Another argument for the death taking place elsewhere was the collapse of the cardboard box which had contained the remains. The damp, or rising water, in the Pelling House cellar had got to that, but had little effect on the torso, suggesting that mummification had taken place before the body was put in the box. Carole wished she could have seen that box. Once again she felt unreasoning resentment against the advantages the police force have over the enthusiastic amateur.
The movement of the body to Pelling House could have happened during the ownership of the Roxbys (which was very unlikely), the Carltons, or of Roddy Hargreaves . . . and maybe of his wife. He’d talked about a marriage breaking up, which might well have coincided with his moving from the marital home . . . She must try to find out something about Mrs Hargreaves.
Carole strained for other connections, for other pointers, other clues. All she could come up with was the moment of hesitation before Debbie Carlton had said her husband rarely went down to the cellar, and the flash of caution exchanged between Debbie and her mother when Carole had asked if they knew who the dead woman might be.
Not much, but it was all she had. Carole called to a reluctant Gulliver and set off back up the beach to make a phone call.
‘Debbie, I just wanted to say thank you so much for coffee yesterday . . .’
‘My pleasure. It was nice to see you.’
‘And I also wanted to apologize . . .’
‘I told you there’s no need. In my line of business people are always blowing hot and cold. Don’t worry about it.’
‘That wasn’t what I wanted to apologize for. I’m sorry that I went on so much about the . . . you know, the discovery in Pelling House.’
‘If I hadn’t wanted to talk about it, I wouldn’t have done.’
‘No, but I’m sorry. I got a bit carried away,’ said Carole, who had spent her entire life in avoidance of getting carried away. And, she thought bitterly, regretting it on the rare occasions when I do.
‘You’re not the only one. Nobody in Fedborough seems to be talking about anything else. And everyone’s got their own pet theories about who the body is, and who killed her. All kinds of dreadful old prejudices are rising to the surface. Sometimes it’s hard to believe the depths of resentment you get in a place like this.’
‘In small country towns everyone has always known everyone else’s business.’
‘Yes. Or thought they did. And in many cases been one hundred per cent wrong.’ Debbie Carlton spoke as if she was referring to some unpleasant experience of her own. ‘Not, of course, that that stops the gossip-mills from churning round.’
‘I gather the Roxbys have been allowed to move back into Pelling House,’ said Carole tentatively.
Debbie seemed to have no curiosity about her source of information. ‘Yes, they have.’
‘Mightn’t that suggest that the police have finished their investigations there?’
‘Who knows? They haven’t said anything about it to me.’
‘But they have spoken to you again?’
‘Oh yes. They wanted Francis’s address. He’s in Florida. With Jonelle.’ She tried to say the name with no intonation, but failed. ‘Seems in the future he’ll be spending a lot of time out in Florida.’
‘Ah. The police didn’t say why they wanted to talk to him?’
‘Presumably the same reason they wanted to talk to me. Check dates, when we bought Pelling House and so on.’
‘And how often Francis used to go down to the cellar there?’
‘Yes,’ said Debbie Carlton shortly.
‘You implied yesterday that Francis went down there more often than you did . . .’
‘Well, obviously, men spend more time doing DIY and . . . He kept some tools down there . . . He—’ She was flustered. ‘But I’m sure he didn’t know about the torso.’
‘You can’t be positive about that.’
‘No, I can’t be positive, but . . . Look, I know we ended on bad terms, but I was with Francis for more than five years. I was in love with him, and I can still recognize the good qualities in his character. OK, he wasn’t that reliable and he was a bit tight-fisted and, yes, I know he had other affairs before Jonelle . . . but there is no way my husband – my ex-husband – is a murderer!’
Funny, thought Carole, I didn’t mention the word ‘murder’. At the end of their conversation, she put the phone down with some satisfaction. She knew what she had just heard: the sound of a woman protesting too much. Debbie Carlton was suspicious that her ex-husband might have some connection with the torso.
Chapter Eleven
Jude got back late on the Friday night. It had been an emotionally draining trip and she slept in on the Saturday morning. When she got up, the garage door of High Tor was hooked open, and there was no sign of the immaculate Renault. Carole was probably off doing a big Sainsbury’s shop.
Jude knew she should really do the same. She was out of virtually everything. Not even enough in the freezer to make herself lunch. For Carole, that would have been a definite argument to go shopping. For Jude, it was an argument to go and have lunch at the Crown and Anchor.
The bar looked welcoming and relaxed, but even scruffier than before. The same could be said for its owner. Ted Crisp’s hair and beard were shaggier, and it was a few days since their last encounter with shampoo. His uniform T-shirt and tracksuit trousers also looked as though they had been on for a while. Perhaps, Jude thought, like Carole, he was reacting to the end of their relationship by becoming more intensely himself. She had become more uptight than ever, he more sloppy. As if to say: This is what I’m really like. You’d hate me if you saw me now. It could never have worked.
Jude hadn’t had any breakfast and was hungry, so arrived at the pub soon after twelve. There were a couple of weekending families squabbling over crisps and Coke at the open-air tables, but she was the only customer inside the bar. Ted Crisp looked up lugubriously, took her in slowly, and said, ‘Hello, stranger.’
‘Yes, sorry I haven’t been in much recently. I’ve had to—’
‘No need to apologize. Still a large white wine, is it?’
‘Please. And are you taking food orders yet?’
‘Sure. Recommend the Fisherman’s Pie today. Got a bit of everything in it, that has, and all fresh from the quay. Cheesy potato on top, and it’s served with chips the size of logs. Get outside of that and you won’t hurt.’
‘Your silver-tongued sales talk has persuaded me. I’ll go for it. God, I’m starving.’
Ted called the order through to an unseen presence in the kitchen, then turned back to her. ‘What you been up to, then?’
When asked direct questions, Jude always answered. Carole was the only one whose gentility made her think she’d gone too far into their friendship to start asking.
‘I’ve been with a friend who’s just lost her husband. Very cut-up, needless to say. I’ve been hand-holding to get her through the funeral.’
‘Ah. I see. There you are.’ Ted pushed across her glass of wine. There was a silence. The ghost of Carole seemed to hover between them, and could only be exorcized by the mention of her name.
Ted took a clumsy run at it. ‘Thought I might have lost your custom too.’
‘Hm?’
‘You know, when I put your