The Sculptress (36 page)

‘Sitting around in confined spaces with you,’ he
growled. ‘It requires too much blasted self-control.
Come on. Let’s grasp the nettle. I’ll phone Geoff
Wyatt and see if I can persuade him to hold my hand
while I offer the Poacher for sale.’

‘Wouldn’t it be easier just to have Hayes arrested?’

‘What for?’

‘Breaking and entering.’

‘On what evidence?’

‘Me,’ she said. ‘I can identify him.’

‘He’ll have an alibi by now.’ He flicked a strand of
hair from her cheek with a gesture of casual affection.
‘We need to tempt Crew into the open.’

It was Roz’s turn to sigh. In the cold light of
morning, she was having doubts. ‘It’s all guesswork,
Hal. Crew could be squeaky clean as far as the Poacher’s
concerned. Mr Hayes likes to give the impression
he knows more than he does. It makes him feel
important.’

‘But it’s the only scenario that makes sense.’ He
stroked his jaw and smiled at her with a confidence
he didn’t really feel. ‘My nose is twitching. It’s always
a good sign.’

‘Of what?’

‘That I’m on the right track.’

‘You’ll lose the Poacher if you’re wrong.’

‘I’ll lose it anyway.’ He drummed his fingers on
the dashboard. ‘Come on,’ he said abruptly. ‘Let’s go.
Head for the city centre. Bell Street runs parallel with
the main shopping area. We’ll stop at the first telephone
we see. And keep your eyes peeled for an electrical
goods shop.’

She fired the engine and pulled out into the road.
‘Why?’

‘You’ll find out.’

He dialled Dawlington police station and asked to be
put through to Geoff Wyatt. ‘It’s Hal.’ He let the
angry recriminations run for a moment, then broke
in. ‘Save your breath. I’m trying to sort it now, but I
need your help. What do you have on STC Security
in Bell Street? No, I’ll wait.’ He propped the receiver
under his chin and took out a notepad. ‘OK. Hayes.
Ex-Army. Clean as a whistle. You’re sure? Right. Can
you meet me there in half an hour?’ More squeaks.
‘For old time’s sake, that’s why. No, you bastard, I
don’t give a monkey’s toss if you still feel sick. At the
very least, you owe me for Sally. Half an hour.’ He
hung up.

Roz examined her fingernails with studied
uninterest. ‘Who’s Sally?’ she asked.

‘My ex.’

‘Why does he owe you for her?’

‘He married her.’

‘God!’ She hadn’t expected that.

He smiled at her startled expression. ‘He did me a
favour but doesn’t know it. He thinks it’s why I left
the Force. His guilt is huge and extremely useful at
times like this.’

‘That’s cruel.’

He lifted an eyebrow. ‘It hurt at the time.’

‘Sorry,’ she said regretfully. ‘I keep forgetting we
both have pasts.’

He pulled her against him. ‘The marriage was long
dead, and Geoff didn’t set out to poach Sally. He’s a
decent sort. He held her hand out of friendship, and
ended up with more than he bargained for. And that’s
genuine gratitude talking, Roz, not bitterness.’ He
kissed her nose. ‘Poor bastard. He had no idea what
he was signing on for.’

‘Olive’s revenge,’ she said slowly.

He frowned as he dialled Directory Enquiries. ‘I
don’t follow.’

Roz gave a hollow laugh. ‘She makes clay figures
in her room and then sticks pins into them. She did
one of me when she was angry with me. I had a
migraine for a week.’

‘When was that? Yes,’ he said into the phone, ‘STC
Security, Southampton, please.’

‘A couple of weeks ago.’

‘Someone beat you up a couple of weeks ago,’ he pointed out. ‘That’s why you had a migraine.’ He
wrote a number on his pad and hung up.

‘My ex-husband,’ she agreed. ‘I told Olive I wanted
to kill him and he turned up out of the blue. I could
have killed him, too, if I’d had a knife, or been better
prepared. I was angry enough.’ She shrugged. ‘And
then there’s you and Crew and the Poacher, and
Wyatt taking your wife, and her father dying. All
people she blames for what’s happened to her.’

He looked surprised. ‘You don’t really believe that,
do you?’

She laughed. ‘No, of course I don’t.’ But she did.
Only she knew how much her head had hurt when
Olive turned the pin.

‘STC Security,’ said a woman’s bright voice at the
other end of the wire.

Hal looked at Roz as he spoke. ‘Good morning. I’d
like to discuss security arrangements for my restaurant
with Mr Stewart Hayes.’

‘I’m not sure he’s available to talk at the moment,
sir.’

