Past Reason Hated Page 27

  ‘Did he do it?’ Sandra asked.

  Banks shook his head. ‘No. Not literally. When she told him what had happened when her mother had been in hospital having him, he suddenly realized why she hated him. She wanted to apologize, make up even, if she could. But Gary’s sensitive. It’s not something you can really work out in your mind. Christ, most people don’t even talk about it. And Caroline had blanked out the memory for years. It was always there, though, under the surface, shoving and cracking the crust. Gary just reacted emotionally. He was overwhelmed by what she said, and suddenly his whole world was turned upside-down. All his anger had been pointed in the wrong direction – at her – for so long.’

  ‘He killed his father?’

  ‘He sat in his room downstairs and let the old man starve to death.’

  Sandra shivered. ‘Good God!’

  She was right to be so appalled, Banks thought. It was an act of utmost cruelty, the kind for which a public ignorant of the facts might demand a return of the noose. But still, he couldn’t forget Gary’s pain and confusion; he couldn’t help but feel pity for the boy, no matter what atrocity he had committed. He gave Sandra the gist of their discussion.

  ‘I can see what he meant when he said her father had killed her,’ she said, ‘but why implicate himself too? You said he didn’t do it.’

  ‘But he blamed himself – for being born, if you like After all, that’s when it started. That’s when Caroline was left alone with her father. He couldn’t give us any concrete details of the crime because he hadn’t done it. But in his mind he was responsible. All he could say was that it was all dark to him. Dark and painful.’

  ‘I don’t understand,’ Sandra said, frowning.

  ‘I think he was describing being born,’ Banks said ‘Dark. Dark and painful.’

  ‘My God. And you said Caroline tried to drown him, too?’

  ‘Yes. He was about four and she was twelve. He can’t remember the details clearly, of course, and there’s no one else alive to tell what happened, but he thinks his mother left him for a moment to fetch some clean towels. She left the bathroom door open and Caroline walked in. He said he remembers how she pulled his feet and his head went under the water. The next thing he knew, he was up again in his mother’s arms gasping for air and Caroline was gone. Nobody ever spoke about it afterwards.’

  ‘He must have been terrified of her.’

  ‘He was. And he didn’t know why she was treating him that way. She didn’t know, either. He turned in on himself to shut it all out.’

  ‘Is he insane?’ Sandra asked.

  ‘Not for me to say. He’s in need of help, certainly. Just imagine the hatred of all those years boiling over, finding its true object at last. All the humiliation. His own life ruined, knowing he was only second-best to his sister. The only wonder is he didn’t do it sooner. It took Caroline’s murder and the truth about her childhood to set him free.’

  Banks remembered the slouching figure that had shuffled out of his office after telling everything. He would be under care in Harrogate now, perhaps going through the whole story again at the hands of less sympathetic interrogators. After all, look at what he’d done. But Gary Hartley wouldn’t be hanged. He wouldn’t even be sent to jail. He would first be bound over for psychiatric evaluation, then he might well spend a good part of his life in mental institutions. Which was better? It was impossible for Banks to decide. Gary’s life was blighted, just as his sister’s had been, though, unlike Caroline, Gary hadn’t even managed to snatch his few moments of happiness.

  ‘Then who did kill Caroline Hartley?’ Sandra asked.

  Banks scratched his head. ‘I’m buggered if I know. I’m pretty sure we can rule out Gary now, and her friends in London. When Caroline moved on, she always seemed to burn her bridges.’

  ‘Which leaves?’

  ‘Well, unless we’re dealing with a psycho, we’re back to the locals. Ivers and his girlfriend aren’t home-free yet, whatever they told us. They lied to us at the start, and Patsy Janowski has a good motive for corroborating everything Ivers might claim. She loves the man and wants to hang on to him. And then there’s the amateur crowd. I’ve been intending to have another talk with Teresa Podmore.’

  ‘And Veronica Shildon?’ Sandra asked. ‘Susan Gay seems to think you’ve been overlooking her.’

  ‘Susan’s prejudiced.’

  ‘Are you sure you’re not?’

  Banks stared at her. ‘Don’t you know me better than that?’

  ‘Just asking.’

