‘Once it gets out that a few hundred migrant workers are going to be housed in huts and caravans, creating a new community twice the size of any of the local villages, and all the fields spread with plastic… you’ve got trouble. And as it’s now about to almost double in size again…’
‘Double? Sollers Bull agreed to this deal?’
‘Nobody locally knew that ground was even for sale until the deal was done. Which is not exactly normal procedure, if you want to get the best price…’
‘Yeh, yeh.’
‘Point is, Sollers didn’t get a chance to disagree. The deal was done by Mansel Bull. On the quiet.’
Bliss leaned his chair back on two legs, his elbows against the wall.
‘Mansel Bull… very quietly, behind his brother’s back, sells a chunk of his farm to Magnis Berries?’
‘I think it was no more than about twelve acres, but he also brokered a deal for three other neighbouring farmers to sell pieces of their land… probably for well above the going rate. Which, in a time of deep recession, would overcome any resistance they might have. The few enemies he’d make would just be incomers from Off, the roses-round-the-door types.’
‘And Sollers.’
‘Sollers… came round,’ Karen said.
‘It was me, I’d be nursing a grudge the size of Wales.’
‘Boss, bear with me. He, like, physically came round? To Magnis Berries? I mean, quite often. Oh hell, look, this is from my mum, right? And if it ever got out she was the source she’d lose her job so fast-’
‘Yeh, yeh.’
‘I mean, it’s not a major secret that Sollers puts it about, and although he-’
‘Hang on…’ Bliss was sitting up. ‘Sollers puts it…’
‘Bit of a celeb?’ Karen said. ‘Plus, the number of women turned on by hunting pink and riding boots is still considerable. He’s discreet, naturally, with a useful marriage to protect.’
‘Lord Walford’s daughter.’
‘In hunting circles, that means a lot.’
Bliss was breathing hard.
‘Karen, could you possibly… spell this out? Whereabouts has Sollers been putting it?’
‘This is only-’
‘Hearsay, yeh. I love hearsay. Just spit it out.’
‘Some of the migrant girls… always hoping it’ll end in a fairy-tale marriage and a lovely home in England?’
Bliss shot forward, the front legs of his chair clacking to the floor.
‘You’re telling me Sollers Bull was shagging the wairkers? ’
‘It only once got dicey, when a certain Polish girl… I understand he went back a few times too many, and she got the wrong idea. Shows up at his restaurant one day, demanding to see him. Which was how my mum first got a glimpse of the situation. I think she must’ve collected a good pay-off, this girl, ’cause she apparently went home to Warsaw or wherever soon after that. Anyway, it was dealt with.’
Bliss was tapping his desk, rhythmically, quite fast.
‘He was practically accusing migrants of killing his brother.’
‘That would be male migrants, boss.’ Karen’s eyes were opaque. ‘I expect you’ll have to pass this on to Ma’am, though, it being not your case any more.’
‘Sure. Although, naturally, I’ll need to visit Magnis Berries first, ask some questions about their two murdered employees.’
‘That restaurant…’ Karen looked unhappy ‘… there’s a lot of irresponsible gossip. I don’t know if he goes to the farm any more. It probably gave him a scare, the Polish girl. I think maybe you should pass this directly on to Ma’am, don’t you? It’s the way things are done?’
‘The Marinescu sisters,’ Bliss said. ‘Very attractive girls. But also religious. Maybe a little naive.’
Karen stood up and opened the door and then shut it again.
‘Just be careful, Frannie. You know? Let the DCI run with it?’
‘Your ma’s job is safe in my hands, Karen.’
Bliss’s fingers still going tappy-tap-tap on the side of the desk, like a little dynamo.
Alone in his office, Bliss Googled Magnis Berries, found a discreet Web site with the head of some Roman-looking god wearing a wreath of strawberries, blueberries and blackcurrants. There was only one number, in Evesham. Bliss tapped it in, got a chirpy lad’s voice.
‘Magnis Berries. My name’s Robin, how can I help you today?’
‘My name’s Detective Inspector Bliss from West Mercia Police, Robin, and you can help me by putting me through to Batman.’
‘It’s Bat woman, sir,’ Robin said.
Bliss waited on hold, listening to the inquiries unrolling on the other side of the door, Darth Vaynor talking intelligently to someone in London connected with the Romanian embassy. In his left ear, some half-familiar classical music from Magnis Berries, then a crisp, educated female voice.
‘Alex Goddard.’
‘DI Francis Bliss, Ms Goddard, West Mercia CID, Hereford. You’re the MD?’
‘Inspector Bliss…’ A bit snappy, not intimidated by cops. ‘I’ve already told one of your officers that we have very few people working in the Wye Valley at this time of the year, and my manager has assured me he knows nothing that would help with your investigation.’
‘Cross purposes, Ms Goddard. This is not the Mansel Bull inquiry, this is two of your former employees. The Marinescu sisters?’
‘If they’re former employees, I don’t see how… What have they done?’
‘Got themselves beaten to death in Hereford.’
‘Oh, good God.’
‘As you were their last formal employer, I’m interested in the circumstances under which they left.’
‘Inspector, these people come and go in great numbers, and while they’re the first at one of our farms to become victims of violence…’
‘As far as you know.’
‘My instructions to all the managers is that anyone found fighting or attempting to intimidate other workers should be summarily dismissed.’
‘Is Wye Valley your biggest farm? I was thinking, with the whole firm being called Magnis Berries…’
‘We adopted the name last year. Magnis was the name of the Roman town discovered not too far away, and it gave us an identifiable corporate image. In fact, several of our other farms are two or three times as big.’
She gave Bliss the manager’s name, Roger Hitchin, and the unlisted number. Not that he planned to ring first; he and Karen could be there in ten minutes.
But then Brian Wilton came in to tell him that a couple of young women had arrived in response to their appeal for anyone who’d seen the Marinescus in the pubs around East Street. Then Elly Clatter rang through about the inevitable press conference, a necessary chore, timed for two p.m. Magnis would have to wait.
Of course, it might all come to nothing.
Bliss was tingling to his fingertips.
24
Lol found Barry in the Swan dining room, putting out menus. Just had to talk to somebody about this.
‘It’s like you’ve gone to hell and here’s Satan in a cardigan, offering you tea and scones.’
‘It’s the way he is,’ Barry said. ‘Taps into what he sees as the prevailing mood. Now, what you accusing me of?’
Five tables were laid out with traditional stiff white cloths and napkins furled like water lilies. Lol counted another six tables, bare wood, redundant now, pushed against the oak panelling.
‘All I’m saying is only four of us knew about it. Danny Thomas, Merrily… and I didn’t even tell her until last night.’
‘Making me the most likely one to’ve blabbed to Savitch.’ Barry pulled a dining chair away from a table, waved Lol to another. ‘What exactly did he say?’
‘Tells me his partner likes my… fine music.’
‘Brigid? That woman keeps a flat in the Smoke because she can’t go a week without a night at the opera. With all due respect, Laurence, I doubt she regards what you do as music at all.’
‘Good at this, though, isn’t he? Knows his folk festivals, too… Super idea, actually, Mr Robinson. Obviously, never be a Glastonbury here, but perhaps a smaller-scale Cropredy, or a Green Man? Real ale… good Herefordshire cider. Marvellous.’