A Prospect of Vengeance (30 page)

The man’s reluctance and his change-of-subject fazed Ian completely for a long moment—and, obviously, Jenny also: their surprise flowed together in mutual silence.

‘
Reg
—
‘ Jenny broke first, albeit in a whisper.

‘
Jenny
—
‘ Ian reached out to restrain her, but misjudged the distance and caught only a handful of nothing.

‘It’s all right, darling.’ She got the message, nevertheless. ‘Of course it’s early days yet. But we … it does rather look as though we don’t have a lot of time. So do please jump to a conclusion for us, Reg dear.’ As near as Ian had ever heard—nearer by far than at any time in Beirut—she was pleading now, to get what she wanted. ‘
Please
—
?’

‘All right.’ Reg Buller couldn’t resist her, any more than any man could when she pushed so hard. ‘So O’Leary went down—like ‘e’d been pole-axed … an’ that’s probably exactly what the old woman said, because she was country-bred, so she’s seen ‘em kill their beasts stone-dead, with just the legs kickin’ … But what she meant, I reckon, was that Mitchell knew ‘e ‘adn’t missed, maybe. But ‘e didn’t care, anyway—not about O’Leary.’ Reg Buller drank, and they waited for him. ‘It was the woman ‘e went for—to where she’d dropped down when she was hit.’

Ian was aware that his mouth was dry. He’d hardly touched his non-alcoholic lager. And he had another full glass, untouched, waiting for him.

‘It was pissin’ down with rain by then. But … Jack Butler came up, an’ ‘e ‘ad ‘is umbrella down, she said. An’ ‘e tried to stop Mitchell pickin’ up the woman—the girl … But Mitchell pushed ‘im away, an’ cuddles ‘er, an’ ‘olds ‘er. So then Jack Butler puts up ‘is umbrella again, an’ ‘olds it over ‘em both, while all the rest of ‘em comes runnin’ up.’

Frances
! thought Ian. And then …
Mitchell
—?

‘An’ ‘e wouldn’t let go of ‘er, Mitchell wouldn’t—not when the police came up, an’ some others not in uniform … An’ not even when the ambulance men finally came, with stretchers: ‘e shoved ‘em off, an’ Jack Butler backs ‘im up, an’ points to where O’Leary is—‘ Buller moved from the past tense to the historic present’—so they goes to’ get ‘im. An’ brings ‘im down first, with a ground-sheet over ‘im, or a blanket … an’ ‘is arm ‘anging over the side, like dead-meat—‘ Buller sniffed ‘—no proper scene-of-the-crime police-work for ‘
im
, with photographs: just get the bugger away quick, an’ ‘ave done with ‘im! Okay—?’

Ian realized that he had made a noise of some sort, because Buller was looking at him suddenly, frowning. ‘Go on, Reg.’

Buller stared at him. ‘What is it?’

‘It’s nothing.
Go on.
’

‘Okay … So in the end it was a policeman comes up, because Mitchell won’t let go of ‘er—like we used to do when there was a road accident … I’ve seen it happen, when they won’t let go of ‘em, just like that … when they know’s too late.’ Buller nodded at him. ‘But Jack Butler—‘e stops the copper, an’ talks to ‘im. An’ then ‘e talks to Mitchell—with the rain still pissin’ down, an’ Mitchell an’ the girl are like a couple of drowned rats by then, with the rain, while Butler’s been talkin’ to the copper … So finally Mitchell picks ‘er up in ‘is arms, an’ carries ‘er down ‘isself … with Audley be’ind ‘im, an’ then a copper that’s picked up O’Leary’s rifle, carryin’ it like it was gold-dust, so as not to smudge the prints on it, with a pencil down the barrel, an’ a string through the trigger-guard—she even remembered
that
, the old woman did.’

Ian saw it all, detail by detail, on the hillside he’d not yet seen, among the ruins of the abbey he’d also never seen yet—
not yet! But which he would see, by God, as soon as he was free again
!

‘Yes?’ He almost added, for Jenny …
this is one we have to write, Jen
! But then he suddenly wasn’t so sure. ‘Go on, Reg—
go on!
’

Another frown. ‘Well, that’s all there is, lad: they took ‘er away—an’ O’Leary with ‘er … An’ then they started to make bloody-sure no one ever printed the truth about what happened there.’ Buller watched him. ‘So what else do you want, then?’

Ian couldn’t really say anything. But Jenny saved him from admitting so much. ‘But … you haven’t really told us the ending—have you, Reg?’

Buller picked up his chaser, but didn’t drink it. ‘Yes … But maybe that’s the bit you won’t like, Lady. An’ I’d only be guessin’ anyway. An’ maybe it’s too early to start guessin’? Not when you’ve got your cheque-book at the ready?’ He looked at Ian.

