We talked in his office over surprisingly good coffee. Not like police station issue at all. Todd was a big man with a ruddy complexion, big feet and hands. He looked a bit like a rather dated kiddies’ picture-book illustration of a beat copper. All he needed was the funny hat.
He tipped his chair back, balancing himself rather precariously with the toe of one foot against his desk, and seemed to study me very carefully.
At first he let me take the lead.
‘I know the set-up out there,’ I said. ‘I can imagine it very clearly.’
He raised his bushy eyebrows quizzically, but passed no comment. I was suddenly quite certain that he knew more about me and my association with Abri Island than he was letting on. And I suspected that I had no alternative but to come clean.
‘Look, I had a narrow escape from the Pencil myself when I was on Abri,’ I said.
He still did not speak.
‘What makes me think you may know that already,’ I remarked, sounding cool enough to rather surprise myself. I can box clever too. In spite of appearances which might occasionally indicate the contrary, I hadn’t got to be a DCI at thirty-three through being a complete idiot.
Todd smiled slightly. ‘I was about to call you when you called me yesterday,’ he admitted.
‘Who told you?’ I asked.
‘Not me, one of my sergeants got that information,’ he replied.
I waited. He knew exactly what I wanted to know. Todd shrugged. ‘Robin Davey,’ he said eventually.
I suppose I half expected that answer. It had to have been the owner of Abri Island, really.
Todd continued. ‘Davey volunteered the information the very first time we interviewed him following Natasha Felks’ death. Told us there had been a previous incident. Even supplied your name. Here see for yourself.’
A manila folder sat in the centre of Todd Mallett’s desk. He opened it to reveal a stack of computer print-outs and passed me several sheets. They were the transcript of a formal taped interview with Robin Davey, which the cover sheet, complete with the date and time, told me had been conducted at Barnstaple Police Station by Detective Sergeant Colin Pitt.
I scanned them quickly.
‘Young Jason took another woman out to the Pencil two or three months ago,’ Davey had said. ‘One of yours. DCI Piper. Would be funny wouldn’t it, if it wasn’t so tragic.’
The man managed to come through as highly personable even in a police report. There followed a more or less accurate account of the way I had been abandoned on the Pencil and then rescued by Davey and a couple of the islanders just in time to save my life.
I looked up. Todd Mallett remained tipped backwards in his chair at a dangerous angle while continuing to study me laconically.
‘And Natasha? How could it have happened again?’ I asked.
‘That’s what I’m trying to find out,’ remarked Todd levelly. ‘And I’m not making a lot of progress at the moment.’
‘Well, what explanation did Davey give?’
Todd shrugged again. ‘He simply said he’d had no idea why Tash had gone off in the boat, except that it had been an unseasonably calm and beautiful day and she may have thought she knew Jason well enough to sense any danger — to guess if he were likely to have a fit. The boy had been banned from taking out the boat on his own or with a passenger after they nearly lost you. And Davey said as far as he knew it was the first time he had broken the rule.’
I didn’t like the sound of any of it. And my own feeling of guilt was worsening. I couldn’t quite get over the notion that if I had played things by the book Natasha Felks might still be alive.
‘They noticed on Abri that I was missing in time to save my life and I was just a paying guest,’ I said. ‘How could Davey not miss his own fiancée for so long?’
Todd nodded towards the statement. ‘Top of the fourth page, I think,’ he said. ‘See for yourself.’
I turned the pages of the transcript, the lay-out and language of which was so familiar to me.
DAVEY Tash and I had a bit of a row after lunch that day. She said she wanted some time on her own. She had the use of a small cottage on the island as well as coming and going freely to my house. She said she was going to her cottage and she’d stay there that night. Basically she told me to leave her alone.
DS PITT And did you?
DAVEY Of course I did. We were both angry. Two stubborn people. Neither of us was going to give in for a bit. You have no idea Superintendent how much I wished I had gone to her. (The witness has turned away and covered his face with his hands. There is a pause of several seconds.)
DAVEY I’m sorry. It’s just, it’s all such a shock.
DS PITT That’s quite all right, sir. Do you feel able to carry on now?
DAVEY Yes, of course. I want to help in any way I can.
DS PITT Would you tell me what the argument was about, sir?
DAVEY Oh God, it all seems so bloody stupid now. It was the wedding. We were arguing about our bloody wedding. (The witness is punching the table before him with the clenched fist of his right hand.)
DS PITT I see sir. Could you tell me what about the wedding please?
DAVEY Yes. Old families you see. Two old families. Mine were determined I be married on Abri, all of the Davey weddings are always on Abri. Tash’s lot were insisting we be married in their village church where all their family are always married. Ridiculous I know. I’d marry her on the moon if that’s what she wanted, if only I could have her back now. (The witness breaks down in tears.)
I replaced the sheaf of papers on Todd Mallett’s desk and looked up again, my turn to be quizzical.
‘His grief was genuine enough,’ said Todd, answering my unvoiced query. ‘Pitt did the interviewing but I met the man myself, after all, he is the victim’s fiancé. Genuine grief, I’m sure of it. I’ve seen enough. I should know the real thing when I see it.’
I nodded. ‘What then?’ I asked. ‘You’re investigating a suspicious death? What do you suspect? Who do you suspect? Davey?’
‘Maybe. Always the most likely isn’t it? Husband, fiancé, boyfriend. Or the boatman. Who knows? We talked to him, of course. Seems perfectly normal, but can’t remember even taking the boat out that afternoon although he accepts absolutely that he did. Maybe he’s not all that he seems. He’s undergoing all kinds of medical tests, naturally. Did you believe the story when it happened to you?’
‘Absolutely. I didn’t have any doubts about that at all. He was brought to apologise to me. He was like a frightened animal. No, I think the tests will back up what you’ve been told about Jason.’
‘So do we,’ said Mallett. ‘And I don’t know where I go from here. If Davey was involved in some way in his fiancée’s death it is hard to imagine what possible motive he could have, apart from anything else. They were head over heels, according to all reports. Their argument just a lover’s tiff. Par for the course.’
The superintendent finally jerked his chair forwards into a safe upright position on all four of its feet and leaned towards me resting his elbows on his desk and cupping his chin in his hands.
‘So I don’t know a lot, Rose. But I know something doesn’t add up. Therefore the investigation continues and what we have is a suspicious death. No less and no more — so far.’
Abruptly he leaned away from me again, hoisted himself out of his chair and walked to the window where an electric coffee percolator bubbled away on the ledge. ‘Some more?’ he gestured.
I accepted gratefully.
‘OK, what I need now is a formal statement from you, Rose,’ he announced.
I had expected no less. I knew that this meant I might be called to give evidence even if the case got no further than the coroner’s court. There had to be an inquest, at least.