The Stratford Murder by Mike Hollow (best thriller novels of all time .TXT) 📗

it’s been suggested to us that it was the uniform of an organisation that your brother belonged to – something that he and your father fell out over. So I’d like to ask you again. Do you recognise it?’

Elsie let out a sigh, but whether of resignation or frustration Jago couldn’t tell.

‘OK,’ she said. ‘Yes, I do. It must’ve slipped my mind yesterday. I was a bit shocked to hear what’d happened to Joan, so I wasn’t quite myself. Yes, it was something Richard belonged to when he was younger.’

‘And there was a disagreement between him and your father?’

‘Yes. That wasn’t long before my father died. Richard had some rather foolish ideas about politics when he was younger, and he didn’t like it when Dad challenged him. But someone had to, otherwise he’d have gone on believing those stupid notions for ever. Dad was right – it was all a lot of romantic nonsense and could never work in the real world. My father was a realist, you see, and that’s why he was successful in business. He never had any time for idealistic claptrap. He used to say that in the end it’s all about pounds, shillings and pence, and the more of that you have, the better your life will be. Other people can talk about inner peace, he said, but that doesn’t put bread on the table. Only hard graft does that, and he always worked for his family – he wasn’t going to wait around doing nothing and expecting other people to pay his bills.’

‘So clearly you agreed with your father.’

‘Yes, of course I did. I thought Richard was naive and indecisive, and lacking in ambition, but I hoped he’d see sense eventually.’

‘Do you think he did?’

‘Yes, I think he did, to some extent at least. I think when things started getting so bad politically in Europe he realised fancy ideas like giving people free money weren’t realistic. The only thing that made sense in the world as it is was to fight, and I think that’s why he joined the TA.’

‘Your mother wasn’t pleased to discover I had that uniform, but she didn’t say why. She didn’t want to talk about it. Why do you think that was?’

‘She probably just thinks like me. That that part of Richard’s life is in the past, and it’s not who he is any more. He’ll come home from this war a hero, and that’ll open doors for him. I think our mother’s probably worried that it’ll be bad for his career prospects if people find out he used to be mixed up with the Kibbo Kift, so she’d rather all that was buried in the past, where it belongs.’

‘And you think she’s right.’

‘Yes, I do. He was an embarrassment to our father, and I don’t see why he should be an embarrassment to our mother as well. He means everything to her. That’s why she didn’t want him to join the TA.’

‘She hasn’t mentioned that to us.’

‘Well, I don’t suppose there was any need to. She was just worried as a mother.’

‘Did he tell you before he joined up?’

‘Yes.’

‘But not Joan?’

‘I don’t know.’

‘Someone told us they thought he hadn’t.’

‘Well, I wouldn’t know what passed between him and his wife, would I? He might’ve thought she’d get tearful, try to stop him. I could imagine her doing that.’

‘What was Joan’s attitude to Richard’s past?’

‘I think she went along with whatever he wanted to do. To be frank with you, I think all that stuff about politics and economics that he was interested in was above her head. I don’t think she understood it. I think the romantic side of it appealed to her, the idea of making everyone happy in three easy steps – she was a pretty soft sort of girl, a bit of a dreamer – but I don’t think she was bright enough to see through it for the nonsense it was. If our father had lived longer he’d have been against them marrying, I’m sure.’

‘I’ve been thinking, sir,’ said Cradock as he got back into the car outside Audrey Lewis’s house. The obvious retort sprang immediately into Jago’s mind, but he didn’t like to discourage the boy.

‘Well done,’ he said. ‘Are your thoughts in a fit state to share?’

‘Yes, I think so. I’ve been thinking about that brother of Ernie’s we met, Martin Sullivan, the one I recognised from the Regal on Sunday night, who disappeared into the toilets and never came out.’

‘I remember. What about him?’

‘Well, the first time we met Beryl, she mentioned she’d been at the Regal Sunday night with her boyfriend. I thought that was a bit peculiar myself, her going to the pictures where she worked, but anyway, the thing is, when we talked to her this morning, she said he didn’t walk her home at the end. He just nipped off and didn’t come back. And she said his name was Martin. Now, I know there might’ve been a dozen blokes at the Regal called Martin, but if he disappeared like that at the end it makes me wonder whether his other name’s Sullivan.’

Cradock sat back in the passenger seat, as if bracing himself to hear his reasoning demolished, but Jago simply nodded his head.

‘Good thinking, Peter,’ he said. ‘So what do you suggest we do next?’

‘Go and ask Beryl what her boyfriend’s surname is and where he lives?’

‘I think that would be very sensible.’ Jago checked his watch again. ‘If she’s working tonight, she’ll be at the Regal already. If she’s not, she could be at home, but I’d rather not provoke her landlady to wrath, so let’s try the cinema.’

They drove to the Regal and told the page boy in the foyer they needed to speak to Beryl. There was no sign of Conway, but the boy was happy to take his instructions from Jago and soon reappeared with Beryl. She was wearing her usherette’s uniform and carrying her torch.

‘I’m sorry to drag you away from your