Part 16 (2/2)

'What wife?'

He felt a stab of satisfaction. He'd been here an hour and already he was showing the Yorkies how to do the job.

'According to a neighbour he deserted a wife and child. A few years ago now. Didn't Miss Tyler mention it? You must have asked her about next of kin.'

Jebson shrugged. 'She said she didn't have any contact details for relatives.'

Suddenly he hated being in the small house. It was too depressing, too close to home. If he died suddenly, would anyone know who to contact for him? 'We should leave this for the search team,' he said. 'We'll only get in the way. First priority is to check phone calls and emails. Work computer and home PC. He had some reason for going to Shetland. He knew people there, though no one's admitting to it at the minute, and he must have been in touch to make the arrangements for the visit. And get into his bank account. He might have left his wife and child but he should have been supporting them financially. The CSA ought to have records.'

'You'll have to check with the boss,' she said. 'The way he sees it, it's not even our case.'

'Well, I'm hardly going to send a search team from Shetland . . .'

She shrugged again.

Out on the pavement again, he realized he should have handled things differently. But he'd used up all his sweetness and charm with Perez and his team. 'Sorry,' he said. 'I shouldn't have made a.s.sumptions. It's a sod of a case. But you can see we need to know more about Booth, and you're the people on the ground.'

'Like I said, you'll have to have a word with the boss.' She looked at her watch. 'Martha Tyler said she'd get into work early today. She should be there by now. I'm due in court at nine-thirty, but I'll point you in the direction of the Mill.'

Martha Tyler was in the office drinking coffee. Her hair was tied into one plait, so long that it reached halfway down her back. It seemed old-fas.h.i.+oned and at odds with the jeans and the skimpy green vest top. She watched Taylor approaching across the rehearsal room and got up to meet him. She looked as if she'd had a heavy night.

'I don't know what to do with the company,' she said. 'The actors are supposed to start a school tour on Monday. Should we carry on?'

'Did Mr Booth have an accountant? A lawyer? Perhaps it would be wise to check the legal position with them.'

'I don't know. I'm only here on a sort of work experience.' She returned to the office, sat behind the desk, motioned for Taylor to take the other chair. 'It even seems odd sitting here. This was Jeremy's domain.'

'Tell me about him.' The sort of question Perez would have asked, which drove Taylor to distraction because it took so long to get relevant answers.

'He was an actor,' she said. 'That's the first thing to remember. I was never quite sure if he was performing, if I was getting the truth or a story. I'm sure he didn't mean to lie. He just liked his version best. He was funny and kind, but there was always this mask. You never knew what was going on in his head.'

'What did he do before he started the company?'

'Bits and pieces of acting, I think. He was full of the people he'd worked with. Maybe some of it was true. But it's such a tough business. Even if you're good, it's all about luck. It's the good people who never make it that I'm most sorry for.'

'And before that? Drama school?'

'I'm not sure. I don't think so. He was quite scathing about the kids who turned up here to work with their degrees in performance and no real experience in theatre.'

'Did he ever talk about his private life?'

'Never. Only about work.'

'No relations.h.i.+ps?'

'I think there might have been a few brief flings young actresses taken in by the bulls.h.i.+t and too much to drink. He liked to be seen with them. It must have been good for his ego. They never lasted, though.'

'They saw through him?'

'No. He was always the one to do the dumping. A couple of them were quite smitten. He was very kind and he did have a certain style.'

Taylor's phone rang. He went into the rehearsal room to take it. It was Jebson.

'The court case was adjourned, so I've made a few calls for you. Work history through the DSS. He's been self-employed for fifteen years, as an actor. I'm waiting to hear back from the tax people about his income.'

'Before then?'

'He was a teacher. A school in Chester.'

'Thanks.'

'One more thing. I've traced the wife.'

Chapter Twenty-seven.

Kenny liked Friday evenings. Edith didn't work at the weekend and when she arrived home from the care centre he knew he would have her at home, all to himself, for two days.

She arrived home late, as she often did on Friday, looking tired and a little strained. She said she'd been out of the centre all afternoon doing home visits. She often said the relatives were more difficult than her clients. He took a bottle of wine from the fridge as soon as he heard her car outside, opened it and poured her a gla.s.s, so it was ready on the bench as soon as she came in. An end-of-week ritual. She dropped her bag on the floor and took off her jacket, kissed him lightly, then took the wine with her to run a bath. Another ritual. He heard the water run into the tub. When she came out she'd be the old Edith, wearing jeans and a sweater, calmer, more relaxed.

Earlier he'd been on the phone to friends about helping to bring the sheep down from the hill for clipping. The forecast had been fine for the following day. He enjoyed the sense of occasion that came with clipping the sheep; it was one of the days that marked midsummer everyone walking across the hill together in line, pus.h.i.+ng the beasts ahead of them until they reached the d.y.k.e, then walking them down towards the croft. It took him back to his childhood, when there'd been more communal work. He liked the banter and the edge of compet.i.tion as everyone tried to get the fleeces off whole, not nicking the flesh, but keeping up the pace so they weren't at it all day. And then in the evening they'd all come into the house for beer and a few drams, maybe some music.

Edith came into the kitchen all rosy from the bath, not dressed at all, but wrapped in a big white towel. Her shoulders seemed very narrow and her neck very long. She finished the wine and poured herself another gla.s.s.

'I was wondering,' she said, 'if it was worth me getting dressed just yet.'

Kenny thought he must be the happiest man in the world.

Later he grilled some of the piltock he'd caught the day before. She sat at the table, dressed now as he'd imagined in jeans and a sweater, and she watched him carefully as he scaled the fish, cut off the heads, sliced the belly and pulled out the guts.

'Was it a bad day at work?' He'd sensed some tension in her.

'I'm worried about w.i.l.l.y,' she said. 'Something's making him anxious. He gets all fl.u.s.tered and confused. I hate to see him like that.'

'Maybe being questioned by Jimmy Perez didn't help.'

'I don't believe it was that,' she said. 'Jimmy was fine with the old man. He's a good listener and he has a gentle way about him.' She paused. 'I'm not sure he's cut out for the police. What do you think?'

Kenny thought Jimmy's mother had a gentle way about her too. But he didn't want to think about her and the strange obsession that had taken hold of him that summer when he was working in Fair Isle.

<script>