‘No problem. I realise it’s a big investment for a firm like yours, a…’ For once, even Benny faltered, a suitably glamorous euphemism eluding him.
Harry came to the rescue. ‘A niche practice?’
Another giggle. ‘Exactly!’ He stretched out a hand. ‘Well, delighted to have the chance to meet you.’
‘The feeling’s mutual. As a matter of fact, there was another reason why I wanted a personal word with you.’
Jim Crusoe said hastily, ‘I think I’d better be off. I have a difficult trust deed to draft tonight. I’ll let the two of you — have your chat.’
He shot Harry a cautionary glance as he left. As the door closed behind him, Benny turned to Harry with an expectant look and said, ‘You were saying?’
‘There’s a business I’ve been looking into and I think it’s possible that you may be able to give me a little inside information.’
A crease appeared in Benny’s brow but he simply said, ‘Fire away.’
‘It’s not a current case of mine, but rather one that happened thirty years ago and it has suddenly come to life again.’
‘I’m not with you.’
‘You will be when I mention the Sefton Park Strangling.’
Benny stared at him. ‘What on earth has that to do with you?’
The past few days had given Harry plenty of practice in explaining his interest in the killing of Carole Jeffries and overcoming people’s reluctance to accept the notion of Edwin Smith’s innocence. Benny heard him out in silence, occasionally pushing a hand through the black curls, as if unable to believe what he was hearing.
‘Amazing,’ he said in the end. ‘If it’s true. Even so, I don’t see where I come in.’
‘You employed Carole, worked with her five days a week. What can you tell me about her?’
Benny took his time before replying. ‘She was a gorgeous girl. I suppose you’ll have seen photographs, but even a couple I took never did her justice. Her hair was long and fine, her skin absolutely flawless. She was a child who looked like a goddess — and behaved like one. I could have sworn she was immortal.’
‘But she wasn’t immortal, was she?’
‘No, poor kid.’ He paused. ‘Apart from that, what can I say? I suppose she was thrilled by glamour. That’s why she joined me. In those days I was photographing all the top stars. She wasn’t bothered about working in the shop — in fact, she could be a lazy little cow — but she loved the idea of mixing with the John Lennons and all the others who used to beat a path to our door. But above everything she was daring and determined. Once she set her mind on something, she wouldn’t let anything get in her way.’
‘You make her sound ruthless.’
‘Maybe so. She had a famous father who let her run wild. He was always an easy touch where she was concerned. Whatever she wanted, she could have. I knew the family, they lived near to me.’
‘I’ve tried to speak to Kathleen Jeffries — but she rebuffed me.’
‘You don’t surprise me. Her memories must be painful even after all these years, although she was never besotted with Carole in the way her husband was. I don’t criticise Guy. I’ve never fathered children and never will, but I can imagine the joy of having an offspring who seemed so perfect.’
‘Shirley Titchard didn’t regard her as perfect.’
‘You’re a lawyer,’ said Benny, mischief glinting in his black eyes. ‘Would you say Shirley was an unbiased witness? After all, Carole stole Ray Brill from her. I felt sorry for Shirl, but it was a contest in which there was only ever going to be one winner. Though once she had her man, things began to change. I’ve known Ray since he was a kid and he always had a roving eye himself, but Carole was more cold-blooded. After a while she decided he’d served his purpose.’
‘She tired of him?’
‘Yes, she had great fun going out on the arm of a pop singer who could make the other girls swoon, but she kept her eye on the main chance. I reckoned that, the moment someone more appealing than Ray Brill came along, she would ditch him without a second thought. The truth is, she had the moral scruples of a chainsaw.’
‘And did someone else come on to the scene?’
Benny scratched his ear. ‘Maybe.’
‘Was Ray jealous?’
‘You’ll have to ask him that.’
‘When he sobers up, I will.’
‘It could be a long wait.’
‘I’ve gathered that. As well as gathering from your guarded answer to my question that Ray was the jealous type.’
A shrug. ‘None of us likes to be rejected. Especially when we’ve come to expect adulation.’
‘Was he jealous enough to kill?’
‘Come on!’ Benny seemed genuinely shocked by the suggestion. ‘Ray wasn’t delighted to be dumped, but it was no catastrophe. He’s always been able to pick and choose.’
‘Okay — so can you tell me who had caught Carole’s eye?’ He paused for a moment, watching Benny’s face for a reaction. ‘Was it you?’
‘What in God’s name makes you suggest that?’
‘Am I right?’
‘You’re joking, aren’t you? I thought my tastes were well enough known in Liverpool.’
‘You wouldn’t be the first person to swing both ways. You were her boss, the person giving her the chance to meet all the right people. She owed you a lot. And she was lovely to look at, even if there was a splinter of ice in her heart. I can imagine that, being with her day after day, you might have been attracted against your — shall we say, better judgement?’
The mass of curls shook vigorously. ‘You’re right, I did find her attractive. I’d have had to be neuter not to sense her appeal, but it went no further than that.’
‘Then who?’
Benny sighed. ‘I’ve never discussed this with anyone before.’
‘There’s always a first time.’
‘Are we speaking in confidence?’
‘I can’t force you to tell me anything,’ said Harry. He thought it a good politician’s reply.
‘You give me the impression that you won’t take no for an answer.’
‘Too many people have died not knowing how this whole sorry mess would end,’ said Harry. ‘Edwin Smith, in ’64. Ernest Miller, the man who put me on to the case originally. Smith’s mum, only yesterday. To say nothing of Carole herself, and Guy, who couldn’t face continuing to live without her. I think they all deserve to have someone who’s willing to work to bring the truth to light.’
‘Okay, I’m convinced,’ said Benny. ‘So I’ll let you into the secret. Carole had fallen head over heels for Clive Doxey.’
Chapter Nineteen
After Benny had left, Harry returned to his own room and asked himself whether it mattered a light that Carole had claimed to have been in love with her father’s best friend.
‘How do you know this?’ he had asked Benny.
‘Because she told me on the day she died.’
After her quarrel in the shop with Ray Brill, Benny explained, he had asked her to come into the back room and have a coffee and a chat with him. When he’d chided her about her treatment of Ray, she had tossed her head like a blonde Scarlett O’Hara and said that she did not care if she never saw the singer again: she wanted to spend her life with someone who was twice the man that Ray was. She was a girl who always loved to shock, said Benny, and she had not been able to resist the temptation to tell him the news she had been hugging to herself.
‘Listen, no-one knows this but you. Clive is coming round to our house in an hour’s time. Mum and Dad will both be out. And I’m going to ask him to marry me.’
He could not believe it. ‘What did you say?’
‘It’s Leap Year Day, silly, didn’t you realise? The one chance I have to pop the question.’
‘You’re pulling my leg.’
‘Believe me, Ben, I’m deadly serious.’
‘But you’re only sixteen.’
‘Old enough.’
‘Not if your parents object. For God’s sake, you’re not planning to elope to Gretna Green, are you?’
‘It’s a lovely romantic idea, Ben, but it won’t be necessary.’