'Well, that's it then, really. But
Rachel
probably didn't know him.' 'Or
her:
'She must have been really scared if she heard a tap on the window that morning and went to open the blind—'
'You're still assuming that both murders were committed by the same person, Lewis.'
'And
you
don't think so?'
Morse shrugged. 'Could have been two lovers or partners or husband and wife - or two completely separate people.'
Lewis was beginning to sound somewhat exasperated.
‘
You know, I shall be much happier when we've got a bit more of the routine work done, sir. It's all been a bit ad hoc so far, hasn't it?' (Morse raised his eyebrows at the Latinism.) 'Can't we leave a few of the ideas until we've given ourselves a chance to check everything a bit?'
'Lewis! You are preaching to the converted. That's exa
ctly
what we've got to do. Go back to the beginning. "In our beginning is our end," somebody said - Eliot, wasn't it? Or is it "In our end is our beginning"?'
'Where do you suggest we begin then, sir?'
Morse considered the question.
'What about you fetching me a cup of coffee? No sugar.'
Tuesday, 5 March
The overworked man who agrees to any division of labour always gets the worst share
(Hungarian proverb)
'Where do you
suggest we begin then?' repeated Lewis, as Morse distastefully sipped his unsweetened coffee.
'When we
do
start again, we'll probably find
that
we've been looking at things from the wron
g angle. We've been assuming - I
have, anyway - that it was Owens who was pulling all the strings. As a journalist, he'd
often been in a privileged positi
on with regard to a few juicy stories; and as a man he pretty clearly gloried
in the hold he could have on oth
er people: blackmail. And from what we learned, I thought it was likely that the two candidates for the Mastership at Lonsdale were being blackmailed; I though
t that they'd have as good a moti
ve, certainly Storrs, as anybody for wishing Owens out of the way. But I never dreamed that Owens was in danger of being murdered, as you know
...
'There's just the one trouble about following up that particular hypothesis though, isn't there? It's now clear that neither of those two, neither Storrs nor Cornford -nor their wives for that matter - could have been responsible for
both
murders. And increasingly unlikely, perhaps, that any of them could have been responsible even for
one
of the murders. So where does this all leave us? It's a bit
like a crossword clue you someti
mes get stuck with. You think one bit of
the
clue's the definition, and the other bit's a build-up of the letters. Then suddenly you realize you've got things
the -wrong way round.
And perhaps I'm reading the clue the wrong way round here, Lewis. What if someone was blackmailing
Owens -
the exact opposite of our hypothesis? What if -we've spoken about it before - what if Rachel James came to discover something that would upset his carefully loaded
apple-cart? And blackmailed
him
?'
'Trying to climb aboard the gravy-train herself?'
'Exa
ctly
. Money! You said right at the start that we needed a
motive for
Rachel's murder; and I suspect she'd somehow got to know a
bout his own blackmailing activ
ities and was threatening to expose him.'
Lewis was looking decidedly impatient.
'Sir! Could we
please
get along to Owens' office first, and get a few simple
facts
established?'
'Just what I was about to suggest. We shall have to get down there and find out everything we can about him. See the editor, the sub-editor, his colleagues, that personnel fellow - especially him! Go through his desk and his drawers. Get hold of his original application
, if we can. Try to learn someth
ing about his men-friends, his girlfriends, his enemies, his habits, what he liked to eat and drink, his salary, any clubs he belonged to, his political leanings - '
'We know he voted Conservative, sir.'
' - the newspaper he took, where he usually parked his car, what his job prospects were - yes, plenty to be going on with there.'
'Quite a list. Good job there's two of us, sir.'
'Pardon?'
'Hefty agenda - that's all I'm saying.'
'Not all that much really. Far easier than it sounds. And if you get off straightaway
...'
Morse looked at his wristwatch:
10.45
a.m.
Lewis frowned. You mean you're not
joining me?'
'Not today, no.'
'But you just said—'
'One or two important things I've got to do after lunch.' 'Such as?'
'Well, to be truthful, I've been told to take things a bit more ge
ntly
. And I suppose I'd better take a bit of notice of my medical advisers.'
'Of course.'
'Don't get me wrong, mind! I'm feeling fine. But I think a
little
siesta this afternoon
...'
'Siesta?
That's what they have in Spain in the middle of the summer when the temperature's up in the nineties - but we're in England in the middle of winter and it's freezing outside.'
Morse looked down at his desk, a
little
sheepishly, and Lewis knew that he was lying.
'Come on, sir! It's something to do with that invite you had, isn't it? Deborah Crawford?'
'In away.'
"Why are you being so secretive about it? You wouldn't tell me yesterday either.'
'Only because it needs a bit more thinking about, that's all.'
"You and me together" - isn't that what you said?' Morse fingered the still-cellophaned cigarettes, almost desperately.
'Si' down then, Lewis.'
