She didn’t dare ask herself if she thought the same thing. The thought hovered at the back of her mind and she pushed it away, concentrated on the fish she’d cook for supper and on whether she should make sandwiches for Ashworth and his friends in the cottage. Now Peter and Ashworth were deep in conversation. They walked together towards the house. She prepared herself to be normal and welcoming, took a deep breath as the door opened.
Peter looked at her with the expression he put on when he’d received bad news, a paper rejected, a record dismissed. Aggrieved. She knew he wanted reassurance, but she didn’t have the heart to give it. In the end it was Ashworth who spoke.
‘Dr Calvert’s agreed to come to the station in Kimmerston to have a chat with DI Stanhope. A few points we want to clear up. It shouldn’t take long.’
She forced herself to smile. ‘Of course,’ she said. ‘I told you, anything we can do to help…’
Chapter Thirty-Two
Vera thought Ashcroft had made a mistake bringing Calvert in. The botanist was hardly likely to leave the country. She believed they were showing their hand too soon. Perhaps she’d made a mistake in phoning Ashworth to tell him that Charlie had found the antique shop in York where Lily’s ring had been bought. There was still no evidence that Calvert was the lover. An older man with an attractive young woman, the owner had said. Tall, fit for his age. That could describe a lot of people, including Samuel Parr. They’d found a photo of Calvert on the jacket of a textbook he’d written, but it had been published nearly twenty years before and his hair then had been longer and dark. No wonder it had sparked no recognition. If Calvert had been the man in the shop.
The ring had been bought in January and paid for with cash. The owner had drawn his own conclusions about that. ‘It’s not unusual. He wouldn’t want his wife finding it on his credit-card statements, would he?’ And perhaps that did point to Calvert. Samuel Parr no longer had a wife to check up on him.
‘Can you remember anything about the gentleman?’ Charlie had asked. Vera could imagine him standing in the smart shop, looking scruffy and out of place. York wouldn’t be Charlie’s sort of place at all. Except for the races. He’d be quite at home there.
And then the owner had come out with the one useful bit of information they’d got from him. ‘He was in town for some sort of conference. It was lunch-time and he said he had to go back for an afternoon session. The young lady didn’t like that at all. She was trying to persuade him to miss it. There wasn’t a row, not quite that. But a disagreement. That’s why I remember. And because she was such a beauty.’
Vera would have liked some confirmation that Calvert was at a conference in York before sitting opposite him in an interview room. She’d phoned everyone she could think of, but this time in the evening there was no one around to ask. She’d set Holly onto the internet, university websites, botanical societies, but most of the sites had been updated. There was no record now of an event which had happened six months earlier.
She made sure he was treated with respect. She didn’t want to waste time dealing with complaints and she wanted him to underestimate them. He’d give more away if he was feeling superior. At the last minute she asked Holly to join her in the interview room instead of Ashworth. Maybe Calvert would feel the need to show off in front of a pretty young woman. Among the rest of the team there was a bubbling excitement. They thought it was nearly all over.
She made coffee for Calvert – from her own supply, not the crap from the machine – and carried it through to the interview room.
‘Sorry to ask you in before you’ve had time for supper,’ she said. She took time to settle herself, let papers fall out of her bag when she put it on the floor, picked it up again to search for a pen. ‘Still, this shouldn’t take long. Just a few things to clear up. You don’t mind if we tape the conversation? Standard procedure.’ She looked at him for the first time. He seemed composed enough. Ashworth had said he’d almost fallen apart when he’d seen the CSIs walking towards the cottage and that was one of the reasons why he’d brought him in. She introduced Holly and Calvert nodded, gave an insinuating smile which was enough to make your flesh crawl.
‘Did you attend an academic conference in York in January?’
He hadn’t been expecting the question and it threw him. She saw his mind racing. He’d been so careful, paid for everything by cash. How could they possibly know? Ashworth had been right. He had been Lily’s lover.
‘Dr Calvert?’ She kept her voice quiet, tentative. Then, when he still didn’t answer, ‘You do realize we’ll be able to check.’
He pulled his thoughts together. ‘I’m sorry, Inspector. Yes, I was there. I just can’t see the relevance to your enquiries of my giving a paper at a conference.’
‘You had a companion,’ she said. ‘Not at the conference, but in York.’
This time his response came more quickly. ‘Ah,’ he said. ‘So my sins have found me out.’ He gave the smile which was supposed to be charming. ‘You must be able to understand why I lied about that, Inspector. I have a wonderful wife and family. So much to lose. I hoped I’d get away with it, that they wouldn’t have to be hurt.’
‘You were having an affair with Lily Marsh?’
‘Yes. At least, I’d had an affair. It was all over by the time of her death. But you can imagine the shock of seeing her body in the water. And of realizing that my son had known her.’
‘You can’t expect us to sympathize, Dr Calvert.’
‘No,’ he said quickly. ‘No. But I’m trying to explain why I handled the situation so badly, why I wasn’t entirely truthful.’
‘You weren’t truthful in any way. That has to end. I can’t consider your sensibilities when I’m investigating a murder. Two murders.’ She realized she sounded like a Sunday school teacher, but he seemed to respond.
‘I really don’t know anything about the first murder,’ he said. ‘Luke Armstrong. I’d never met him.’
‘You had heard of him, though. Gary Wright had fallen for his mother. He was talking about it in the pub after the last Bird Club meeting.’
‘Was he?’ Calvert seemed genuinely confused. ‘I’m sorry. I can’t have been listening. Some things had been said at the meeting to which I took exception. A criticism of an article I’d written in last month’s Birding World. I suppose it seems trivial now, but I was preoccupied.’
‘Tell me about the affair with Lily. How did you meet her?’
‘Quite by chance last summer. I went into the shop where she worked to buy a birthday present for Felicity. It’s an awkward situation for a man. What do we know about women’s clothes? She was very helpful. We talked briefly and she explained she was a student. Then I saw her at the university, bought her a coffee to thank her. At that point there was nothing more to it than that. I couldn’t believe she’d be interested in someone like me. I suppose I was flattered, a foolish old man.’
‘You gave her money?’
‘Yes, something towards her rent. Her parents couldn’t help out. My daughters had finished university. I suppose I wanted to make a gesture. Do something generous. I expect you think I was naive, that she was only going out with me for the money.’
Vera didn’t answer that. It wasn’t her job to reassure him. She didn’t believe it was true, though. Lily had been an obsessive. Money hadn’t been the object of her desire.
‘So you started seeing her. Where did you meet?’