Agnes Lockwood Mysteries Collection

Chapter 15

As previously arranged, Alan called at the hotel for Agnes at seven o"clock. She had thought he might be a little late due to the murder enquiry, but he was spot on time. He had chosen another restaurant on the quayside. This one was set between the Tyne Bridge and the Millennium Bridge giving an excellent view of both.

“I had planned on taking you to a restaurant away from the quayside after last night,” Alan apologized. “But with things being the way they are I thought I had better stay close to both the hotel and the museum.”

“This is perfect.” Agnes replied, as the waiter lead them to a table by the large bay window. Though this restaurant didn"t have the same warm, friendly atmosphere of the one they had used the previous evening, the view more than made up for it. Even as she spoke, the coloured lights on the bridges were switched on. “So,” she added when they were seated. “How are things going with your murder investigation?”

“What investigation?” Alan replied glumly. “We haven"t any leads. No finger prints. No blood. In fact, there is nothing to say there was even a murder in the first place.”

“Apart from a body,” said Agnes.

“Yes, apart from a body,” he repeated her words. “Anyway, let"s forget about all that for this evening. What would you like to drink?”

The evening passed quickly. Again, Agnes found Alan fun company. Despite having entirely different backgrounds, they seemed to have so much in common.

“I was sad when your family moved abroad. I realised I wasn"t going to see you again.”

“Really?” Agnes was rather surprised. “I didn"t think you even knew me – well, not properly. You never seemed particularly interested in me.”

“I was shy back then. I wanted to ask you to the Christmas Party; you remember? It would have been the last one before you left the area. But I was afraid you would say no.”

“You don"t seem to be shy anymore.” Agnes laughed.

“Well, I can put that down to life in the army. It was not in anyone"s best interest to let the other lads see you were shy, timid or whatever. They would play such pranks.” Alan fell silent as his mind drifted back to the days when he first joined the service.

Agnes gave him a nudge with her elbow and smiled to cheer him up. “Hey, where are you, remember me?”

Alan smiled back at her. “Sorry, I got a little carried away.”

“Well you"re back now.” Agnes grinned. “So, tell me a little more about the case.”

“Like I said, there"s nothing to tell. We have absolutely nothing to go on. I mean, if we hadn"t seen the body pushed out of the window I wouldn"t have believed it.”

Agnes nodded. “I agree; it is so very strange. There was no blood on the pavement so it"s obvious the room upstairs was where the murder took place. There should have been blood where the body fell. Yet…” She suddenly fell silent and screwed up her eyes; she was thinking back to the previous evening and working out what she and Alan had actually seen.

“Yet?” Alan prompted.

“Shh, I"m thinking.” Agnes flapped her hands telling him to shut up.

Alan looked around the room while Agnes sorted out her thoughts. Catching the eye of a passing waiter he ordered more drinks.

A few moments later, Agnes grabbed his arm. “I"ve just realised something really important,” she said excitedly.

Alan stared at her. “You mean about the case?”

“Yes, of course about the case! What do you think I mean – the school Christmas Party?”

“Well, are you going to tell me or not?” Alan said, impatiently. He couldn"t think of anything they had missed the previous evening.

Agnes took a deep breath. “We didn"t actually see the body being pushed out of the window.” She sat back in her chair, giving him a moment to think about what she had said.

“But we heard the thump, which was why we hurried across to see what it was.”

“Yet we still didn"t see it fall from the window,” she replied.

“Well where else could it have come from?” Alan shook his head.

“A passing car or van,” she replied, triumphantly.

“But we didn"t hear any passing car or van.” Alan wasn"t convinced.

“We weren"t actually listening for a car, van, lorry or whatever. Were we?” she replied. “Think about it, Alan. All we heard was a thump. The body could have been thrown from a car and the dull thump we heard could have been someone closing the vehicle door as quietly as possible.”

“But you said you saw the window being pulled shut.” Alan was still doubtful.

“Yes, I did. But that doesn"t mean to say that whoever was closing it, killed the woman and pushed her out. They might just as easily have heard a noise and then looked out to see what was going on in the street.”

