'I've noticed,' said Evans drily.
Tell us about it then, Arthur,' invited Dalziel.
Evans grunted again, then started talking. Having made up his mind to talk, he spoke rapidly and fluently and Pascoe's pen flew over the paper as he took shorthand notes. He was so occupied with the accuracy of his record that he scarcely had time to pay attention to the narrative as a whole and it wasn't until Evans fell silent that the statement jelled in his mind. The Welshman had set off home in a cold fury. He was convinced that his wife was with another man. He was almost as convinced that this man was Connon. He went right through the house when he arrived home but there was no sign of Gwen; nor of anyone else. Connon had left the Club early, he remembered, saying he was going home. Now Evans got back into his car and drove round to Connon's house. He had not parked in front of the house because he had no desire to draw attention to himself. All he wanted to do was to see if Connon's car was in the garage. The only sign of life he could see in the house was the white light from a television screen shining through a chink in the living-room curtains. He went as silently as he could up the drive and peered into the garage. The car was there. Still unconvinced, he considered ringing the bell and inventing some pretext for coming to see Connon if Mary Connon answered the door. Instead, not wanting to risk a scene without more evidence of his suspicions, he went back to his car and drove back to the Club, stopping briefly at a couple of pubs on the way to see if Gwen was in either. But when he reached the Club she was there already. It's a reasonable story, thought Pascoe. And if he had rung the bell at Connon's what reason would he have had to kill Mary? 'And did you find out where Gwen had been, Arthur?' asked Dalziel softly. 'She said she thought Dick and Joy had forgotten they were to pick her up, so she set off to catch the bus.'
'It must have been a slow bus.'
It was a flat, totally unaccented statement.
'She just missed one, so she dropped in at our local for some fags, and stayed to have a drink.'
'And did she?'
Evans was having difficulty in controlling his voice. 'I do not go around public houses asking if my wife is telling me the truth. That's more in your line.' 'Oh it is. Quite right,' said Dalziel with equanimity. 'We'll ask, never fear. But we won't bother you with our findings if you feel that way.' A touch of the knife, thought Pascoe. Just a hint, a reminder.
Dalziel wasn't finished.
'Why do you suspect Connon of… whatever you suspect him of?'
'Don't be mealy-mouthed, Bruiser.'
'All right. Of having it away with your wife. Why Connon?' Evans spoke softly now so that Pascoe had to strain to catch his words. 'Nothing positive. Things she let slip. We had a row. She said I should pay her more attention, I was always round at the Club with my drinking mates. I said at least I knew where I was with them. I could trust the men I drank with. So she laughed at that, see. Said, "oh yes?" I asked what she meant. She said that not all of them were overgrown boys like me. One at least, she said, was a man. Still waters run deep, she said.'
He fell silent.
'That's little enough to go on.' 'Oh, there's other things. I've seen 'em talking. Seeing her looking at him. And when she goes missing like she did last Saturday he's usually not around either. But I wasn't certain, see? That's why I didn't ring the bell.' 'You were certain enough last Saturday afternoon when you put the boot in,' said Pascoe casually from his corner. Evans flushed and looked far more embarrassed than he had done at any stage so far. 'What? Oh, that. How do you know? Oh, I don't know what made me do that, rotten thing to do, that was. I was really sorry afterwards. I'd got him to play, see? We were short anyway, always are, and I thought, right Connie, I'll know where you are this afternoon at any rate. Then he went down in this loose scrum, shouldn't have been there, but he was always a bit of a hero, and I put my foot in looking for the ball and there he was. I couldn't have missed him, but I could have slowed down a bit. But I didn't. Silly really, I've never done anything like it before. Never. Hard, you know, but never malicious. I was really sorry. Might have killed him. I thought I had for a moment.' I wish he wouldn't get so blasted Welsh when he's excited, thought Pascoe. My shorthand doesn't have the right symbols somehow. I'll never be able to read it back. 'But I didn't, did I?' Evans went on. 'And I didn't kill his missis either, if that's what all this is about, which is all I can think.' 'No one has suggested such a thing, I hope?' said Dalziel, shocked. 'Your value to us, Arthur, is that you were there. In the road. Up at the house. At a significant time. We want to know what you saw. Tell us again what you saw.' Halfway through the third telling, Pascoe was called out to the phone. He returned a minute later looking thoughtful. 'Now look,' said Evans. 'I've got to be going. Gwen will be thinking I've been put in a dungeon. And I've got to catch the team bus at twelve-forty-five. We're away today. So unless you've got ways of keeping me here you haven't revealed yet, I'm off.' 'Arthur,' said Dalziel reproachfully. 'You've been free to go any time. We've no way of holding you.'
'No,' agreed Evans, rising.
'Except perhaps for obstructing the police by not revealing all this a lot earlier.'
Ouch! thought Pascoe.
'Early or late, I've revealed it now. And it'll go no further, I hope.' 'Not unless needed, Arthur. We're always a little doubtful about statements that have to be forced out of witnesses by revealing the extent of our prior information.' Evans laughed, the first merry sound he'd made since his arrival. 'Information nothing. It's piss-all information you had. I volunteered my statement because I wanted to volunteer, not because of your pathetic bluff. When you sort out your notes, Sergeant, you might include in them the additional information that my car was parked at the other end of Boundary Drive, the end furthest away from Glenfair Road, see? So it's purely voluntary isn't it? And now I'm going to volunteer to go home. Good day to you both.' Dalziel and Pascoe looked at each other for a long moment after the door had slammed behind Evans. Then they both began to grin, and finally laughed out loud. It was their first moment of spontaneous shared amusement that Pascoe could remember. 'Well now, boyo,' said Dalziel in a dreadful parody of a Welsh accent, 'you'd better watch your bloody self, see? Telling such lies to an honest citizen.' 'It might have been his car,' said Pascoe. 'White Hillman. I mean, why not? It didn't seem absolutely out of the question. By the way, we had a phone call.'
'From?'
'Connon. He was worried about Arthur. Wanted us to go easy on the thumbscrews, I think.'
'Did he now? And he asked for you?'
'Why yes. I expect so.'
'I see. Thinks I haven't got any better feelings to appeal to, does he? Well, go on.' 'There's nothing to go on with. I assured him we were only asking Mr Evans one or two questions that might or might not be connected with the case. And I suggested he should contact Evans himself for full details.'
'That was naughty. You didn't ask then?'
'Ask what? Sir?' Dalziel looked pleadingly up to heaven. Pascoe sighed inwardly. The party's over then, he thought. Like Christmas, a brief moment of good will and fellowship, then back to normal. You've spent your allowance, Bruiser. What're you going to do at the end of the week? 'You didn't ask who he got his information from. About Evans's being here.' He's right. I should have asked. That's another of his blasted troubles. He keeps on being right. 'No, sir. I didn't. Sorry. I'll get back on to him, shan I?' 'Don't bother,' said Dalziel. 'If he doesn't want to tell us (and the minute you ask, he won't) there's no way of finding out. From him. But the possible sources aren't many, are they?'
'No, sir.'
'Our bobbies. A couple of nosey neighbours. Or the fair Gwen herself. Who's got your money, Sergeant?'