Found Guilty at Five (5 page)

E
IGHT

C
OWGILL COULD NOT BELIEVE HIS LUCK.
H
IS
L
OIS!
S
ITTING
beside him in the warm, cosy dark of the Wilmore Hall!

He had had little time to ask her questions, or tell her how marvellous she looked and how much she meant to him, before the lights had gone down and the second half began. He felt in his breast pocket and found a pen. Then in the wide margins of his programme he wrote her a message.

She read it in the dim light, and he could have sworn she smiled as she turned her head and looked at him. Then she very gently eased her hand from under his and shifted in her seat, putting space between them. He prayed for the music to go on forever, but the spectre of Derek’s angry face rose up before him, and he subsided. At least he would be able to take her out for a meal before she got the train home. How had she managed to get here? And why? He knew Lois well enough to know she would not waste time on a jolly jaunt to listen to her son playing the piano. She would have some information, something important enough to bring her here to find him.

At the end of the concert, Lois was up and making for the stairs, saying to Cowgill that he was to follow her closely. He was alarmed to see her heading for the same door that he had used in the interval, and quickly told her what he had heard there.

“How can you be sure it was Akiko,” Lois said, “if it was dark and you were shut in a cupboard?”

“I am sure,” he said. Then they were through and ascending the spiral staircase, and there was Jamie, staring at them in delight. “Mum! Inspector! Why didn’t you let me know you were coming?”

“Last-minute decision,” said Lois, and added, making it quite clear, “Inspector Cowgill was here already, and he didn’t know I was coming. I was very late, but got a returned ticket for a seat up in the balcony.”

“It was an extraordinary coincidence,” said Cowgill. “But may I say how very much I enjoyed your programme. Just my kind of music. And is Akiko around? Such a wonderful musician . . .”

“She had to get off straight after the end of the concert. I’m afraid the theft of her own cello has upset her a lot. She’s a professional, of course, and played really well, considering she was playing an unfamiliar instrument. But she couldn’t face people afterwards, so she’s gone home.”

“And that is where, Jamie? I really was hoping to meet her.”

“Oh, I’m afraid she doesn’t allow the general public to know where she lives. She is a very nervous person.”

“I am not the general public,” Cowgill said gently. “Although I admire her playing enormously, I am also here on police business, and need to talk to her urgently. We believe she may be in danger.”

“What danger!?” Lois butted in, seeing the alarm in Jamie’s expression. “Aren’t you going over the top, Cowgill? After all, this is only a case of theft of a musical instrument. Don’t worry, son, it’ll turn up soon, and then Akiko will relax.”

The inspector looked at her kindly. “I understand your concern, Lois. But this is not an isolated incident. We have had reports of one or two cases where the theft of a violin has preceded blackmail and once a violent crime. These may be the work of a single criminal.”

“A single nutter, you might just as well admit!” said Lois. “A nutter with a back room full of musical instruments? It just doesn’t wash, Inspector. What do you think, Jamie?”

“It’s a very odd scenario,” Jamie said. “But then, as the inspector suggested, if there is some idiot out there with a grudge against music makers, we should be very careful. But surely not our Akiko? After all, she’s come from the other side of the world.”

“Depends where she obtained her violin. And in what country.”

“Do stop being so mysterious, Cowgill,” said Lois. “And what do you mean by violent crime? Are you saying they’ve been attacked?”

“Yes, that’s right. In one case, where a ransom was refused, fatally attacked. The blackmailer panicked. It’s a clever scam. The valuable instrument is stolen, and then sold on, once a copy of it has been made by craftsmen. The fake is offered to the original owner for a reward, or more accurately, a ransom. It has worked in a number of cases, but in several the first owner has not been fooled by the fake. It’s a big operation now, and although we’ve located one or two fakers, they’ve been too frightened to talk. Of course, we are pursuing every avenue.”

“Oh my God, I’m going to ring Akiko right now.” Jamie added that he would be outside, where he could get a good signal.

“Well, well, Inspector Cowgill,” said Lois, rounding on him. “You’ve certainly made a good job of scaring the wits out of my Jamie. Good job you waited ’til the end of the concert! You could have ruined the whole thing.”