  He shook his head. ‘Officially she’s a suspect, of course, but Veronica Shildon didn’t do it. I must be overlooking something.’

  ‘Any idea what?’

  Banks brought his fist up slowly to his temple. ‘Damned if I know.’ Then he stood up. ‘Hell, it’s been a rough day. I’m having a stiff Scotch then I’m off to bed.’ He poured the drink and went into the hall to his jacket. When he came back he said, ‘And I’m having a bloody cigarette as well, house rule or no house rule.’

  12

  ONE

  The wind numbed Banks to the marrow when he got out of his car near the Lobster Inn the following afternoon. It was 3 January – only three days to twelfth night. The sky was a pale eggshell blue, with a few wispy grey clouds twisting over the horizon like strips of gauze. But the sun had no warmth in it. The wind kicked up little white caps as it danced over the ruffled water and slid up the rough sea wall right onto the front. Banks dashed into the pub.

  There already, ensconced in front of the meagre fire, sat Detective Sergeant Jim Hatchley, pint in one ham-like hand and a huge, foul-smelling cigar smouldering between two sausage-shaped fingers of the other. Banks thought he had put on weight; his bulk seemed to loom larger than ever. The sergeant shifted in his seat when Banks came over and sat opposite him.

  ‘Miserable old bugger saves all his coal till evening,’ he said, by way of greeting, gesturing over at the landlord who sat on a high stool behind the bar reading a tabloid. Bigger crowd then, you see.’

  Banks nodded. ‘How’s married life treating you?’

  ‘Can’t complain. She’s a good lass. I could do without being at the bloody seaside in winter, though. Plays havoc with my rheumatism.’

  ‘Didn’t know you had it.’

  ‘Nor did I.’

  ‘Never mind. Just wait till spring. You’ll be the envy of us all then. Everyone will want to come and visit you on their weekends off.’

  ‘Aye, maybe. We’ll have to see about renting out the spare room for bed and breakfast. Carol’s got some fancy ideas about starting a garden, too. Sounds like a lot of back breaking work to me.’

  And Banks knew what Hatchley felt about work, the dreaded four-letter word, back breaking or not. ‘I’m sorry to lumber you with this, Jim,’ he said. ‘Especially on your honeymoon.’

  ‘That’s all right. Gets me out of the house. We’re not spring chickens, you know. Can’t expect to be at it all the time.’ He winked. ‘Besides, a man needs time alone with his pint and his paper.’

  Banks noticed a copy of the Sun folded in Hatchley’s pocket. From the little he could see, it looked to be open at page three. An attractive new wife, and he still ogled the naked page-three girl. Old habits die hard.

  The landlord stirred; his newspaper began to rustle with impatience. Clearly it was all very well for him to be rude to customers, but customers were not expected to be rude to him by warming themselves in front of the sparse flames for too long without buying a drink. Banks walked over and the paper rose up again, covering the man’s beady eyes.

  ‘Two pints of bitter, please,’ Banks said, and slowly the paper came to rest on the bar. With a why-can’t-everyone-leave-me-alone sigh, the man pulled the pints and plonked them down in front of Banks, holding his other hand out for the money as soon as he had done so. Banks paid and walked back to Sergeant Hatchley.

  ‘Anything come up?’ Banks asked, reaching for a cigarette.

  Hatchley
pulled a cigar tube from his inside pocket. ‘Have one of these. Christmas present from the in-laws. Havana. Nice and mild.’

  Banks remembered the last cigar he had smoked, one of Dirty Dick Burgess’s Tom Thumbs, and declined. ‘Best stick with the devil you know,’ he said, lighting the cigarette.

  ‘As you like. Well,’ Hatchley said, ‘there’s nowt been happening around here. I’ve been up with Carol a couple of evenings, for a drink, like, and noticed that Ivers and his fancy woman in here once or twice. Tall chap in need of a hair cut. Looks a bit like that Irish bloke from Camelot, Richard Harris, after a bad night. And that lass of his, young enough to be his granddaughter I’d say. Still, it takes all sorts. Lovely pair of thighs under them tight jeans, and a bum like two peaches in a wet paper bag. Anyroad, they’d come in about nine-ish, nod hello to a few locals, knock back a couple of drinks and leave about ten.’