For once Ian knew that he not only knew more than Jenny did, but also understood better what he knew: knew that he had lost forever what he could never have won anyway—
knew utterly and forever that his best book couldn
’
t be written
.

‘Go on, Reg.’ His knowledge didn’t set him free: it chained him. But he wanted Jenny to feel the weight of those chains.

‘Okay.’ Buller dropped him. ‘Your bloke Masson, Lady—he may have been the greatest thing since bread an’ alcohol. But he’d still have played his game the only way he knew—the way the clever buggers in the Civil Service always play it. Which is only the way everyone else plays it, anyway, if they’re clever: you use the weapons you’ve got, that the other bloke hasn’t got—okay?’

The man was trying to wrap up his can-of-worms in pretty paper. ‘For God’s sake, Reg—
tell her!
’

‘Okay—okay!’

Jenny looked from one to the other. Tell me what—?’

Out of nowhere, Ian suddenly understood why Buller was delaying. And that was remarkably to Reg Buller’s credit, when he was so shit-scared of ‘Dr P. L. Mitchell’—enough to make them go over that wall in the rain and the dark into the railway cutting so uncomfortably and so recently. But, for his part, he couldn’t let himself identify so exactly with Dr Mitchell—not yet, not yet!

He faced Jenny. ‘Philip Masson wanted the job, Jen. And … maybe he didn’t think Jack Butler was right for it—‘ Partly on impulse, and partly to help her accept what he was about to say, he sugared the bitter pill ‘—more likely … So he fixed a test for Butler to prove himself—handling all the different pressures, up north: not just O’Leary, but the Special Branch, and MI5, and the local police up there—and the Chief Constable—right, Reg?’

Buller nodded gratefully. And then faced up to the truth. ‘It was a maybe fair test—‘ Then he faced Jenny in turn, to repay his debt. ‘—but it was a fucking dirty trick, Lady—if you’ll pardon my French!’

‘It was a fair test.’ Ian chose to disagree. ‘Because Butler pretty well passed it at the University: he didn’t catch O’Leary … but O’Leary’s bomb didn’t kill anyone.’ He still tried to sugar the pill—even after Reg Buller’s French. ‘But then O’Leary went on to Thornervaulx. And … Mrs Frances Fitzgibbon died because of that, you see—?’

‘You’ve got it, lad!’ Buller didn’t want to owe him more than that. ‘But that’s where we ‘ave to start guessin’, Lady. Because it still could be Audley who did for him, after that. Or … it could be ‘e just turned a blind eye—see?’

The blind eye seeing confused her for a second. ‘Audley—?’

‘ ‘E could ‘ave turned a blind eye.’ Buller emphasized himself. ‘ ‘E could have just pointed Mitchell in the right direction. Or he could have gone to Mitchell straight off, an’ said “This bugger Masson—if ‘e fell under a bus now … or, maybe, if ‘e fell off ‘is boat, an’ drowned, an’ no question asked … wouldn’t that be nice now?” An’ after what ‘ad ‘appened to the woman ‘e wouldn’t ‘ave needed to ask twice; ‘e’d got the perfect murderer. Or almost perfect.’

Jenny stared at them both. ‘
Mitchell
?’

‘ ‘E’s got the balls for it, Lady.’ Buller nodded. ‘
An
’
she was
‘
is woman, Lady
—
don
’
t you see!
’

With a terrible certainty, Ian understood why she was so slow now, when she was usually so quick. And then he saw how he could make her understand. ‘You want vengeance for Philip Masson, Jen. So Paul Mitchell wanted to even the score for Frances Fitzgibbon.’

She frowned at him. ‘But Philly didn’t kill her.’ She looked at Reg Buller.

‘”Mad Dog” O’Leary?’ Buller shook his head. ‘ ‘E just snapped a shot off—it could ‘ave been at anyone—it could ‘ave been at Mitchell … or it could ‘ave been at Butler … or it could ‘ave been some poor bloody copper, Lady: they’re the ones who usually get the bullet.’ Another shake. ‘But it was ‘
er
…
an’ if it was your bloke Masson who put it all together, then it was ‘
im
that got ‘er killed—that’s the way I might ‘ave seen it, if she’d been my woman, I tell you straight.’ He cocked his head. ‘ ‘Ave you ever loved anyone? Your mum and dad, maybe? Or this bloke of yours, Philly—?’

Jenny had got it: it was pasted across her face, white under falling-down red.

