Page 95 of The Hallmarked Man
‘Mrs Dilys Powell?’ said Robin. ‘Tyler’s grandmother?’
‘Yes,’ said the woman, who sounded suspicious and befuddled.
‘I’m very glad to hear from you, Mrs Powell. I’m a private detective, and I was hoping to talk to you about your grandson.’
‘What? You called me.’
‘Yes,’ said Robin, speaking slowly and clearly. ‘Your great-niece told me you were in hospital.’
‘What?’
‘I hope you’re better now?’ said Robin loudly.
‘Well, I’m home,’ mumbled Dilys Powell.
‘I called because we heard you were worried Tyler might have been the man at the silver shop. The body in the vault. Has he turned up since you contacted the police?’
‘No, he hasn’t turned up,’ said Dilys Powell. ‘Not a word.’
‘What made you think he might have been the man at the silver shop, Mrs Powell?’
‘What?’ said Dilys Powell. ‘Speak up, I can’t hear you.’
‘Could I come and see you?’ said Robin, raising her voice and enunciating clearly. ‘To talk about Tyler? I could come to Ironbridge.’
‘Took off,’ said Dilys Powell. ‘Told Griff where he was going. Never told me.’
‘Is Griff a friend of Tyler’s?’ asked Robin, now groping one-handed for her notebook.
‘He’s up the road. What d’you want?’
‘To talk to you,’ said Robin, even more loudly and clearly, ‘about Tyler. Could I come to Ironbridge? Maybe after Christmas?’
There was a brief pause.
‘Yeah, you can come.’
‘Thank you very much,’ said Robin. The front door of the house for sale had opened, and she saw Murphy watching her. ‘Could I call you back, Mrs Powell, and we can arrange a date to meet?’
‘Call me back? Yeah. All right.’
Robin hung up, then hurried across the road.
‘Sorry,’ she said. ‘It was urgent.’
A chatty pregnant woman of around Robin’s age started showing them around the house, which was bandbox neat. Her husband was entertaining a toddler and an older girl in the sitting room.
‘They were going to go to the park, but it’s so cold and Nate’s getting over a cough,’ the mother told Robin and Murphy as they moved past the rest of the family to look at the small, sparklingly clean kitchen. ‘It’s a lovely area, lovely neighbours. We’ve beensohappy here, we just want a bit more space with another baby coming, and I’d like to be nearer my parents. Garden,’ she added, smiling, pointing towards the small, well-kept lawn outside the kitchen window.
Upstairs, she moved aside to let them look into the box room, which held a bed with the name Nathan carved into the headboard, and had planes in primary colours painted on sky blue walls. Murphy reached out for Robin’s hand and squeezed it. She felt a slight clenching of her stomach, and unbidden into her mind came the thought,
I will never live in this house.
‘And this is Laura’s, obviously,’ said the proud homeowner, beaming, as they looked into a second, larger bedroom, decorated in white and bubble-gum pink, ‘and ours.’
‘Lovely,’ said Robin automatically, looking blankly at the yellow duvet cover and pine furniture.
‘And the bathroom.’
