The address turned out to be at the end of a dispiriting terrace of small grey post-war houses. Tiny front lawns had mostly been tarmacked to provide parking, since the street itself was too narrow to accommodate the collection of low-budget cars. Only a few front lawns struggled on, some full of the brightly coloured impedimenta of child-rearing, some full of broken white goods. Daws’ address fell into the struggling-lawn category. Water from a split downpipe was leaking into the stonework. At the windows the remains of squashed flies dotted grey net curtains. Austin went round the back to stop Daws from disappearing through the garden.
There was a door bell but McLusky ignored it. He squatted down and peered through the letter box. A narrow hall, steep stairs on the right, a tangle of mountain bikes on the left and at the back of the hall what looked like a kitchen. There was movement there. He straightened up, rattled the letter-box lid and pounded on the door.
After a minute the door opened a crack and the pale spotty face of a young man appeared in the gap. ‘Yeah?’
McLusky pushed the door wide open and the kid staggered back. ‘Hey!’
‘Always put the chain on before opening the door to strangers, son.’
The young man looked alarmed. ‘There isn’t a chain.’
‘Then fit one. You Timothy Daws?’ He already knew he couldn’t be. This specimen was too young and had all the charm of a damp dish cloth.
‘No. And it’s not my house. Tim isn’t here. What do you want?’
McLusky waved his ID. ‘Police. Mind if I come in?’ He hefted past the skinny youth. ‘Thanks. Who are you?’
‘Innis Cole.’
‘You live here?’
‘Yes.’
‘You a friend of Timothy’s?’ Innis Cole, McLusky decided, was barely twenty and nervous. Probably nothing more serious than an eighth of blow in his bedroom, though.
‘Not really. He’s a housemate. Well, landlord, really.’
‘Let’s go into the kitchen, Innis. So he does live here?’ He allowed the spotty kid to lead the way. Cole stalled however when he noticed Austin trying the half-glazed back door. Austin flattened his ID against the glass. McLusky gave Cole a playful push from behind. ‘That’s all right, he’s with me. Go let him in.’
Austin sniffed as he entered. The place smelled of sour washing and stagnant water. The kitchen was a mess.
Now that he had two officers to put up with the youth appeared even more nervous, looking from one to the other.
McLusky pressed on. ‘Where’s Three Veg then?’
The use of Daws’ nickname seemed to worry Cole. ‘Don’t know. He doesn’t tell me where he goes.’
Austin positioned himself behind him. ‘When did you last see him?’
The youth turned around. ‘I, er, don’t know. Couple of days ago?’
‘Three?’
‘Maybe.’
McLusky flicked through a small pile of letters addressed to Daws. None of them were personal. ‘Does he often disappear for several days?’
Cole turned around again. ‘From time to time, yeah.’
‘But he doesn’t tell you where he goes.’ He picked up a chopstick and used it to poke around between the collection of empty takeaway cartons and beer cans on the table.
‘What does Mr Daws do for money?’ Austin wanted to know.
Innis rolled his eyes and sat down at the encrusted kitchen table. He wasn’t going to whirl around any longer. ‘I don’t know. I think he’s signing on at the moment.’
Austin ran a finger through the grime on the half-glazed door, then inspected it and looked for somewhere to wipe it. ‘This is a council place, right?’
‘Think so, yeah.’
‘But you pay rent to Daws.’ Austin wiped his finger on the margin of a local free newspaper.
‘Yeah.’
McLusky waved a couple of benefit cheques he had found among the letters. ‘While Daws claims rent for the entire place from housing. And hasn’t bothered cashing these. Curious, wouldn’t you say? Can’t be short of cash then. When did you last see him, Mr Cole?’
‘Is that what this is about? Benefits?’
‘Could be. Doesn’t have to be. I’m not really interested but I could always take an interest if I got a bit bored.’ McLusky gave him a warm smile, which seemed to unnerve Innis Cole considerably. ‘So?’
‘A few days.’
McLusky scissored the cheques between his fingers.
Innis tried to count them. ‘Two weeks?’
‘And where’s he gone?’
‘He didn’t tell me. He’s got a job on, is all he said.’
‘A job on. What kind of a job?’
‘I don’t know. Something to do with gardens. He works with someone else sometimes. Or for someone else, I’m not sure which.’
‘Does he have a car?’
‘A van. And it’s no use asking me what kind, it’s white and quite clapped out. He was given it, I think.’
‘Right. And what do you do, Mr Cole?’
‘I work at the video shop.’ He jerked his head in the direction of the high street.
‘But not today?’
‘I’m on a late, we’re open till ten thirty.’
McLusky turned on his avuncular voice. ‘Okay. Now we would like to talk to Mr Daws about this and that. You might want to give us a call when you see him. But don’t worry, we’ll pop in from time to time. Whenever we’re in the area.’ He nodded reassuringly at Cole. As the two detectives left the narrow house Innis Cole did not look reassured.
McLusky sank into the passenger seat. ‘Do you realize this is a girl’s car, Jane? The baby blue colour won’t fool a soul.’
‘I know. Eve made me get it. She loves the things.’
‘Married? Girlfriend?’
‘Ehm, girlfriend, well, fiancee, sort of …’
‘Sort of? That doesn’t sound like you went on your knees and offered up diamonds. It was her idea then.’
‘Yes, but not a bad idea for all that. We’ve been living together for a year now. It really makes sense.’
‘Aha?’
‘Well, it does when she explains it.’
‘Do you love her, Jane?’
‘Yeah. Yeah, I do. How about you?’
‘Me? I never met the girl. Am I attached? No, not at the moment. I thought I was. Until … the accident and me in hospital. It was the last straw for Laura.’ He realized that this was the first time he had said her name out loud since the break-up and the shape of it threatened to fill the entire car. He lit a cigarette and found the ashtray crammed with sweet wrappers. ‘Any thoughts about Mr Cole?’
‘The guy was far too nervous.’ Austin navigated the car back on to the main street and pointed it in the direction of Albany Road. ‘He was trying to cover up for Daws not being there, so Daws probably told him, “If anyone asks I’ve only been gone a few days.”’
‘Get on to the DSS, see when he last signed on and whether he missed an appointment. And also find out when he signs on next, we can easily collect him then.’
‘You think he’s a possible?’
‘He’s all we’ve got, so we’ll pull him in.’
‘We could always get a search warrant and have a look in his garden shed. It’s certainly big enough for a bomb factory.’
‘Is it? I didn’t see it. Why didn’t you say? Turn around, let’s have a look at it.’ McLusky threw the cigarette out of the window and sat up in his seat, impatiently working an imaginary gas pedal.
Austin slowed, looking for a place to turn round. ‘Shouldn’t we get a search warrant first, sir?’
‘Sir, is it? You can call me Liam, even when you disagree with me. Go on, Jane, make the turn.’
Austin obliged. ‘I tried the shed, it was locked and the window was blocked up.’
‘Blocked-up windows I like. Mr Innis Whatsisname could be on the phone to Daws this minute, telling him we’re looking, or he might already be clearing out the shed. Shit, Daws could be living in it for all we know.’
‘But without a warrant — ’
‘You know, I had a shed once. They are so flimsy. One good gust of wind and they fall over.’ He licked his finger and stuck it out of the window. ‘Seems quite windy today.’