Alan thought about it for a moment and realised Agnes could be right. The woman might have been murdered in another part of the city and the body dumped on the quayside in the hope no one would see it until the murderer and his or her accomplices were well away.

Why the hell hadn"t he thought of that? This put a whole new slant on the case. They were looking in the wrong place. But he had been convinced the woman"s body had been thrown from the window. More especially when Agnes told him she had seen someone closing it while he was examining the body. Now it was imperative the police found out who had been in the museum last night. This mysterious person might have seen the number plate of the vehicle.

“Well?” Agnes interrupted his thoughts. “What do you think?”

“I think you could be right. We need to start looking elsewhere. And, we really need to find out who was in the room last night. They might have seen or heard a vehicle. But they could have panicked when they saw us, shortly followed by the police, most likely because they shouldn"t have been up there in the room in the first place.”

“Now we"re getting somewhere.” Agnes clapped her hands together.

“We?” asked the chief inspector.

“Yes! We!” retorted Agnes. “I am involved in this now and I don"t want you to leave me out. And,” Agnes continued before Alan could get a word in, “I know you aren"t supposed to discuss a crime, case, investigation or whatever it is you want to call it with a member of the public. But I"m not just any old member of the public. I was there with you when the body was found! And, tonight it"s me who came up with notion that the body might have been dropped from a van rather than from the window.”

“Okay, okay.” Alan held up his hands in mock surrender. “But this is between you and me. Understand? You mustn"t talk to anyone else regarding the case.”

“Absolutely,” said Agnes, firmly. Though she had her fingers crossed under the table at the time.

Strolling back towards the hotel, Alan suddenly remembered David Drummond, the man who had been watching Agnes earlier that morning in the dining room. He asked whether she had seen him again that day.

“Gosh! Yes. I meant to mention him to you earlier, but then we got to talking about the murder.” She paused for a second. “I saw him again after I left the hotel this morning.” She went on to tell Alan how he had followed her across the bridge and hung around until she came out of the Baltic Art Gallery.

“It was only after the bridge was lifted to allow a yacht to pass through that he lost interest in me. I carried on up the steps to the Sage, but he didn"t follow me. He was too interested in the yacht.”

“I asked about him at reception after I left you,” said Alan. “His name is David Drummond. Does that mean anything to you?”

Agnes shook her head. “No. Not a thing.”

“According to his details at the hotel, he is here on business.”

“Well, he certainly looks the part,” Agnes replied. “His suit and briefcase make him look very business-like. I just don"t understand why he has taken such a dislike to me. I certainly don"t know him and to the best of my knowledge he doesn"t know me. If he believes otherwise, wouldn"t you think he"d come and say hello or something?”

Alan nodded, thoughtfully. It really was very strange. Sinister, more like. He hadn"t forgotten the look of disgust on Drummond"s face that morning. Or was it fear? Could it be that this man believed Agnes had witnessed something she shouldn"t have? He was quite concerned for Agnes"s safety and wanted to warn her to keep away from him. But at the same time he didn"t want to alarm her. “I don"t think you have anything to worry about,” he said at last. “After all, at the hotel there are always people drifting in and out of the reception rooms.”

“Yes, you"re right,” Agnes replied. She tried to sound casual, but, though she might have been mistaken, she thought she heard a note of caution in Alan"s tone. Was he suggesting that she should keep in full view of other people?

“Would you like me to see you up to your room,” Alan asked when they reached the hotel. He had taken a quick glance to see whether David Drummond was hanging around, but hadn"t seen him. Nevertheless, the man could be sitting in the bar or any one of the rooms leading off the reception.

“No, I"ll be fine. They have a man working the lift, so I won"t be alone on my way up to my floor. It"s a quaint old custom they have kept on despite all the cutbacks.” She paused and smiled. “Thank you for another lovely evening.”

“It"s been my pleasure,” Alan replied. He was just about to turn away when Agnes caught his arm.

“And don"t forget to keep me in the loop about you know what.” Agnes grinned and tapped her nose.

“As if you would let me,” was his swift reply.

After he left Agnes, Alan was about to flag down a passing cab. But then he changed his mind. A walk would do him good, besides he really needed to clear his head of everything he and his sergeant had been working on. They would be starting a new line of inquiry the following morning.