“Sorry, my dear. I am afraid that scaring Jamie, and if possible, Akiko, is part of my reason for being here. You have to believe me. They need to stay alert.”

After a few minutes, Jamie returned, looking worried. “She’s not answering. I left a message to get in touch, so I think I’ll get going now. I’ll go to her flat, unless she rings me first.” He scribbled something on a piece of paper and handed it to Cowgill, who slipped it into his pocket.

“Be very careful!” said Lois. “The whole thing sounds fanciful to me. But the inspector is seldom wrong. Ring me later, please, Jamie. I might be on the train, but keep trying.”

Cowgill and Lois walked in silence out of the stage door into a small lane at the back of the theatre, and finally Lois agreed to get a later train. “I don’t think I can eat much,” she said, in answer to his suggestion of supper in a café over the road.

“But we need to talk,” he said. “For a start, I need to know your real reason for coming up to the concert.”

“That’s not too difficult. My son was playing at the Wilmore Hall, a venue with a top-grade reputation. Naturally I wanted to be there.”

“Mm. Not the whole truth, is it, Lois. Were you following up a hunch? Or is there something you should be telling me?”

“I tell you what. Let’s have some soup and bread, and by then I’ll have thought of something convincing. More convincing than Akiko chatting up a man under the stairs. In we go.”

*   *   *

A
KIKO’S FLAT WAS IN
N
ORTH
L
ONDON, AND
J
AMIE KNEW EXACTLY
how to get there. He bought a ticket and boarded the train. It was only a few stops to where he would alight, and emerging into dark streets, he marched at speed to Caliban Road, one of several named after Shakespeare characters. He calculated that she would have reached home an hour at the most before he followed her.

With a degree of confidence that he would find her, he knocked loudly at her door. Akiko had a ground-floor flat with separate entrance. He knocked again, and began to worry. The curtains were drawn across all her windows, so there was no way of looking inside. The third time he knocked, a window opened above him. A woman he recognised as Akiko’s neighbour upstairs looked out.

“Have you seen Akiko?” he shouted.

The woman shook her head. “Not since she went out to the concert. Maybe she’s gone to bed.”

“Have you got a key, please?”

“Well, yes. But I can’t just let any old—”

“It’s me, Jamie Meade! Her accompanist!”

“Oh well, I suppose it’ll be all right. I’ll come down. Might be a few minutes. I was in bed already!”

Jamie yelled his apologies, and the neighbour shut her window, saying she’d be down as quickly as possible.

*   *   *

I
N THE SMALL CAFÉ, WHERE THE STAFF WERE OBVIOUSLY KEEN TO
get home, Lois was sitting opposite Cowgill, making an effort with a bowl of carrot and coriander soup. He had told Lois what he had seen backstage, and they agreed that Akiko’s behaviour had been odd, to say the least.

“Is that your mobile?” Lois said now.

Cowgill pulled it out of his pocket and handed it to Lois. “It’s Jamie,” he said. “He wants to speak to you.”

“Yes, Jamie? Not there, did you say? Good heavens, didn’t she tell you? What’s that? You’re breaking up a bit. Going in
where
? Oh, her flat. Right. Ring us as soon as you know anything. Yes, Cowgill’s still with me. I’ll be getting a train back to Tresham very soon. Unless you need me. Yes, I
have
phoned Dad. Now, take care, son, won’t you, and
please
keep in touch.”

Cowgill paid the café bill, and they emerged into the busy road. “Taxi!” he shouted, and one drew up beside them.

“Well done,” she said. She liked his air of authority and was pleased that they would be at the train station in no time. But to her surprise, he pulled a piece of paper from his pocket and read out an address to the cabdriver, who nodded and said it wasn’t far.

“Was that the paper Jamie gave you?”

“Yes. Akiko’s address. That’s where we’re going.”

N
INE

A
S THE TAXI DROPPED THEM OFF IN
C
ALIBAN
R
OAD,
L
OIS
was relieved to see Jamie’s car standing outside. She and Cowgill made their way to the front door and knocked. Jamie opened it at once, and they stepped inside.

“I thought you would come.” Jamie was looking very shaken, and Lois put a motherly hand on his arm.

“It was the inspector,” she said. “He had Akiko’s address you gave him, and bingo! Here we are. What’ve you found? Any clue to where she might have gone?”

