False Diamond--An Abbot Agency Mystery (21 page)

‘Description?'

‘We took photos on our mobiles – which you can have – but he never removed his helmet. A man, broad-shouldered, tall, about six foot, with hefty thighs. Wearing black leathers, the usual. The bike hadn't been personalized, which would have helped us to keep an eye on him, but there was a wing mirror on the roadside which looked as if it had taken a swipe. It wasn't correctly aligned, and he kept fiddling with it. You may find that helpful if you can track him down. Anyway, after a few minutes of waiting outside the pub, the biker got on the phone to someone, probably reporting his movements to date. We weren't close enough to hear what he said. We thought he must be phoning Benton. What time did the man die?'

‘We can't be certain yet.'

‘Oh, well.' She shrugged.

Bea held up her hand. ‘I'm trying to remember what the biker who was chasing the taxi looked like. He sounds exactly like the person you described, above average height and weight. And yes, thick thighs. I think Benton was his passenger, as he had a slighter build.'

Maggie was all impatience. ‘Let me tell you what happened next. While we were waiting for Mrs Abbot to finish her meal, we alerted Lucas to what was happening, and he set off for Kew in his own car with his wife and children. Meanwhile, Oliver got us three some takeaway food and we sat in Zander's car watching the biker, who was watching Mrs Abbot, who was sitting in the window above him, quite oblivious to his presence. As soon as she left the pub the biker started towards her. Fortunately, a taxi came along and she got into it without seeing him. Zander and I shadowed her taxi at a distance, while Oliver hared back to fetch Mrs A's car and follow on. The biker caught us up and cut in behind Mrs A's taxi, which dropped her off at the main entrance to the Gardens. Lucas and his family were waiting by the gates and followed her in. She was so bound up in her own thoughts, she didn't even notice them. Lucas loved the idea of taking the children to Kew while he kept an eye on Mrs Abbot because they'd never been there before. We said we'd pay their entrance fees, Mrs A. Hope that's all right.'

‘Definitely,' said Bea, trying to keep up.

Maggie continued, ‘There's not much parking on Kew Green, so Oliver and Zander went off to find a space while I got out to keep an eye on the biker, keeping in touch with Zander by phone all the time. And he with Oliver.'

The inspector pointed out, ‘Someone must have had two phones.'

‘Zander does,' said Maggie. ‘One for work and one for play. The biker drew up outside the main gates but couldn't find anywhere to park, either. We could both see Mrs Abbot walking off into the distance, followed by Lucas and his family. The biker was stuck; he didn't want to leave his bike where there was no parking, and he couldn't take it down to the car park, or he'd be out of sight of the main gate and wouldn't see Mrs Abbot when she came out. He made another phone call, waving his arms around, not at all happy—' Maggie broke off to wonder, ‘Who was he phoning for instructions if it wasn't Benton?'

The inspector shrugged, sneezed, blew his nose. ‘How should I doh?' His voice was thick with phlegm.

Maggie frowned. ‘Well, I expect it was Benton, before he met his sticky end, hurray. Anyway, we did wonder at that point if the biker might give up and go away, but he didn't. He took his bike round to the far side of the Green, squeezed in between a couple of parked cars and sat down to wait. And so did we.

‘You see, as long as the biker stayed outside, and Mrs Abbot was inside and being kept in sight by Lucas and his family, we knew she was safe, but we didn't know which gate she'd leave Kew by. There's three that I know of and maybe more. We thought she'd probably stick to her plan to have tea at the Maids of Honour on the road to Richmond. If so, she'd leave by the gate nearest to the restaurant, and not the one she'd taken to get into the Gardens.

‘So after Oliver found a place to park on the far side of the Green, he continued to watch the biker and the main gate, while I zipped back to rejoin Zander, and we drove round the corner to the Maids of Honour, where there is, luckily, some parking for customers. It was a long wait. Every now and then Oliver phoned to pass any news on to us. Oliver said the biker got very cold, started stamping his feet. The problem for him was the same as for us; he didn't know which gate Mrs Abbot would leave by.

