was that in reverse of the normal process, his method meant the more you filled in the harder it got. He invariably ended up with at least one non-word. Today’s was sbhahk. It could mean something to an Eskimo, he supposed, but to an underemployed PI it was just another small failure.
He glanced at his watch. Four o’clock. Too early to go home. There could be a late rush, though he doubted it. Things were very slow. In the last recession it had been the kind of people who hired lathe-operators who got hit. This time, it was the kind of people who hired private eyes.
Time for a cup of tea, he decided. He went into the small washroom which allowed the estate agent to charge him for ‘a suite’ and filled his electric kettle.
As he re-entered the office he saw the briefcase.
It was black leather with brass locks and it was leaning against the chair Andover had sat on.
‘Oh shoot,’ said Joe Sixsmith.
He stooped to pick it up, then hesitated.
Suppose it was a terrorist bomb?
‘Why would anyone want to bomb me?’ he asked the air. ‘I don’t tell Irish jokes and I try not to be rude about other folks’s religions.’
Whitey raised his head cautiously from his drawer, twitched his ears, then subsided.
Sixsmith got the message. Nuts left bombs without motives, and whichsoever way you looked at it, Andover was undoubtedly a nut.
So what to do? His mind ran through the possibilities.
Ring the police, who would clear the building and the block while they waited for the Bomb Squad. He imagined the scene. Dr Who type robots clanking across the floor. Stern-faced men in flak jackets talking into radios. Long queues of traffic, and anxious, curious, aroused faces peering from behind barriers to glimpse what was going on.
Then the anticlimax when an officer appeared with the briefcase in one hand and a bunch of insurance invoices in the other.
To hell with that!
Gingerly Joe reached out towards the case, paused, telling himself it was better to look stupid alive than stupid dead, reversed the proposition and reached out again, paused again with his hand almost touching the locking catch, drew in a deep breath …
And shrieked as a voice said, ‘Ah, you’ve found my case, then.’
In the doorway stood Andover. He looked neither like a terrorist nor a lunatic. In fact if anything he looked rather sheepish. But Joe was still taking no chances and retreated hurriedly behind his desk.
Andover came into the room and picked up the briefcase. It didn’t explode.
‘I thought I must have left it here,’ he said. ‘To tell the truth, Mr Sixsmith, I’m glad I had an excuse to come back …’
The phone rang, postponing the possibly homicidal reasons for Andover’s gladness.
‘Hello!’ said Joe.
‘Chivers,’ growled the phone.
‘Sergeant Chivers. Well, hello, Sergeant. You got some news for me, Sergeant?’
‘Look, I know what my rank is,’ said Chivers. ‘About that info you so kindly passed on?’
‘Yes?’
‘There’s definitely been a crime committed.’
‘You’re sure?’ said Joe, looking fearfully towards the patiently waiting Andover.
‘Certain. And you know what crime it is, Sixsmith? It’s called wasting police time! To wit, Detective-Constable Doberley’s time. He’s just got back from the Andover residence where he found Mrs Gina Andover and her sister, Mrs Maria Rocca, having tea with their parents, Mr and Mrs Tomassetti.’
‘You mean they’re alive?’ said Joe, dropping his voice.
‘Of course they’re alive! I know that Doberley sings in the same church choir as you, Sixsmith, but that don’t mean he’s so far gone he can’t distinguish the quick from the sodding dead. And here’s something else. On his way out, Doberley met the brother-in-law, Carlo Rocca. They had a little chat. Your Mr Andover was mentioned. Doberley asked if he’d been acting funny lately.’
Sixsmith saw that Andover was opening his briefcase. He had a very strange look on his face. He certainly looked like a man who was acting funny now.
Chivers went on, ‘Rocca was very forthcoming. Said that his brother-in-law had been talking a bit strange in the last few days, going on about dreams and slitting throats, all sorts of crazy stuff.’
Andover’s hand was sliding into the case.
‘That’s what I told you, Sergeant,’ hissed Joe urgently. ‘That’s why I rang …’
‘Yeah. Trouble is, you got the wrong number. So do me a favour. Next time you get a nut in your office, ring the psycho department at the Royal Infirmary!’
The phone went dead.
And Mr Andover slowly withdrew his hand from his case.
It held a tube of indigestion tablets.
He belched. His funny look disappeared. He popped a tablet into his mouth and smiled apologetically.
‘Nervous dyspepsia,’ he said. ‘I’ve been suffering a lot lately. Look, Mr Sixsmith, I wanted to say I’m sorry for my behaviour earlier. I realized once I had time to think about it that I must have made quite the wrong impression. It’s my job training, you see …’
‘You mean, you really were trying to sell me insurance?’ Joe cut in.
‘No, of course not. What I mean is, on the training courses, they teach you that the most important thing is, hit hard. Get the customer’s attention. You follow me?’
‘Not really,’ said Joe.
‘What I mean is, I wanted to talk to someone about … this thing. And I got very anxious about it, so I just let my training take over and when I came in here, I may have been a bit over-dramatic … Look, I know in my mind that Gina’s safe at home, and Maria and Momma and Poppa Tomassetti too, but sometimes what you feel is realer than what you know, do you know what I mean?’
‘You’re losing me again,’ said Joe. ‘Why don’t we go somewhere and have a coffee …’
While reassured that he wasn’t facing a multi-murderer, he still liked the idea of having more company than Whitey, who with a look of great resignation had re-entered his drawer.
Andover glanced at his watch.
‘I don’t think I’ve got time,’ he said. ‘My brother-in-law’s picking me up at half past. He borrowed the car today to go for an interview in Biggleswade and we arranged to meet at my office, but when I realized I had to come back here for my case, I left a message for him to come on here, I hope you don’t mind.’
‘Be
