that, can you?’
‘God, no,’ said Marvel.
‘And I heard them fighting.’
‘The Whiles? When?’
‘I can’t remember,’ he said. ‘Four or five days ago? Adam came home late, I know that. I assumed he’d been drinking because he hadn’t taken his van, and I noticed him coming in on foot around one in the morning.’
‘That’s a long time after last orders.’
Mr Kent shrugged. ‘Anyway, I heard her shouting at him when he went in.’
‘Did you see Catherine again after that?’
Mr Kent squeezed his sponge like an aide-memoire and took a long time to say, ‘No.’
‘Do you have a spare key to their house?’
‘Afraid not,’ said Mr Kent.
‘Thanks for your help,’ said Marvel.
He rejoined Parrott and Reynolds at the Whiles’ front door.
‘Anything?’
‘Nothing, sir.’
‘Neighbour says he heard them fighting four or five days ago. Hasn’t seen Catherine While since.’
Marvel’s phone rang. He answered and only listened, looking increasingly grim.
‘What time?’ was all he said, before hanging up.
‘That was Rice,’ he said. ‘Catherine While’s mother just reported her missing. Apparently she’d been staying there for a few days, went downstairs at seven this morning to make tea, and never came back.’
As one, they all looked at the front door.
‘We should get a warrant,’ said Reynolds.
‘Or a brick,’ said Marvel, and picked one out of the path, and smashed the glass in the front door. ‘Don’t give me the stink-eye, Reynolds. I’ve reasonable grounds to believe a crime’s been committed here and that Catherine While’s life may be in danger.’
They searched the house.
And found nothing.
‘SHUT UP!’ SAID Adam While. ‘Shut up!’
But Jack hadn’t said anything.
; Maybe it was for his wife, who was now choking on sobs and red in the face.
‘Shut up!’
The angrier he got, the worse she drove.
Jack stayed out of it. He tried to think. To plan … as best he could with his head pushed to one side and the point of a knife pricking his neck.
Catherine While drove erratically – now on the accelerator, now on the brake – and the knife pricked him often. He could feel blood trickling down his throat and over his collarbone.
If he moved, if he spoke, While would kill him. He had no doubt.
How could he stop him? Jack didn’t know. He had no weapon, he had no skills, and Adam While was behind him. He’d have to turn to face him, and by the time he did, his vein would be slit, blood gushing out, even if it was only by accident.
They neared the end of the dual carriageway. He knew there was a roundabout ahead that led to the M5. Maybe he could jump out if they slowed down enough.
He thought of his mother. Had she planned like this? Had she tried to jump from Adam While’s car? Had she seen him and Joy and Merry on the hard shoulder? Waved frantically? Hoped for help. Watched him turn away from her?
Scared.
Stupid.
Watched them grow smaller instead of bigger?
Tears fizzed up Jack’s nose but furiously he willed them away. Crying never got anybody anything. He had to think about other things right now.
Like staying alive.
He tensed. He slid his eyes sideways and looked at the door handle. He imagined how it would feel in his hand, how it would open, how he’d roll sideways – away from the blade – how he’d hit the tarmac and try to stay loose as a drunk, and hope he wasn’t hit by a truck …
Catherine dithered on to the roundabout. ‘Where—’
‘North!’ While shouted. ‘North!’
‘Which way is north?’ Catherine turned to look at her husband – her lips red and swollen with bawling, her red eyes rimmed with black that ran rivers down her face. She looked like a clown.
A sad clown.
‘Left!’ shouted While, and leaned between the seats to yank the wheel. ‘Left!’
The car lurched one way, While lurched the other, and Jack twisted and smashed the china clown into the bridge of his nose. It shattered in his hand and blood ran through his knuckles, although he didn’t know whose it was.
Snap_‘The best crime novel I’ve read in a very long time’ Val McDermid Page 27