Spanish Inquisition (14 page)

He gave a grin cheeky enough to suggest it was normally like that. ‘We got him to the digs. Hibs and me took the beds and made Vince a bivvy on the floor in case he threw up. Next day we walked the track from here to Kitzdorf, right along the crest of the range, bedding down in the log cabin on Sunday night before taking the valley walk back to where we'd left the car.'

‘How did Vince seem at that stage?' Connie asked.

‘Quiet, depressed, anti-women, which Hibbs and me thought a good thing.' His vitality suddenly drained away, the amber eyes glassed over. ‘We were bringing him home when that tanker skidded into the gas bottles and . . .' He could not continue, and tears began sliding down his cheeks. ‘Those women and kids screaming for help. I'll never forget that.'

There was silence between them for a moment or two, until a mutter from the other bed told Connie Vince Andrews had re-entered the conscious world.

The late afternoon briefing added very little to progress the case. Only half the Drumdorran musicians had been successfully pinned down long enough to question their actions following the final curtain last Saturday. All of them had solid alibis. A few of the backstage crew had also been interviewed and cleared of suspicion.

Private Jimmy James had told Heather he was
almost
sure the car outside the gymnasium had been the same shape as Norton's Clio, but he could be mistaken. Piercey's computerized list of red vehicles registered to owners living on the base showed no Clio or any other car that was a similar shape. On being approached again, Jimmy James had said he was
almost
sure the car had been red, but he could be mistaken.

Piercey was disgusted. ‘I told you he could identify down to the last stitch a three-piece suit. At a stretch he might know the size of a man's sock, but he sees everything else through closed lids. His claim to have watched my car being driven away ten minutes after I arrived at the Mess has to be totally discounted.'

‘He's not dozy enough to imagine it,' Simpson pointed out. ‘We either have to chase up another witness or find out who might have left the Mess in the early hours, because somebody drove off ten minutes after you arrived there.'

Piercey found this theory attractive. ‘That opens up a new avenue, because he could have been the bloke Maria was calling in the dressing room, then called again while Bill Jensen was agitating about locking up. He could have gone to meet her and consequently beat her up.'

Heather nodded. ‘And the vehicle outside the gymnasium that Jimmy James saw on his lonely walk could be just a red herring.'

‘Or he could be mistaken,' added Beeny dryly. ‘I think we need to eliminate some of these vague leads. What Phil says makes a deal of sense. The timing would be right. Chummy's waiting in his room in the Mess for her call, but it's interrupted by Phil who believes she's going with him to the Black Bear. Norton calls again after everyone leaves and Bill's rattling his keys impatiently. The rendezvous's fixed during that second call. Norton drives there from the Recreation Centre and Chummy goes to meet her ten, fifteen minutes after Phil arrives in such a temper he leaves his Audi unlocked, giving Chummy the perfect opportunity to dump Norton's mobile in there after he's attacked her.'

‘Sounds feasible,' said Tom thoughtfully. ‘Staff Andrews has been living in the Mess since his wife took the family back to Ireland.' He turned to Connie. ‘Does that theory fit with what you learned at the clinic?'

‘It could. Andrews himself was still very muzzy. I couldn't get much out of him, and the nurse more or less ordered me to leave. I'd been there almost two hours before he regained consciousness, so she wanted me out of the way. However, Ted Griffiths was so glad to have someone to talk to I merely had to steer him in the right direction to get the info I wanted.

‘According to him, Norton had a hot affair with Staff Andrews but broke it off two months ago when she took on the role of Carmen; told him she had to concentrate on her singing.' Her eyebrows rose. ‘Ted said his mate “went ape” at first, then appeared to come to terms with it until he stupidly went to see the opera on Saturday night. This messed up the three-day walking break Ted, Sarn't Hibbert and Andrews had forward planned, but the other two were generous enough to agree to have their usual Saturday booze-up, then begin the hiking on Sunday morning after overnighting in town. Staff Andrews was deeply depressed and uncommunicative during the walk in the hills, Ted told me. They were returning on Monday night when they were smashed up in the RTA.