‘Eventually, the biker made a move. Oliver phoned us to say he'd left the Green, and in a couple of minutes he whizzed past where Zander and I were sitting outside the Maids of Honour. I think he'd lost his nerve because he disappeared down the road only to return at speed after a few minutes. We worked out that he was trying to patrol all three gates. At last Lucas reported that Mrs Abbot was also on the move, walking towards our gate. Lucas watched her leave the Gardens and then he took his family home.

‘Luckily, the biker wasn't in sight when Mrs Abbot came out of the Gardens. We could see she was dismayed at finding a queue outside the Maids of Honour. She waited for a while but after a few minutes the biker came back and slowed down to scan the queue. This seemed to make Mrs Abbot uneasy, and she took the next bus going back to town. I phoned Oliver that we were on the move and we set off after the bus. The biker took no notice of us, but did a U-turn in the road and set off after her, too.

‘When Mrs A. got to Waterman's, she got off the bus and walked down to the entrance. Zander and I went on into the car park, while Oliver tried to find a space further on. To our horror, the biker came into the car park after us. And then got out his phone again.'

She tugged at her hair. ‘So who was he ringing? It must have been Benton, because the biker was obviously told to ratchet up the tension. He abandoned the bike and strode towards the entrance, only to see Mrs Abbot turn round and join a queue of people waiting for the next bus going north. It was getting dark. He was caught by surprise, left standing there as the bus pulled away. We could see him scrambling back to his bike as we left the car park and followed the bus. We were in a bit of a state, not sure what Mrs A. intended to do. The traffic was building up … but after a while the biker was there behind us, too. Oliver had to take quite a diversion to rejoin us, but managed it eventually.

‘Mrs A. got off the bus at an interchange stop and stood there, waiting for another to come along. We had to overshoot. There was nowhere to park. Oliver was behind us and saw what happened next. The biker managed to park his bike by squeezing in between a couple of parked cars and was striding off towards her when a taxi came along and she took it. We followed her safely back home. Oliver got there before us. End of.'

‘Ridiculous!' said the inspector, holding on to and then giving vent to another giant sneeze.

‘God bless!' said Maggie, running her hands back through her hair. ‘So who was giving the orders to the biker? It must have been Benton.'

Bea felt limp with gratitude to Maggie and Oliver, but ambivalent towards the inspector. The sooner she got rid of him, the better. ‘Inspector, don't you think you ought to be in bed?'

‘Wish I could be,' said the inspector, snuffling and mopping up. ‘Now, Ms Maggie, are you prepared to give me a statement confirming—'

‘I'll do better than that.' Maggie jumped up. ‘We took photos on our mobiles every so often, and they give the timings, don't they? I transferred them to my computer but haven't printed them off yet. Half a tick and I'll get them for you.'

‘Did Lucas, the taxi driver, take pictures, too?' Bea was fascinated. ‘How thorough of you.'

‘We didn't know what was going to happen. We thought that even with all our precautions, the biker might still find a way to attack you, and we wanted to have him on record, just in case.'

‘But he didn't get a chance,' said Bea. ‘You are quite, quite brilliant! Inspector, what happens now?'

But the inspector had had all the stuffing taken out of him. He'd set out to question a suspect in a murder and found she had an unbreakable alibi. His cold had got worse, and he was feeling sorry for himself. He blew his nose, noisily.

Maggie tapped her forehead. ‘It wasn't Benton on the bike yesterday. It was a much bigger man. So who was it?'

‘Perhaps,' said Bea, ‘it was someone he'd hired to carry on frightening me even though he himself had other plans for the day?'

‘Such as getting himself killed? We need to know when he died, don't we? Who else could the biker have been ringing?'

‘He rang his girlfriend, of course,' Bea said, feeling that if she were not careful, she'd give way to hysteria. ‘He was ringing to say he was going to be late for supper.'

‘Flippancy,' croaked the inspector, ‘is not helpful.'

The two women looked at him with sharp eyes. ‘You really
ought
to be in bed,' said Bea. ‘Why don't you phone in sick?'

He snuffled, took refuge in his handkerchief again. ‘Might. Gib me dose photos.'

Maggie swept out of the office, saying she'd get them, pronto.

