Season Of Darkness (36 page)

“It could have been anybody. They grow near the Fort and it’s a popular spot for couples. You know that. You told me you went there yourself when you were younger.” He tapped the cigarette case. “The anonymous
C
, perhaps?”

Touché and gotcha.

Jimmy drained his cup.

“Is that everything? I’m bushed. I’m not sure I can take much more.”

“Elsie was shot with a German Luger. It’s most likely that she stole it from one of the girls at the hostel. Do you know anything about that?”

Jimmy shook his head.

“Are you sure? By all accounts, Elsie Bates was on the light-fingered side.”

“Dad, give her some respect, will you? She’s dead.”

Tyler gripped his son’s hand. It was icy cold.

“Jimbo. I’m sorry. I know you’ve had a rotten time, and if I could have done anything in the world to make that easier for you, I would have but –”

“But it’s something a man has to do, go to war for his country. Isn’t that what you were going to say? Makes us grow up. Of course, those that don’t – grow up I mean – are another matter all together. They’re usually dead or insane.” Jimmy shoved his chair back. “Is that all you want to ask me?”

Defeated, Tyler nodded. “For now.” He tried a feeble joke. “Don’t leave the country without telling me.”

“I’ll be at Mrs. Thorne’s. I told her I’d help her out in the garden.”

“Go ahead. I’ll see you later.”

“Tell Mum I won’t be home for dinner.”

He left, and Tyler got up and went upstairs. Vera stuck her head out of the bedroom.

“Where’s Jimmy?”

Tyler didn’t answer but went into the bathroom and opened the medicine cabinet. There wasn’t much in there, some plasters, some iodine, a bottle of aspirin. He opened it, but there were only three pills remaining so he left them. On the bottom shelf was a bottle of prescription pills made out for Jimmy Tyler.
Take two nightly for sleep. Do not exceed the dosage
.

He opened the bottle and poured the contents into the lavatory bowl, jerked hard on the chain, and flushed them away.

“What did you do that for?”

He turned and saw Vera was standing in the doorway. But she knew the answer, and her face crumpled into tears.

She ran over to Tyler and pressed herself against him. He held her close, rocking her soothingly. “He’ll be all right, Vee. He’s just going through a bad patch. He’ll come out of it.”

He was saying it as much for himself as for her, and he didn’t know if even he entirely believed his own words.

G
OUGH’S VOICE CAME OVER THE INTERCOM. “YOUR
daughter is here, sir. She’d like to speak to you.”

Tyler got up at once and went to the door. Janet was sitting on the bench outside. She was pale, dark circles under her eyes, the lids reddened.

“Come in, pet.”

She followed him into his office and took the chair across from his. “I’m sorry, Daddy. I know you’re busy but I had to talk to you.”

“What’s up, chick?”

Tears welled up in her eyes and she pulled out a handkerchief and rubbed at them, making the redness worse. “I can’t go back to work for Granddad. Every time I think of the meat hanging up, the smell … I can’t get the sight of that girl’s body out of my mind …” She sobbed. “It was the foot, just sitting there in her shoe but all gnawed at. I could see the bone.”

He went over to her and stroked her hair. “I know, my pet. It was horrible. And you don’t have to go back to the shop.”

“Mum says I must. She says it’s not good to run away. Besides, I’ll be letting Granddad down.” She started to cry in good earnest, her body shaking. Tyler drew her close against his chest.

“I’ll speak to your mother. We’ll work something out.”

Slowly, she calmed down, and finally he got her to blow her nose and wipe her eyes.

“Would you rather be staying at Jillian’s for now?”

She nodded. “Her mum’s nice. She doesn’t poke at me to
talk unless I want to. I don’t want Mum to be upset or anything but I’d like to be at the Vanns’ for now.” She looked into his face. “Have you found anybody yet?”

“Not yet. But we’re getting there.” He wasn’t sure that was strictly speaking the truth, but he desperately wanted to reassure her.

“What’s going to happen to Dennis?”

