The Scent of Death--A Sukey Reyholds British police procedural (28 page)

‘We won't be staying long, and this –' Rathbone held up his ID for a second time – ‘will do just as well as one of those.'

As before, Grayson was waiting by the lift; without a word he conducted them to a convenient room, flung open the door changed the notice outside from ‘Free' to ‘Occupied' before entering behind them and sitting down without inviting them to join him. His face was a dull red. ‘I don't know what the hell this is about, but at least you might have had the courtesy to let me know you wanted to speak to me again. This is extremely embarrassing, to say the least.'

Rathbone pulled up a couple of chairs and made sure Sukey was comfortably seated with her notebook at the ready before sitting down himself. ‘You'd have preferred advance warning, no doubt, and a more convenient time and venue,' he began, ‘so that you could avoid giving your colleagues any more reason to gossip – and probably take the opportunity to call Cynthia Franks and make sure the two of you got your story straight in case we were planning to talk to her as well.'

‘How dare you bring her into it?' Grayson spluttered. He looked appealingly at Sukey. ‘You know our story, Constable Reynolds and you know the reason I lied about the time I was at the Ritz hotel. Cynthia is prepared to risk her reputation by swearing that she was with me that night.'

Sukey could not resist saying quietly, ‘When it comes to reputations, I seem to remember you were more concerned with your own than hers.' He compressed his lips and avoided meeting her eye.

‘May I remind you, Mr Grayson, that we are conducting a murder enquiry,' said Rathbone. ‘I admit that at first we could see no possible reason to suspect you of killing Rainbird. As you yourself pointed out, what possible motive could you have?'

‘Exactly,' said Grayson, ‘so why waste my time and yours with further pointless questions?'

‘Because,' Rathbone said, ‘we have discovered that you have a very strong motive. Lance Rainbird knew all about your guilty secret.'

Grayson's mouth fell open. ‘How on earth …?' he began.

‘It's amazing what one can find out using the various social networking services on the Internet. It was not difficult for one of our technical experts to read the files on Mr Rainbird's laptop and discover not only your affair with Mrs Franks but also details of a previous liaison. I put it to you, Mr Grayson,' Rathbone went on, ‘that he wanted something from you which you were reluctant to give him and that, armed with this information which no doubt you wished to remain secret, he put some kind of pressure on you, threatened you with exposure, if you refused his demands. What did he want as a payment for his secrecy – money, promotion?'

‘I … I simply have no idea what you're talking about,' said Grayson. ‘He never made any demands on me; I had very little to do with him that wasn't directly concerned with work.'

‘Except during your rather vitriolic exchanges over religious matters,' said Sukey, as Rathbone invited her with a glance to put the next question.

‘Well, yes.'

‘We understand that you are – or claim to be – a committed Christian.'

‘That's true. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that in common with a lot of young people nowadays, you are either a pagan or have no beliefs at all.'

‘On the contrary, I too am a Christian. We are told not to judge others, but I'm afraid I tend to feel rather judgemental about hypocrisy. Did Lance Rainbird by any chance accuse you of hypocrisy?'

By this time it was evident that Grayson was feeling very uncomfortable. He clasped and unclasped his hands and hesitated before saying, ‘He may have done. He said a lot of very offensive things.'

‘Did it not occur to you that to call you a hypocrite would imply that he knew something about you that would suggest that you did not always practise what you preach?' He did not answer. ‘So in your heart of hearts you knew that particular accusation was justified.'

‘I can assure you I never paid any attention to anything Lance Rainbird said. At first I tried to reason with him, bring him to faith, I even prayed for him.' He made a slightly despairing gesture. ‘But I've told you all this before.'

‘Indeed you have, but now we want to know more about things you didn't tell us,' said Rathbone. ‘Your affair with Mrs Franks, for example; she stated that she was with you on the night that Lance Rainbird was murdered and you did not contradict that statement. Why not?' Grayson remained silent. ‘Now, what about the second murder at Dallington Manor on Sunday, two days after the first?'

‘A second murder?' Grayson appeared stunned. ‘Who else was murdered?'

‘One of the waiters. You didn't know?'

