The Seven Stars (20 page)

‘
You hadn’t come across him — Mr Campbell?’

‘
No, though I’ve done some work for his firm in the past. I’m told he was up here at the weekend.’

He looked shrewdly at Ledbetter.
‘I know Helen came here on Monday; my office is just along the road and I saw her. What did she have to say?’

‘
You know I can’t tell you that, Mr Pike. Sufficient to say that she gave us some very valuable information which might be crucial.’

‘
Bloody amateurs! There I am, sweating my guts out month after month, and she waltzes in and hands you the solution on a plate! There ain’t no justice.’

Ledbetter smiled.
‘The country’s police forces might agree with you. We haven’t been exactly idle ourselves.’

‘
And is it really all over bar the shouting?’

‘
Not quite. We still need one vital piece of information, but we hope to have it by the end of the week.’

‘
Well, you’re obviously not going to tell me any more, so all I can do is wish you luck. Meanwhile, presumably, I keep on acting my part of innocent bystander at the Seven Stars.’

‘
That would be best, sir.’

As Ledbetter watched Pike leave the room
, he reflected that Helen Campbell had again been proved correct: Pike’s ‘innocent bystander’ role had not deceived her. One very astute lady, Mrs Campbell. Pity they couldn’t recruit her into the police force.

*

There was a phone-call for Helen at lunch-time and she hurried to take it. She’d half-thought it might be Pen, but it was Michael’s voice that said in her ear, ‘Helen? Is that you?’

‘
Michael! Oh, thank goodness!’

‘
Well, that’s a better greeting than I expected.’

‘
I wanted to explain, about leaving the Seven Stars so suddenly.’

‘
That it wasn’t to escape my evil clutches? With all due modesty, I didn’t really think so. But I was concerned about you. Why
did
you go and where did you go to?’

She hesitated.
‘As to where, I’m at a somewhat down-market B & B in Steeple Bayliss.’

‘
And as to why?’

‘
That would take longer to answer.’

‘
Such as over dinner?’

‘
That sounds a good idea.’

‘
I agree; it wasn’t the same without you, last night.’

‘
Have the police asked to see you?’

‘
Yes, I’m due there at three o’clock. What’s it all about, do you know?’.

‘
I’d better leave the inspector to tell you.’

‘
All right, be mysterious. Shall I call for you at seven-thirty?’

‘
That would be fine. They eat at six at the new place, so I’ll phone and say I won’t need a meal.’

‘
And I must let Kate know. What’s your address?’

She gave it to him
, and put down the receiver. So after all she would be seeing Michael again, and despite her lukewarm reply to Penelope, her spirits lifted at the prospect.

*

The phone-call came promptly at eight, and the policemen in the van outside tensed as Nicholas answered it.

The whispering voice on the line sounded oddly sinister.
‘Murder was not on the agenda, Warren.’

A hesitation
, then Warren’s voice: ‘I agree it was most unfortunate. Not intentional, of course — just an instinctive reaction.’

There was a long silence
, and the police exchanged anxious glances. Warren said: ‘Are you there, sir?’

‘
Of course I’m here. It must never happen again. No violence of any kind, that was the agreement.’

‘
I know. I assure you —’

‘
Tomorrow morning, then, at Ashmartin.’ And the phone went dead. A moment later a click indicated that Warren had replaced the receiver.

‘
Bloody hell!’ ejaculated one of the constables. ‘The other side of the ruddy county!’

Minutes later
, Ledbetter received the information that the call had come from a public call-box in an Ashmartin hotel. There was virtually no chance of identifying the caller.

Ashmartin was the eastern-most town in Broadshire
, some fifty miles from Steeple Bayliss. The quickest route was along the M4, and it was arranged that the first in a succession of cars would follow Cain when he left the Seven Stars with the package.

Various plain-clothes men and women would then keep watch on the sorting office
, with an unmarked police car standing by round the corner to convey the suspect back to Steeple Bayliss.

The first part of the proceedings went according to plan. Cain delivered the package and drove home
, unaccompanied, to the Seven Stars. The police settled down to wait. The morning passed, and then the afternoon. Ledbetter, in constant touch with the police car, was getting restive.

‘
No sign yet, Happy?’

‘
Not a glimmer, Guy.’

‘
There’s no way he could have been and gone without your noticing?’

‘
Not a cat in hell’s chance. The place is under a microscope.’ Ledbetter sighed. ‘I suppose we’ll just have to be patient, then.’

At six o
’clock Happy Hopkins phoned in.

‘
Bad news, Guy. They’re closing for the day and there’s still been no sign.’

Ledbetter groaned.
‘But he’s in the town, dammit. What’s he waiting for?’

‘
Perhaps he’s in no hurry,’ came Happy’s lugubrious voice. ‘For all we know, he might always wait a day or two before collecting them — a week, even.’

‘
Thanks a bunch, Happy. That makes me feel much better.’ So they’d have to go through all this again tomorrow, the hanging about, the waiting.

He rang Webb to report the lack of progress.

‘Chummie couldn’t have detected anything on the line, could he? Taken fright?’

‘
No chance. As Happy says, he might never collect them immediately. Perhaps he waits till he’s sure no one is hanging around watching the place.’

‘
Well, tomorrow’s another day. Let’s hope it’s a better one.’