‘I was unable to get confirmation of any of this from Staff. In fact, he seemed so disorientated I wondered if he had suffered slight brain damage. The nurse said no, but he might have no memory of the accident and what happened shortly beforehand. I'll go back in the morning when he's had time to get his thoughts together.

‘I've been mulling over what Ted told me and come up with a theory of my own.' Tom's nod encouraged her to continue. ‘Norton ended the affair two months ago when rehearsals for
Carmen
began. The timing ties in with the discovery that she's pregnant, and so she arranged a meeting with the father to give him the news. Unless she was having sex with others, Staff Andrews must surely be responsible for her condition.'

Piercey could not help butting in. ‘She certainly wasn't having it off with anyone during those two months. I can vouch for that, along with half a dozen others,' he added sourly.

‘The fact that his pals had to RV with him in town when they usually all set out together casts doubt on his movements at the end of Saturday's performance. He might well have been legless when they caught up with him, but he could have been tanking up in his room in the Mess while waiting for Norton's call. If he had been it would account for the viciousness of the attack on her, and also explain why he took a taxi into town. The car that was smashed up belonged to Hibbert. There was no mention of them leaving one to be picked up once Andrews sobered up.'

Tom smiled at her. ‘Good work, sharp thinking. I suggest we call it a day and develop that scenario tomorrow. Another check with taxi firms will give us the time Andrews was picked up, unless he hailed one outside the base.' He ended by giving them the results of his enquiries. ‘The trail on Norton has gone cold. I contacted both parents, but they had not spoken to their daughter for several weeks and couldn't suggest any friend or relative she might have gone to in trouble.

‘My only reservation on this new line is that nobody we questioned mentioned a hot affair between the two. Or of Norton with anyone else, come to that. Hot it might have been, but they must have used excessive discretion to keep it so utterly secret.'

‘She works in that mode,' mused Simpson. ‘Maybe she applies it to every aspect of her life.'

‘Huh! She made no secret of how she operates to every male in that opera,' Piercey said bitterly. ‘I see now it was to hide what she was really up to with Staff Andrews.'

Glaring at Piercey, Tom said, ‘Norton's mobile phone provider is being obstructive about giving us info on the phone number of the last people she called. They're saying the contract was cancelled on Monday so all records concerning it had probably been wiped. Chummy appears to have thought of everything, unless Norton herself took steps to prevent us from tracing whoever she's protecting with her false accusation.'

M
ax's non-appearance on Wednesday led Tom to believe Clare Goodey's strictures had persuaded him to stick to the rules until passed fit by the Medical Board. Paradoxically, he missed the input of a man who often saw a different interpretation of plain facts which sometimes furthered a case. On the other hand, it often clouded the issue. He went home to Nora and his family believing he must do without Max's help in getting to grips with the ever growing complications surrounding Corporal Maria Norton.

Tom was wrong. After the momentous discovery that the future he so much wanted was there to grasp, Max sat for an hour or so after Clare left to take the morning sick parade and allowed his imagination full rein. A home. A
real
home. A property with enough rooms for children to occupy and grow up in; one which he and Clare owned, not rented. A house that would reflect both their personalities. They would also have the villa in Spain. Everything was possible now.

By mid-morning he was sitting at the desk in his own apartment, making notes on the Norton case from copies of the team's reports he had collected before leaving the base yesterday afternoon. There were by now so many facets he decided to concentrate on the one which concerned him the most, and he spent several hours catagorizing paragraphs from statements in order to get a clear assessment of known facts.

In the afternoon he undertook another task which he intended to reveal to Clare at the end of the day. Before that they were to have the meal at the riverside inn they liked so much which they should have had on Monday. They had no sooner been shown to the table he had reserved than Herr Blomfeld arrived with a bottle of champagne.

‘Please to accept with my goodest wishes for both,' he said, popping the cork and pouring the sparkling wine in two glasses he had brought with him. ‘I have never forget the pulling from the river the young woman who could die. You are special from then. Now even more special to have the bombing and again come to this place,' he added looking at Max. ‘I am most thankful.'

