Dead Men's s Boots

’

‘Good money?’

‘You did it for three years, Castor. I assume that’s a rhetorical question.’

‘So he told you not to talk to me?’

‘Not in so many words. But he’s concerned to do things by the book. He has a past association with you, and now you’ve taken on a commission from somebody – the accused man’s wife? – who has a real interest in sabotaging his case. He doesn’t want to make life difficult for you, but he doesn’t trust you overmuch.’

I laughed at that. ‘He’s right not to,’ I admitted. ‘But I like the delicate nuances there.

He’s saying that he could make life hard for me if he wanted to.’

Juliet shrugged. ‘He’s a policeman.’

‘Say cop,’ I suggested.

‘Why?’

‘Just say it. For me.’

‘All right. He’s a cop.’

‘Better. It’s like looking at your watch when you want to say that you’re in a hurry. It sounds more authentic.’

She shot me a sardonic glance. ‘Thank you, Castor.’

‘It’s my pleasure.’

We came out through the gates onto the street, the noise from the building site making further talk impossible for a few moments.

As we turned right and back up towards the main drag, a very tall and very lean man in a full-length tan Drizabone coat walked right in between us. Juliet kept on going but I swerved to avoid a collision, and was struck by the guy’s pungent smell, which sat oddly with the way he looked and walked.

I went on a few more steps, then stopped dead. Something about both the smell and the circumstances triggered a small avalanche in my memory: the tramp who’d accosted me in the street outside Todd’s office.

He’d looked very different, but he had the same rancid sweat-and-sickness stink about him. There couldn’t be two smells that bad in the world: they’d have to meet and fight it out to the death.

I turned and looked back, but the guy was already out of sight – which was interesting, because the only place he could have gone was in through the crematorium gates. As Juliet stared at me, bewildered, I sprinted back the way we’d come, rounded the nearer gatepost and stared up the long, clear drive.

There was no one in sight.

‘Did you leave something behind?’ Juliet asked.

I shook my head as I went back to join her. ‘Nothing I need right now,’ I said. ‘It’ll keep. Okay, you already did pretending that you’re worried about the time. You want to go and pretend you need to eat?’

She nodd c""2e217ed. ‘Certainly.’ She put her hand in her pocket and drew it out with something small and dark glinting between her fingers.