The press wasn’t the cause of Bryant’s anger, and May knew it. He had seen this mood too many times before. ‘You couldn’t have prevented his death, Arthur. Nobody knew he was carrying an incendiary device.’ Together they shoved at the window until it burst open in a cloud of dust and dried paint.
‘Are you sure it was a bomb?’ asked Bryant. ‘Four witnesses saw a sudden ball of flame appear at Whitstable’s midriff. What kind of explosive can kill a man in a halffull railway carriage without injuring anyone else? First his lawyer, and now him. Tell me it’s a coincidence if you dare. What else have you got on Jacob?’
May pulled out a handful of papers. ‘Some scuff marks by the sinks in the Savoy toilet that the cleaners managed to miss, looks like Kiwi brand boot polish from Jacob’s right shoe. The pattern of marks will most likely confirm that he was attacked there. Some tiny scraps of linen at the site of the scuffle, a standard Indian blend, possibly from a pocket lining. No fibre match with Jacob’s clothing. One thing—the cottonmouth venom doesn’t have to come from a live snake. It maintains its potency, which means that it could simply have been injected from a syringe into his neck.’
‘There were two puncture holes, like snake fangs.’
‘Perhaps the murderer tried to get the needle in once, and Jacob struggled so much that he had to jab it in again.’
‘But he’d been rendered unconscious before the administration of the poison.’
May raised his hands in exasperation. ‘Then maybe the killer wanted it to look like a snake had attacked his victim.’
‘Why would he do that?’ asked Bryant doggedly. ‘Snakes aren’t exactly a common sight in England.’
‘As for the rest of the findings, take a look at the headlines. The press seems to know as much as we do. The guard on Peter Whitstable will keep the journalists at bay for the time being.’ May frowned in annoyance. ‘Why do you want the window open, anyway? It’s freezing outside.’
‘I didn’t want it open,’ replied Bryant testily. ‘I wanted the option of having it open. There are about twenty layers of paint on the frame. It’s like seaside rock.’ He pointed at the crate blocking May’s path to his desk. ‘That’s the last one I have to unpack.’
May knew that his partner would not settle to a comfortable work pace until he had made the new office his own in some way. He reached down into the opened crate and pulled up a bony brown object inlaid with silver. Turquoise gems returned sight to its eyeless sockets. ‘Where on earth did you get this?’ he asked, turning it over in his hand.
‘A friend of mine brought it back from Tibet,’ explained Bryant. ‘It’s an engraved human skull. So long as the Chinese government is systematically destroying Tibetan culture, it stays on the shelf to remind me of the evil and injustice in the world.’
‘You only have to take a look at the overnight crime figures to be reminded of that,’ said May, holding the skull at arm’s length. ‘It smells terrible.’
‘I don’t think they emptied out the brain cavity properly.’
May watched his partner as he carefully unwrapped a china figurine, a woman dancing in a delicate green dress, and placed it on his desk. It was strange being part of a team again. Arthur wasn’t looking so steady on his feet these days. He seemed to be ageing at a faster rate than everyone else.
‘Who’s interviewing the brother, you or I?’
‘I’ll take Peter Whitstable,’ said Bryant. ‘He’s a major, fully decorated and highly respected. Let’s hope he’s capable of providing an explanation for his sibling’s behaviour. They’re all inbred, you know. Old families never strayed far from the family seat to marry. You can always tell; their eyes are too close together and they like folk music.’
Sergeant Longbright entered the room with a small plastic bag in one hand. Her shift had finished four hours late, at three a.m. Thick makeup hid the crescents beneath her eyes.
‘I’m sorry you were pulled in on your day off, Janice,’ said May. ‘Raymond Land is worried that this investigation will get too much of a public profile. He’s canceled all leave for the foreseeable future.’
‘That’s okay, I was only sleeping.’ If she was annoyed, she had no intention of showing it. She dropped the bag on May’s desk and displayed its tag. ‘Land came by a few minutes ago and left this for you.’ She sniffed the air. ‘What’s that awful smell?’
‘You’ll have to talk to Mr Bryant about that. Wasn’t there a message with it?’ May held the bag to the light. Tiny metal shards glittered within, like crystal formations.