Max was embarrassed. The words were clearly heartfelt, so he responded appropriately, but he was glad when Blomfeld walked away wreathed in smiles.

‘What a sweetie,' said Clare.

‘Doubtless he had planned that for Monday, but you called my mobile and put an end to it. I was so upset I drove off without giving him an explanation. Just left.'

‘That won't happen tonight now we've left our mobiles at home.' She smiled at him as she raised her glass. ‘
Prost!
'

On sudden impulse Max put out his hand and gently eased hers back to the table. ‘I planned this for when we got home but you look so lovely, we're at the place where you claim to have realized your true feelings for me, and we have a bottle of celebration champagne, so this seems the right moment.'

Taking from his pocket the box containing a sapphire and diamond ring he had bought four hours ago, he pushed it across the table. ‘I'd really like to drive around shouting the news through a loud hailer, but you'd probably prefer this method of announcing that you've agreed to become my wife.'

Flushed and obviously taken by surprise, Clare opened the velvet box, then looked up. ‘Max, it's beautiful.
Beautiful!
'

‘I'm afraid I invaded your apartment to borrow one of your rings to get the size right.'

As she slid the ring on the third finger of her left hand, Max noticed that it was bare. ‘You've taken off Goodey's wedding band!'

Her eyes grew bright with affection. ‘I can be a fast worker too. I ditched it before I left for work this morning: no longer need the phoney protection it provided.'

He gripped her hand. ‘How soon can I replace it?'

‘Tomorrow seems a bit quick. How about the day after?' she teased. Picking up her glass again she said softly, ‘Here's to us, darling, and our golden future.'

When Max walked in the next morning Tom could not hide his surprise. ‘I thought the Doc read you the riot act on Tuesday.'

‘I persuaded her my contribution to the case wouldn't be strenuous enough to cause a medical relapse,' he replied with a grin. ‘I'm concentrating on the mental detective work, as our revered Regional Commander suggested, and I've come up with an interesting theory.' He laughed. ‘No, Tom, there's not a wild goose flapping its wings, I promise. Let's discuss it over coffee and a bun.'

Standing by the whiteboard with their favourite sustenance, Max began on his theory based on the work he had done yesterday morning. ‘Piercey left the theatre at oh one ten and reached the Mess at oh one thirty. Private Jimmy James witnessed his arrival then saw the Audi depart again at oh one forty.' He wrote all this on the board as he spoke. ‘Norton made a call on her mobile in her dressing room at oh one five which Piercey interrupted. She made another, presumably to the same person, prior to leaving at oh one fifteen. She staggered into the RMP Post at oh two hundred. Allowing for a reasonable time to elapse between the assault and her arrival at the Post, it means around thirty minutes are unaccounted for.

‘Now, if Phil is innocent we're presented with some interesting possibles. The idea of someone borrowing the Audi for some nefarious business we know nothing about is surely negated by the discovery of Norton's mobile having been planted in it with all but Phil's texts deleted. So, the events of that night were almost certainly conceived to damage him quite seriously, and that only works if the plan included a crime for which he could be blamed.'

He raised his eyebrows at Tom. ‘With me so far? Right. Chummy could only know Phil's movements after the opera party if Norton told him. Which means she must have been in on the plan, which includes making a fuss in the theatre to drive Phil to leave in a hurry. She then phones Chummy so that he can watch for his arrival at the Mess. Phil carelessly leaves the keys in the ignition, but Chummy would have provided himself in advance with the means of breaking into it. Easy when you know how.

‘Here's my theory. Norton is told the plan is to tell the Redcaps Phil laid in wait for her to arrive at her accommodation block, forced her into his car, drove away from the built up area, then tried to rape her in the vehicle.'

‘But Chummy had other plans,' said Tom, catching the drift. ‘She did all they'd agreed to, but he knocked her about instead of simply tearing her dress and mussing her hair.'

‘Exactly! Norton was in shock when Babs Turvey asked what had happened, so she named Phil, as arranged.'