  ‘Ever talk to them?’

  ‘No. They don’t know who I am. They keep themselves to themselves, too. The local constable’s a very obliging chap. I’ve had him keeping an eye open and he says they’ve done nothing out of the ordinary. Hardly been out of the house. Are they still in the running?’

  Banks nodded. ‘There’s a couple of problems with the timing, but nothing they couldn’t have worked out between them.’

  ‘Between them?’

  ‘Yes. If they killed Caroline Hartley, they must have been in it together. It’s the only way they could have done it.’

  ‘But you’re not sure they did?’

  ‘No. I’m just not satisfied with their stories.’

  ‘What about their motive?’

  ‘That I don’t know. The husband had one, clearly enough, but the girl didn’t share it. It’d have to be something we don’t know about.’

  ‘Money?’

  ‘I don’t think so. Caroline Hartley didn’t have much. It would have to be something more obscure than that.’

  ‘Perhaps she’s the kind who’d do anything for him, just to hang on to him.’

  ‘Maybe.’

  ‘Or they didn’t do it?’

  ‘Could be that, too.’

  ‘Or maybe you’re over-complicating things as usual?’

  Banks grinned. ‘Maybe I am.’

  ‘So what now?’ Hatchley asked.

  ‘A quick visit, just to let them know we haven’t forgotten them.’

  ‘Me too?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘But they’ll recognize me. They’ll know me in future.’

  ‘It won’t do them any harm to know we’re keeping an eye on them. Come on, sup up.’

  Grudgingly, Sergeant Hatchley drained his pint and stubbed out his cigar. ‘Still another ten minutes left in that,’ he complained.

  ‘Take it with you.’

  ‘Never mind.’

  Hatchley followed Banks out into the sharp wind. Thin ice splintered as they made their way up the footpath to Ivers’s cottage, from which a welcoming plume of smoke curled and drifted west. Hatchley groaned and panted as they walked. Banks knocked. This time, Ivers himself answered the door.

  ‘Come in. Sit down. Sit down,’ he said. Hatchley took the bulky armchair by the mullioned window and Banks lowered himself into a wooden rocker by the fire. ‘Have you caught him?’ Ivers asked. ‘The man who killed Caroline?’

  Banks shook his head. ‘Afraid not.’

  Ivers frowned. ‘Oh . . . well. Patsy! Patsy! Some tea, if you’ve got a minute.’

  Patsy Janowski came in from her study, glared at Banks’s right shoelace and went into the kitchen.

  ‘How do you think I can help you again?’ Ivers asked.

  ‘I’m not sure,’ Banks said. ‘First, I’d just like to go over one or two details.’

  ‘Shall we wait for Patsy with the tea?’

  They waited. Banks passed the time talking music with Ivers, who was excited about the harmonic breakthroughs he had made over the past two days. Hatchley, hands folded in his lap, looked bored.

  Finally, Patsy emerged with a tray and put it down on the table in front of the fire. She wore jeans with a plain white shirt, the top two buttons undone. Banks noticed Hatchley take a discreet look down the front as she bent to put the tray down. She didn’t seem pleased to see Banks, and if either of them recognized Sergeant Hatchley, they didn’t show it. This time, Patsy was surly and evasive and Ivers seemed open and helpful. Luckily, Banks had learned never to take anything at face value. When tea was poured, he began with the questions.

  ‘It’s the timing that’s important, you see,’ he opened. ‘Can you be any clearer about what time you delivered the Christmas present, Mr Ivers?’

  ‘I’m sorry, I can’t. Sometime around seven, I’m sure of that.’

  ‘And you stayed how long?’

  ‘No more than five minutes.’

  ‘That’s rather a long time, isn’t it?’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘People have funny ideas about time, about how short or long various periods are. I’d say five minutes was a bit long to spend with someone you didn’t like on an errand like that. Why not just hand over the present and leave?’

  ‘Maybe it wasn’t that long,’ Ivers said. ‘I just went in, handed it over, exchanged a few insincere pleasantries and left. Maybe two minutes, I don’t know.’

