than a living one.
The voice called again.
Gideon King entered the maze, a worried frown on his face.
‘Philippa!’
‘What is it, Gideon?’
‘There’s a chief inspector here to see you.’
Philippa touched my arm. ‘They’ve got someone. Would they be this quick?’
‘I don’t know.’
King said softly, ‘He has some questions, for you, and then for me.’
‘All right.’ She moved away with a sigh. ‘Kate, come again soon.’
We watched her walk away. King said, ‘How did you come here, Mrs Shackleton?’
‘By shanks’s pony.’
‘I’ll walk with you to the gate.’
There was no need, but something in his manner told me this was more for his benefit than mine. He took slow steps, looking at the ground and then suddenly at me, as if about to speak. He did not.
I considered whether I should wait, prompt him, or start a conversation. The latter might put him at his ease.
‘It’s good that Philippa has you to rely on at this time.’
‘Yes. But it’s horrible that this has happened, when everything was going to be dealt with in a civilised way. Now the police will comb through all Everett’s dealings. It will be a great embarrassment to the family.’
‘I’m sure they’ll be discreet. They’re looking for a killer, not skeletons in the attics.’ We wended our way through an avenue of high tress that turned the world dark. He was taking me a long way round to the gate. ‘You’re not looking forward to being questioned, Mr King. Nobody does.’
‘I don’t want to say anything about their private life. It’s no one’s business. What are they going to ask me?’
He was acting like a person about to take a test and wanting to know the gist of the questions in advance. They would ask him where he was last night and this morning, that much must be obvious even to him. As Philippa’s secretary, he had also appointed himself her watchdog and guardian angel. ‘I expect they’ll ask general questions, to try and build a complete picture of Everett’s life in recent days, and to find out about his associates, and any enemies.’
‘Do they think Everett was being blackmailed?’
His question took me by surprise. ‘Why would they? I’d say it is too early for theories. Do you believe he was being blackmailed?’
‘It crossed my mind.’
‘If you think there is any possibility of that, you must mention it to the chief inspector.’
He nodded. ‘I studied theology. Perhaps law would have stood me in better stead. What I knew of Everett’s enterprises I judged in terms of right and wrong, not lawful and unlawful. But say he had some dealings that broke the law, something that might land him in court, even in prison.’
‘How would that connect with murder, Mr King?’
‘If he refused to pay a blackmailer.’
‘If a person being blackmailed refuses to pay, then the blackmailer’s bluff is called. He either makes public what he knows or crawls away with his tail between his legs.’
Had King been blackmailing Runcie? He stopped. I went on walking and had to turn back to look at him.
He thrust his hands in his pockets. ‘Anyway, it was just a thought, something that struck me. If he was being blackmailed, and threatened to expose the man, or woman, then that could have signed his death warrant.’
‘I suppose that is possible.’
‘Which is worse in the law here, blackmail or some other crime?’
‘Blackmail is a heinous crime everywhere. It must be the same in your country also.’ We left the avenue of trees. I saw the gate a few yards off. ‘Mr King, is there something you want to tell me?’
He gave a small smile. ‘No. Just thinking aloud. Puts the wind up me, the thought of being interviewed by the police. They’re a different breed. I don’t speak their language.’
‘If it is Chief Inspector Charles, you’ll find him impeccably proper, and keen to listen.’
‘I wasn’t a good student of theology because the concepts of evil and damnation gave me considerable difficulty.’
This was the first time I had talked to King. He was an interesting man and my judgement of him as looking like Attila the Hun now seemed shallow and unkind. He was a complex person and I hoped I might get to know him a little better. ‘Thanks for walking me, Mr King. Better not keep the law waiting.’
He smiled. ‘I won’t.’ He made a helpless gesture. ‘We were so on course, to go back to Boston. Now that we’ve been thrown off course, I suddenly realise that I never gave myself the opportunity to