There was a commotion out in the main office. Some laughter, some cheers. What was going on?

The phone rang in Bea's office. It wasn't the landline. Bea fished around in her handbag and found her smartphone. ‘Yes?'

It was Inspector Durrell. ‘What now?' he said. ‘I told you, I'm in the middle of—'

‘The man I told you about has been murdered. Would you like to speak to Inspector Robins about it? He thought I'd done it, but fortunately I have an alibi.' She held the phone out to Inspector Robins, who made signals that he didn't want to speak to Inspector Durrell. Bea handed her phone over to him with one of her sweetest smiles. ‘I'll leave you alone to take the call.'

She followed Maggie out into the main office. Leon was there. Of course. With a large box of fresh doughnuts, which he was handing out to all and sundry. He held the box out to Bea. ‘I kept a chocolate one for you. Would there be a cup of coffee to go with it?'

She said, ‘You've heard about Benton?'

‘My sister phoned me. Have a doughnut. Carbohydrates are good for shock.'

She did as she was told. He was big and smiley and from another world. She didn't trust him, but she did like him. No, ‘like' was the wrong word. She was attracted to him, but she told herself it wouldn't be wise to get into a dinghy with him without first donning a life jacket. ‘Have the police been out to see the family already?'

‘They have. First off they wanted to speak to Dilys. Sybil got my brother out of bed to talk to them. He was horrified by the news, naturally. Sybil then rang me. Complications all round.'

‘But no tears, by request. Mm. I haven't had a doughnut for years.'

‘Special treat.'

‘What about my diet?' Was she really flirting with him? She was ashamed of herself. Slightly. Mentally, she checked what she'd put on that morning and was thankful that she'd reached for a businesslike suit in her favourite oatmeal colour, and some brand new court shoes to match. She'd even put on the earrings she'd been wearing the day before. So, she wasn't badly turned out. And her bruises were beginning to fade.

‘You've no need to worry about diets.' His eyes were warm with appreciation.

Mm. Well. A little admiration gets you a long way in this world. She refrained from running her hand back through her hair. No, that would be taken as too warm a response to his flattery.

‘Lunch?' he said, quirking an eyebrow in what he must know was an attractive fashion.

She shook her head. ‘I have one police inspector in my office, another on the phone, and an agency to run.'

‘Can't you get rid of them? I really need your company.' He did his best to look soulful, and she found herself smiling.

Maggie erupted from her office, waving a sheaf of papers. ‘One set for us, one for the police, right? Oh. Hi, Leon. How's Bernice?'

‘I spoke to her on the phone this morning. She's enchanting. Asking when you're going to see her. She takes your little bear everywhere.'

‘Oh, the poppet. I'll ring her this evening. I'll have to put my skates on now to catch up with what I was supposed to be doing this morning. Tell her I'll be in touch when you see her.' She handed Bea one set of photos.

Inspector Robins emerged from Bea's office, to hand her the phone with one hand while he stifled another sneeze with his hankie in the other. ‘Someone will be round, wanting a statement from … Er-ashoo!'

Everyone took a step backwards. Bea took her phone, thinking she'd better get it disinfected before she used it again.

Maggie handed the inspector the second set of photos. ‘For you. Oh, and by the way, I thought you'd like to know that I spotted the biker outside in the road when I came back a few minutes ago. Yes, it's the same registration number, and he's parked halfway along the road, looking this way. Can't you do something about him, arrest him for loitering or something?'

He growled something about being off duty and that he'd send someone to look into it. And made his way through the office and out.

Bea realized her phone was making quacking noises. Inspector Durrell was still on the line. ‘Mrs Abbot, are you there?'

‘Sure.' Handling the phone gingerly, and not too close to her ear.

‘I've got enough on without being asked to chase up non-existent deaths.'

‘What!'

‘I took time off from the case I was supposed to be working on, to follow up your request. I need my head examined. You wanted me to find out if a girlfriend of Benton's had been killed in a traffic accident. Guess what! There is no record of any woman being run down and killed in the timescale you mentioned. Yes, there were some accidents resulting in death, but none for a young or youngish woman. Only for children and elderly people.'

‘There must be!'