Page 103 of The Hallmarked Man
‘How did she do that?’ asked Strike.
‘Ah, you know, Ken an’ ’is wife an’ their son – you know their son died?’
‘I do, yes,’ said Strike.
‘So, yeah, I said I’d stay. ’E’s a good guy, Ken, I didn’t wanna let ’im down. So Wright gets back an’ we carry the fing dahn to the vault, an’ Pamela says, “Jim, bring me up my ’andbag,” an’ I did, an’ I fink I’m done, but then Pamela tells me I’ve gotta stay in the shop till Wright comes back upstairs, ’cause ’e’s down there ’eavin’ the fucking candelabra or wha’ever it was out the box. An’ then she bogged off, an’ I’m left stuck there, manning the shop.’
‘So you never saw what was in that last crate? The one that should have contained the Oriental Centrepiece?’
‘No. An’ then Wright comes back upstairs, an’ I says to ’im, “I gotta go, I gotta finish my ovver job” an’ ’e says, “’ow’m I supposed to set the alarm an’ all the rest of it?” an’ I said, “tha’s not my problem,” an’ I left. Fakin’,’ said Todd, ‘wannee? Saw ’is chance. Leave the door unlocked, leave the safe door open. It’s on’erit ’appened.’
Todd’s interpretation might be open to question, but his account of what had actually taken place tallied exactly with what Strike had seen on the security footage, so he asked no further questions about Friday, but turned a page in his notebook.
‘You weren’t at Ramsay Silver over the weekend?’
‘No, I told you, I on’y do Mondays an’ Fursdays.’
‘Did you have keys to the shop, or the alarm code?’
‘No, never.’
‘The police will have asked you where you were on Friday night, I suppose?’
‘Yeah, I was playin’ cards wiv four ovver blokes at my place, an’ they all told the police that, an’ there’s CCTV on our corner showin’ I was back at my flat when—’
‘I assumed the police would have asked you,’ said Strike. ‘Can we talk about the Monday when the body and the theft were discovered? You were down in the basement when Kenneth opened the vault door, is that right?’
‘Yeah, I’d been cleanin’ the staff area downstairs. I was doin’ the bog at the time.’
‘What can you remember about the discovery of the body?’
‘I was in the bog,’ said Todd again. ‘I ’ad the door closed, ’cause if you leave it open it gets in the way of the stairs an’ the vault. I ’eard Kennef open up the vault. Then I ’eard ’im shout. I says, “you all right, Ken?” Pamela yelled somefing down the stairs, then I ’eard ’er comin’ down. Then she made a weird noise an’ all, so I says, “what’s goin’ on?” and I wen’ out to see.’
Todd took a sip of his pint before continuing.
‘Fuckin’… they did a proper job on ’im. Stuff carved on ’im, an’ ’ands gone, an’ then, when they flipped ’im over… terrible business.’
‘Who turned him over?’ said Strike.
‘Police. They come, an’ then we weren’ allowed to leave the shop. Copper on the front door, keepin’ the public out. We was stuck there, nearly all day. They brung us sandwiches. Forensics come, takin’ photos, an’ they turned ’im over, f’r us to see… Pamela nearly puked. They’d cut ’is eyes out, smashed in ’is face an’ ’is dick was gone.’
‘His penis had been cut off?’
‘Yeah… fuckin’ terrible… then they bagged ’im up an’ took ’im out, an’ we was allowed to go ’ome.’
‘Did anyone tell the police John Auclair had been there, right after the body was discovered?’
‘Yeah, I fink Ken did.’
Strike made another note, then said,
‘Would you happen to know anything about how Wright was hired? There was a disagreement about how he got shortlisted for interview, wasn’t there?’
‘Know about that, do ya? Yeah, I ’eard ’em arguin’ about it.’
‘Kenneth and Pamela?’
‘Bofe of ’em blamin’ the ovver one for puttin’ Wright’s email down instead of some ovver bloke’s.’
