“I must admit, I’m quite used to talking to the police,” she said, “but usually I’m the one questioning them. How can I help you?”
Banks remembered the police procedure in The Shadow of Death and bit his tongue. Maybe she hadn’t known any police officers when she wrote that book. “First of all,” he asked, “are you Gwynneth Shackleton?”
“I was, though most people called me Gwen. Vivian is my middle name. Elmsley is a pseudonym. Actually, it’s my mother’s maiden name. It’s all perfectly legal.”
“I’m sure it is. You grew up in Hobb’s End?”
“Yes.”
“Did you kill Gloria Shackleton?”
Her hand went to her chest. “Kill Gloria? Me? What a suggestion. I most certainly did not.”
“Could Matthew, your brother, have killed her?”
“No. Matthew loved her. She looked after him. He needed her. I’m afraid this is all rather overwhelming, Chief Inspector.”
“No doubt.” Banks glanced at Annie, who remained expressionless, notebook on her lap. “May I ask why you haven’t come forward in response to our requests for information?” he asked.
Vivian Elmsley paused before answering, as if composing her thoughts carefully, the way she might revise a page of manuscript. “Chief Inspector,” she said, “I admit that I have been following developments both in the newspapers and on television, but I honestly don’t believe I can tell you anything of any value. I have also found it all very distressing. That’s why I haven’t come forward.”
“Oh, come off it,” said Banks. “Not only did you live in Hobb’s End throughout the war, and not only did you know the victim well, you were also her sister-in-law. You can’t expect me to believe that you know nothing at all about what happened to her.”
“Believe what you will.”
“Where the two of you close?”
“I wouldn’t say we were close, no.”
“Did you like her?”
“I can’t honestly say I knew her very well.”
“You were about the same age. You must have had things in common besides your brother.”
“She was older than I. It does make a difference when you’re young. I wouldn’t say we had much in common. I was always a bookish sort of girl, whereas Gloria was the more flamboyant type. As with many extroverts, she was also a secretive person, very difficult to get to know.”
“Did you see a lot of her?”
“Quite a bit. We were in and out of one another’s houses. Bridge Cottage wasn’t far from the shop.”
“Yet you claim you didn’t know her well?”
“I didn’t. You probably have cousins or in-laws you hardly know at all, Chief Inspector.”
“Didn’t you ever do things together?”
“Like what?”
“I don’t know. Girl things.”
Annie shot him a glance that he felt even before he noticed it out of the corner of his eye. The hell with it, he thought, they were girls back then. He had been a boy once, too; he did boy things, and he didn’t object to anyone saying so.
Vivian pursed her lips, then shrugged. “Girl things? I suppose we did. The same sorts of things other people did during the war. We went to the pictures, to dances.”
“Dances with American airmen?”
“Sometimes, yes.”
“Was there anyone in particular?”
“I suppose we were quite friendly with several of them over the last year of the war.”
“Do you remember their names?”
“I think so. Why?”
“What about Brad? Ring a bell?”
“Brad? Yes, I think he was one of them.”
“What was his second name?”
“Szikorski. Brad Szikorski.”
Banks checked the list of Rowan Woods personnel he had brought with him. Bradford J. Szikorski, Jr. That had to be the one.
“And PX? Billy Joe?”
“Edgar Konig and Billy Joe Farrell.”
They were on the list, too.
“What about Charlie?”
Vivian Elmsley turned pale; a muscle by the side of her jaw began to twitch. “Markleson,” she whispered. “Charlie Markleson.”
Banks checked the sheet. “Charles Christopher Markleson? That the one?”
“Charlie. He was always called Charlie.”
“Whatever.”
“How did you find out their names? I haven’t heard them in so long.”
“It doesn’t matter how we found out. We also discovered that Gloria was having an affair with Brad Szikorski. Was she still seeing him when Matthew came back? Is that what happened?”
“Not that I knew of. I don’t know what you’re getting at. You’ve been misinformed, Chief Inspector. Gloria was married to Matthew, whether he was there or not. Yes, we went to the pictures with those boys on occasion, perhaps to dances, but that’s all there was to it. There was no question of romantic involvement.”
“Are you sure?”
“Of course I am.”
“How did Gloria behave during her husband’s absence?”
“What do you mean?”
“When she thought he was dead. Obviously things would be different then, wouldn’t they? It wasn’t as if she were waiting for him anymore. As far as she was concerned, she would never see him again. After a reasonable period of mourning, she could enter back into the spirit of the times, couldn’t she? Surely an attractive woman like her must have had boyfriends?”
Vivian paused again. “Gloria had a very gregarious side to her nature. She liked parties, group excursions, that sort of thing. She liked to keep things superficial. At a distance. Besides, we never gave Matthew up for dead completely. You must understand that, Chief Inspector; we never gave up hope. There was always hope, hope that he would return. And it proved well-founded.”
“You haven’t answered my question. Did Gloria have a romantic affair with Brad Szikorski, or with anyone else?”
She looked away. “Not that I knew about.”
“So she lived like a nun, even though she believed her husband was dead?”
“I didn’t say that. I didn’t spy on her. Whatever she got up to behind locked doors was none of my business.”
“So she did get up to something?”
“I told you: I didn’t spy on her. You’re twisting my words.”
“How did Brad take it when Matthew came back alive?”
“How should I know? Why would it matter to him?”
“It might have. If he fell in love with Gloria, and if she rejected him in favor of her husband. He might have been angry.”
“Are you suggesting that Brad killed Gloria?” Vivian sniffed. “You’re really clutching at straws now.”
Banks leaned forward. “Somebody did, Ms. Elmsley, and the most immediate suspects that come to mind are Matthew, one of the Americans, Michael Stanhope, or you.”
“Ridiculous. It must have been a stranger. We got plenty of them in the village, you know.”
“What about Michael Stanhope?”
“It’s been years since I’ve heard his name. They were friends. That’s all.”
“Would it surprise you to hear that Gloria posed nude for a painting by Stanhope in 1944?”
“Yes, it would. Very much. I know that Gloria wasn’t as fastidious about her body as some would have wished her to be, but I never saw any evidence of anything like that.”
“Next time you’re in Leeds,” Banks said, “drop by the art gallery and have a look. You’re sure she never told you?”
“I would have remembered.”
“Was Gloria having an affair with Michael Stanhope?”
“I shouldn’t think so. He was too old for her.”
“And homosexual?”
“I wouldn’t know about that. As I said, I was very young. It certainly wasn’t something people went around boasting about back then.”
“Did she ever tell you about her family in London? About her son Francis?”