SEVENTY-FOUR

Jubilant shouting and the blaring of horns forced Elias into silence as a convoy of wedding cars drove by, festooned with ribbons and shaving foam, while the happy couple waved from a back seat. He waited until they’d all passed by then double checked with Maria Quinn to make sure he’d correctly understood what she was telling him. ‘Gregory Scott spent last Sunday night in bed with Priya Kapur?’ he said. ‘Are you telling me they were lovers?’

‘There’s no getting by you today,’ said Quinn.

‘The whole night, yes? He didn’t slip out, not even for a bit?’

‘That’s what she said, yes. She says she’s prepared to testify under oath that he arrived a little after midnight and stayed until some time after six, though she can’t be more accurate than that. She says they were both awake the whole time too, talking as well as the other stuff, because they didn’t get so many chances to be together that they could afford to waste them. And he didn’t leave at any point, except once to go to the loo.’

‘Then what did he need his metal detector for?’ asked Elias plaintively, only to realise the answer for himself. ‘Don’t tell me. He can’t leave home at night without triggering the intruder lights and waking the wife. So he spins her a line about going to search Warne Farm for King John’s gold, meaning he has to take his metal detector with him as a kind of cover. But the moment he’s out of sight it’s off to the hotel instead.’

‘It’s like you were there watching.’

‘Why didn’t he tell us this yesterday?’

‘Because it would have meant confessing the affair to his wife. She has a fearsome temper, according to Priya. You should have seen how scared she was at the thought of what she’ll do when she finds out. Plus her own family is very strict. She thinks they might disown her for sleeping with a married man. So he kept silent to buy her time. Rather noble of him, really.’

‘You believe her, then?’

‘Yes,’ said Quinn. ‘Yes, I do. And not just because of how hard she found it to squeeze it all out of herself. She brought evidence too. Love notes he’d written her over the past couple of months. Text messages they’d exchanged, including one from earlier that Sunday afternoon telling her he hoped to be over at around midnight; and another from Monday morning, all kisses and love hearts.’

‘But he confessed,’ protested Elias. ‘I get that he needed a cover story for his wife, but why tell her he’d killed Warne? Why not simply deny he’d been anywhere near him?’

‘This is partly guesswork, but I’m pretty sure it’s right. When I took Penny Scott’s statement, she told me how she’d seen Gregory go out that Sunday night, yet she’d still managed to convince herself that it was smugglers who’d killed Warne. That wasn’t possible any more, not after you told her about those silver pennies, so she confronted him about it when they got back home, and threatened to tell us everything unless he came clean, in which case she promised to stand by him. And what could he do? Tell her the truth, he’d give Priya away. Keep quiet, it would come out anyway. His one chance of keeping it secret was to admit to killing Warne in self-defence, then hoping she kept her word.’

‘And his spade? Why throw it out onto the salt marsh?’

‘Are we sure he did?’

‘He said he did.’

‘Yes, but for the same reason. They were upstairs together watching you search the salt marsh through your field glasses. She asked him whether you were going to find it. And what could he say? His answer had to work whether you found it or not. So he said he’d thrown it out there, yes, but no, he didn’t think you’d find it.’

‘Is this still you guessing?’

‘Yes. But it works, doesn’t it?’

‘Except how the hell did his spade get out there, then?’

‘That’s for a detective to discover,’ she told him. ‘Not a humble WPC.’

‘Don’t give me that. You’re loving this, aren’t you?’

‘Yes,’ she said simply. ‘I am.’

Elias laughed. ‘Good,’ he said. ‘My offer still stands.’

‘I’d have to speak to Tim and the boys.’

‘Of course. Just don’t take too long. I have some clout at the minute, thanks to that Wharton business, but no doubt I’ll screw it up again soon. Meantime, you should know that we found Warne’s fingerprints all over those silver pennies. Seems like he was planting them when he was killed, rather than Gregory Scott digging them up.’

‘Christ,’ she said.

‘Quite. Which certainly tends to support Priya’s claim of Scott’s innocence. But I still need to know where Dunstan Warne took those photos. Because that’s likely where the coins came from.’

‘Then get off the phone,’ she told him. ‘I’ll call you when I have it.’