‘Who?’
‘Riley. I wonder if I could speak to you.’
‘Dunno any Riley. You need to go through the committee if you want an electrician. Bugger off.’ The intercom squeals and then goes dead.
‘Offer him some cigarettes,’ suggests Luc.
I press the bell again and put Luc’s offer to him.
‘Fifth floor. Come on up.’
We puff up the dim airless flights of stairs until we finally reach the fifth floor and push open an opaque glass door at the top of the stairs. I look at the flat numbers listed on the wall and Luc points to a short, dark corridor on our left. There at the end we see a man peering out from behind his door, with 26B in dull gold lettering on it. He has the chain across and eyes us suspiciously as we approach.
‘What do you want then?’
We briefly explain the reason for our visit, saying Chambers is wanted for murder and we’re here to see if he’s left anything behind that might give us a clue to his whereabouts.
‘Who are you then, the Munchkin Army? No offence, but you look a bit young to be playing detective.’
‘He killed my sister,’ I say quietly, starting to loathe this rude idiot.
He doesn’t reply for a while. Just looks at us, as if sizing us up.
‘Come on, Riley,’ says Luc. ‘We’re obviously wasting our time here. We should go.’ He turns, as if to make his way back to the staircase.
‘Hold on a minute,’ says the man. ‘Got those smokes you were talking about?’
Luc produces a packet of cigarettes from his rucksack and holds them out for the man to see.
‘Blimey, those look like the real thing? Where’d you get those? Better not ask eh?’ He closes the door and I hear the sound of the chain sliding across.
The door opens again, without the chain, and a middle-aged man stands before us wearing a pair of almost indecently threadbare red nylon football shorts and a matching vest. His large white hairy belly protrudes from a gap between the two items of clothing. He pats it.
‘Maybe I can start to lose some of this now I’m on the fifth floor with no bloody lift.’ Luc passes the cigarettes across and the man steps aside. ‘Okay, come through then, but no funny business. I’m watching the pair of you.’
We follow him in and stand awkwardly in his entrance hall. I ask if he’ll let us have a quick look around the apartment.
‘Got any more of those ciggies?’ he asks, eying Luc’s rucksack.
Luc looks at me and I reluctantly nod. He produces another packet and hands them to the man.
‘You beauty.’ He grins at Luc and claps him on the shoulder. ‘Mi casa es tu casa’ he says cheerily, in bad Italian. ‘But I’ll come round with you, don’t want you rooting through me underwear drawer do I?’ He raises his eyes at me, as if to suggest I’d enjoy doing such a disgusting thing.
I shudder inwardly.
‘Just moved in last week. Bloody lovely place. Clean white walls, wood floors. Can’t believe my luck. Didn’t find anything out of the ordinary though. Can’t believe you’re telling me the bloke’s a murderer; that’s a bit creepy. I’m a sparky, new to the area. Ever need anything electrical doing, just talk to the committee and I’ll give you a good deal.’
We follow him around the flat. There’s a large lounge, two double bedrooms, an adequate kitchen and a shower room. It’s a lovely, airy apartment, simple and clean with high ceilings and, best of all, no horrible smell.
‘This is hopeless,’ I say. ‘We’re not going to find anything.’
‘You done now?’ asks the man, as we follow him back into the hallway. He looks as though he’s about to say something, but then he closes his mouth again and gives a tight-lipped smile. ‘Well, cheers for the smokes.’
We leave his apartment and make our way back down the five flights of stairs. We’re about half way down when we hear an echoing voice.
‘Oi, you two!’
I look up to see the man’s round face peering down at us. We turn around and head back up the stairs. When we reach the top, he’s got a strange look on his face and he’s chewing his lower lip.
‘There was this one thing,’ he says.
Luc and I glance at each other and then look back at the man, waiting expectantly. I feel a surge of hope.
Chapter Twelve
I wonder what this man’s going to tell us. Could it be something that will lead us to Chambers?
‘Yeah,’ he says. ‘There was this one thing I found.’
‘What thing?’ Luc asks.
‘I found it down the side of the sofa.’
I look sideways at Luc. He raises his eyes enquiringly at the man.
‘A lighter. I found a lighter,’ the man says.
Something stirs in my memory, but I can’t quite remember. ‘Can I see it?’ I ask.
‘Umm.’ He looks reluctant, but finally concedes and pulls a silver lighter out of his pocket.
I stare at it, puzzled. ‘That’s Pa’s lighter.’
‘Your old man’s? Yeah right.’
‘Look on the bottom,’ I say confidently. ‘And you’ll see the initials JRC. My father’s initials.’ I wait.
He looks at me and frowns. Then he peers at the underside of the lighter and his frown deepens. ‘Shoulda kept my mouth shut shouldn’t I. That’s a nice lighter that is.’
‘Thank you,’ I say, reaching out for it.
‘So.’ He smiles at me, showing yellow teeth. ‘What’s it worth?’ He makes no move to hand it over.
‘What?’ I splutter. Luc puts a warning hand on my arm and I look at him in annoyed disbelief.
‘I’m sure you’ve got plenty of goodies in that bag of yours,’ the man says. ‘You can’t blame me. I’d be a prat to pass up an opportunity like this. Those smokes will sort me out big time. So come on, don’t be tight. A couple more packets an’ we’ll all be happy.’
We do the deal and I finally have Pa’s lighter, feeling its warm weight in my hand.
‘Cheers,’ says the man, as he walks back into his apartment and closes the door without saying goodbye.
What on earth was Pa’s lighter doing on Chambers’ sofa? It doesn’t make any sense. Unless of course he stole it. We leave the apartment block and step out onto the street.
‘Maybe Chambers was a thief,’ Luc muses, as we head back up Porchester Road towards the street market.
‘Must have been,’ I answer. ‘Otherwise, how else do you explain the lighter?’ It feels solid and reassuring in my hand, as if I have a piece of Pa. I imagine the lighter feeling pleased to have been returned to its family. Pa doesn’t smoke, but a lighter is a handy thing to have. I remember last month, Pa asking me if I’d seen it, but I didn’t pay much attention. Funny to think of it all the way over here. I click it, but it just sparks impotently.
We hurry back through the street market, towards the car park. Nobody stops us as we pass through the exit door. We immediately spot the huge AV at the other end of the car park, which is just as well as neither of us had thought to take note of where we’d parked. Luc’s quiet. He seems annoyed.
‘Are you cross with me for making us come here?’ I ask
‘No. No, not at all,’ he replies. ‘I’m just annoyed at letting that bloke get the better of us. We gave him way too much of our stash. I feel like a bit of an idiot.’
‘I don’t think we could have done anything else. It’s only a few packets of cigarettes and we’ve still got loads more.’
‘I suppose. I’m a bit worried about the time as well. We really can’t be anywhere near Ringwood when night falls.’
‘Should we stay here until tomorrow?’ I ask. ‘We could see if we can find any more people who knew Chambers. Maybe we’ll find out some other stuff about him.’
‘We could, but I think we’re too close to home and I don’t want to risk someone recognising us and telling our parents. They’d probably be rewarded for taking us back.’