Page 99 of Blow Down (The Plumber's Mate)
“Arlo Fenchurch’s house. Well, most of it was. Shame about that big diamond in the middle. Gone walkies, hadn’t it?”
Huh. “I could’ve sworn there were no strong trails in that place.” I felt a bit off-balance. Uneasy. I mean, not that I ever asked for this gift, and God knew it’d caused me enough grief over the years, but I wasn’t sure I was happy to think I might be losing it.
Dave chuckled. “Psychic satnav on the blink, is it? Sure you updated your maps recently?”
Then again, I thought with a rush of relief, that trail at Toby’s had been loud and clear and bright as anything. Nah, I still had it.
Phil frowned. “Maybe there was something messing with the vibes? Surprised he’d hide it there, though. Why not in the workshop with all the other jewellery?” The frown cleared, and he nodded to himself. “No, it makes sense. Go on.”
Dave and me exchanged glances. “Come on, Morrison. Share with the class.”
Phil gave us an innocent look, as if he was surprised we hadn’t worked it out ourselves.
Totally fake. I know my bloke.
“Fenchurch knew we’d be paying him a visit at the workshop,” Phil said. “And maybe he believes in your talent for finding stuff, and maybe he doesn’t—although if you ask me, a man who makes that many digs about it is trying too hard to convince himself it’s all bollocks—but anyhow, he shifts what’s left of the necklace to his house, thinking better safe than sorry. Chances are, he doesn’t think a lot of it at the time. It’s strong emotions you sense, right? And he reckoned he was pretty safe. ’Specially as he wasn’t expecting a home call soon after.” He flashed Dave a look. “Sharp wasn’t after Arlo, was he?”
“Thought it was young Violet, didn’t he? Apparently Fenchurch managed to make the hints subtle enough he couldn’t be accused of actually saying she did it. You know the sort of thing. Character assassination, making sure Sharp knew how much she hated Amelia. What with them having been involved, he’d have had plenty of ammunition. No need at that stage for him to actually tell an outright lie about what he’d seen or heard.” Dave shook his head.
“So the trail wasn’t that strong.” I reckoned we’d wandered off the main track here. “Yeah, that could be it. Why didn’t he melt it down, though? That would’ve got rid of the problem for good.”
Dave leaned forward. “Again, we’re guessing here, ’cos since he’s got himself all lawyered up, Fenchurch’s lips have been sealed tighter than a tick’s arse, but maybe he’d planned to put in a new stone and swap it back at some point. Once he’d got the money he needed out of old Majors. He wouldn’t wanna get rumbled some point down the line and mess up a beautiful friendship. All the necklace was for was to keep the business up and running and looking good until the brother-in-law had signed on the dotted line.”
Phil huffed a laugh. “So it was like a payday loan?”
“The interest rate’s always a killer, ain’t it?” Dave chuckled. Jedi junior stirred and snuffled, and Dave rocked the car seat a few times. “Oi, settle down now, settle down. What he hadn’t planned for was his sister finding herself a bit short and trying to sell the thing.”
I frowned. “Was that before or after she got me in to look for it?”
“Must’ve been after,” Phil said with a fair amount more certainty than I reckoned he had any right to. “Arlo walks off with it and starts making the fake, she notices it’s gone and calls you, then sometime after that he plants the fake back. She reckons Vi’s had enough of playing silly buggers, congratulates herself on getting out of paying you a finder’s fee, and takes a trip down to her friendly neighbourhood diamond merchant.”
Okay, so it all sounded pretty plausible.
“Course,” Dave went on with a subtle hint of Who’s telling this story? “The minute said diamond geezer has a good look at it—and yeah, we’ve tracked him down and got a statement—he knows it’s a fake. He tells her, she goes ballistic, and—guessing again, although it’s backed up by a few things Fenchurch let slip in hospital—confronts big brother about it at the fayre.”
“That was the argument the cats lady heard?”
“That’s what my money’s on. Amelia demands the real thing back—and the kicker: she threatens to tell Alex Majors that Fenchurch has been carrying on an adulterous affair with our not-so-shrinking Violet if he doesn’t deliver. Trouble is, Fenchurch can’t deliver, seeing as how he’s sold the main bling already and spent the cash on shoring up his business. Fenchurch sees his lucrative arrangement with Alex Majors about to come to an abrupt end and, because he’s an entitled bastard with a nasty temper and an even nastier line in misogyny—”
“—brings his sister to an abrupt end.” Phil’s smile was grim. “After which he’s got free rein to carry on ingratiating himself with Majors, being a comfort in his hour of grief, all that bollocks.”
“And fingering Vi,” I added.
They stared at me. I might have flushed.
“Not like that. I mean, making everyone think she did it.” Including her dad, poor bastard.
“Yeah. Gives Fenchurch a hold over Majors and, as an added bonus, lets him get back at the ex for dumping him.”
“Well, only if he actually told the police she did it. And if he did that, he wouldn’t have a hold over her dad anymore, would he?”
Phil snorted. “His sort? Probably gets his jollies just from knowing he can bring someone’s world crashing down.”
Yeah, I’d been worried about that. “Is Vi going to get charged with anything for shooting the bastard?”
Dave shook his head. “What, the bloke what killed her stepmum, seduced her, and tried to frame her for murder? Anyhow, it seems she didn’t know it was loaded, and she only meant to threaten him with it. Never meant to shoot anyone, honest, guv.”
I stared at him, visions of Vi the Avenging Fury dancing in my head. “And you believe that?” Especially the bit about her using the word guv.
