‘What about his niece and nephew?’
‘I didn’t know he had a niece and nephew and thereby I answer your question. All went to his brother, save a hundred thousand to the scanner appeal and a similar amount to the disabled persons charity.’
As he drove back to York, Louise D’Acre entered Yellich’s mind. He had always seen the Home Office pathologist as being headmistressy in a prim and stuffy sort of way, driving the old Riley as if fashion and modernity didn’t reach her, yet all the time she had been cherishing her father’s memory by nurturing his one and only motor car so that it still gave sterling service long after its design life had expired.
Frightening, he thought, frightening how you can be wrong about people.
Friday
…in which Chief Inspector Hennessey lunches with the Senior Service and afterwards pays a house call.
‘I’m only prepared to speak off the record.’
‘Fair enough,’ grunted Hennessey.
‘Good.’ The man paused. ‘Well, there’s a pub in the village near the base, the Dog and Duck, they do a passable ploughman’s lunch. Shall we say between twelve and twelve-thirty?’
‘Excellent, thank you, sir. I’ll be there.’ Hennessey replaced the receiver gently. Suddenly Patrick Wood came to mind. Patrick, of course…a good bloke, a very good bloke. One more name for the list. He spent the remainder of the morning addressing administrative matters and at eleven-thirty, signed out and drove out towards Knaresborough where he located HMS Halley and the village, and finally the Dog and Duck.
‘Mr Hennessey?’ Commander Timmins revealed himself to be a short man, bespectacled, with a grey suit and white shirt with blue stripes and a dark-blue tie, black shoes. He approached Hennessey confidently as Hennessey entered the pub, lowering his head against the low beams.
‘That’s me.’ The two men shook hands. Each ordered a ham ploughman’s and each a pint of Black Sheep Best. They carried their beer to a table in a bay window composed of many small panes of glass. ‘Nice pub.’
‘Don’t use it often.’ Timmins sipped his beer. ‘It’s the policy of all military bases not to use pubs in the immediate location of the base. It means we don’t dominate the local area in the way that university students dominate their local area, keeps the relationship within the local community more positive than would otherwise be the case. We don’t allow our boys or girls to drink in groups of four or more less than four miles from the base. We call it the “fours rule”. It means that our impact is dissolved over a wider area. But a one-off in mufti, as you see, that’s not against the rules.’
‘Well, thanks for seeing me. It may or may not come to nothing, but it concerns Lieutenant Williams.’
‘Yes?’
‘His parents have been murdered.’
‘I know. He’s told me. He hasn’t given much away, he hasn’t requested compassionate leave, says he doesn’t want it. He says the job keeps his mind occupied and by fortunate coincidence he was based close to home when tragedy struck. Even in today’s shrinking navy, he could still have been anywhere in the world, even as a shore-based officer, yet when tragedy strikes his family, he is based within three hours’ walk of his parents’ house.’
‘Coincidence, as you say.’
‘He’s not a suspect, I hope?’
‘He has no motivation, he won’t benefit from their deaths. They were broke, even their home was about to be repossessed, so we think.’
‘Really? I wonder where he got it from?’
‘It?’
‘The money. He has only a modest salary, but has a sports car and rents accommodation off the base.’
‘He’s allowed to do that?’
‘Oh yes, only the most junior personnel, both officers and other ranks, are kept inside the fence. But once someone has got some time in they can live off the base. So long as they report when they’re expected to report, there isn’t a problem. The real obstacle of living off the base is the cost of accommodation, even with the rent allowance. But money never seemed to be an obstacle to Lieutenant Williams.’
Timmins ceased speaking and both men leaned backwards as a generous ploughman’s lunch was laid before each of them. Timmins smiled at the young waitress and Hennessey said, ‘Thank you. I’ll remember this pub.’
Hennessey took his knife and fork from the paper napkin.
‘So, Williams…yes, he definitely had private means, but so do my other officers. You can’t afford the lifestyle that is expected of you on the salary a junior officer is paid…expected to put in appearances at every party, expected to contribute to parties you know you won’t be attending. Not my lifestyle. Too hectic. The services are a way of life. It’s either for you or it isn’t.’
‘I did two years in the navy.’
‘Did you?’ Timmins beamed. ‘National Service?’
‘How did you guess? Saw the world as far as Portsmouth. Didn’t enjoy it but I survived. Got my ear burned for returning a salute…I was on duty standing at the stern of the ship, two officers came aboard and saluted in my direction.’
‘Oh no!’
‘’Fraid so…’ Hennessey smiled. ‘So I dutifully returned the salute and got my ear burned.’
‘As you would have done.’
‘What officer in what navy salutes a rating! They were saluting the ensign, of course…but he let it go at that…half-witted National Serviceman…’
‘We were not unhappy when conscription was abolished. We’re much happier as a volunteer force…one volunteer is worth twelve pressed men…so what else can I tell you about Lieutenant Williams?’
‘Anything and everything. He’s not a suspect, but in cases like this, we like to obtain as broad a picture as possible. We have two suspects in the frame but we need to know more about the family…hence my interest in Lieutenant Williams.’
‘Two suspects? Good for you, that’s speedy work.’
‘It can be the way of it, but only can be. Some cases are solved only years later…if at all.’
‘Well, Lieutenant Williams…not a popular man, not popular with his men, not popular with his brother - and sister - officers either. We now have SVPs in the navy.’
‘SVPs?’
‘Squeaky Voiced Persons - had women ashore for a long time, now they’re at sea as well. Getting more numerous ashore lately…so he’s not popular with his brother and sister officers. Not popular with his men either. If you’re an officer, you can bully people into following you, or you can make them want to follow you by virtue of your leadership skills…we like the second sort, Williams is the first sort, the sort that slip through the vetting procedure. Daresay it’s the same in the police force?’
‘It is. Sadly.’
‘Williams came to us under a cloud. He had command of a minesweeper, still in his twenties…destined for great things in the navy. If you’re given a command of a small ship when young, you’re being fast-tracked for big ship command in your forties…I mean aircraft carrier, that short of big ship. Then a rating assaulted him. Punched him, broke his nose, in fact.’
‘Oh dear…’ Hennessey shuddered and recalled the weight of naval discipline…he recalled that striking an officer was second only to selling secrets to a foreign power in terms of magnitude of offence.
‘Yes. The rating got a hundred and twenty days’ detention and was dismissed from the service.’
‘Is that all?’
‘It was a lenient sentence and thereby hangs the tale. Turned out that the rating was the ship’s cook and Williams was given to bringing his girlfriend back to the ship at two a.m. or thereabouts and having said rating turned out of his bunk to cook a three-course dinner for Williams and femme. After he’d cleaned the utensils and washed up the plates he wasn’t able to get back to his bunk until five a.m., and had to be up at six-thirty or seven to cook the ship’s breakfast. He wasn’t getting enough sleep and was working with large amounts of hot and boiling-hot food and water. Williams coming back so late and demanding the three-star treatment wasn’t a one-off, it was a regular thing. Anyway, the rating snapped, made a mighty fist and Williams went sprawling. The rating opted for a full court martial, which made the affair public and the navy hates that sort of thing, really hates it. Terrible press. Anyway, in the light of the wider circumstances, the rating got his lenient sentence and Williams was “transferred shore”.’