‘If it ‘ud been my woman I might ‘ave done it, anyway,’ repeated Buller simply. ‘Or … if I was “Dr P. L. Mitchell”—yes. Because then I’d ‘ave known how to do it, too—‘specially if I’d ‘ad “Dr D. L. Audley” to help me!’ He stared at Jenny. ‘But, then again, I’m not sure about Audley to tell the truth. Because, ‘avin’ ‘eard a thing or two about ‘im, I reckon ‘e’d ‘ave fixed Masson some other way, short of murder.’ He cocked his head at her. ‘Wasn’t it you said on the phone today that ‘e likes to out-smart people? That ‘e gets ‘is jollies that way more than any other? An’ she wasn’t ‘is woman, after all—was she?’ He shook his head finally. ‘No … if I was bettin’, then I’d say the worst ‘e might ‘ave done is to ‘ave looked the other way. An’ my money would all be on Mitchell, Lady.’

Jenny looked at Ian: she had been looking at him ever since she’d got it, he realized. ‘Ian—?’

He had to face it, too. ‘She was quite something, Jen. Everyone who knew her—‘ He thought of Mrs Simmonds for an instant ‘—everyone who knew her as she really was … she must have been quite a woman, Jen.’

‘I don’t mean
her
—
‘ She brushed irritably at her hair ‘—I mean
Mitchell
, Ian.’

‘Yes.’ Ian had to face that, too. And with Paul Mitchell there was the matter of the empty shot-gun between them, as well as Frances Fitzgibbon. But it was Frances who made the decision easy. ‘Actually, I think Mr Buller has got it wrong, Jen. It’s clever … but he’s wrong. Although … it’s early days, of course.’

‘Oh aye?’ Buller frowned at him in surprise.

‘Yes.’ Never writing this marvellous book was bad enough. But helping Paul Mitchell to escape was a more immediate problem. And then, quite suddenly, he saw the easy answer. ‘Or is Mitchell a saint, Reg?’

‘A—?’ The frown deepened.

‘Only saints have the gift of bi-location, Reg: they can be in two places at once. But the rest of us can’t.’ Annoying Reg Buller would also help. ‘Even if Mitchell wasn’t saving my life this afternoon, I really don’t see how he could have been killing John Tully—do you?’ There was, of course, a major flaw in that dismissive argument: he didn’t really know that Mitchell had been behind him, watching him, until quite late in the afternoon. But Reg Buller couldn’t know that. ‘I’m his alibi, Reg.’

‘Oh aye?’ Buller stared at him belligerently as they both faced up to John Tully’s death, about which they knew next to nothing. But … if that had also been Mitchell, then his own ethical problems multiplied hideously. But he would think about that later: it was early days—everyone seemed agreed on that.

Buller grinned suddenly. ‘You could be right at that, lad—back in’78.’

It was Ian’s turn to frown. ‘What?’

‘Someone hired O’Leary. So someone was up to something.’ Buller dropped him, almost contemptuously, in preference for Jenny. ‘So now Masson’s turned up again, an’ there’s a great big can of worms goin’ to be opened up … An’ if you want me to try an’ guess what’s ‘appening—Lady, I can’t even
begin
to guess.’ He made a face at her. And then remembered his whisky chaser on the table beside him, and picked it up and downed it. ‘But I tell you one thing: there’ll be others as well as Mitchell tryin’ to stop up the rat-holes. An’ the rats are all runnin’ scared, bitin’ whatever gets in their way—like us, for a start, maybe?’ He looked at Jenny for a moment, and then nodded. ‘So I’m runnin’, too. An’ not just from Dr P. L. Mitchell, neither, Lady.’

Mitchell himself had said it
, thought Ian with a swirl of panic:
they had raised the Devil between them! And now the Devil was after them
!

Now he found himself looking at Jenny—looking, and trying not to look at her bitterly, without recrimination. Because it had been Jenny who had wanted vengeance for her beloved Philip Masson, against his own better judgement, and that had been what had started them off on this ill-judged enterprise. And from their present experience he now came upon an unpalatable truth belatedly, which his judgement and instinct hadn’t been quite strong enough to formulate exactly, before it was too late—

The door opened again, without any knock, as before—

Oh God
! Ian thought.
Not more drinks! Not when Reg Butler
’
s bulbous red nose seemed even larger than usual, and they needed him stone-cold sober, as never before
!

The large barmaid was somewhat breathless, and she didn’t smile at Buller this time. ‘Call for you, Mr Buller—on the phone downstairs—okay?’

‘Thank you, love—‘ Buller addressed the door as it closed again. Then he looked at them in turn. ‘Well, “the bell invites me”, as the bard says—eh?’

That was Reg Buller to the life, thought Ian: all those dropped ‘aitches’, and half-genuine, half-false common speech. But Reg Buller had always been more than he seemed to be. So now, when Jenny had started them off with
Macbeth
, Reg Buller was quoting
Macbeth
back to them: he either knew it from old, or he’d looked it up after Jenny had quoted it at him. And now he’d quoted it back at them, when it was too-damn close to the bone for comfort.