Death Line

CHAPTER ONE-3

In spite of his insistence that an intruder was responsible for the crime, the discovery of the robbery seemed to have shaken him. A case of the smaller shock helping the larger one to sink in, Rafferty guessed. He had seen it before. Though Astell seemed to find no incongruity, to Rafferty, there were points about this so-called burglary that struck him as peculiar. Although the money was missing, several other obviously expensive items on Moon's desk had not been taken; small silver, easily pocketable knick-knacks, for instance. If a burglar had taken the money, why hadn't he taken these also? Just as odd was the fact that there was no sign that he had entered the other offices. Even Astell had reluctantly admitted that he didn't think anything had been taken from them and their filing cabinets and desks were undisturbed.

Another thing, Moon's cashbox had been locked. Even if the key had been taken from Moon's desk, why would a burglar bother locking the box up afterwards, never mind replacing the key? Rafferty doubted that this careful burglar was the same person who had vandalised the office and murdered Moon. He relocked the box and stood up. After telling Appleby that the box was another item for priority fingerprinting, he made a mental note to check with the bank to see if they could let him have a list of the notes' numbers. It would be interesting to see if any of them showed up; even more so to discover who disposed of them. Back in Astell's office, Rafferty resumed the questioning. 'He didn't tell you who he wanted the money for?'

'No, but I can hazard a guess. Oh, not a specific identity,' he added as he saw Rafferty's quick interest. 'I don't mean that. Jasper was a bit of a magpie, Inspector and more than a little extravagant.' Astell's lips pursed. 'If he saw something bright and shiny he had to have it. This money would undoubtedly be required for some gewgaw. Though it's strange that Jasper arranged to see the seller here. As far as I'm aware, he never had before, yet he asked me to withdraw such large sums three or four times a year.' His gaze fixed on Rafferty. 'You - you don't think this person could have killed him?'

'I doubt it, sir. If this person did business fairly regularly with Mr Moon, as seems likely given that he had invited him to his office, why would he kill such a valued customer?'

'Why were these transactions always in cash, sir?' Llewellyn queried what Rafferty - brought up by his off-the-back-of-a-lorry, bargain-hunting Ma - had already guessed. 'Surely he could have written out a cheque or paid by credit card?'

Astell hesitated, shifting his gaze from Llewellyn's ascetic features to Rafferty's more accommodating ones. 'The legality of some of Jasper's purchases was a little - suspect shall we say? I gather he invariably dealt with the same man, and he insisted on cash. That's why I wondered if this person mightn't have killed him. Obviously, he's some kind of criminal.'

Rafferty nodded. 'I see your reasoning, sir, but I still feel there is a lack of motive for murder. As I said before, if this acquaintance of Mr Moon's had been doing business for some time, he would be unlikely to kill a long-standing and prosperous customer like Mr Moon.'

Astell admitted that, put like that, it sounded improbable. Rafferty paused, before softly posing the question that was guaranteed to get under Astell's skin. 'Was Mr Moon seeing a client last night, do you know, sir?'

As expected, Astell's lips thinned. 'Most unlikely, Inspector.' Rafferty deduced from his tone that Astell felt the partnership's clientele should be out of bounds to the police investigation. 'Jasper rarely saw clients on Thursday evenings,' he told them. 'He liked to keep them free for other work. But if he had made an appointment it would be in his diary.'

There had been nothing booked later than 4.00 p m against yesterday's date, Rafferty knew. He had made a particular point of checking this as he had flipped through using the end of a pen.

Astell was sufficient of a realist to add what the police would have anyway soon discovered from another source, 'Occasionally, if a client needed to see him urgently for a consultation, Jasper would make an exception, but that happened rarely. He was working on another book - you know that as well as more generalised works, he wrote astrological forecasts every year for each of the sun signs?'

Rafferty nodded. He'd seen them on sale in the shops - his Ma bought one every year, as did his sisters. They seemed very popular. But then Jasper Moon had been a popular astrologer. The walls of the waiting room beside Moon's office displayed the monthly forecast columns he supplied to various women's glossy magazines. Rafferty persisted. 'Might he have forgotten to enter a later appointment? If the client rang after everyone else had gone home, say, and intended to arrive within a short time?'

Reluctantly, Astell admitted it was possible. 'Jasper could be careless about such things. But he's been better lately as I've impressed on him that if he doesn't enter the details I can't bill the clients. Jasper preferred to have his regular clients invoiced rather than charged cash at the time of the consultation. He felt financial transactions then were unprofessional.'

Too much like having his palm crossed with silver on the end of the pier, Rafferty sardonically translated before he could stop himself. Luckily, Astell was staring thoughtfully into space and unlikely to guess at Rafferty's latest breach of the PIMP code.

'You could ask our cleaner, Mrs Hadleigh. She was working here till about 7.00 p m. She'd be able to confirm that there was no client with Jasper.'

Astell seemed anxious to dispel the idea that one of Moon's clients had killed him. Understandable of course, Rafferty reasoned; the more sensitive souls amongst their customers wouldn't be reassured to discover that Moon numbered a killer among his clientele. Apart from any other considerations, it was hardly likely to improve customer confidence when the famous half of the partnership had failed to foresee and avoid his own murder.