  Banks sipped some tea, then lit a cigarette. Patsy, legs curled under her on the rug in front of the fire, passed him an ashtray from the hearth.

  ‘What pleasantries?’ he asked. ‘What did you say to each other?’

  ‘As I said before, I asked how she was, how Veronica was, made a remark about the weather. And she answered me politely. I handed over the record, told her it was something special for Veronica for Christmas, then I left. We’d at least reached a stage where we could behave in a civilized manner towards one another.’

  ‘You said it was something special?’

  ‘Something like that.’

  ‘How did she react?’

  Ivers closed his eyes for a moment and frowned. ‘She didn’t, really. I mean, she didn’t say anything. She looked interested, though. Curious.’

  ‘That may be why she opened it, if she did,’ Banks said, almost to himself. ‘Did she seem at all strange to you? Did she say anything odd?’

  Ivers shook his head. ‘No.’

  ‘Did she seem to be expecting someone?’

  ‘How would I know? She certainly didn’t say anything if she was.’

  ‘Was she on edge? Did she keep glancing towards the door? Did she give the impression she wanted you out of the way as soon as possible?’

  ‘I’d say yes to the latter,’ Ivers answered, ‘but no to the others. She seemed perfectly all right to me.’

  ‘What was she doing?’

  ‘Doing?’

  ‘Yes. When you called. You went into the front room, didn’t you? Was she listening to music, polishing the silver, watching television, reading?’

  ‘I don’t know. Nothing . . . I . . . eating, perhaps. There was some cake on the table. I remember that.’

  ‘What was she wearing?’

  ‘I can’t remember.’

  ‘Claude’s hopeless about things like that,’ Patsy cut in. Half the time he doesn’t even notice what I’m wearing.’

  Taking in the stooped, lanky figure of the composer in his usual baggy clothes, Banks was inclined to believe her. Here was the genius so wrapped up in his music that he didn’t notice such mundane things as what other people said, did or wore.

  On the other hand, Ivers obviously had a taste for attractive women. In different ways, both Veronica and Patsy were evidence enough of that. And what red-blooded male would forget a woman as beautiful as Caroline Hartley answering the door in her bathrobe? Surely a man with a taste for so seductive a woman as Patsy Janowksi couldn’t fail to remember, or to react? But then Ivers knew Caroline; he knew she was a lesbian. Perhaps it was all a matter of perspective. Banks pressed on.

  ‘What about you, Ms Ja
nowski? Can you remember what she was wearing?’

  ‘I didn’t even go into the house. I only saw her standing in the doorway.’

  ‘Can you remember?’

  ‘It looked like some kind of bathrobe to me, a kimonostyle thing. Dark green I think the colour was. She was hugging it tight around her because of the cold.’

  ‘What time did you arrive?’

  ‘After seven. I left here about twenty minutes after Claude.’

  ‘How long after seven?’

  ‘I’m not sure. I told you before. Maybe about a quarter after, twenty past.’

  ‘What were you wearing?’

  ‘Wearing?’ Patsy frowned. ‘I don’t see what that’s—’

  ‘Just answer, please.’

  She shot his right lapel a baleful glance. ‘Jeans, boots and my fur-lined jacket.’

  ‘How long is the jacket?’

  ‘It comes down to my waist,’ Patsy said, looking puzzled. ‘Look, I don’t—’

  ‘Would you say that Caroline was expecting someone else? Someone other than you?’

  ‘I couldn’t say, really.’

  ‘Did she react as if she had been expecting someone else when she saw you standing there at the door? Did she show any disappointment?’

  ‘No, not especially.’ Patsy thought for a moment. ‘She was real nice, given who I am. I’m sorry, but it all happened so quickly and I was too concerned about Claude to pay much attention.’

  ‘Did she seem nervous or surprised to see you, anxious for you to leave quickly?’

  ‘No, not at all. She was surprised to see me, of course, but that’s only natural. And she wanted to shut the door because of the cold.’

  ‘Why didn’t she ask you in?’

  Patsy looked at the hearth. ‘She hardly knew me. Besides, all I had to ask her was whether Claude was there.’

  ‘And she said he wasn’t.’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘And you believed her?’