Report For Murder

Report For Murder Val McDermid Report For Murder Author: Val McDermid Category: Thriller Website: http://motsach.info Date: 28-October-2012 Page 1/145 http://motsach.info Report For Murder Val McDermid Chapter 10 Lindsay woke on Thursday morning to the sound of Cordelia pulling the curtains open. `Look at this view!` she exclaimed. All Lindsay could see was a square of grey sky. `Do I have to?` she groaned crossly. `What time is it?` `Half-past seven. I`m going for a run.` Already she was dressed in the familiar training shoes and track suit. It occurred to Lindsay in her jaundiced frame of mind that Cordelia was certainly fit enough to have sprinted to the music department, garrotted Lorna and sprinted back again without even being out of breath, Cordelia added, I`ll be about half an hour. You can have a lie-in if you want.` Lindsay groaned again. `Some lie-in! I may as well get up. I`m awake now. I`ll take a walk and see if I can pick up the papers.` `See you later.` And she was off, running down the wide staircase. Lindsay struggled out of bed, wondering if she could stand the pace and promising herself once again that the fitness programme should start soon. She walked over to the window to see the view and was impressed in spite of her drowsiness. The room looked out over a couple of football pitches to a broad sweep of mature woodland, and beyond that to distant hills folding into each other. Even in the grey morning light it was spectacular. She dressed hurriedly and went off in search of a newsagent, planning the interview with Margaret Macdonald as she walked. It was shortly after nine when they arrived at Derbyshire House, and they went straight to Pamela Overton`s study. The headmistress was dictating letters to her secretary but as soon as she saw them, she stopped and dismissed her. In the four days since Lorna Smith-Couper had died, Pamela Overton had aged visibly. Her face was grey and pale, and there were dark circles beneath her eyes. But her manner was as decisive as ever. She greeted them in her usual formal manner, and faced them across her desk. `No one here can believe in Miss Callaghan`s guilt. Her arrest is frankly incredible. And it hasn`t stopped the rot, I`m afraid. Already we have lost twenty-one girls and I feel sure others will follow.` She sighed deeply. `But I should not burden you with my problems. That will get us nowhere. How can I help you?` Lindsay spoke first. `I think Cordelia mentioned that we would like to see the room where it happened. I want to get the scene completely clear in my mind, and it might suggest some possibili¬ties. I take it the police have finished with it now?` `There will be no problem there,` said Miss Overton. Their forensic people finished their work there on Monday. The room has, of course, been cleaned and put in order now that they have done with it, but we are not yet using it as a classroom. It`s been locked up to avoid any ghoulishness, but I have the key here. You also want to question some people, don`t you?` Page 2/145 http://motsach.info Report For Murder Val McDermid `Yes, we do,` Cordelia replied. `But we`d like to keep it on an informal basis as far as possible, especially where the girls are concerned. It`s mainly a matter of details at the moment. We`d also like to talk to Miss Macdonald, since no one knows the business of the music department better than her. Can you tell us when she`s free today? Also, we`d like a letter from you that we can use as an introduction to people outside the school, saying that we`re inquiring into matters on your behalf and asking for co-operation. And finally . . . we`d like to use Paddy Callaghan`s rooms as our base within the school.` Pamela Overton moved over to the wall where the timetables were displayed. She studied them for a moment, then told them Margaret Macdonald had one free period later in the morning and another in the afternoon. `If she`s not in her department, try her rooms in Grin Low House,` she explained. She returned to her desk, took a sheet of headed notepaper from a drawer and wrote a few lines. She handed it to Cordelia, who read, To whom it may concern; Cordelia Brown and Lindsay Gordon are making inquiries on my behalf regarding the death of Lorna Smith-Couper. I would be grateful if you would give them the fullest co-operation, Yours faithfully, Pamela Overton. Then Miss Overton gave Lindsay a handful of keys taken from another drawer. The single key is for the music room, the bunch is Miss Callaghan`s.` Cordelia nodded. Thank you.` `One more thing,` Lindsay chipped in. `What can you tell us about James Cartwright? This isn`t a large community; you must know a fair bit about him. We have virtually no background, I`m afraid,` she apologised. The headmistress thought for a moment, a flicker of distaste appearing momentarily in her eyes. Finally, she said, `He is a very successful builder. He started off in a small way, as a one-man business working locally. He did general work, but began to specialise in buying old properties, doing them up and converting them into flats and selling them at a handsome profit. In the property boom of the seventies, he made some very shrewd deals and amassed a considerable amount of money. He expanded to employ a fairly large workforce and now takes on work throughout the Peak area. He is generally thought of as having done very well. `He still keeps a close contact with the day-to-day running of the business - it`s not unusual to see him up some scaffolding with a hard hat and a bricklayer`s trowel. He is well liked locally, though some find him ostentatious. However, I must say there have been fewer signs of that lately. His wife left him and Sarah about nine years ago. I believe she left him for an American civil engineer, though I know little about the circumstances. Mr. Cartwright has done his best to give Sarah a decent life - and not simply by spending money. He tries to spend time with her, though the pressures of his business don`t allow him much free time. She in her turn worships him. He is ruthless, but not, I think, insensitive. Will that do?` Lindsay smiled and said, `Admirably. Thank you. We won`t take up any more of your time now.` As they moved towards the door, Miss Overton spoke again. `I will be here at all times to answer any questions. I know you may well be reluctant to discuss your progress with me, but I ask that if you think you have reached a solution you tell me before you communicate with the Page 3/145 http://motsach.info Report For Murder Val McDermid police.