‘He will be for me. Try his number and tell him
that Hal Hawksley of the Poacher is on the line.’

‘One moment, please.’

Several moments passed before she came back to
him. ‘Mr Hayes will talk to you now, Mr Hawksley.’

A bluff, friendly voice swelled down the wire.
‘Good morning, Mr Hawksley. How may I help you?’

‘You can’t, Mr Hayes, but I can help you. You have
a window of opportunity which will stay open for the
length of time it takes me to reach your office.
Roughly half an hour.’

‘I don’t understand.’

‘I’m prepared to sell the Poacher, but at my price,
and today. That’s the only offer you’ll ever get.’

There was a short silence. ‘I’m not in the market
for buying restaurants, Mr Hawksley.’

‘But Mr Crew is, so I suggest you consult with him
before you allow the window to close.’

There was another silence. ‘I don’t know any Mr
Crew.’

Hal ignored this. ‘Tell him the Olive Martin case
is about to blow wide open.’ He gave Roz a broad
wink. ‘She is already taking legal advice from another
solicitor and is expected to lodge an appeal against
the terms of her father’s will within seven days on the
grounds that she is innocent. Crew buys the Poacher
today, at my price, or he doesn’t buy it at all. You
have half an hour, Mr Hayes.’ He hung up.

Geoff was waiting on the pavement when they arrived.
‘You didn’t mention you were bringing company,’ he
said suspiciously, bending down to look through the
open passenger window.

Hal introduced them. ‘Sergeant Wyatt, Miss Rosalind
Leigh.’

‘Jesus, Hal,’ he said in disgust. ‘What on earth do
you want to bring her for?’

‘I fancy her.’

Geoff shook his head in exasperation. ‘You’re mad.’

Hal opened the door and got out. ‘I trust you’re
referring to my motives in bringing her here. If I
thought you were impugning my choice, I’d bop you
on the nose.’ He looked across the roof at Roz who
had got out on the other side and was locking her
door. ‘I think you should stay in the car.’

‘Why?’

‘You might get your hair pulled.’

‘So might you.’

‘It’s my battle.’

‘And mine, if I’m really thinking of making this
relationship permanent. Anyway, you need me. I’m
the one with the Tampax.’

‘They won’t work.’

Roz chuckled at the expression on Geoff’s face.
‘They will. Trust me.’

Hal tipped a finger at Wyatt. ‘Now you know why
I brought her.’

‘You’re both bloody mad.’ Geoff dropped his cigarette
butt on to the pavement and ground it out
beneath his heel. ‘So what do you want me for? By
rights I should be arresting you.’ He eyed Roz curiously.
‘I suppose he’s told you everything.’

‘I shouldn’t think so,’ she said cheerfully, walking
round the back of the car. ‘I only learnt half an hour
ago that his ex-wife’s name was Sally and you married
her. So, on that basis, there must be an awful lot more
still to come.’

‘I was referring,’ he said sourly, ‘to the numerous
prosecutions he’s about to face when this little farce
is over and I take him down the nick.’

‘Oh, them.’ She gave a dismissive wave. ‘Bits of
paper, that’s all they are.’

Geoff, not altogether happy with his new marital
arrangements, watched her amused exchange of
glances with Hal and wondered why other people,
infinitely less deserving than he, had all the luck. He
listened to Hal’s instructions for him with a hand
pressed to his queasy stomach.

Roz had expected something seedy and run-down like
the Wells-Fargo office: instead they walked into a
clean, brightly painted reception with an efficientlooking
receptionist behind an efficient-looking desk.
Someone, she thought, had spent a great deal of
money on STC Security. But who? And where had it
come from?

Hal favoured the receptionist with his most charming
smile. ‘Hal Hawksley. Mr Hayes is expecting me.’

‘Oh, yes.’ She smiled in return. ‘He said to show
you straight in.’ She leaned forward and pointed down the corridor. ‘Third door on the left. Perhaps your
friends would like to take a seat out here?’ She indicated
some chairs in the corner.

‘Thank you, miss,’ said Geoff. ‘Don’t mind if I do.’
He hefted one as he passed and took it with him
down the corridor.

‘No,’ she called, ‘I didn’t mean take one away.’

He beamed back at her as Hal and Roz disappeared
through the third door without knocking and he
stationed himself on the chair in the middle of the
closed doorway. ‘Very comfortable, I must say.’ He
lit a cigarette and watched, with some amusement, as
she picked up the phone and put through a flustered
call.

On the other side of the door, Stewart Hayes
replaced the receiver. ‘I gather from Lisa that you have
a minder, Mr Hawksley. Would he be a policeman by
any chance?’

