Proof - By Dick Francis Page 0,80

that Deglet’s were experienced experts in a way I hadn’t appreciated.

Gerard’s fat envelope contained an explanatory note and about fifteen sheets of typing paper. The centre of each sheet bore the stat of one page of the small notebook, and from each entry in the notebook a fine straight line led to explanation in the margin.

Gerard’s note was typewritten:

Tony,

All the enquiries were done by telephone, not in person. Answers were given freely by Kenneth Charter himself, also by his wife and daughter and elder son, although with them as with friends and shops our questions had to be cautious, as Kenneth Charter forbade us to represent Kenneth Junior in a criminal light.

The sheets are numbered in the order in which the pages occurred in the notebook. Kenneth Charter dates the first page as having been written at the beginning of August as it refers to Mrs Charter’s birthday on August 8th. One may assume that the entries were written consecutively after that, but it is not certain, and there are no other positive dates, as you will see.

Please write down immediately any thoughts which cross your mind as you read. Don’t leave such thoughts until afterwards as they are apt to evaporate.

G

I turned to the first of the notebook pages and found that the first entry of all read:

Buy card for Mum’s birthday next week.

A fine straight line led to the marginal note: August 8th.

Kenneth Junior’s handwriting was inclined to shoot off at both forward and backward sloping angles in the same word, but was otherwise distinctly formed and easy to read. The Deglet’s annotator had written in neat fine black script, utterly different but equally legible. I could hardly complain that Gerard had set me a technically difficult task.

The second entry on the first page read:

Go to D.N.’s for w.g.

The marginal note said: D.N. is David Naylor, Kenneth Junior’s only close friend. It is thought the letters w.g. stand for war games, as they are David Naylor’s hobby.

The first page also read:

Collect trousers front cleaners.

Ask Dad for cash.

Tell B.T. to fuck off.

The line from the last entry led to: B.T. is probably Betty Townsend, a girl Kenneth Junior had been seeing. Mrs Charter says she was a nice girl but clinging.

Poor Betty Townsend.

I turned to page two and found a list of telephone numbers, each with an identification in the margin, along with an address.

Odeon cinema (local)

Diamond snooker club (local)

David Naylor (Friend. Unemployed)

Clipjoint (Barber’s shop, local)

Lisa Smithson (Occasional girlfriend. Unemployed)

Ronald Haleby (Friend. Works as doorman at local disco)

The next many pages contained entries which were only understandable because of the telephone numbers and spoke eloquently of a drifting purposeless life. Kenneth Junior’s lists were almost a diary, embracing such revelations as ‘Snort with R.H. Sunday, take cash’ and ‘Get abortion number for L.S.’ but were mainly on the more mundane level of ‘Tell Mum to buy toothbrush’, ‘Play snooker at Diamond’s’ and ‘Rewire plug on stereo’.

One later page read:

Haircut.

Go to Halifax.

Buy tank for w.g., Phone D.N.

Get keys of N.T. for duplicates.

Meet R.H. in Diamond’s.

Pay L.S. for abortion.

Deglet’s annotations were:

(1) Clipjoint say Kenneth Junior went there at about ten day intervals for shampoo and styling. He bought expensive products and tipped lavishly.

(2) Kenneth Junior is most unlikely to have been to the town of Halifax. Suggest this reference means Halifax Build ing Society, though his parents don’t know if he had an account there. Kenneth Charter thought that apart from unemployment benefit his son had no money except what he himself gave him, but this cannot be right as Charter did not give him enough extra for cocaine and abortions.

(3) Tank must be toy tank for war games.

(4) Not traced.

I frowned for a while over the letters N.T. but could make no more of them than Deglet’s had. What did one need keys for? House, car, suitcase, drawer, locker, desk, mail box, deposit box… infinitum. N.T. was perhaps a person. Person unknown.

On the next page there was a single entry, the one which had started the bushfire.

The Reading telephone number followed by:

Tell Z UNP 786Ypicks up B’s Gin Mon 10 a.m. approx.

I made a wry face over the bald and still disturbing treachery and turned over to what was left: three more pages very much like the others, with only a few new themes.

Go with D.N. for w.g. with S.N! bore the Deglet explan-nation: S.N. is Stewart Naylor, David Naylor’s father. Stewart Naylor lives apart after divorce. David Naylor visits his father occasionally. Stewart Naylor is noted for skill in