` It was a command rather than a request. `Of course, if that is possible,` said Cordelia. Then they managed to leave. They walked down the corridor to the back stairs, Cordelia muttering, `She terrifies me. If I didn`t have the evidence of my own eyes that she didn`t budge from the hall, I`d swear she was the only person cool enough to get away with murder under everyone`s nose.` Lindsay grinned, then said thoughtfully, `Yet whoever it was must have done just that. There were so many people flitting around it must have been an extremely dodgy exercise. It`s hard to believe anyone could have got away with it completely unseen. Oh, and by the way, you`ve just fallen into the oldest trap. You said you have the evidence of your eyes that she didn`t budge from the hall. But don`t forget that you were out of the hall yourself during the crucial period. All you can say is that she was there when you left and there when you returned. For all you know, she could have slipped out, just like you did.` `Except that, by my own admission of where I was, we would have bumped smack into each other on the doorstep.` `Unless one of you was actually in there committing murder.` Lindsay stopped on the stairs. `Now what am I saying? Oh God, I`m sorry, Cordelia. It`s just my love of perversity . . . Look, I know it wasn`t you. And I know it wasn`t Pamela Overton, because I do have the evidence of my own eyes to go on there. Forgive my crassness.` Cordelia stood a couple of steps above her, smiling `Nothing to forgive. I don`t expect two nights of passion to convince you that I`m above suspicion.` They were suddenly grinning at each other like schoolkids who have just discovered that they are best friends. Together they ran up the few remaining stairs. Only the sight of the music room door sobered them into rather frightened adults again. Cordelia put the key in the lock, then paused. `Ready?` Lindsay nodded. Cordelia turned the key and opened the door. It swung open silently to reveal a completely ordinary music class¬room. It smelled faintly of a mixture of polish, chalk and resin. In one corner was a neat stack of music stands. On open shelves along one wall were piles of sheet music. Glass-fronted cupboards beneath the shelves revealed boxes of strings, reeds, percussion instruments and piles of blank manuscript paper. There were about twenty chairs scattered around. At the far end of the room was a baby grand piano, the teacher`s desk on a raised dais in front of the blackboard, and a walk-in cupboard whose open door revealed neatly ordered string instruments in racks; violins, violas, cellos, even a mandolin and two guitars. The two women walked in and closed the door behind them. Cordelia wandered round slowly, uncertain of what she was looking for. After a moment, she joined Lindsay who was examining the windows. Below was a drop of about eighteen feet to the ground. There was no down-pipe within ten feet. The three windows were ordinary casements with pivotting catches. Lindsay took a Swiss Army knife from her handbag and selected the thinnest blade. She fiddled idly with one of the catches. It rose smoothly and fell back, allowing the window to swing open. Page 4/145 http://motsach.info Report For Murder Val McDermid `Perfectly smooth. Not in the least stiff,` she remarked. `Pity the murderer couldn`t have got in that way. And a ladder`s out of the question. It would have to be smack bang in the middle of the drive, which would have been more than slightly noticeable.` She turned back to the room. `Lorna was sitting over there in front of the dais, facing the door, back to the windows. There was a music stand in front of her, overturned. Sheet music all over the floor. Her cello under her. Not a pretty sight.` She pushed the window shut smartly and the latch promptly fell back into place. `Have you seen enough? It rather gives me the creeps, being here. I can still remember all too vividly how Lorna looked.` Cordelia gave her hand a squeeze and nodded. `Yes, I`ve seen quite enough. Let`s go over to Paddy`s room. We`ve got nearly an hour to kill before we can see Margaret Macdonald and we can use the phone in Paddy`s room to see if we can set up a meeting with Andrew Christie.` Paddy`s sitting-room looked as if she had only slipped out to take a class. The Sunday papers were still strewn around. On the table was a half-drunk cup of coffee, and there was still a record sitting on the silent turntable. Lindsay went through to the kitchen to brew up while Cordelia struggled with the television company switchboard. She was replacing the receiver and sighing with relief when Lindsay returned with the coffee. `Will he see us, then?` Cordelia nodded. `You smooth-talking bastard! I could use your gifts of persuasion on the doorstep next time I`ve got a sticky one,` Lindsay enthused. `What time, and where?` `It was touch and go, but he`ll see us at eight at his place in Camden Town. For God`s sake don`t tell him you`re a journalist! He was very twitchy about it all, and no wonder. He`s had the police and half your lot in the last few days, and as far as he`s concerned, it all ended with the arrest.` `It might feel like that for him, but I`m bloody sure that`s not how it feels for Paddy. I think we should try to go and see her this afternoon. Did the solicitor tell you what the score is on visiting arrangements?` Cordelia shook her head. `Why don`t you give her a call? I don`t suppose we`ll be able to visit, anyway - I mean, don`t you have to have a visiting order or something?` Lindsay shook her head. `Not when the prisoner is on remand. Paddy`s legally entitled to a fifteen-minute daily visit from family or friends. Plus unlimited time with her legal advisor. Give me the number for this solicitor.` She was quickly connected with Gillian Markham, who sounded brisk and competent. As they talked, Lindsay`s face grew more puzzled and angry. She finally put the phone down and said, `Well, there`s no problem with the visit. We can see Paddy if we get there between three and half-past. Gillian thinks it will take us about an hour to drive to the remand centre. We can take food and cigarettes with us, and Paddy would apparently like some fresh clothes since she`s opted to wear her own gear rather than prison uniform. Does that still give us time to get to London, assuming we get away about four?` `Given the way you drive, I don`t anticipate any problem with that,` Cordelia replied tartly. `But what`s the matter? You look as if you`ve just been kicked in the teeth.` Page 5/145 http://motsach.info ... - tailieumienphi.vn