*

But Friday was equally unproductive for the waiting detectives. The sorting office at Ashmartin, had it but known, had never been better guarded, but nobody came for Cain’s parcel.

Meanwhile
, the art and antiques course at Melbray was drawing to a close. The final day was devoted to the Impressionist and Post-Impressionist schools, which were among Helen’s favourites, but again she was finding it hard to concentrate.

She and Michael had eaten together both Wednesday and Thursday evenings
, but tonight she’d arranged to have dinner with Penelope. What, she wondered, her eyes on the luminous paintings on the screen, would she say when Pen asked about Michael, as she was sure to do? What, after all, was there to say?

Certainly they knew each other better now
, had discussed a wide range of topics including each other’s marriages, but they had avoided mentioning the future. He knew that she needed to see Andrew again, gauge how they both felt after the break and the disastrous meeting in Steeple Bayliss.

As for herself
, one moment she was anxious to get home and see Andrew, be with him again, and the next she dreaded it. Added to that, she was unsure of her feelings for Michael, though she suspected they would deepen if she allowed them to.

Impatient with herself
, she brought her attention back to the lecture. Whatever she decided, it would not be an easy decision, nor a quick one. Time alone held the answer.

*

But time was given a nudge that evening. At six o’clock, a knock came at the door and the landlady’s voice announced there was someone to see her.

Helen
, about to change for dinner, hesitated. She was meeting Penelope at the Barley Mow, and not till seven-thirty.

‘
Is it my daughter?’ she called.

‘
No, a gentleman. I’ve put him in the front room.’ Michael? But they’d said their goodbyes the previous evening. ‘Tell him I’ll be down in a minute.’

Hastily she put on some make-up
, brushed her hair, and went downstairs. The front room, which she’d previously only glanced into, was drab and unwelcoming, furnished in beige moquette and with a thirties-style tiled fireplace. In front of which Andrew stood, looking at her.

Taken totally by surprise
, she could only stare back.

‘
I rang Pen for your address,’ he said. ‘I have to speak to you.’

‘
But — I’m coming home tomorrow.’

‘
That’s just it — I might not be there.’ And, at her widening eyes, he added quickly, ‘I might have to go up to Scotland. I wanted to explain — and also about Sunday.’

She said steadily
, ‘Your “colleague”?’

He flushed.
‘So you did see her. I wasn’t sure, when you didn’t say anything. But there was no reason why you shouldn’t have met; it was a stupid reaction on my part.’

Helen was in no mood for let-out clauses.
‘Pure instinct, I’d have thought, keeping us apart.’

‘
Helen, she’s a trainee valuer. Her name’s Charlotte Marsh and I’m taking her round to show her the ropes.’

‘
Is she your mistress?’

He looked startled.
‘For God’s sake, I didn’t —’

‘
Is she, Andrew?’

‘
It was a business trip. How many more times do I have to tell you? Phone the office, if you don’t believe me.’

‘
But you have slept with her?’

His colour deepened.
‘This really is pretty irrelevant, you know. All right, damn it, I might have slept with her a couple of times. But it didn’t mean anything.’

‘
Not to you, perhaps.’

‘
Nor her. She —’

‘
I was thinking of myself,’ Helen cut in. ‘Is she here now?’

‘
Yes, it’s a follow-up to Sunday. But that doesn’t mean — Look, it was only a couple of times. Three at most. We’re not —’

She made a sudden movement with her hand.
‘I don’t want to hear any more.’

He looked at her
, brows drawn together, assessing her volte-face. ‘Then perhaps you can tell me who that chap was with you and Pen?’

‘
I did tell you — one of the lodgers at the Seven Stars.’

‘
And nothing more? He was eyeing me up pretty carefully.’

‘
I haven’t slept with him, if that’s what you’re asking.’

Andrew flinched.
‘Helen, I really am sorry, but as you said yourself, we’re going through a difficult patch.’

‘
I didn’t realise how difficult.’

He put a hand out and let it fall.
‘The last couple of weeks have been pretty bleak, you know. I’ve missed you.’

She gave a choked laugh
, and his face darkened. ‘I tell you I have. Damn it, let’s keep things in proportion. I’m not having an
affair
with Charlotte, there’s no commitment.’

‘
What were you doing here on Sunday?’

‘
Something was nicked from the museum last week. They asked me to call when the place was closed, to keep disruption to a minimum.’

‘
So it was nothing to do with the Stately Homes?’

‘
For once, no. Incidentally, Pen told me you’d been staying at the Seven Stars in the thick of it and helped to wind up the case. Quite the little sleuth, aren’t you?’

She didn
’t reply, and after a moment he went on: ‘Still, to get back to us, I appreciate that Sunday was enough to throw everything into the melting pot, just when we’re supposed to be taking stock.’

‘
I’ve certainly been doing that these last few days.’

He took her hand.
‘It’s made me realise what a bloody fool I’ve been. I want you back, darling, and I swear I’ll try to make it work, if you’ll give me half a chance. Will you?’

Despite their linked hands
, she felt at a distance from him, apart. ‘I don’t know, Andrew. I really don’t know.’

He released her hand.
‘Well, you know how I feel. I love you, and I want our marriage to continue. Will you bear that in mind during your deliberations?’