“I’ve had to turn him over to the military police. He went
AWOL
and they’re the ones to deal with him.” He paused.

Janet said in a low voice, “We didn’t go all the way, Dad. I know that’s what you were worried about, it was written all over you. But we didn’t.” She dropped her head. “To tell the truth we might have if we hadn’t found the body.… Are you angry with me?”

He hugged her again. “No, of course not, but I’m like any old dad. I don’t want you to get into … anything serious … too soon. You’re only sixteen. There’s lots of time.”

“Is there? I hope so. Anyway, I was being silly, I know that. I mean, I do like Dennis, but he’s a bit conceited really. I think I was just one more in a long line of conquests. I can wait for somebody who’s more sincere.”

“Good girl. Sincere sounds good.” He let her go. “Now why don’t you go off to the Vanns’ and I’ll come by later.”

She gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Thanks, Daddy.”

After she had left, Tyler sat for a few minutes at his desk. His gut was churning. What a bollocks he’d made of his marriage, and how hard this had been on his children. He actually wondered it that had anything to do with Janet wanting to grow up so quickly. If he got the chance, he’d have a chat with Dr. Beck. Maybe he should find a couch and lie on it. He was beginning to think he needed it.

Instead, he took his hat off the peg and went in search of his father-in-law.

Walter Lambeth was outside his shop, sweeping the doorstep.

“Hello, son, just doing a bit of tidying. I was hoping you’d drop by.”

“Let’s go inside, shall we, Dad.”

Just at that moment, a woman walked up. She had a basket over her arm, and Tyler recognized her as the wife of the Anglican vicar.

“Good afternoon, Mr. Lambeth. I’ve come for my rations. Sorry I couldn’t be here yesterday, I had to go to Wem.”

“Don’t worry, Mrs. Pound. I saved yours for you. Come in. How’s your husband today?”

“Still poorly. The war is weighing on his spirits dreadfully.”

“Some fresh kidneys should cheer him up.” He nodded at Tyler. “I’ll be with you in a jiffy, son.”

The three of them went into the shop.

“I’ll wait in the back,” said Tyler.

Lambeth’s living quarters were directly behind the shop on the ground floor. The main living room smelled of tobacco and meat. It was messy and looked as if it hadn’t had a good dusting for some time. Vera was always offering to clean for her father, but he refused. “Had enough of women sticking their noses into my affairs,” he’d muttered to Tyler one day. There were newspapers and plates with congealing food on them, several cups with the dregs of his tea ringing the bottom. Tyler thought if any of Lambeth’s customers saw how he lived, they might think twice about buying here.

He looked around. He suspected his father-in-law wouldn’t be that imaginative in terms of hiding places, and he was right. There was a rolltop desk in the corner of the room. He pulled open the top drawer. Underneath a magazine with a nude girl on the front cuddling up to a tractor was a school notebook.
He took it out and leafed through it. Lambeth had a list of about thirty private customers. What they received and what they paid for was meticulously recorded. All of them were getting meat way beyond what they were entitled to, and each paid handsomely.
Bloody old hypocrite
.

He heard the bell on the outside door tinkle, and Mrs. Pound called out a goodbye. He closed the drawer but kept hold of the notebook. Lambeth pushed through the curtain that separated the store from the sitting room. He saw immediately what the situation was and, rather to Tyler’s surprise, didn’t bluster or try to get out of it.

“I see you found what you were looking for, son. I hope you ain’t going to get all righteous with me. The way I see it, I ain’t doing anybody harm. I get a bit of extra money for the family and folks get a bit of extra meat. All’s fair in love and war, as they say.”

“Do they? They also say you could be charged with profiteering and dealing with the black market.”

Lambeth shrugged. “It don’t really be worth it. Them folks are all going to deny paying me. They’ll just say I gave them a gift of a leg of mutton, or a pork chop, out of the goodness of my heart. And I’ll say the same. I received more meat than I could sell and passed it on. As long as money doesn’t change hands, what we’re doing ain’t illegal.”