It is the nature of an hypothesis, when once a man has conceived it, that it assimilates every thing to itself as proper nourishment, and, from the first moment of your begetting it, it generally grows the stronger by every thing you see, hear, read, or understand
(Laurence Sterne,
Tristram Shandy)
'It wasn't Deborah
Crawford, Lewis - it was her initials, "DC". When we found that list in
the
manila file, I jumped the gun. I automatically assumed that "JS" was Julian Storrs - I think I was right about that - and I assumed that "DC" was Denis Cornford - and I think I was
wrong
about that. As things have turned out I don't believe Owens ever knew Cornford at all,
or
his missus, for that matter. But he knew another "DC": the woman at Number
1
Bloxham Close - Adele Beatrice Cecil - the ABC lass Owens knew well enough to call by her nickname, "Delia". "DC". And the more I think about
her,
the more attractive a proposition I find it.'
'Well, most men would, sir. Lovely looker!'
Ignoring the pleasantry, Morse continued: 'Just consider for a minute what an important figure she is in the case. She's the prime witness, really.
She's
the one who sees Owens leave for work about sevenish on the morning Rachel was murdered;
she's
the one who rings Owens an hour or so later to tell him the police are in Bloxham Close' (again Lewis let it go) 'and gives him a headstart on all the other newshounds. That's what she says, isn't it? But she might not be telling the truth!' Lewis sat in silence.
'
Now, as I recall it, your objecti
on to Owens himself ever being a suspect was the time-factor. You argued that he couldn't have gone to work that morning, parked his car, been seen in the newspaper offices, got in his car again, driven back to Kidlington, murdered Rachel, driven back to Osney Mead
again,
taken the phone-call from Delia Cecil, driven back to Kidlington
again,
to be on hand with his mobile and his notebook while the rest of
the
press are pulling their socks on. He could
never
have done all that in such a short space of time, you said. Impossible! And of course you were right - '
'Thank you, sir.'
' - in one way; and quite wrong in another. Let's stick to our original idea that the list of initials we found was a blackmail list, and that
she's
on it - Delia Cecil. He's got something on her, too. So when he asks her to help him in his plan to get Rachel out of the way, she's
little
option but to co-operate.'
'Have you any idea what this "plan" was, sir?'
'That's the trouble. I've got far too many ideas.'
'Want to try me?'
'All right. They're all the same sort of plan, really -any plan to cut down that
time
business you're so worried about. Let me just outline a possible plan, and see what you think of it. Ready? Owens drives out to work, at ten to seven, let's say - and
she follows him,
in her own car. When he's parked the car, when his entry's recorded, he goes into the building, makes sure he's seen by somebody
doesn't matter who it is - then immediately leaves via a side door and gets into
her
car, parked along the street in front of the offices. Back in Kidlington, he murders Rachel James, about half past seven,
and doesn't return to work at all
He's got a key and he goes into
Delia's
house
and waits. At the appropriate
time
, when the police arrive, a call is made to his own office - he knows there'll be no one there! - and a message is left
or isn't left
on the answerphone. All that matters is
that
a telephonic communication is established, and gets recorded on those BT lists we all get, between
her
phone and Owens' phone in his office. Then all he's got to do is to emerge amid all the excitement once the murder's reported - the police, the local people, the Press, the TV
...
Well?'
You make it up as you go along, sir.'
Morse's face betrayed some irritation. 'Of
course
I bloody do! That's what I'm here for. I just told you. If once we accept there could be
two
people involved -
two
cars - there are
dozens
of po
ssibilities. It's like permutat
ing your selection on the National Lottery. I've just given you
one
possibility, that's all.'
'But it just couldn't—'
'What's wrong with it? Come on! Tell me!'
'Well, let's start with the car—'
'Cars,
plural.'
'All right. When he's parked his car—'
‘I
didn't say that I deliberately said parked
the
car, if you'd been listening. It could have been his - it could have been hers: it's the
card
number that's recorded there, not the
car
number. She could have driven his car - he could have driven hers - and at any point they could have swapped. Not much risk. Very few people around there at seven. Or eight, for that matter.'
'Is it my turn now?' asked Lewis qui
etly
.
'Go on!'
'I'm talking about Owens' car, all right? That was parked in Bloxham Drive - "Drive"
please,
sir - when Owens was there that morning. The street was cordoned off, but the lads let him in - because he told them he lived there. And I saw the car myself.'
'So? He could have left it - or she could have left it -in a nearby street. Anywhere. Up on the main road behind the terrace, say. That's where JJ—'
But Morse broke off.
'It
still
couldn't have happened like you say, sir!' 'No?'
'No! He was seen in his office, Owens was, remember? Just at the time when Rachel was being murdered! Seen by the Personnel Manager there.'
"We haven't got a statement from him yet, though.'
'He's been away, you know that'
Yes, I
do
know that, Lewis. But you spoke to him.'
Lewis nodded.