[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.‘You’ll never fucking believe who was behind it.’‘Try me.’ The tension in Mariner’s voice was palpable.‘Adolf Hitler.’‘What do you mean?’‘It was a UXB.’‘A what?’‘A World War Two unexploded bomb.All the building work on the new Bullring must have disturbed it.Nothing to do with you, unless Herr Hitler was blessed with tremendous insight.’‘So why all the secrecy?’Knox had asked the same question when the news had broken.‘They were scared that there might be more,’ he said, passing on what he’d been told.‘The building contractors did the mandatory searches of the new sites, but no one took responsibility for the existing public buildings.They waited to release any details until they could categorically state that everywhere else was safe.’‘The grey Transit vans,’ said Mariner.Now what was he on about?‘Haven’t you noticed those grey Transit vans all over the city the last few weeks? That must be what—’Knox’s mobile rang and he jumped as if he’d been stung.‘Selina,’ he said to Mariner, checking caller identity.Of course it was.Shit! Listening to Mariner rabbitting on he’d completely lost track of time.Now he was going to have some explaining to do.‘I’ve got to go.’ Knocking back the tomato juice, he pushed back his chair.Mariner was regarding him curiously.‘Don’t tell Anna any of this,’ he said.‘ or Selina.’‘Anna needs to—’ Knox began.‘Don’t!’‘Okay.’ And, his own storm clouds gathering, Knox backed out of the pub.Left alone in the bar, Mariner felt as if the world was getting smaller and beginning to close in on him.He’d hoped that telling Knox would have been some kind of release, but it wasn’t.It didn’t help that Knox was so obviously infatuated with Selina.Mariner could understand him feeling some responsibility for her situation, but even so.It was unlike Knox to let a woman get to him that much.So the explosion was down to the Third Reich.That’s why Special Branch treated his letter so casually.They knew full well what had caused the explosion and it had nothing to do with him.He’d been convinced at the time that it was.The feeling of being followed, the composite letter, he was so sure it was all for him.If he could be so very wrong about that, was he wrong about Ryland too? Maybe Dave Flynn wasn’t so far off the mark.Maybe it was all in his imagination, his mind fabricating a conspiracy where there was none.Unable to face Anna, he went back to his place and spent a restless night.He was up early, showered and shaved and dressed in a clean suit.Then he drove down the motorway to be questioned in a murder enquiry.Chapter SeventeenThe police station was a 1970s cinderblock cube, cheerless and featureless.It felt weird being on the ‘wrong’ side of the table, though it wasn’t the first time in Mariner’s life.In his late teens it had been a regular occurrence, though he’d always walked.So far this morning everyone seemed friendly enough.‘Could you tell us what time on January 24th you visited Mrs Eleanor Ryland at her home in Oxfordshire?’ His interrogator was an Asian officer, DC Anil Singh.His colleague, young, blond and ruddy-faced sat silently beside him.‘It was about two in the afternoon.’‘You walked there from the Lygon Arms,’ Singh consulted his notes.‘That’s right.Along the Oxfordshire Way.’‘What time did you leave the pub?’‘About one o’clock.’‘It’s a five and a half mile walk.You got there pretty fast.’‘I walk pretty fast.’‘How long did you stay?’‘I’m not sure.About an hour, hour and a half?’‘Not long then,’ Singh observed.‘I wanted to get back to my car before it got dark.’‘And what did you talk about with Mrs Ryland?’‘Personal stuff,’ said Mariner.‘I was asking her about Sir Geoffrey.’‘Who you recently learned was your father.’ Flynn must have told them.‘So you got there at about two and left at around three thirty.You can be certain about that timing?’‘Yes, why?’‘We have one of two witnesses who says you didn’t leave the pub until nearly two.’‘What witness?’‘One of the regulars at the Lygon Arms.’ The man at the bar.‘Said you had a conversation with him.’‘If you can call it that.And the other witness?’‘A journalist.According to him you called out a greeting as you arrived.’ He consulted his notes.‘You were seen to turn and wave and call out “Don’t get excited, I’m only family.” This was around four.’‘Well, he’s mistaken.It wasn’t me.’‘He saw you go into the house, but didn’t see you come out again.Of course it would have been dark by then, so he could easily have missed you.’‘I told you nobody saw me go in or out.There was no one there.In fact I remarked on that very thing to Eleanor Ryland; the reporters weren’t there.She said they were in the pub and that they’d be back later.’‘Really?’ Singh’s voice dripped cynicism.‘What were you wearing that day?’It was a standard question and Mariner had searched his memory
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
Tematy
IndexCidney Swanson [Saving Mars Saving Mars (epub)
Christine Wood [Life Plan 01] A Life Plan Without You (epub)
Cheryl McIntyre [Infinitely Infinitely (epub)
Clair Delaney [Coral 01] Coral (epub)
Christine Cody [Bloodlands 01 Bloodlands (epub)
Christina Ross [Unleash Me, A Unleash Me, Vol 3 (epub)
Christine Flynn [The Hunt for Once Upon a Christmas Eve (epub
Christian Fletcher [The Left Left on the Brink (epub)
Christopher G Nuttall [Royal The Royal Sorceress (epub)
Weiner Jennifer Siostry(2)