Part 6 (1/2)

'I've tried to persuade him to tell the police about the whole thing,' said Libby, pus.h.i.+ng her empty soup bowl away.

Katie shook her head. 'He won't like that. He'll think he's going to lose the house.'

'Exactly. But don't you see, someone, whether it's this Tony he bought it from or someone else, has tried to offload it for some reason. And now the skeleton's been found, that looks suspiciously like the reason, doesn't it?'

'Mmm.' Katie stared at her. ''Course. Makes sense.' She stood up and fetched a cafetiere. 'I'll add my two-pennorth and all this afternoon.'

'He must phone the police,' said Libby. 'He can't wait until they contact him.'

At that moment, the phone rang.

Conversation round the table froze as Katie lumbered out into the hall. She came back holding the phone out to Lewis, mouthing 'Police'. He took the phone, glancing at Libby before standing up and moving away from the table. Adam looked at his mother.

'What's going on?' he asked in a low voice.

'I've persuaded him to tell the police whatever he knows,' said Libby. 'That's what he wanted to talk to me about.'

'So what does he know?'

'Oh who sold him the house. That's all, really.'

'The police will know that already, surely?'

'I would have thought so,' said Libby. How would the police not know who owned the house? How it had been sold? They knew Lewis had only recently moved in.

Lewis returned to the table and sat down.

'That super's coming back this afternoon,' he said. 'Wants to talk to me.' He shot another glance at Libby.

'Well, that's good,' she said and stood up. 'I must get back. Thanks for the lunch, Katie. See you on Sunday, Ad?'

Adam nodded, looking at Lewis.

Katie stood up. 'I'll see you out,' she said.

At the front door, she led Libby outside and lowered her voice. 'I'll make sure he tells her everything,' she said. 'Can you come back if he wants to talk to you again?'

'I'll talk to him if he wants to phone me, but I honestly don't see what I can do,' said Libby. 'I'm no private investigator. I'm just Adam's mum.'

Katie's mouth drew down disapprovingly. 'Hmm,' she said. 'Well, I'm going back to London this weekend, so I can't keep an eye on him.'

'Oh, Katie, what do you expect me to do? I don't even know him.'

'He wanted to talk to you.' Katie's mouth was now set in a stubborn line.

'I know, but what Lewis wants he doesn't always have to get,' said Libby. 'He's an ordinary mortal, you know, just like my Adam.'

Katie sighed. 'All right,' she said. 'I'll tell him he can phone you.'

And I bet he will, thought Libby, as she drove back towards Nethergate. All the b.l.o.o.d.y time.

Chapter Six.

BY THE TIME LIBBY met Ben at seven o'clock, Lewis had called at least five times. After the first two calls, Libby had let the answerphone take the messages and wished she'd signed up for caller identification when she missed a call from Ben.

'Sorry about that,' she said now, sitting down opposite him at a table by the empty fireplace. 'What was it you wanted?'

'To see if you wanted to go somewhere else,' he said. 'You could have called me back.' 'I did,' said Libby with a sigh, 'and got your voicemail.'

'Oh.' Ben frowned and pulled his mobile out of his pocket. 'b.u.g.g.e.r. So you did. I didn't hear it. Must have been in the shower.'

'So we're even,' said Libby, sipping her lager. 'Ah, I needed that.'

'Why were you call screening, then?' asked Ben.

Resignedly, Libby told him everything that had happened since the morning.

'I have genuinely tried to put him off, Ben, you can ask Adam and this Katie North person. That's why I was trying not to take his calls. He'd already called twice before I stopped answering.'

'What did he say, then?' Despite himself, Ben was looking interested.

'Oh, the superintendent hadn't arrived then. He was just blathering about what he should tell her. But as I said, the police will already know who owned the house previously and they'll probably know all about this seemingly dodgy house purchase, too, so all he's got to do is tell them everything including who this Tony person is so he can't be accused of impeding the investigation.'

'It does sound a bit off, doesn't it?' mused Ben, twirling his gla.s.s absently. 'Why on earth would Lewis buy a house like that? Why was he so scared of letting on? What did he think Tony was going to tell the tabloids?'

'I think there must be more to it than he told me,' said Libby. 'After all, the general public know he's gay.'

'But they don't know that's why he got the Housey Housey gig, or his own show. It's payola under another name, isn't it?'

'And this Tony didn't want his name revealed. I wonder who he is?'

'I've been racking my brain to think of a high-profile person with media connections in Hampstead,' said Ben.

'We don't know he has media connections, do we?'

'You said he got Lewis on to Housey Housey and then leant on someone to get him his own programme.'

'Yes, but that sounds as though he has connections with the Mafia, not the media.' Libby squinted at her gla.s.s. 'And I still don't know why he wanted Lewis to have his own show. It couldn't have been for s.e.xual favours, could it? He'd already had those.'

Ben sighed. 'I don't know. And we didn't come here to talk about it, either.'

Libby looked up. 'You wanted to know.'

'I know, I know.' He reached over and patted her hand. 'I'm sorry. I've been a bit pushy, haven't I?'

'Not pushy, exactly.' Libby looked down at his hand. 'I don't want to lose you, Ben.'