Careless in Red (Inspector Lynley, #15)(206)

Bea told him he was a bloody damn fool if he expected the lot of them to traipse out to the sea cliff where that ancient perch was.

He replied that fool or not, if she wanted a conversation with him, he knew his rights and he was going to employ them.

She told him that one of his rights was not the right to decide where their meeting with Ben Kerne would occur.

He smiled and begged to differ with her. It might not have been his right, he said, but the fact of the matter was that she probably wanted him to be in a location where he felt easy with conversation. And Hedra’s Hut was that location. They’d be cosy enough there. Out of the cold and the wind. Snug as four bugs rolled in the same rug, if she knew what he meant.

“He’s got something up his sleeve,” was Sergeant Havers’s assessment of the situation once they set off trailing Jago Reeth’s Defender in the direction of Alsperyl. They’d wait at the village church for Mr. Kerne, Jago had informed them. “Best phone the superintendent and let him know where we’re going,” Havers went on. “I’d have backup as well. Those blokes from the station…? Got to be a way they can hide themselves round the place.”

“Not unless they disguise themselves as cows, sheep, or gulls,” Bea told her. “This bloke’s thought of all the angles.”

Lynley, Bea found, wasn’t answering his mobile, which made her curse the man and wonder why she’d bothered to give him a phone in the first place. “Where’s the blasted man got off to?” she asked and then replied to her own question with a grim declaration of, “Well, I wager we know the answer to that, don’t we.”

At Alsperyl, which was no great distance from the Salthouse Inn, they remained in their respective cars, parked close to the village church. When Ben Kerne finally joined them, they’d been sitting there for nearly thirty minutes. During this time, Bea had phoned the station to give the word where they were and phoned Ray to do likewise.

Ray said, “Beatrice, are you barking mad? D’you have any idea how irregular this is?”

“I’ve got half a dozen ideas,” she told him. “I’ve also got sod all to work with unless this bloke gives me something I can use.”

“You can’t think he intends?”

“I don’t know what he intends. But there will be three of us and one of him and if we can’t manage?”

“You’ll check him for weapons?”

“I’m a fool but not a bloody fool, Ray.”

“I’m having whoever’s out on patrol in your area head to Alsperyl.”

“Don’t do that. If I need backup, I can easily phone the Casvelyn station for it.”

“I don’t care what you can and cannot do. There’s Pete to consider, and if it comes down to it, there’s myself as well. I won’t rest easy unless I know you’ve got proper backup. Christ, this is bloody irregular.”

“As you’ve said.”

“Who’s with you at present?”

“Sergeant Havers.”

“Another woman? Where the hell is Lynley? What about that sergeant from the station? He looked like he had half a wit about him. For God’s sake, Bea?”

“Ray. This bloke’s round seventy years old. He’s got some sort of palsy. If we can’t take care of ourselves round him, we need to be carted off.”

“Nonetheless?”

“Good-bye, darling.” She rang off and shoved the mobile into her bag.

Shortly after she finished her phone calls?also telling Collins and McNulty at the Casvelyn station where she was?Ben Kerne arrived. He got out of his car and zipped his windcheater to the chin. He glanced at Jago Reeth’s Defender in some apparent confusion. He then saw Bea and Havers parked next to the lichenous stone wall that defined the churchyard and he walked over to them. As he approached, they got out of the car. Jago Reeth did likewise.

Bea saw that Jago Reeth’s eyes were fixed on Santo Kerne’s father. She saw that his expression had altered from the easy affability that he’d shown them in the Salthouse Inn. Now his features fairly blazed. She imagined it was the look seasoned warriors had once worn when they finally had the necks of their enemies beneath their boots and a sword pressing into their throats.

Jago Reeth said nothing to any of them. He merely jerked his head towards a kissing gate at the west end of the car park, next to the church’s notice board.

Bea spoke. “If we’re meant to attend you, Mr. Reeth, then I have a condition as well.”

He raised an eyebrow, the extent to which he apparently intended to communicate until they got to his preferred destination.

“Put your hands on the bonnet and spread your legs. And trust me, I’m not interested in checking to see what sort of cobblers you’ve got.”

Jago cooperated. Havers and Bea patted him down. His only weapon was a biro. Havers took this and tossed it over the wall into the churchyard. Jago’s expression said, Satisfied?

Bea said, “Carry on.”

He headed in the direction of the kissing gate. He did not wait there to see if they were accompanying him. He was, apparently, perfectly certain that they would follow.

Ben Kerne said to Bea, “What’s going on? Why’ve you asked me…? Who is that, Inspector?”

“You’ve not met Mr. Reeth before this?”