Page 209 of The Hallmarked Man
‘People round here were upset,’ said Griffiths, ‘obviously. Anne-Marie was local, grew up in a flat over a sweet shop on the High Street. Everyone knew her. And Hugo being in the coma, and the Whiteheads being everyone’s flavour of the month…
‘And then the Whiteheads started putting it about that it couldn’t have been Hugo’s driving, see. There must’ve been something up with Ty’s car – it wasn’t roadworthy, or whatever. But then people started saying something had beendoneto the car. Tampered with. They said Ty fixed the car to crash. Revenge, see, on Hugo and Anne-Marie. Bullshit,’ said Griffiths fiercely. ‘Pure bullshit. But the rumours just went on, and everyone was looking sideways at Ty. Finally he came to me and said he’d had enough, he just wanted to clear – hang on,’ said Griffiths suddenly, getting to his feet and peering out of the window on to New Road. ‘That’s Dilys, she must’ve been up the church. I’ll get her, shall I?’
67
I spoke to her, but she merely jabbered
In the old style; both her eyes had slunk
Back to their pits; her stature shrunk;
In short, the soul in its body sunk
Like a blade sent home to its scabbard.
Robert Browning
The Flight of the Duchess
Dilys Powell was a small, saggy-cheeked woman with wispy white hair, who looked frail and ill. She was wearing a thick tartan winter coat and entered the room very slowly, using a walking frame, a large black handbag over one arm.
‘Hello, Mrs Powell,’ said Robin, getting to her feet. ‘I’m Robin Ellacott. We spoke on the phone about your grandson, Tyler?’
Dilys’s only reply was a sniff.
‘She was up the church,’ said Griffiths, guiding Dilys to a chair. ‘It’s where her husband’s buried. I’ve been telling them about the car accident, Dilys,’ he told the old woman, raising his voice. ‘About Hugo and Anne-Marie, and why Tyler left Ironbridge.’
‘He never did nothing to that car,’ mumbled Dilys.
‘That’s what I told them,’ said Griffiths.
‘Never did nothing,’ repeated Dilys. She released the walking frame, then sank, with Griffiths’ aid, into an armchair.
‘We were hoping to ask you some questions, Mrs Powell,’ said Robin, ‘about why you thought the man in the vault could have been Ty—’
‘Took off,’ said Dilys. ‘Never told me where he was going. Toldhim,’ she said, with an aggrieved glance at Griffiths.
‘Only—’ began Griffiths.
‘Silver,’ said Dilys.
‘What about silver, Mrs Powell?’ asked Robin.
‘He was talking about silver. On the phone.’
‘Tyler was?’
‘Yer.’
‘What did he say about silver?’
‘I dunno.’
‘Who was he talking to? You?’
‘Jones, probably.’
‘Who’s Jones?’ said Robin.
