“I suppose so. Look, before you go through... Sarah’s got someone with her.”
“Okay. I can come back later.”
“To be honest with you...” Joe scratched his head. “I’d rather you went in now. Sarah wants to try every avenue, but I’m not too happy – ”
“Who’s with her, Joe?”
“Somebody called Lee Tyack. A psychic. Now, Gid, don’t be angry...”
Gideon wasn’t angry. There was no point in spending out good rage on these sticky bits of fluff who attached themselves to the edges of a crime scene. Cornwall had plenty of them. Theimportant thing was to detach them, send them blowing off on the breeze, before they could do any damage. Gideon strode through the narrow little passage. Sarah Kemp was sitting at the kitchen table, Lee Tyack opposite her. Yes, a fine example of the type – long skirts, gold bracelets chiming. Probably good-hearted: they usually were, and certainly she was gazing at Sarah with genuine concern. Organised, too. A file was spread out in front of her, and she was wearing unusually sensible shoes. Somebody else was in the background – a young man in jeans and checked shirt, apparently examining the windows. God, was Gideon going to have to warn Sarah about cowboy double-glazing guys, too?
Not right now. He had his priorities. He planted himself by the table. He didn’t often use his presence, his rugby-player bulk, to make an impression, but he wasn’t sorry when the fallof his shadow made the psychic jump. “Sarah,” he said, gently as he could, unable to keep an ancient Bodmin rumble from his voice. “I know you’re distraught. But I don’t think you’ll help anyone by listening to someone who’s a well-meaning idiot at best and at worst a charlatan.”
Oh, but hewasangry, wasn’t he? Beneath an aching shell of self-restraint, angry and betrayed that Sarah had chosen this path. The charlatan stared up at him, not visibly insulted. “Oh dear,” she said. “I do seem to have come at an awkward time, Mrs Kemp. I tell you what – I’ll go and make my other calls around the village, and I’ll come back and see you later, eh?” With that she gathered up her folder and made for the kitchen door, nodding pleasantly to Gideon en route.
Sarah Kemp sprang to her feet.She was soft-skinned and pretty, a famous catch around the villages when Alf Kemp had been courting and somehow landed her. What had made him leave her was a greater mystery still. “What the bloody hell was that for, Gideon Frayne?”
He stared at her. Her eyes were raw from grief and sleeplessness. “I’m sorry. But I’ve got to protect you – ”
“From my social worker? That was Sue Harley, you great plod!”
“Shit. Joe didn’t say she was here.”
“No, she came in the back way while Lee was talking to me, and...”
The young man by the window turned around. His expression was at once amused and mortified. He put out a hand to Gideon. “And Mrs Harley had less time than I did, so... I’m Lee Tyack, registered clairvoyant with the National Association of – ”
“Of charlatans, according to the village bobby here.” Sarah was boiling with fury. She was such a gentle woman – had taken even this most recent hammer-blow to her life so quietly – that Gideon hardly recognised her. “Why shouldn’t I talk to him, Gideon? I didn’t pick his name out of the Cornish Herald, you know – your own HQ in Truro sent him along. And what bloody good have you done, to try and stop me finding help elsewhere? It’s been a fortnight – thirteen nights on that moor for my little girl, if she’s even still alive. You’ve been useless. You’ve done nothing. You’ve – ”
“Mrs Kemp, stop.”
Gideon flinched. He’d forgotten the psychic was there, vortexing down as he was with Sarah into the bottomless pool of her grief. Lee Tyack laid a hand on her arm. “You can’t talk like that,” he went on kindly. “Gideon’s been working night and day on this, just like he’s worked all his life to keep everyone safe in this village.”
Gideon swallowed hard. Did he know this man? Had he somehow missing having a friend who knew all about his endless hours spent on this case – who was ready to defend him in that warm and matter-of-fact tone?
No. He had no such friend. If Tyack looked familiar, it was just because he was part of that widespread Cornish brood who came into the world with olive skins and grey-green eyes that looked silvery pale by contrast. Wiry dark hair going prematurely white at the brow. It was a type, and this example of it thought he had something to gain by buttering up the local police. Gideon drew a breath to tell him how little chance he stood, even if someone at Truro HQ had decided PC Frayne was failing at his job and needed –
The back door flew open. Sarah jumped hard, as she did now at every phone call and tap at the door. Elsie Waite half fell into the room. She kept the little village shop down the road, and clearly Lee Tyack was the most enthralling event to befall her in years. She couldn’t keep her eyes off him. “Mrs Radnor’s had a turn,” she announced breathlessly. “Your landlady, Mr Tyack, the one that keeps the B and B where you was going to stay. They’ve taken her into the hospital.” Finally she paused and noticed Gideon. “Oh, Constable Frayne, are you here? This is Lee Tyack, you know. Me and my sister went to his show down in Falmouth. He’s ever so good – been on the telly and everything.” Her eyes flew wide. “Oh, I tell you what – if Mr Tyack can’t stay down the road, why don’t he stop with you? You’re rattling around in that big house, aren’t you, since your James...”
She ground to a halt, blushing floridly. “Since my lodger moved out,” Gideon finished for her. As far as the village and the rest of the world had known, there had been nothing more to James than that. “I’m a police officer. Even if I could offer Mr Tyack accommodation, it wouldn’t be appropriate – ”
“Oh, Gideon!” He shut up. Sarah was sitting with her head in her hands. Sobs were tugging at her shoulders. “Don’t be so... bloody pompous. He’s here to help me, not on holiday.”
Gideon ran a hand across his hair. It was cropped short, or he’d have torn a handful out in frustration. A tiny sealed-off part of him wanted to sit down beside her and weep too. “All right,” he saidroughly. “I can’t tell you what you should or shouldn’t do, Sarah. Don’t give him any money upfront, that’s all, and...” He looked up. Tyack was watching him, his pale gaze impenetrable “And you – Tyack – if you can help her, do it. Just don’t give her any false hopes.”
He let himself back into the hall. His hopes of ducking out unnoticed died as Joe came out to intercept him, arms folded over his chest, brow furrowed in anxiety. Gideon could see the track of restless pacing he’d left on the living-room rug. “What did you think of him?” Joe demanded nervously. “Did you chuck him out?”
“No. Like Sarah says – what right do I have, if I can’t help her myself?”
“Oh. You’ll have to forgive her, Gid. She’s just about out of her mind.”
“It’s fine.Seems the Truro constabulary sent this guy out anyway. I’ll make sure that’s true, and I’ll call you if there’s any problems.”
“Your people sent him? They don’t think there’sanything in his sort of nonsense, do they? Do you?”
Joe, last night I was chased home by the Beast of Bodmin. I’m in no position to judge.Gideon straightened his shoulders. “Well, it’s a strange world, isn’t it? I meant to ask – were you out around twilight last night?”
“I always am. I’ve got sheep to feed.”
