The Wild Wood Enquiry (31 page)

Miriam, sitting by her front window, saw him go and wondered whether to run after him to keep him company. Poor old Gus, he looked like a man with the cares of the world on his shoulders. She turned away and looked up the television programmes. Her favourite quiz was about to start, with the acid-voiced quiz mistress making fools of the contestants, and she decided to stay at home. Perhaps she would catch him later for a nightcap.

GUS WAS SOOTHED by the evening chirruping of roosting birds, and his pace slowed. Whippy was having a fine old time down rabbit burrows, wriggling round and then emerging covered with sandy soil. She seldom caught anything, and he hoped this would not be the one time she presented him with a small half-dead baby rabbit.

The trees were dense now, and light was going from the sky. Lost in his thoughts, Gus strolled on, not watching out for landmarks to find his way back. He came to a fork in the path and stopped. Which way? He had no idea, so took the footpath that seemed most used and carried on his way, calling Whippy to follow him. This time, there was no answering scuttle through the dried leaves. He called again, but Whippy did not appear. He walked on, fairly sure that she would follow his scent and find him without too much trouble.

He came out into a grassy clearing and stopped again. This was completely new territory for him. He looked across the clearing and saw a small cottage with a broken wooden fence and an open front door. A man stood by the gate and, to his surprise, turned swiftly and retreated into the house, slamming the door.

How odd, Gus thought, and walked forward towards the cottage. He had been hoping to ask for directions, so he went through the broken gate and knocked at the door. Perhaps when the man saw he was nobody’s idea of a gamekeeper, he would answer. A few minutes elapsed, and Gus was about to leave, when the door opened a crack. A man—or was it a woman?—peered out at him, then opened the door wider. It
was
a woman, with bright red hair, cut very short. She was wearing jeans and a man’s shirt and was not smiling.

“So it’s you,” she said. “You’d better come in.”

He felt the hairs on the back of his neck prickle and stepped through the open doorway. “Good God, Kath!” he said. “What on earth do you think you’re doing here? And what the hell have you done to yourself?”

“WHAT DO YOU want?” Katherine said coldly.

Gus shook his head. “Nothing,” he said. “And please don’t think I was looking for you. Pure accident. I’ve lost Whippy. Must go and find her.”

“Are you all right, Gus?” she said. “You sound a bit fuzzy. Not been at the bottle, I hope.”

He shook his head. He felt a bit fuzzy, but his head was clearing. It had been a shock, and not a nice one, to see Katherine with her good looks deliberately concealed, if not destroyed. She was thinner, and her face had unsightly patches of dry skin.

“Oh, look, Gus,” she said. “There she is! Here, Whippy! Here, little one!”

Whippy approached in hangdog mode, ears back and tail down. She was expecting chastisement from Gus, but he picked her up protectively and stroked her head. “There,
now,” he said. “We must go straight home and give you a nice drink of milk. Poor little thing’s shivering, Kath.”

“I’ve got milk,” she answered, opening the door wider. “Come in, Gus, and don’t be so stupid. I’m not about to take you prisoner.”

“Katherine,” he said sadly, “I wouldn’t put anything past you.”

“Never mind,” she said, “you’ll win one of these days. I need to talk to you, so
please
come in.”

“But why here? The place is falling down.”

“No it’s not. And I’m renting it from the lord of the manor. I shall restore it to its former glory, which frankly is not very glorious. I had a vague idea, sown by a friend and more or less confirmed by a conversation with Seb, that my jewels are hidden in these woods. I mean to recover all of it, Gus, if I have to dig up every square yard. And, equally important, the cottage will be a bolt hole when I need one. Like now. I suppose I can rely on you to forget you’ve seen me?”

She disappeared inside, and Gus reluctantly followed, still holding Whippy in his arms.

“Now, Whippy, if your foolish master will put you down on the floor, here is a nice drop of milk. I found an old bowl. Not very clean, I’m afraid, but the milk’s fresh. I bought a few supplies at the supermarket.”

Gus put the dog down, where she shivered and failed to drink. “She’s not sure about it,” he said, and bent down to dip his fingers in the milk. He offered them, and Whippy licked his fingers, then began to drink.

“Just like the king’s chief taster,” Katherine laughed. “Well, no poison in there, Whippy-dog.”

“So, as there’s nowhere to sit, and I really must be
getting back, will you please tell me whatever else you have to say.”

“We can sit on the stairs. Come on, you at the top and me on the bottom. Then you can be sure I won’t push you down.”

Gus stared at her, and noticed her sharp intake of breath. “Kath?”

She slumped down on the bottom stair and put her hands over her eyes. “Christ! What did I say? Oh Lord, Gus, I didn’t mean him to go over the edge.…”

Gus’s heart was beating wildly now, and he stepped over her hunched figure to the next step. He put his hands on her shoulders, and said, “Go on. There’s more to tell, isn’t there. And no lies this time, Kath. Just the plain truth.”

She was quiet for what seemed to Gus like ages. Then she began to speak in a small, almost childlike voice.

“Seb was not a bad person,” she said, and in her heart she knew that her future life now depended on convincing Gus that she was telling the truth.

HEAVY CLOUDS WERE massing over the woods, and Miriam strode along, glad that she had put on wellies and a rainproof jacket. It was cooler now, and there were densely thicketed parts where the sun did not penetrate, and so never warmed up.

