To begin with, Flossie Hale and Samantha Garrison were doubtful that Simon was the man who assaulted them. "He didn't wear glasses, you see," said Flossie, studying the photograph of the earnest young vicar, "and he was better-looking." But when shown a snapshot of a younger, smiling Simon minus spectacles and in casual clothes, they were more confident. "Little Lord Fauntleroy," said Flossie triumphantly, "and he's not so different from the first one I picked out either. Same eyes. It's the innocence. Gawd, I'll remember never to be taken in by pretty blue eyes again."
DI Maddocks was liaising with the Metropolitan police in an attempt to discover whether any London prostitutes had suffered assaults similar to Kale's and Garrison's during the five years that Simon had worked there. If they could establish a prolonged pattern of criminal assault on prostitutes, it would ease police doubts over the meager evidence pointing to Simon's involvement in the murders of Landy, Wallader, and Harris. For, as Maddocks said to Cheever when he'd read Simon's letter: "Someone beat the crap out of him to make him write this, sir. It's got bloodstains on it."
Frank watched Jinx lower the letter to her knees. "As you see, Miss Kingsley," he said, "there are one or two questions left unanswered. We're still looking for the weapon, but there was a cassock in his house that appears to have bloodstains on it. However it will be some time before we can say definitely that the blood was Meg's and Leo's. The likely scenario is that he removed the cassock after he killed your two friends, which would explain why we had no reported sightings of someone wearing bloodstained clothes. We believe he probably used the same method to kill your husband-donned his cassock, in other words, to keep the blood off his clothes." She looked paler and more drawn than ever, he thought, and the hand that held the letter shook violently. "I don't wish to upset you further, but we would be grateful for any details you can give us."
She glanced towards Alan Protheroe for support, then nodded. "Perhaps we could begin with Saturday, the eleventh of June, the day you phoned your father to tell him the wedding was off. Do you remember that day, Miss Kingsley?''
"Most of it, yes."
"Do you remember going to Meg's flat in the evening and being angry when she or Leo opened the door to you?"
Jinx nodded.
"Could you tell me about that? We assume they were supposed to be long gone, so what made you think they were still there? Why did you go?"
"To collect Marmaduke and take him home with me," she simply. "I couldn't believe it when I saw Leo's car parked outside. I was furious." Tears welled in her eyes. "I'd gone to so much trouble and they just thought I was being paranoid."
"So you had a key to Meg's flat?"
She shook her head. "I was supposed to collect it from the neighbor. But I could see Leo in the sitting room, so I hammered on the door instead and let rip at them." She dabbed miserably at her eyes. "I wish I hadn't now. It was the last time I really spoke to either of them and I was so bad-tempered. You see, I knew they were in danger. I had this feeling all the time that something terrible was going to happen."
Frank waited a moment till he felt she was back in control ol herself. "What happened then?"
"Meg gave me this big spiel about Josh and how badly she was behaving towards him. She said it was my fault, that I was using Russell's murder as a stick to beat her and Leo with because I wanted to make life as uncomfortable for them as I could. We really did have an awful row." She looked at her hands. "Well, that's not relevant anymore. I bullied them into going to Leo's house in Chelsea until Monday. I said at least they'd be safer there than in Hammersmith because I was the only other person who knew the address."
"Did they go?"
"Yes."
"What time was that?"
"I think it was around midnight. Meg insisted on leaving the flat spick-and-span so that prospective purchasers wouldn't be put off when they went round it."
"So she was selling it?"
"Yes," said Jinx again. "I was going to put it with an estate agent as soon as they left for France. That was part of the deal. Meg's business needed an injection of cash, and I promised to try and raise it through the sale of her flat if she and Leo would agree to make themselves scarce for a while. The plan was for me to explain it to Josh after they'd left"-she faltered-"but Meg got cold feet when she spoke to him on the phone on the Saturday, and decided to postpone the trip so she could tell him in person." She licked the tears from her lips. "Josh threatened to pull out of the partnership unless she gave him a few guarantees about her commitment, and they'd been going through such a rough patch recently that she believed he'd do it unless she took the trouble to calm him down."
Frank studied her bent head curiously. "I have some problems understanding why they were prepared to go along with all the secrecy, Miss Kingsley, particularly if, as you say, they thought you were being paranoid."
She stared at him rather bleakly for a moment. "Meg had done the dirty on me twice. She was in no real position to argue. In any case, Leo was on my side. He was cock-a-hoop about being in France when the news broke. The last thing he wanted was to face the embarrassment of a canceled wedding. He'd have gone immediately if Meg had been free to leave."
"Why wasn't she?"
"She had a client she didn't want to lose, and a couple of meetings with the bank manager. She said he'd pull the plug on the business if she tried to cancel them. The earliest she could was the eleventh." She fell silent.
"Then she reneged at the last minute?"
Jinx nodded. "She only agreed to go along with it in the first place because Leo was in favor, but the minute Josh came down on her like a ton of bricks she dug her heels in, kept calling me neurotic and absurd." The tears ran down her cheeks again. "I think she wanted to say she was sorry afterwards, but she was too afraid of Simon to look at me. It was very sad."
"I understand." He waited again. "So they left for Chelsea at about midnight on the Saturday? Are you sure they went there?"
"Oh, yes. I followed them. Leo parked in the garage, and I watched them both go inside. Then I went home."
"What about the cat? What happened to him?"
"We stuck with the original plan, but delayed it until Monday. We left poor old Marmaduke in the hall with some food and the cat tray, but he was only going to be there for thirty-six hours at the most. I would collect the key from the neighbor, rescue Marmaduke, and explain about the flat going on the market. Meg was apposed to call them the minute she got to France, tell them I was kosher and ask them to let me in."
"But why was it so necessary to keep Mr. and Mrs. Helms in the dark?" asked Fraser. "You can't have suspected them of being involved in Russell's death."
"Of course not." There was a long silence. "I thought it was my father we needed to be afraid of," she said at last, "and I couldn't be sure how much he already knew about Leo and Meg's affair. I know he found out about Meg and Russell, because Miles told me afterwards. That's one of the reasons I thought he might have had Russell killed." She rubbed her head. "Leo swore his parents wouldn't have said a word to anyone, but"-she raised her hands in a small gesture of helplessness-"Adam has a way of finding out. If Mr. and Mrs. Helms knew anything in advance, they would tell the first person who asked them. In fact, Meg said it was worse, that Mrs. Helms wouldn't wait to be asked, she'd stand on the street corner and broadcast it to the world."