Tyler practically shouted at him. “Yes, it is! Everybody in the bloody country is supposed to be on rations. Rich or poor. They have to show you their ration book and you have to take out the coupons. Not to do that is against the law. There isn’t a judge in the country who would buy that crock of shit you just handed me.”

Lambeth fished in his pocket and took out his pipe. He proceeded to light it, and it irritated Tyler even more to see his hands were quite steady. “What are you going to do,
then, son? We don’t want a scandal, do we? Won’t do anybody any good if word gets out that my own son-in-law is prosecuting me.”

Tyler slapped the book into his hand. “First off, we’re going to lose this little list, Walter. No more favours. These people will get their regular rations and no more. Secondly, I want to know who’s been supplying you with extra goods.”

“Lots of folks. If you think people are going to live by the rules when they can get a bit of extra for their family, you’re dreaming.”

“Let’s put it this way. If you don’t give me their names, I’ll go straight to Percy Somerville, give him this notebook, and explain what you’ve been up to.”

Lambeth laughed. “He won’t like that. He enjoys the occasional extra roast, does the magistrate. He just thinks his dear old mum goes without, I suppose. Don’t ask questions if you don’t want the real answers.”

Tyler took a step closer. “I’ll say it one more time, Walter. Give me the names of your suppliers. I’m going to have a word with them and you will close up your operation. Do I make myself understood?”

Lambeth glared at him. “Don’t be such a wanker, Tom. You’ll feel it if I close down.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean Vera has been keeping you comfortable for a while now. Didn’t you notice?”

Tyler hadn’t noticed, and he felt angry with himself. Vera ran the house and he had chosen to think she was a good manager. He advanced so his father-in-law’s face was only a few inches from his own.

“Suppliers, Walter. Now!”

Lambeth shrugged. “I’ve got four steady and a few others occasional. Ewen Morgan is a regular, mostly for beef; Bill
Wardell the same; Arthur Trimble and me exchange eggs and chicken; Syd Newstead brings me pork. Satisfied? You’ll not be able to suppress, it you know. They’ll find other ways and means.”

“Not if I have anything to do with it. When do you work this little operation?”

Lambeth shrugged. “Whenever’s practical.”

All of the men he mentioned had registered their vehicles, but according to Constables Eagleton and Collis, only two of them could account for their whereabouts on Thursday morning. Ewen Morgan and Bill Wardell. Tyler knew Syd Newstead, who was another old farmer like Morgan. He’d already spoken to Trimble.

Tyler contemplated his father-in-law. “Tell me, Walter, was anybody bringing you a delivery on Thursday morning, early? Say before six?”

“I’ll have to think. One day’s much like another.”

“Let me make this a bit more distinctive for you, Walter. Thursday was the day when a young girl in the prime of her life was brutally murdered on the Heath Road. Somebody driving a car, or a vehicle of some kind, knocked her off her bike.”

Lambeth drew on his pipe. “I know what you’re getting at, but these are all respectable men. They wouldn’t have anything to do with that tart. If you ask me, you need to be looking into that sports car—”

“Let me decide that, will you, Walter? Who came by here on Thursday?”

“No one that I recall.”

Tyler crammed the notebook into his pocket. “I’ll call on these folks. Don’t worry, I’ll be tactful, just scare the shite out of them … By the way, Walter, our Janet doesn’t want to come back and work for you. She’s had a terrible shock and I don’t
think she can handle it. Vera says she must come back, but I know she’ll listen to you. You agree with me, don’t you, that Janet’s nerves are too bad for her to continue here?”

“And if I do agree with you, what then?” Lambeth’s expression was sullen.

“I want you to persuade Vera that under no circumstances do you want Janet back here. Let’s all start fresh, shall we.”

“No charges?”

“Not just now. I’ll see this as a first offence born of ignorance. And it won’t happen again, will it?”

Lambeth knocked out his pipe on his boot. “Thursday morning I’d got up to take a leak, when I heard this car came roaring down the road. I looked out of the window and saw the
MG.”

“It was dark at that hour; how did you know it was an
MG?”