‘Of course I didn't. How could I have known?'

‘But you were in the neighbourhood on Sunday because you were in Bristol to identify your brother's body – just a short drive from Dallington Manor. We have reason to believe that Reg Law witnessed the attack on Rainbird, that his attacker became aware of this and decided that he too had to be silenced.' Before Grayson had time to reply Rathbone's phone rang; he made an excuse and left the room. When he returned his face was grim. ‘Mr Grayson,' he said, ‘that call was from one of the detectives who are at this moment interviewing Mrs Franks.' He sat down and leaned forward so that his face was just a few inches from Grayson's. ‘After some intensive questioning, Mrs Franks has retracted the statement I have just referred to. It appears that you have no alibi after all.' As Grayson appeared to have lost the power of speech, Rathbone said, ‘Luke Grayson, I am arresting you on suspicion of the murders of Lance Rainbird and Reginald Law.' He briefly recited Grayson's rights before standing up and opening the door. ‘Shall we go?'

‘Can't I at least call my wife and tell her not to expect me home? Oh God, I've just remembered; we've got some people coming for dinner this evening. What shall I tell her?'

‘You may tell her what you like.'

There was a telephone on the table; Grayson picked it up with a trembling hand, called reception and asked for an outside line. There was a short pause before he said in a voice thick with embarrassment, ‘Marjorie, something's come up and I have to be away this evening … possibly overnight … well, I'm afraid you'll have to put them off … I'm very sorry dear, I haven't time to explain at the moment … I'll call you again as soon as possible.' He put down the receiver and stood up. ‘At least let me pick up my coat and briefcase.'

‘Constable Reynolds will collect them for you.'

It was nearly half past seven when they reached the headquarters of the Avon and Somerset Police. While the duty sergeant was admitting Grayson and arranging for him to be escorted to an interview room to await questioning, Rathbone took the opportunity of asking Tim and Penny for a brief report on their interview with Cynthia Franks.

‘She was at home on her own when we arrived,' Tim began, ‘and as you can imagine she was pretty shocked to see us. She said it wasn't very convenient and could we come back later? We said we couldn't agree to that as we naturally assumed she was hoping to call Grayson, so after a bit of havering she let us in. We then asked her if she would like to have a woman friend with her while we were questioning her, but it was obvious that was the last thing she wanted.'

‘In the forlorn hope of keeping her affair with Grayson under wraps, of course,' said Rathbone. ‘Anyway, all we know at the moment is that she's retracted her statement about spending the night with lover-boy. What made her do that?'

‘Without giving details we told her that we had evidence that Grayson had a very strong motive for killing Lance Rainbird and asked her whether she was still prepared to swear that he was with her the night he died.'

‘She didn't answer immediately,' said Penny, ‘which could only have meant one thing; she had lied to us to give him an alibi in the total belief in his innocence, but was now having her doubts. It was as if she was wrestling with her conscience.'

‘That was the moment Penny said something about bearing false witness, and the poor thing just fell apart,' said Tim. ‘We found a half bottle of whisky and gave her a drop of that and waited until she had control of herself. She said she didn't know where Grayson was the night Rainbird died and she'd only said it to help him.'

‘She loves him very much,' said Penny. ‘It was bad enough to have learned how deceitful he was, but the thought of him being capable of murder was just too much to stomach. I felt really sorry for her.'

‘Then she started worrying about whether she was going to be in trouble for wasting our time,' said Tim. ‘I said we couldn't be sure but thought it unlikely.'

‘That'll be up to DCI Leach, but probably not,' said Rathbone. ‘Well done Penny for appealing to her conscience; that was a master-stroke.'

Penny's face lit up at the compliment. ‘Thank you, sir.'

‘You two might as well go home,' said Rathbone. ‘Sukey and I will have a preliminary chat with Grayson; he may want to call his solicitor before saying anything.'

‘What about tomorrow, Guv?' asked Tim.

‘You can sit in while Vicky, Sukey and I give Grayson a more thorough grilling.'

‘And the search at Dallington Manor?'

‘Forget that. I really think we've got our man this time.'

