‘We’ll be all right.’

Alec watched them go and then shut the door and returned to Naomi and Marcus, glancing into the room to see if Marcus was talking yet. He went through to the kitchen and then the dining room, checking the doors and craning his neck to see the garden.

‘Where are they going?’ Naomi had heard part of the exchange.

‘To see if anyone’s hurt. Whoever was following Marcus seems to have collided with him.’

‘If it’s Kinnear I don’t give a damn.’

‘Not Kinnear,’ Marcus whispered. ‘It was the other one. He came to the shop and I ran. I got into my car and drove out here but he must have guessed. He was on the main road. He tried to force me off the road, bumping and barging from behind and then I just managed to make the turn and he hit my back end.’

‘Yours is a heavy car,’ Alec mused, thinking about the ageing BMW Marcus had been driving. ‘Marcus, what was he driving? Who is he? You must have seen him before.’

Marcus stared in bemusement and Alec realized his brain was not capable of processing more than one thing at a time.

‘Who is he?’ he began again.

‘I don’t know his name. I saw him with Sam Kinnear once, just by chance. Another time he was waiting in the car when Kinnear came to the shop. He only came that one time and that was just after Rupert died. He was in a dreadful rage. I was just closing up and I suppose he waited until everyone had gone. He said Rupert owned him money and that just because Rupert was dead didn’t mean he wasn’t still owed.’

‘Did he tell you where the money was from?’

Marcus nodded miserably. ‘He told me. He said he had proof. He had something Rupert had written, but he didn’t show me all of it, just enough to see that it was written in Rupert’s hand. He said Rupert had been paying him back, paying him by using the shop and his stock and all sorts of other things. He made Rupert sound like a common thief.’

‘Marcus,’ Alec said softly, ‘Rupert was a common thief. He stole.’

‘Rupert wasn’t a common anything,’ Marcus contradicted hotly. ‘That man Kinnear, he was blackmailing him. Forcing him to give him money. At first I didn’t want to believe him, but it all made sense. All made sense of what Rupert had been doing the past few months. All the things I didn’t understand. I thought Rupert was just tired of me, tired of the business. I thought he was getting ready to leave. Somehow, oh I know it sounds foolish, Alec, but this was easier to bear.’

‘You cared deeply for him,’ Naomi said.

‘I cared deeply, yes and Rupert was the best friend I ever could have wanted.’

Naomi bit her lip uncertain if she should push this. ‘Were you more than friends?’

Marcus laughed harshly. ‘My dear, I was never that lucky. Rupert wasn’t interested in me in that way. Rupert should have found a wife, settled down. I thought once there was someone, but he always denied it. I once saw a gold locket in his study. On his desk. I wondered then, but he said it belonged to a relative who’d been visiting and who had left it behind. I thought it was strange. Rupert didn’t have visitors here, not for many years.’

Naomi inclined her head quizzically, but she said nothing.

‘This man that followed you,’ Alec asked, ‘what was he driving?’

‘A little red hatchback. On the day I saw him waiting for Kinnear he was in something big and black. I don’t really know what.’

‘Did it never occur to you to go to the police?’ Naomi asked.

Marcus shook his head vehemently. ‘No,’ he said. ‘No, never. I didn’t want to see Rupert’s name dragged through the mud. I thought I could get what Kinnear wanted and then he’d go away. You had the house and the money Rupert left so no harm done there. All I had to do was find the records Rupert had kept. Then Kinnear could get at his money. That was what he said and that’s all I know.’

‘And you knew what the records were?’

‘A ledger Rupert kept, something on his laptop and something he had written in his little leather books. I didn’t know which ones, he had so many. Kinnear said they would be recent. He had seen one of them but he thought there might be more. He said to be on the safe side I should get them all, but I failed him, didn’t I. I tried to take them away when I helped with the search but the boy was always close by and I’d seen him poking around in the study. I knew he’d notice anything missing from the shelf …’ Marcus broke off. ‘I didn’t even know what to look for, I suppose. Not much use at anything, am I?’

‘You were unwise, not useless,’ Alec said. ‘Rupert hid the things Kinnear wanted. I’m not sure why he didn’t destroy them altogether, but maybe he didn’t have the time. Marcus, had Rupert been unwell in the weeks before he died?’

Marcus nodded. ‘He was always short of breath and complained of pains in his chest and arms. I believe he had a doctor’s appointment just days before he died.’

‘I think Rupe knew he didn’t have long left,’ Alec said.

Patrick stared at the overturned car. A motorist had stopped and was pacing around close by. Patrick shoved his poker into the hedge before the motorist should happen to see it. He thought it might take a bit of explaining.

‘Did you come from the house back there?’

Harry nodded. ‘We’ve called the police. We, er, heard the crash.’

‘Right. Joyriders most likely. We’ve started to get a few of the buggers round here. I just came round the bend and nearly hit it. Thought I’d better stop back there and get the hazards on. I’ve called the police too.’

‘Joyriders?’ Harry questioned. ‘Why?’

The motorist shrugged. ‘Obvious, isn’t it? The driver’s done a runner. No, he and his mates’ll be long gone across the field. Probably spend the evening boasting about it in some pub or other.’

In the distance Harry could hear sirens. ‘Sounds like the police,’ he said.

Patrick bent down and peered inside. The car had ended up on its roof, half in and half out of a ditch and wedged beneath the hedge. The window was open, not broken in the crash, so most likely had been open when the vehicle was being driven. The man who had chased Marcus must have climbed out through there. There was blood on the door, Patrick noted. Part of a handprint and crushed grass where he had fallen as he clambered out. The hedge behind was thick and thorny, but he remembered there being a gate just a little further along the road.

‘He was hurt,’ he told Harry as he went back to rejoin him, the police car had arrived now. ‘There’s blood on the door.’

Harry nodded. ‘Then I don’t imagine he’s gone far,’ he said. ‘The police should find him soon.’

Thirty

The hammering on the kitchen door startled Alec. He made his way warily through to the kitchen and then, hearing a young voice, he unlocked the door. ‘Danny, I presume? What on earth?’

‘He came to the farm. I saw him. I saw him talking to my mum and there was another bloke with him. I saw them. I’d forgot, then I saw the picture and I remembered.’

He was waving a copy of the local paper at Alec. Kinnear’s picture stared out from the front page.

‘Me dad gets the paper every day. He ain’t there right now. I saw this, saw his picture.’

‘You’re certain. Oh, of course you are.’ Alec relocked the door. ‘Come on in, it’s all getting a bit dramatic. I’m Alec, by the way. Danny, where’s your dad now, do you know?’

Danny shrugged and shook his head. ‘Always off somewhere,’ he said. ‘I fed the stock, watered it. I’ve not seen him this morning.’

Alec thought of Ellen March but said nothing. He led Danny through to the front living room and directed him to a seat. ‘You’ve met Marcus?’

Danny nodded. ‘He runs the antique shop where Rupert … Mr Friedman worked. Where’s Patrick? Why is there a car crashed into your porch?’

‘Patrick and Harry are down the road, they’ll be back very soon.’ The sound of sirens broke into the conversation and Danny leapt up and went to look out of the window.