‘What about the Hollands? Nothing against them?’
‘Pussies.’
‘What?’
‘They let themselves be intimidated. I wouldn’t allow that to happen to Mum. If one of them tried to bully her with their fancy lawyers, they’d have me to deal with.’
‘You know it’s never wise to take the law into your own hands, don’t you?’ said Cooper.
‘Oh, yeah. Like the law is doing such a great job of protecting people round here.’
‘Was there some kind of legal dispute?’ asked Villiers.
‘It’s nothing to do with my mum. And I’m not having you asking her questions. If you want to know about it, ask Jake Barron – or that Nowak person.’
Slattery slammed the door. Cooper and Villiers looked at each other.
‘Well, that told us,’ said Villiers.
‘It told us something,’ said Cooper.
Gavin Murfin and Becky Hurst were on The Green, comparing notes at the horse trough. It had become an unofficial meeting place in the village, given that there was no pub or shop, or any other facilities at all, apart from the phone box a few yards down the hill.
‘Gavin. How is it going?’
‘Deadly,’ said Murfin.
‘Have you both met Carol?’
‘Yes, at the office. Good to have you on board,’ said Hurst.
‘Thank you.’
‘So what have we got?’ asked Cooper. ‘Anything or nothing? Tell me we have something, please.’
‘I spoke to some walkers,’ said Hurst. ‘They’re regulars in this area, often go up on the edge in the evening and come down when it starts getting dark.’
‘They were up there on Tuesday night?’
‘Yes. And they walked back down through the village, so they passed the corner of Curbar Lane. I asked them if they saw anyone around.’
‘And?’
‘All they can remember was seeing someone in the phone box on The Green, making a call. It was about the right time.’
‘That doesn’t help very much. Did they see who it was? Any description?’
‘No, he had his back to them. Making a call, like I said.’
‘A man, then.’
‘Probably.’
‘If we could find out who that was, he might be a good witness. Even when you’re on the phone, you notice things from a kiosk. They’re glass on all sides, and you can’t help looking at people and cars going past.’
Hurst shook her head. ‘We’d have to go round the whole village again to stand a chance of identifying him. And he might not have been local anyway.’
‘No, you’re right.’
‘It’s clutching at straws, Ben.’
Cooper sighed. ‘What about Cliff College?’
‘I spoke to someone on reception,’ said Murfin. ‘Their registration date is the first of September.’
‘No students, then?’
‘There are just a few staff on site.’
‘Okay. So what do we have from the neighbours, really?’
‘No one saw anything,’ said Murfin. ‘Not a thing. No suspicious vehicles, not even a person they didn’t recognise. We have no evidence that anyone came in via the front of the property.’
‘So… if the attackers didn’t come through the village, they must have come the other way.’
Cooper found himself looking at the edge. It was certainly hard to ignore. His eyes were drawn to it irresistibly. He saw a ledge of rock jutting out into space at the top of the cliff face. There were many of those spurs and outcrops. They looked precarious, not a place to stand for too long if you had a problem with heights or sudden drops. A very similar location had been used by a film crew for an iconic shot in the filming of Pride and Prejudice. Keira Knightley posing almost in mid-air, with an immense panorama of the Peak District spread out in front of her. It struck Cooper that he could get an incredible bird’s-eye view of Riddings from one of those outcrops – a perspective even Google couldn‘t achieve.
‘Did you talk to the lottery winner, Ben?’ asked Murfin.
‘Yes, Russell Edson. Why?’
‘I was just wondering – what does this Russell Edson do with himself all day?’
‘Not much, I suppose.’
‘And his mother – what’s her name?’
‘Glenys. She does even less, I should think. Unless you count a couple of hours a day having facials and applying make-up.’
‘One of those who needs scaffolding and a truck full of cement, is she? But otherwise it’s a life of idleness, like?’
‘There’s a housekeeper at Riddings Lodge. And Mr Edson gets a man in to do everything else. Or a woman, maybe.’
Murfin shook his head. ‘That’s not possible,’ he said.
‘What isn’t? Getting a man in?’
‘No. I mean, doing nothing all day. I don’t care who you are, or how much money you’ve got – you can’t just sit and do nothing for hour after hour, day after day. You’d go mad. You’d start tearing up the furniture.’
‘Or the antique tapestries,’ said Cooper.
‘Exactly.’
‘Well I think you’re right, Gavin. The brain can’t stand total inactivity.’
‘And I bet he’s not a stupid bloke, is he?’
‘No, definitely not.’
‘So he must do something,’ said Murfin. ‘Stands to reason. Even if he doesn’t actually do anything, he must be thinking about something. Planning.’
‘Right. Planning what?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘Well. Thanks, Gavin.’
‘Gavin Murfin seems… experienced,’ said Villiers as they got back into the car.
‘He’s close to his thirty,’ said Cooper.
‘Ah.’
‘You know what that means?’
‘Yes. He’s one of the lucky generation. While poor Luke and Becky
…’
‘Best not to mention it.’
For police officers looking forward to retirement, thirty had always been the magic figure. Having paid in a compulsory eleven per cent of their salary for three decades, that was the moment they could claim their full pension.
But times changed. The younger officers would have to put in thirty-five years’ service now to earn their pension. No wonder Gavin Murfin was looking so smug about his approaching landmark.
‘I was lucky too, I suppose,’ said Villiers. ‘Coming in from the services.’
‘Yes, you were. These days new recruits are expected to work for nothing as special constables for eighteen months, or pay for their own training.’
‘Would you have done that, if it was the system when you signed up?’
‘I’m not sure,’ said Cooper. ‘Well, to be honest, I don’t think I could have afforded to.’
He started the car. Villiers had put her finger on something he hadn’t really thought about. That would have been a really tough decision to make. But he couldn’t imagine what else he would have done. If he hadn’t been able to join the police when he left High Peak College, he might have ended up as one of those jobbing gardeners or handymen, finding work wherever it came from. He didn’t have qualifications for anything else in particular.
‘I gather your team have talked to some of the neighbours already,’ said Villiers.
‘Yes,’ admitted Cooper. ‘But I want to get round them all myself. I need a good idea of who these people are. You can’t get that at second hand, no matter how well Becky and Luke do their jobs.’
‘Or Gavin.’
‘Yes, or Gavin.’
‘Can I ask you something, Ben?’ said Villiers.
‘Fire away.’
‘Well, we always had a clear command structure in the services,’ she said. ‘Briefing, debriefing, rules of engagement. And keeping lines of communication open was vital. We never did anything or went anywhere without someone else knowing exactly what we were doing.’
‘Your point is?’
‘I thought it was a bit like that in the police. There’s an SIO in charge of the case. There are collators and action managers in the incident room. Aren’t they the people who establish the lines of inquiry and allocate tasks?’
‘Of course.’
‘Yet you’re following a theory of your own,’ said Villiers. ‘Isn’t that a dangerous game?’