‘Poor Laurie,’ she said. ‘I wasn’t very nice to Laurie.’
‘Yes,’ Gently said. ‘But now I’d like to go back to that jazz session, Miss Turner.’
Her eyes darted to him, held there. ‘I don’t remember much about it,’ she said.
‘I don’t want you to remember much,’ Gently said. ‘Just what happened about the box of chocolates.’
‘Oh those.’ She dropped her eyes. ‘It wasn’t anything, really,’ she said. ‘Sid Bixley won a box of chocolates. Johnny took them, for a lark.’
‘For a lark?’ Gently said.
‘Yes,’ she said. ‘He didn’t mean anything, honestly. He just picked them up as we were leaving. I’m sure he meant to give them back.’
Gently picked up his hat, made a fanning motion with it. He stared out of the window.
‘It won’t do,’ he said, ‘Miss Turner. You’ll have to remember a little more.’
She blushed more deeply. ‘It wasn’t anything to do with me,’ she said.
‘I think it was,’ Gently said. ‘But you needn’t tell me about that. Just why Johnny took that box of chocolates, and what he intended doing with them.’
She moved around under the quilt, took a great interest in the sheet turn-down. The ward sister was rumbling a little, shifted, made a noise with her keys.
‘I could add,’ Gently said, ‘that there’ll be no more jazz sessions at the Ten Spot. And that Sidney Bixley is in custody, charged with trading in reefers and other matters.’
‘Oh,’ she said. ‘I see.’ She continued staring at the turn-down. Well,’ she said. ‘You know all about it. There doesn’t seem much for me to tell you.’
‘It’s just routine,’ Gently urged. ‘We like to get the details straight.’
She nodded her bandages. ‘I suppose so,’ she said. ‘In that case I’d better tell you. He — Johnny — didn’t like me doing it… you know. Smoking those things. I was silly. Sid gave me a couple, just to try them, he said. Then I wanted some more, and he sold me some, and after that I kept buying them. And Johnny found out. He thought it was because of them that I… well, cooled off him a bit.’
‘Was it because of that?’ Gently asked.
‘Oh no,’ she said, ‘it had nothing to do with it. I liked Johnny an awful lot, but he kept wanting us to get married, you know. But he thought it was the reefers, it was no good me saying anything. Then once he caught Sid selling me some. He got ever so angry about Sid.’
‘When was that — on Tuesday morning?’
‘Yes,’ she said. ‘You know about it? Johnny took the reefers away from me, lucky I’d got a couple to go on with.’
‘In the Kummin Kafe,’ Gently said.
‘Yes.’ She nodded. ‘You know it all, don’t you? And Johnny talked to me like a Dutch Uncle — he’s an awfully serious boy, Johnny is. How is he getting on, please?’
A little explosion came from the ward sister.
‘He’s comfortable,’ Gently said. ‘You don’t need to worry about Johnny.’
‘I’m glad,’ Betty said. ‘They wouldn’t tell me anything about him. And I do like Johnny, even though I wasn’t, you know, in love with him.’
‘Go on about Tuesday night,’ Gently said.
‘Yes,’ she said. ‘Well, Johnny was upset. He didn’t say anything more about the reefers, but he was awfully quiet and sort of offhand. He kept watching Sid and Ann Wicks when we were in the Ten Spot, and when Sid got the chocolates he seemed to get all excited. Then he said we were going to leave early, as soon as they’d played the last number, and as we went out he just picked up the chocolates — Sid had given them to Ann, she’d put them with her bag.’
‘Did Bixley see Johnny take them?’
‘No — he couldn’t have done, could he? Anyway, he didn’t come after us. I’m sure nobody noticed.’
‘Did you meet anyone as you went through the milk bar?’ Gently asked.
She shook her head. ‘They were all down below. There was only that blonde woman who serves there.’
‘Did she speak to you?’
‘No,’ Betty said. ‘Just stared at us, that’s all.’
