The Fourth Friend (DI Jackman & DS Evans #3)(73)

‘Tide’s about right, young’un.’ Silas was making his way slowly down the ladder from the quay.

‘Go back, Silas. I have to do this alone. For my fourth friend. For Tom.’

‘Go back up and fetch Klink, would you?’

Carter frowned.

‘Go get my dog . . . please?’

‘Oh Silas, no . . .’

‘He bit a kid last night, boy. There’ll be a knock on my door later today, and we don’t want to be there when they come for him.’

Carter felt a lump in his throat. He climbed back up the ladder and carefully lifted the old dog down into the Eva May.

Silas nodded. ‘Everything in order?’

‘Shipshape and Bristol fashion, Cap’n.’ He saluted smartly.

‘I don’t mean the boat.’

‘Nor do I.’

With a long look at his two unexpected crew members, Carter started the engine.

‘Sweet as a nut,’ Silas crooned. ‘That lad knew his engines, didn’t he?’

Carter turned the Eva May out into the river and felt the wind tug at his hair. Oh, it felt so good! He breathed in the salty ozone and let out a whoop of delight. ‘We’ve done it, Si! The Eva May is back where she belongs!’

‘Should be horns and sirens and bunting! An escort out into the Wash!’ Silas’s old eyes sparkled.

‘Then raise the flag, old timer, and let’s drink a toast to the Eva May and the men who put her back together again.’ He pulled a bottle from under one of the seats and passed it to Silas. ‘Will this do you?’

‘Single Highland malt! Twenty-five years old — and a Speyside. That would have made a big hole in your pocket, boy. Three figures?’

‘It’s a special occasion. And as we are underway, the Ensign is waiting to be attached.’ He grinned at Silas, ‘And I’ve not brought metal clips either.’

Silas happily launched into a speech about flag etiquette and halyards, and Carter felt a rush of affection for him. He was glad after all that his oldest friend and his crazy dog were with him.

They poured the whisky into plastic tumblers and drank toast after toast. They did not drink to Suzanne Holland.

‘I’ve been thinking for a while about making a will.’ Silas suddenly became serious.

Carter stared at him. He thought of the ramshackle hovel of a cottage and its contents, and began to laugh.

‘Tek the proverbial, if you will, but there’s “The Poacher” to consider.’

Carter stopped laughing, and considered what the old man was asking of him. ‘Ah, right.’ He took out his mobile phone, sent a brief text message and switched it off. ‘Sorted.’ He then looked long and hard at his old friend. ‘Why are you here, Si?’

‘Saw the doc last week, not that I got too much faith in them and their new-fangled machines. Still, there weren’t much point arguing with the results of my tests.’ He shrugged and sipped his drink. ‘A trip on the Eva May is my whole bucket list rolled into one.’ He looked around contentedly. ‘And we picked a great day for it, didn’t we?’

The only sounds were the thrum of the engine and the occasional call of a water bird. Around them, the water, the marshes and the big Lincolnshire sky. Carter breathed again. He was free of enclosed spaces, the smell of burning. And there were no voices other than his own, and that of Silas.

‘He killed her, didn’t he? Your friend Tom?’ He looked intently at Carter, and then his eyes narrowed. ‘Or did he?’

Carter sipped his whisky. He saw everything clearly now. All along, his night-time chats with the boys had been nothing but memories, old conversations and old secrets. His “dead” friends had told him nothing that he didn’t already know. And that included what had happened to Suzanne.

‘He’d finally found the courage to walk out on her. Then, after a while she rang him, and said she wanted him to go back. She said she loved him. He was going to go, but Ray stopped him, and then it all came out. He broke down and told Ray everything, all the things she’d done and the terrible ordeals she’d put him through. He was distraught. Ray called me, but I was on a stakeout and didn’t get the message. So he rang Jack and Matt and they decided to go and confront Suzanne.’ Carter sighed. ‘They found another man there. She had set it up so that Tom would walk in and find them, then she would tell him that he was such a loser she’d had to go out and find a real man. The guy did a runner, so she tried it on with Jack. He was utterly disgusted and pushed her away, roughly. She fell heavily and hit her head on the stone mantelpiece above the fireplace.’ Carter pointed to their drinks, and the old man poured readily.

‘When they realised she was dead, Ray, Jack and Matt panicked. They did everything wrong.’

‘And the daft buggers made it look like murder?’ Silas asked.

‘They didn’t call an ambulance. They didn’t even dial 999. And they tampered with the scene.’

Silas shook his head. ‘Surely if they’d just . . .’

‘I know, I know. Then Ray finally saw sense. When I got off duty he called me and told me things I’d never known about Tom’s beautiful wife. She told people that Tom hit her, that he cheated on her and even stole from her.’ He gritted his teeth. ‘When in reality it was all the other way around.’