“No, nothing. Absolutely nothing. She obviously left in a hurry. Some of her clothes have gone, but not much else. I don’t know where to look next. She didn’t have many friends in this country. Had some at college, of course, but they all went their various ways.”

“Which college was that?” The inspector’s tone was brisk.

“Um, something to do with the river. Riverside? Not sure. I suppose I could ask around. I know when I played there it was near the river. Quite a long way out of the city.”

“Right,” said Cowgill. “Well, as I said, we have checked all the main music colleges in London and they have no record of a student named Akiko Nakamasa.”

“How up to date are your records?” Lois said. “I asked her when she was with us, just to make conversation. I think she said it opened up a few years ago. Now, hang on,” she added, “it’s coming back to me. Riverside College of the Arts, or something like that. No mention of music in the title.”

“Ah, well done, Lois. Does that ring a bell, Jamie?”

He nodded, looking shamefaced. “Sorry, Inspector. Yes, that was it. I should have remembered. But the last forty-eight hours have been a bit hairy. This was a special concert tonight in a really well-known venue. I was so anxious that everything should go smoothly, and then the theft happened. I suppose I haven’t been thinking straight ever since.”

“Don’t worry. Mind if I have a look around? I might spot something you missed.”

He wandered off into another room, tactfully leaving Lois to calm her son.

“You’d better try that Riverside college,” she said to Jamie. “They probably have residential places for students, and Akiko may well have gone back there for a short while. They’d be pleased to see such a star pupil, surely?” There was a telephone directory on the windowsill, and Lois looked up the number.

“There you are,” she said. “Try now.”

But Jamie drew another blank. They knew at once who he was talking about, and said they would welcome her at any time. But so far they had not seen or heard from her for a long while. When Cowgill returned to the room, he was carrying something gingerly by its tail. It was a big grey rat, and it was very dead.

“Ye gods, Cowgill! Where did you find that?” Rats were not Lois’s favourite animal, and she backed away as the inspector came towards her.

“It was on the draining board in the outside washhouse. And next to it, a sandwich containing what experience tells me is a lethal dose of rat poison. Did you notice it, Jamie?”

Jamie shook his head. “Sorry, no. I didn’t actually go in there. I doubt if Akiko used it. There’s a washing machine in her kitchen.”

“Lucky for her,” Cowgill said. “I repeat, the poison was disguised in a ham sandwich, and it was half eaten. Come and have a look.”

“If the poison was disguised, how do you know it’s in the sandwich?” asked Lois suspiciously.

“Instinct,” said Cowgill irritatingly.

“Rubbish,” said doubting Lois, looking round. “I can see what you saw. There’s a rat poison packet up on that shelf. That rat must have eaten enough to kill it. Any fool can see that.”

“It’s very stale, though rats don’t care about that. This looks like a straight case of careless rat poisoning.” Cowgill had had enough of the subject and moved towards the door.

The neighbour had insisted on being with them until they left, saying she felt obliged to protect the interests of Miss Nakamasa. Now she looked angrily at the rat. “You wouldn’t say we were careless if you saw the number of rats we’ve killed!” the neighbour persisted defensively. “I might as well take the sandwich and get rid of it,” she added, stretching out her hand.

“Don’t touch it, please!” said Cowgill.

“Why not? You got plans for it?”

“I shall make arrangements for it to be disposed of safely,” he said, showing her his badge of office. “And be more careful in future. Nothing more to be done here,” he continued. “Why don’t you ring your father, Jamie, and warn him that you and your mother will be coming home in the morning. It’s getting very late. I promise to let you know when I have something to report. Akiko will probably show up tomorrow, chirpy as a cricket. Do you need a hotel for the night, Lois?”

Jamie answered at once. “No, no, she doesn’t. My pad is not far from here. It’s small, but there’s room for Mum. I can sleep on the sofa. We’ll get going now. And thanks, Inspector. We’ll hear from you soon, I hope. Our next concert is in a few weeks. Not much on until then, so I reckon it would be a good idea for me to go back to Farnden with Mum. There’s always interruptions here in London. Mates calling to take me out for a beer, that sort of thing. I need to do a lot of thinking.”