Grayson, his face expressionless, sat at the table while a uniformed officer stood impassively behind him. Rathbone switched on the video recorder; he and Sukey sat down facing him. ‘This will be only a short interview, Mr Grayson, as it is already after eight o'clock. Before we go any further, would you like to have a word with your solicitor? You are entitled to call him, or if you prefer we can ask a duty solicitor to attend.'

‘My solicitor lives in London and I can hardly expect him to travel to Bristol at this ungodly hour,' said Grayson. ‘In any case, I believe he is on holiday at the moment.'

‘Are you prepared to answer my questions without legal advice, then?'

Grayson passed a hand over his eyes. ‘I haven't anything new to tell you that I haven't already told you,' he said wearily. ‘All right, Cynthia lied to give me an alibi and I didn't contradict her so it was natural that you should wish to check with her a second time. I admit it's come as a shock that she has withdrawn that statement, but I was never happy about her telling untruths on my behalf. All I can do is repeat what I originally told DC Reynolds and her sergeant, that I spent the night at home alone but I can't prove it.'

‘Do you still maintain that you had no idea that Rainbird knew about your love affairs, especially the current one with Mrs Franks?'

‘It never entered my head. As I've said before, I never got to know him and I always thought of him as a loner.'

‘So it would surprise you to know that in addition to his researches into your love life he had certain information about a number of other people?'

‘I'm beginning to think nothing would surprise me. Perhaps one of them killed him; I certainly didn't.'

‘Most of them are mere acquaintances and above suspicion – his cleaning lady for example – but it so happens that Rainbird approached one of them and pressured him into taking certain actions.'

‘So who is this person? Why isn't he sitting here instead of me?'

‘He has been eliminated from our enquiries.'

Grayson's shoulders sagged and he seemed to sink deeper into his chair. He made an effort to pull himself together, but Rathbone said, ‘You appear to be very tired, so I think we'll leave it until you've had some rest. This officer will make you comfortable for the night and bring you some food.' He switched off the recorder. ‘Sleep well.'

T
he uniformed officer led Grayson away and Sukey and Rathbone went back to the CID office.

‘Good night, Guv,' said Sukey as she put on her jacket and slung her bag over her shoulder. ‘See you in the morning.'

‘Can you spare a couple of minutes?'

‘Yes, of course.'

She followed him into his office. He closed the door, waved her to a chair and went to the coffee machine. ‘Fancy a cup?' he said.

‘Not now, thank you.'

She watched him while he prepared his drink. He seemed to move more slowly and deliberately than usual, taking his time about filling the cup with coffee and stirring in milk and sugar, as if he needed time to think about what he was going to say. She knew him well enough to recognize the signs and guessed that he had something on his mind; his next words confirmed it.

‘You and I have worked together for several years now, haven't we?' he said as he sat down.

‘That's right, Guv.'

‘Forget the Guv for a moment. This is between friends, OK?'

Sukey nodded and smiled. ‘That's fine by me.'

‘We've had a few chats about things other than the job,' he continued. ‘I recall sharing some of my family problems with you and you always lent a sympathetic ear. And you seemed genuinely pleased when I told you how well things had settled down.'

‘It's always good to hear of a real-life happy ending,' she replied. Just in time she checked the impulse to say ‘Guv'. ‘Forgive me if I'm wrong, but I have a feeling something else is troubling you; I hope all is well with your boy. He must be in his senior school by now.'

‘In his second year and doing very well thank you. No, this isn't a private matter; it's this wretched Dallington Manor case. I was so sure Freeman was our man, but we couldn't find enough evidence to hold him, let alone charge him. And then, when we looked more closely at his story it did seem feasible. We've got you and Vicky to thank for that.' He broke off to take a mouthful of coffee. ‘When you found out about Grayson's love life, plus the information the techies found in Rainbird's laptop, everything seemed to point to him and I felt just as confident as I had over Freeman. And now I'm beginning to have my doubts about him as well.' He rapped the desk with his knuckles in frustration. ‘My first case as a DI and I'm really struggling. I have a feeling DCI Leach is beginning to have second thoughts about recommending me for promotion.'