She knew every inch from childhood and was sure she would be able to find Gus. He had looked so alone, walking off down the road, even though Whippy was his companion. A dog, however intelligent, could not replace a warm, caring human being. There could be no harm in following him, just in case he got lost. Spurred on by this thought, Miriam began to sing.

“WHAT ON EARTH is that noise?” said Katherine. She had recovered from her tears, and she and Gus sat in silence after she had told him a convincing story in such detail that he had nothing to say until he had digested it.

“Sounds like someone singing,” he said now. “And I have a feeling I know who it is.”

“Who? Not a musical policewoman, surely?”

“Don’t be silly, Kath. Though I’m afraid you must expect the police in due course. No, I think it’s Miriam Blake. You remember, the one who lives next door and gave you a bed for the night?”

“Ah, that one. Do we want to hide?”

Gus sighed. He longed for Deirdre, clever, straightforward Deirdre. “No, of course not. Miriam has a good heart, and I have no reason to be unkind to her.”

“Oh my God! Gus Halfhide with a conscience! Whatever next?”

“That’s enough, Katherine. Let me pass, and I’ll speak to her.”

Miriam had now arrived outside the cottage and was staring at the open door. Gus walked into the garden, and Whippy followed.

“There you are!” said Miriam, with a big smile. “I came to rescue you. I was sure you’d get lost on your own. Are you snooping? That cottage has been empty for years. Must be a wreck inside. Are you ready to come home, love? It’ll soon be dark.”

At this point, Kath appeared in the doorway and leaned against the frame. “It’s not that bad inside,” she said in a gruff voice. “I am the new tenant.”

Miriam stared. It was the same youth she’d seen with
Theo up at the Hall. Who was he? And what on earth would Gus want with him?

“Must go now,” Gus said, anxious to avoid a confrontation. “I’d be glad of a guide back to the village, Miriam.”

He turned to Katherine and said he would be in touch. But not soon, and not for long. She looked at him oddly, but nodded and went inside, shutting the door behind her. Gus joined Miriam, with Whippy now on the lead, in case she should wander off again.

“Who
was
that?” Miriam asked. “We saw him outside the Hall that day. He looked so familiar, but I couldn’t place him.”

“Just somebody who’s taken the cottage on a short let. Now, which way do we go?”

They were nearing the place where Deirdre had found the rubber glove, and Gus decided it was time to put an end to speculation on that score.

“By the way, there is some good news. Mrs. Bloxham and I were walking in the woods and saw something that looked exactly like a whitish, dirty hand, covered with earth and hidden by brambles. We got it out and realised it was an old rubber glove, and nothing more sinister than that. It was close to where you had seen it. Badgers and rats and all kinds of animals push around in the undergrowth looking for things to eat and could easily have buried it again.”

“And the earring?” said Miriam. “I still have it, you know.”

Gus frowned. “I thought you’d lost it?” he said.

“I found it again,” said Miriam blandly. “How do you account for that being in the woods?”

“I have its pair. I can only think my ex-wife put them in her pocket and they dropped out in the woods that day she
spent around here, after she left your cottage. I believe earrings can get painful, is that right?”

“So my case is solved? I must say I’m rather disappointed. I was thinking in terms of a dismembered body at the very least! Anyway, that’s just my fevered imagination, as you would say. Thanks, Gus. I’ll send a cheque to Ivy Beasley—or give one to you? Who’s the boss of Enquire Within?”

Gus laughed. “That’s a tricky question,” he said. “We have never actually appointed one. I think Ivy considers she is, and the rest of us go along with that. Now, here we are. Thanks again, Miriam. I’d certainly have got lost without you.”

His voice was so sweet, Miriam thought. And he is definitely much more friendly now. Her spirits rose, and she hummed her favourite song as she unlocked her cottage and went into the kitchen to prepare a sandwich.

Gus’s mood, on the other hand, darkened considerably when he was alone in his cottage. He poured himself a whisky and sat down to consider everything that Kath had told him. According to her story, her calculations and contacts had revealed where Ulph was living and she had gone there in order to persuade him to hand over her jewellery. She reckoned she could win a battle of wits, and since it would be a case of both sides revealing secrets to appropriate authorities, she had arrived at Folgate Street well armed with evidence against him.

“We had a drink on the roof terrace,” she had told Gus, as they sat on the stairs. “Not really a proper terrace. Just a flat roof on top of an extension. No guardrails, or anything like that,” she had added pointedly. “That’s when he foolishly hinted to me where the stuff was hidden. Never was good at keeping secrets, our Sebastian. I suppose he thought
I’d never risk digging around to find it.” Her smile was chilly.

After that, she confessed, the arguments had begun. Ulph had had a wine bottle at his side and was drinking steadily. He had stood over her with it in his hand and threatened her with it. She had tried to get around him and go back into the house, but he had dodged and shoved, and in the end they were close to the edge. He had swung the bottle at her, and the action had taken him over to his death. He was very wobbly from some unnamed illness. She had sobbed again at this memory but not for long. And in due course Miriam had come along.

So glib, thought Gus now. Perfectly worked out. Kath the innocent victim of a drunken blackmailer. Why, then, the need for disguise? And not just a false moustache or a concealing hat. No, Kath had, as usual, not done anything by halves. She really looked like a man, and though the voice was a bit strained, she sounded like one. Miriam had been deceived and suspected nothing.

It was Miriam’s question about who was boss at Enquire Within that finally decided Gus what he should do next. He was one of four. They were an agency, and the others had a right to know. He would call an emergency meeting tomorrow, and put the whole thing before the others. Ivy, certainly, would have strong views on where to go next.