the tumble drier. She told me she’d been caught in the storm on her bike and had got absolutely drenched. She thought I wouldn’t mind if she dried off in my house. I could have done without it that day of all days, but of course, I agreed.’
‘How had she got in?’ Frost asked.
‘The back door wasn’t locked.’
‘Why was she out in the storm – she should have been at school?’
‘She said she intended skipping the first lesson – she didn’t like the relief teacher who was taking my place.’
‘I see.’ Frost signalled for him to continue.
‘We had a meal from the deep freeze in the kitchen, then she went upstairs to put on her dry clothes. She left here shortly after one. I thought she was going straight to school. I last saw her pushing her bike up that path.’ He pointed through the window. ‘And that’s the gospel truth, Inspector.’
‘I don’t think so, sir,’ said Frost, shaking his head sadly and sounding genuinely sorry. ‘You say she pedalled away into the sunset on her bike?’
‘Yes!’ insisted Bell.
‘Wearing only one bloody shoe?’ asked Frost, holding it accusingly under the man’s nose.
Gilmore, his pen hovering, held his breath. Frost was pushing his luck. If the schoolmaster remembered both shoes were on the body, he’d realize that there was no way the other shoe could have been found in the bedroom and that Frost’s case was built solely on a bluff.
But Frost’s luck held. Bell was confused. His expression kept changing as various alternatives to his story flitted across his mind and were hastily discarded. His best bet would have been to keep quiet. To say nothing. To let the police do the proving. But he’d kept quiet for too long. He had to tell someone.
‘The girl had sex before she died, sir,’ Frost gently prompted. ‘And we found her shoe in your bedroom.’
Bell shrank visibly, and stared down at the carpet. ‘I’d like to make a statement.’
Concealing his relief, Frost gave the statutory caution and signalled for Gilmore to start a fresh page. ‘When you’re ready, sir.’
‘We had lunch. I should have suspected something. Paula kept “accidentally” letting the dressing gown slip open. Then she went upstairs to get dressed. She called me. She was in our bedroom. Sitting on the bed. She was naked. She was wearing lipstick – thick lipstick. She looked like a child tart. The girl was offering herself to me.’ He paused, then glared defiantly. ‘What the hell! What the bloody hell! I suppose you think I’m some sort of animal?’
Frost said nothing.
The man’s shoulders shook as he covered his face. ‘When it comes down to it we’re all bloody animals.’ He stood up and stared out of the window. ‘We made love. Half-way through she began to struggle. She yelled for me to stop. Then she started screaming rape. I panicked. I grabbed her by the throat to stop her screaming. We struggled. She wouldn’t stop screaming. Suddenly she went still. I must have squeezed too hard. I didn’t mean it . . . as God is my witness, I didn’t mean it. I tried the kiss of life, I tried everything . . . but she was dead.’
‘Did you think of sending for a doctor?’ asked Frost.
‘A doctor?’ Bell frowned and his hand flicked away the question as futile. ‘It would have been no use. She was dead.’ He paused. The only sound in the room was the slight rustle as Gilmore turned the page of his notebook. Bell’s head twisted to the sergeant, as if suddenly realizing that everything he was saying was being taken down. ‘I didn’t know what to do. I was so frightened . . . so appalled. I tried to think. I had to find somewhere to hide the body and I suddenly thought of that crypt. I thought it would at least be a Christian place of burial for the poor child.’ At this Frost gave an involuntary snort of derision, but Bell didn’t care what Frost thought. This was the statement that would be read out in court, the statement the jury would hear. ‘That night, I took the poor child’s remains out to the car and drove to the cemetery. As reverently as possible I put her in the crypt. I said a prayer for her. I never meant to hurt her.’
‘Before you did that, you reverently burnt the poor child with a blow-lamp,’ said Frost. ‘What sort of kindly, Christian act was that?’