Read Online Bryant & May - London's Glory: (Short Stories) (Bryant & May Collection) by Christopher Fowler - Free Book Online
Authors: Christopher Fowler
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don’t think she stayed overnight in Primrose Hill. Went there first thing this morning, I imagine, but you’ll know that once you’ve checked her Oyster card.’
‘How do you know?’
‘What, that she went by tube or that she’d been in Islington?’
‘Both.’
‘She had no purse and no cash unless it was taken, just the travel card. No make-up, and she’d dressed in a hurry. She was wearing boots that had some fragments of French gravel in the grooves. They hadn’t been there long because there was ice underneath them. Islington uses different tarmac surfacing to Camden, so it looks to me as if she crossed boroughs this morning. I’ve got a home address for her in Canonbury, Islington.’
‘Her husband says she didn’t come home last night, but she had several empty flats she could have gone to in the Canonbury area. Anything else?’
‘We have a time of death because of the phone call. She fell face down and died quickly. There was no weapon of any kind on her, or anything that could conceivably be used as one. It looks like there were two wounds, one opening the carotid artery and the other grazing the trachea.’
‘Grazing – you mean cutting it?’
‘Yes, just lightly.’
‘So the air escaped from her lungs and she couldn’t breathe in,’ said May.
‘Exactly. Slashes rather than stabs – they’re not very deep. She’s five six, which would make her killer six feet at least, because the cuts are downward.’
‘Except that he couldn’t have been standing in front of her because he left no footprints,’ added Bryant. ‘How do you account for that?’
Kershaw flicked back his blond fringe. ‘Well, I can’t. Most seemingly impossible situations are the fault of poor information-gathering. Are you sure Dan’s got his facts straight? The obvious answer is that the dog-walker killed her and threw the weapon away.’
‘That won’t fly,’ said May. ‘He walks his dog at the same time every day, along the same route. He was searched at the site and came up clean, and he has no connection with the deceased. The officer said he was badly shaken. There’s no reason to suspect him.’
‘Oh come on,’ said Giles, ‘you’re a policeman, you suspect everyone. What about her enemies?’
‘An ex-boyfriend in Liverpool. Turns out he died of a barbiturate overdose nearly a year ago. We’ve good reason to suspect the husband, but he has alibis in the form of half a dozen employees, so he must have got someone else to do it. Dan’s searching every inch of the field but so far he hasn’t found any marks in the snow other than the ones we’ve accounted for.’
‘A throwing dagger,’ said Bryant suddenly.
‘They’d have found it,’ said May, shaking his head.
‘Not if it cleared the field.’
‘Thrown three hundred metres?’
‘With rockets attached. Or a boomerang. Circus performers. A crossbow with razorblades on the front.’
‘I’m going to take him back to the unit now,’ May told Kershaw, patting his partner’s arm. ‘It’s time for his medication.’
‘Not yet,’ Bryant insisted. ‘Let’s check Kastopolis’s alibi. His employees are going to say anything he tells them, aren’t they? The Rajasthan Palace, Cally Road, didn’t he say he spent most of last night there?’
‘Marsha Kastopolis died this morning.’
‘But if he hired someone else to kill his wife it was because of what she’d told Kaylie Neville, and maybe he planned it in the restaurant. Besides, it’s been ages since I had a decent Ruby Murray.’
‘Don’t you ever stop thinking of your stomach?’ asked May.
‘I need to keep the boiler functioning in this weather,’ said Bryant. ‘If my pilot light goes out, I might never get it started again.’
From the outside it was not the most appealing of restaurants. The splits in the yellow plastic fascia had been repaired with brown parcel tape, and computer printouts of takeaway menus were plastered over the windows, but the
‘How do you know?’
‘What, that she went by tube or that she’d been in Islington?’
‘Both.’
‘She had no purse and no cash unless it was taken, just the travel card. No make-up, and she’d dressed in a hurry. She was wearing boots that had some fragments of French gravel in the grooves. They hadn’t been there long because there was ice underneath them. Islington uses different tarmac surfacing to Camden, so it looks to me as if she crossed boroughs this morning. I’ve got a home address for her in Canonbury, Islington.’
‘Her husband says she didn’t come home last night, but she had several empty flats she could have gone to in the Canonbury area. Anything else?’
‘We have a time of death because of the phone call. She fell face down and died quickly. There was no weapon of any kind on her, or anything that could conceivably be used as one. It looks like there were two wounds, one opening the carotid artery and the other grazing the trachea.’
‘Grazing – you mean cutting it?’
‘Yes, just lightly.’
‘So the air escaped from her lungs and she couldn’t breathe in,’ said May.
‘Exactly. Slashes rather than stabs – they’re not very deep. She’s five six, which would make her killer six feet at least, because the cuts are downward.’
‘Except that he couldn’t have been standing in front of her because he left no footprints,’ added Bryant. ‘How do you account for that?’
Kershaw flicked back his blond fringe. ‘Well, I can’t. Most seemingly impossible situations are the fault of poor information-gathering. Are you sure Dan’s got his facts straight? The obvious answer is that the dog-walker killed her and threw the weapon away.’
‘That won’t fly,’ said May. ‘He walks his dog at the same time every day, along the same route. He was searched at the site and came up clean, and he has no connection with the deceased. The officer said he was badly shaken. There’s no reason to suspect him.’
‘Oh come on,’ said Giles, ‘you’re a policeman, you suspect everyone. What about her enemies?’
‘An ex-boyfriend in Liverpool. Turns out he died of a barbiturate overdose nearly a year ago. We’ve good reason to suspect the husband, but he has alibis in the form of half a dozen employees, so he must have got someone else to do it. Dan’s searching every inch of the field but so far he hasn’t found any marks in the snow other than the ones we’ve accounted for.’
‘A throwing dagger,’ said Bryant suddenly.
‘They’d have found it,’ said May, shaking his head.
‘Not if it cleared the field.’
‘Thrown three hundred metres?’
‘With rockets attached. Or a boomerang. Circus performers. A crossbow with razorblades on the front.’
‘I’m going to take him back to the unit now,’ May told Kershaw, patting his partner’s arm. ‘It’s time for his medication.’
‘Not yet,’ Bryant insisted. ‘Let’s check Kastopolis’s alibi. His employees are going to say anything he tells them, aren’t they? The Rajasthan Palace, Cally Road, didn’t he say he spent most of last night there?’
‘Marsha Kastopolis died this morning.’
‘But if he hired someone else to kill his wife it was because of what she’d told Kaylie Neville, and maybe he planned it in the restaurant. Besides, it’s been ages since I had a decent Ruby Murray.’
‘Don’t you ever stop thinking of your stomach?’ asked May.
‘I need to keep the boiler functioning in this weather,’ said Bryant. ‘If my pilot light goes out, I might never get it started again.’
From the outside it was not the most appealing of restaurants. The splits in the yellow plastic fascia had been repaired with brown parcel tape, and computer printouts of takeaway menus were plastered over the windows, but the
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