‘Instead of which,’ Tennant said feelingly, ‘James Carson nearly killed Barnes.’
Crow nodded. Only that morning Mrs Carson had come to him, anxiously, worried about what trouble her husband might have got into in attacking Barnes like that. Crow felt sorry for her; so much evil had come her way.
‘We have Carson to thank for Cathy’s life,’ he said to Tennant. ‘We know now that Carson was out the night Lendon died. He’d been out almost every night, in the woods since he lost his daughter. Carson was convinced that the killer of Jenny would strike again and he felt the police were doing nothing so he took the law into his own hands. The strange thing is that Carson was almost drawn towards the areas where Barnes prowled: It was as though he was impelled by a sixth sense, as though he could smell Barnes’s fear and excitement. For he almost caught Barnes the night he chased Cathy down from the Bear Inn. Carson went in to complain, suggest the woods be watched by the police, next morning, in fact. He was turned away. But if he failed to catch Barnes the first time, he didn’t fail the second time. And in fury and hate he almost beat Barnes to death, when he caught him strangling Cathy.’
Tennant was staring at his own tobacco-stained fingers. They were clenched tight.
‘I know how he felt,’ he said.
‘When we got there, it was over. Barnes had been battered pretty badly. Carson was kneeling over Cathy when she came to herself and she screamed again because she thought it was Barnes. We had to restrain Enson from attacking Carson at that point.’
Tennant nodded. Slowly he rose and smiled at Crow, but it was a nervous smile.
‘I think I’d better go in and see her now. You . . . you know Enson wants to marry her, don’t you?’
‘She could do a lot worse for herself.’
After Tennant had gone to join Enson, Crow stood on the steps of the hospital waiting for Wilson to bring the car around. He stared at the sky: it looked as though rain was not far off. He now had the task of meeting Chief Constable Rogers and Hugh Simpson. It was not a situation he relished. Simpson could have prevented this last attack if he had only heeded Carson’s warning. He could have taken Barnes if he had been less touchy, unyielding in his attitudes. Simpson had been pig-headed and wrong . . . but had Crow himself been free from blame? He had owed it to Simpson, as a fellow officer, to give him all the information in his possession, discuss with him any suspicions he might have . . . but he had failed to do so. All right, maybe Simpson had made liaison difficult, but it was wrong to lay all the blame at the chief superintendent’s door. Crow should have overcome his personal feelings about Simpson, should have overridden his own pride and insisted on Simpson listening to him. As it was, their fatal lack of liaison had almost resulted in a third murder.
The car was waiting. As they drove away Wilson asked: ‘Will Lendon’s ex-partner Philips be proceeded against, sir?’
‘On the company frauds? I think so. Certainly for the burglary of the office . . . they can match threads from his jacket with some caught on the window sill.’
‘And Dr Barstow?’
‘Oh, I think he’s for the medical high jump. My guess is, though, that once Mrs Kent is divorced he’ll marry her, and shortly afterwards apply for reinstatement. Successfully too, I should think.’
‘The Sunday papers will love it all.’
They will, Crow thought. As they’ll love photographing Mrs Bell, splashing that handsome face all over the front pages. Crow would have to interrogate her again and he wasn’t looking forward to it. She was no longer the woman he had met at Lendon’s house, she wasn’t the woman who had so impressed him. And yet she was, basically; he had seen the flaws in her make-up then, but had given them insufficient prominence in his mind. He wondered now whether she’d be able to steer clear of the charge of being an accessory to her brother’s crimes. It was possible; she was intelligent, resilient, and she had the selfishness to survive at all costs.
A lovely woman. But hard. She hadn’t mourned Charles Lendon. For that matter, who had? Cathy Tennant might, once the pain and the questions faded, for she was a sensitive girl. But generally Lendon would remain unmourned.
Still, lawyers usually did.
THE END
INSPECTOR JOHN CROW SERIES
Book 1: A LOVER TOO MANY
Book 2: ERROR OF JUDGMENT
Book 3: THE WOODS MURDER
Book 4: MURDER FOR MONEY
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Glossary of English Slang for US readers
A & E: Accident and emergency department in a hospital
Aggro: Violent behaviour, aggression
Air raid: an attack in which bombs are dropped from aircraft on ground targets
Allotment: a plot of land rented by an individual for growing fruit, vegetable or flowers
Anorak: nerd (it also means a waterproof jacket)
Artex: textured plaster finish for walls and ceilings
A Level: exams taken between 16 and 18
Auld Reekie: Edinburgh
Au pair: live-in childcare helper. Often a young woman.
Bar: as in The Bar, the profession of barrister.
