Part 43 (1/2)

'What I'm referring to,' Fizz said, with only the faintest tremor betraying the effect this was having on her nervous system, 'is attempted murder.'

Gra.s.sick didn't even blink. 'Attempted murder, eh? Well now, that's a serious charge. I do hope you have good grounds for laying it. Do tell me: whose attempted murder of whom?'

'Vanessa's attempted murder of you, Mr Gra.s.sick.

Surely you were aware of what had happened?'

After a brief silence, Gra.s.sick shook his head and produced a bark of laughter. This is the result of Buchanan's inquiry, eh? Two weeks raking around and this is what he comes up with? You should take up fiction writing, the two of you.'

'Perhaps you'd allow me to run over our line of reasoning, sir, so that you can point out where we went wrong?'

Gra.s.sick made a show of looking at his watch. 'I can give you five minutes.'

'Thank you, sir.' Fizz felt she should have addressed him as 'm'lud'. Half of what she was about to hit him with was circ.u.mstantial evidence but, with a bit of luck, it would be enough to shut him up. To our way of thinking, the whole thing stemmed from the fact that Vanessa became accidentally pregnant. It must have come as a very nasty shock to her because, according to witnesses, she absolutely did not want a baby. But she was stuck with it, wasn't she? Your political career was built on your Pro Life stance and, if it emerged that your wife'd had an abortion, you'd be back to the drawing board. It would be hard for anyone to prove what you did to prevent her getting rid of the baby 265. but, since it's your money behind her business, one could make an educated guess.'

Gra.s.sick didn't move but his face showed only a faint amus.e.m.e.nt as he waited for her to continue. Fizz hadn't expected him to break down in tears at her first salvo but, even though she knew his calm had to be faked, she still found it horribly unnerving to have to start insinuating that his marriage must have been on its last legs.

'In the end, I think her business meant more to Vanessa than you did. If she wasn't to be lumbered with an unwanted child, you had to go.' She caught sight of her hands shaking and knotted them in her lap. 'She was in no financial position to divorce you so she planned to make use of your visits to Brora Lodge to put an end to your relations.h.i.+p. Probably over a period of a couple of weeks at least, she topped up your store of gas cylinders in the bas.e.m.e.nt, then she bought an old heater from a house sale, one that had a thermostat that would give off a spark when it switched off.'

'Most ingenious.' Gra.s.sick nodded condescendingly as if this was all new to him. 'Sounds like a nice little time-bomb.'

'I imagine it would have done the job,' Fizz agreed. 'All Vanessa had to do was turn on the gas cylinders. We have a witness who saw her at the cottage that Friday afternoon when she was doubtless doing just that. You yourself would have set things in motion when you turned on the electricity at the mains on your arrival, allowing the heater to slowly raise the temperature of the cellar till the thermostat switched off. No doubt, she'd set the thermostat to switch off quickly, but by then she would have been alibiing herself in Inverness. Had your car not started to act up I suspect it would have been your grieving widow I'd have been talking to today.'

'My ex-wife would not have given you the time of day, miss! Nor would she have listened to a word of your complete drivel.' 266. 'But you have, Mr Gra.s.sick,' Fizz dared to point out and paused to let the implication sink in. 'So, with your permission, I'll go on.'

He flushed ruby red but chose not to reply, which Fizz took as a good sign.

By the time Vanessa arrived at the home of her friend, Charlotte Mclntosh, she was all hyped up. But some time during that evening you called her mobile phone and she learned that you had not gone to Brora Lodge after all.

She must have seen, not only that her plan had failed, but that she was in danger of being found out. The gas would have leaked all through the house by the time you got there the following day. You'd smell it and check the cylinders . . . find them all open . . . find the heater . . .' She paused, giving Gra.s.sick the chance to comment, but he said nothing and his face remained unreadable. His stillness shook her confidence a little but she ploughed on.

'Vanessa had to do something. She must have reckoned that she could make it to Chirnside, perform a swift cover-up, and get back to Inverness before she was missed.

Maybe she planned to abort the murder attempt for the time being. Maybe she thought she could get most of the gas out of the cellar and start again from scratch, so that there would be just enough leakage to cause the explosion some time after your arrival the following morning. It's impossible to know which was her intention, but that's when she was killed. She had been in the house only a few seconds -probably making a quick dash to turn off the gas cylinders. It was the doorbell being rung that provided the spark -it was battery operated, wasn't it?'

She took a long breath, trying to gather her thoughts, but Gra.s.sick gave another bark of laughter and pushed back his chair. 'Well, if that's the best you can come up with, Miss Fitzpatrick, I don't think the Procurator Fiscal will want anything to do with it. In fact, the standing of Buchanan and Stewart will be no higher than a snake's belly. And now, I'm afraid I have heard enough nonsense 267. for one morning so if you would kindly--'

'Don't you want to know what Jamie Ford was doing there with your wife at two-thirty in the morning?'

Fizz had been sure all along that Gra.s.sick didn't know the answer to that one even before she had confirmed it with Dougie, the WAS copper, the night before. The police were so determined to keep Ford's story a secret that they had let Gra.s.sick stew over that and he'd have been pretty dumb not to wonder if his wife and Jamie were lovers and if, consequently, Vanessa's child was Jamie's. All the same, it pleased her to see Gra.s.sick sit back in his chair.

'I may as well hear the whole story, I suppose. But please make it brief.'

'According to Mrs Ford, who has been extremely difficult to locate,' Fizz said, 'Jamie Ford was a light sleeper.

He heard the sound of a car, saw the reflection of a torch beam in the garden of Brora Lodge, and a.s.sumed that the place was being burgled. He went over and rang the bell, intending to hide till he saw who came to the door.

However, with the gas already leaking up the bas.e.m.e.nt steps to the hallway, the spark from the doorbell detonated the explosion.'

Gra.s.sick made a robust effort to hide his emotion. For a couple of seconds his face held on to his granite expression of neutrality and then began to slacken as though it were made of melting wax. His jowls sagged, the faint bags under his eyes deepened, and his eyelids drooped over his weary eyes. Fizz could almost have felt sorry for him.

Almost.

'I'm sure that knowledge must set your mind at rest,' she said brazenly, before he could get back to throwing her out. 'Which is at least something you owe Tam Buchanan.

I doubt very much if anyone else would have had the tenacity to pursue that piece of information.'