‘He would.’

‘Ah.’ He clasped his hands on his desk, apparently
unconcerned. ‘Sit down, please.’ He smiled at Roz
and gestured towards a chair.

Fascinated by him, she took it. This was not the
man who had tried to strangle her. He was younger,
better looking, bluff and friendly like his voice. The
brother, she thought, recalling the photographs on
the sideboard. He had his father’s smile, with all its
sincerity, his father’s old-world charm, and under different
circumstances she would have found him easy to like. Only his eyes, pale and carefully guarded,
implied he had something to hide. Hal remained
standing.

The smile embraced them both. ‘OK, now perhaps
you’d like to explain what you said over the telephone.
I’ll be honest with you’ – his tone suggested he was
about to be the exact opposite – ‘I don’t understand
why I’ve been given half an hour to buy a restaurant
from
someone I’ve never met
for
someone I’ve never
heard of, and all because a self-confessed murderess
wants to contest her father’s will.’

Hal glanced about the well-appointed office.
‘Expensive,’ he said. ‘You and your brother are doing
well.’ He fastened speculative eyes on Hayes. ‘Your
father thinks you’re on the breadline.’

Hayes gave a slight frown but didn’t say anything.

‘So how much does Crew pay for the baseball-bat
treatment? It’s risky so it won’t come cheap.’

The pale eyes showed faint amusement. ‘You’ve
lost me, I’m afraid.’

‘Your brother was very easy to identify, Hayes.
Photographs of him litter your father’s sideboard. But
then Crew obviously never warned you about the
loose cannon on board. Or perhaps you should have
warned him. Does he know your father lived next
door to Olive Martin?’ He saw the other’s incomprehension
and nodded to Roz. ‘This lady is writing a
book about her. Crew was Olive’s solicitor, I was her
arresting officer, and your father was her neighbour. Miss Leigh has visited us all and she recognized your
brother from his snapshot. It is a much smaller world
than you ever imagined.’

There was a tiny shift in the pale eyes, a flicker
of annoyance. ‘Mistaken identity. You’ll never prove
anything. It’s your word against his and he was in
Sheffield all last week.’

Hal shrugged well-feigned indifference. ‘The
window is closing. I came with a genuine offer.’ He
placed his hands on the desk and leaned forward
aggressively. ‘I think it runs something like this. Crew
has been using Robert Martin’s money to buy up
bankrupt businesses cheap while he waits for the
market to recover, but time’s running out on him.
Amber’s child is not as dead and buried as he thought,
and Olive is about to become a
cause célèbre
when
Miss Leigh proves her innocent. Either she or her
nephew, whoever gets in first, will demand a reckoning
of Robert Martin’s executor, namely Crew. But
the recession has dragged on rather longer than he
thought it would and he’s in danger of being caught
with his hands in the till. He needs to shift some
property to make up the shortfall in his books.’ He
raised an eyebrow. ‘What plans are there for the corner
of Wenceslas Street, I wonder? A supermarket? Flats?
Offices? He needs the Poacher to clinch the deal. I’m
offering it to him. Today.’

Hayes wasn’t so easily intimidated. ‘The way I hear
it, Hawksley, your restaurant is about to close anyway. When it does, it will become a liability to you. At
which point it will not be you who dictates terms, but
whoever is willing to take it off your hands.’

Hal grinned and backed off. ‘I’d say that rather
depends on who goes down the chute first. Crew faces
total extinction if his misappropriation of the Martin
money comes to light before my bank decides to
foreclose on the Poacher. Crew’s taking a hell of a
risk if he’s backing me to lose.’ He nodded to the
telephone. ‘He can save himself by clinching a deal
on the Poacher today. Talk to him.’

Hayes pondered for a moment, then transferred his
gaze to Roz. ‘I presume you have a tape-recorder in
your handbag, Miss Leigh. Would you oblige me by
letting me have a look?’

Roz glanced up at Hal, and he nodded. She placed
the bag with a bad grace on the desk in front of her.

‘Thank you,’ said Hayes politely. He opened it and
removed the tape-recorder, making a cursory examination
of the remaining contents of the handbag before
snapping the recorder open and removing the
cassette. He pulled the tape from between the rollers
and cut it into pieces with a pair of scissors, then he
stood up. ‘You first, Hawksley. Let’s just make sure
there are no other little surprises.’ He ran expert hands
over Hal, then did the same with Roz. ‘Good.’ He
gestured towards the door. ‘Tell your minder to move
his chair back to Reception and wait there.’