Barm: bread roll
Barney: argument
Barrister: lawyer who argues in court
Beaker: glass or cup for holding liquids
Beemer: BMW car or motorcycle
Benefits: social security
Bent: corrupt
Bin: wastebasket (noun), or throw in rubbish (verb)
Biscuit: cookie
Blackpool Lights: gaudy illuminations in seaside town
Bloke: guy
Blow: cocaine
Blower: telephone
Blues and twos: emergency vehicles
Bob: money
Bobby: policeman
Broadsheet: quality newspaper (New York Times would be a US example)
Brown bread: rhyming slang for dead
Bun: small cake
Bunk: do a bunk means escape
Burger bar: hamburger fast-food restaurant
Buy-to-let: Buying a house/apartment to rent it out for profit
Charity Shop: thrift store
Carrier bag: plastic bag from supermarket
Care Home: an institution where old people are cared for
Car park: parking lot
CBeebies: kids TV
Chat-up: flirt, trying to pick up someone with witty banter or compliments
Chemist: pharmacy
Chinwag: conversation
Chippie: fast-food place selling chips and other fried food
Chips: French fries but thicker
CID: Criminal Investigation Department
Civvy Street: civilian life (as opposed to army)
Clock: punch
Cock-up: mess up, make a mistake
Cockney: a native of East London
Common: an area of park land/ or lower class
Comprehensive School (Comp.): High school
Cop hold of: grab
Copper: police officer
Coverall: coveralls, or boiler suit
CPS: Crown Prosecution Service, decide whether police cases go forward
Childminder: someone who looks after children for money
Council: local government
Dan Dare: hero from Eagle comic
DC: detective constable
Deck: one of the landings on a floor of a tower block
Deck: hit (verb)
Desperate Dan: very strong comic book character
DI: detective inspector
Digestive biscuit: plain cookie
Do a runner: disappear
Do one: go away
Doc Martens: Heavy boots with an air-cushioned sole
Donkey’s years: long time
Drum: house
DS: detective sergeant
ED: accident and emergency department of hospital
Eagle: boys’ comic
Early dart: to leave work early
Eggy soldiers: strips of toast with a boiled egg
Enforcer: police battering ram
Estate: public/social housing estate (similar to housing projects)
Estate agent: realtor (US)
Falklands War: war between Britain and Argentina in 1982
Fag: cigarette
Father Christmas: Santa Claus
Filth: police (insulting)
Forces: army, navy, and air force
FMO: force medical officer
Fried slice: fried bread
Fuzz: police
Garda: Irish police
Gendarmerie: French national police force
Geordie: from Newcastle
Garden Centre: a business where plants and gardening equipment are sold
Gob: mouth/ can also mean phlegm or spit
GP: general practitioner, a doctor based in the community
Graft: hard work
Gran: grandmother
Hancock: Tony Hancock, English comedian popular in 1950s
Hard nut: tough person
HGV: heavy goods vehicle, truck
HMI: Her Majesty’s Inspector. Government-appointed inspector of educational establishments who reports on standards.
HOLMES: UK police computer system used during investigation of major incidents
Home: care home for elderly or sick people
Hoover: vacuum cleaner
I’ll be blowed: expression of surprise
Inne: isn’t he
Interpol: international police organisation
Into care: a child taken away from their family by the social services
Iron Lady: Margaret Thatcher, applied to any strong woman
ITU: intensive therapy unit in hospital
Jane Doe: a person whose identity is unknown/anonymous
JCB: a mechanical excavator
Jerry-built: badly made
Jungle: nickname given to migrant camp near Calais
Lad: young man
Lass: young woman
Lift: elevator
Lord Lucan: famous aristocrat who allegedly killed his children’s nanny and disappeared in 1974. Has never been found.
Lorry: a truck
Lovely jubbly: said when someone is pleased
Luftwaffe: German air force
M&S: Marks and Spencer, a food and clothes shop
Miss Marple: detective in a series of books by Agatha Christie
MOD: ministry of defence
Mobile phone: cell phone
MP: Member of Parliament, politician representing an area
MRSA: A strain of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
Myra Hindley: famous British serial killer
Naff: lame, not good
Naff all: none
National Service: compulsory UK military service, ended in 60s
Net curtains: a type of semi-transparent curtain
NHS: National Health Service, public health service of UK
Nick: police station (as verb: to arrest)
Nowt: nothing
Nutter: insane person
Nursery: a place which grows plants, shrubs and trees for sale (often wholesale)
Old bag: old woman (insulting)
Old Bill: police
OTT: over the top
Owt: anything
Pants: noun: underwear adjective: bad/rubbish/terrible
Para: paratrooper
Pay-as-you-go: a cell phone you pay for calls in advance
PC: police constable
Pear-shaped: go wrong
Petrol: gasoline
Pictures: movie
Pillbox: a concrete building, partly underground, used as an outpost defence
Pillock: fool
Pips: police insignia indicating rank
Piss off: as exclamation, go away (rude). Also can mean annoy.
Pissing down: raining
Playing field: sports field
Pleb: ordinary person (often insulting)
Polytechnic: Higher education institution, before 1992 were often considered lower level than universities.
Portakabin: portable building used as temporary office etc.
Post: mail
Planning Department: the local authority department which issues licences to build and develop property
PNC: police national computer
PSNI: police service o
f Northern Ireland
Prat: silly idiot
Premier League: top English soccer division
Proms: concerts held at the Albert Hall
Public Analyst: scientists who perform chemical analysis for public protection purposes
RAF: Royal Air Force
Rag: newspaper
Ram-raiding: robbery where a vehicle is rammed through a shop window
Randy: horny
Recce: reconnaissance
Red Adair: famous oil well firefighter
Resus: resuscitation room
Right state: messy
Ring: telephone (verb)
Roadworks: repairs done to roads
Rozzers: police
RSPB: Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
RTC: road traffic collision
RV: rendezvous point
Royal Engineers: British army corps dealing with military engineering etc.
Rugger: rugby (posh American football)
Sarge: sergeant
SCO19: Specialist Crime and Operations Specialist Firearms Command
School inspector: Someone who reports to the government on teaching standards
Scrote: low life
Section: to have someone committed to a mental hospital under UK mental health laws
Semi: Semi-detached house, house with another house joined to it on one side only