‘Mmn.’ Gently nodded. ‘So what happened when you got outside?’
‘Well,’ Betty said, ‘Johnny opened the chocolates and found the reefers underneath. Laurie came out just then, so Johnny stuck them in his saddlebag. Then he started up and we got away, and Laurie followed behind.’
‘Did Johnny say what he was going to do?’
‘He said he was going to the police when he got back. I was awfully scared about it all. But he said he wouldn’t mention me.’
‘And that’s all… till Five Mile Drove?’
The bandages nodded. ‘Yes. That’s all.’
‘Thank you, Miss Turner,’ Gently said. ‘You’ve been very helpful. We appreciate it.’
He took his hat, rose. She looked up at him shyly.
‘I’m glad,’ she said. ‘I told you about it. You’re nice. I’m glad I told you.’
Then she began to cry.
‘Give Johnny my love,’ she said.
They went down the corridors, out into the thin October sunlight. Gently unlocked the Rover, they got in, he drove out of the park.
‘He must have been waiting under the tree,’ he said. ‘I thought at first he was in that lane. But he couldn’t have picked up the speed from there, so he must have been under the tree.’
‘Yeah,’ Setters said. ‘Yeah.’
‘He went after them without lights,’ Gently said. ‘Then at the last moment he switched them on, so he wouldn’t be blind after he crashed them.’
Setters nodded at the windscreen. ‘Oh Christ,’ he said. ‘I’m so sick of this.’
‘We’ll get back to Bixley,’ Gently said.
He pressed a little harder on the gas.
At the desk they had a report for him from Brewer and Shepherd, the tails on Deeming. They’d picked him up in the High Street and followed him back to his rooms. He’d gone in and spent some time there, then he’d come out dressed for riding. He’d fetched his motorcycle from a shed and parked it in the side lane leading to his rooms. Next he’d smiled at and saluted the policemen, and had gone off on foot to Everard’s Restaurant. He was sitting there now eating his lunch. Brewer and Shepherd were also sitting there.
‘Where’s Everard’s Restaurant?’ Gently asked.
‘Not far from where he lives,’ Setters told him. ‘It’s in the street just round the corner. I eat there myself when I’m in a mood for eating.’
Gently hesitated. ‘I’d like the patrols alerted,’ he said. ‘Give them Deeming’s description and the description of his bike and tell them to keep watch out for him. If Brewer and Shepherd aren’t right with him he’s to be stopped and held for questioning.’
‘Willco,’ Setters said. ‘But it’s a good car and Brewer can drive.’
‘So can Deeming,’ Gently said.
‘You should know,’ said Setters.
They had a snack lunch sent into the office, sandwiches, fruit, and coffee. Gently ate his in silence, Setters made only odd remarks. There was something formidable about Gently when he didn’t want to talk. He seemed a long way away, detached, out of reach. He finished his coffee.
‘Can you spare half a dozen uniform men?’ he asked.
‘What to do?’ Setters countered.
‘To sit in here,’ Gently said.
Setters shrugged. ‘Window-dressing?’
‘Yes,’ Gently said. ‘Window-dressing.’
‘Huh,’ Setters said. ‘Well, I’ll rustle you some up,’
The six men were found, instructed, and arranged in a semicircle in front of the desk. In the middle of the semicircle was placed a chair. On the desk was placed the flick-knife. Gently took the chair behind the desk. Setters sat to his right. Bixley was brought in, told to sit. The policemen drew their chairs up round him.
‘So,’ Gently said to him, ‘you’re back here again, Bixley.’
Bixley’s mouth was tight, his cheeks flushed, his eyes frightened and unsteady. He threw a look at the policemen. They were all staring at him. He edged his chair towards the desk, saw the knife, went still.
Gently hit the desk hard.
Bixley jumped clear of the chair.
‘You’re nervous, Bixley,’ Gently said. ‘You’ve been eighteen hours without a smoke.’