Cobweb by Margaret Duffy

sign, I’m sure the bend
is
dangerous if people drive too fast and accidents have happened; but for two vehicles to leave the bridge in exactly the same place in the space of forty-eight hours …’ He leaned over slightly and looked down. ‘You can still see the marks where they hit the road.’
    â€˜You’ve changed your mind a bit then?’ I said lightly.
    He gazed at me and said, ‘It would have been a very handy little gap to shove someone through, wouldn’t it? Worth trying to find out if Harmsworth regularly drove this way. Where did he live, in Woodhill itself?’
    â€˜Yes, so he wouldn’t have had to come this way home from work. The accident, or whatever it was, happened in the very early hours of the morning. Did he need to work that late or was he on to something important connected with the Giddings case?’
    Patrick had a quick look around, examining the ground, but hundreds of cars had passed this way since the DCI’s death. Then he said, ‘I wonder if Gray did a lot more investigation into this than he let on and got too close to someone for his own safety?’
    We walked back, in silence.
    â€˜Part of my brief is to find out if any more police officers are in danger,’ Patrick reminded himself when we were sitting in the car. ‘The rest is involved with discovering any connection between the murders of Giddings and Gray. No, you were right all along: first we must find out about Harmsworth. And while I’m not at all convinced that his death was anything to do with that of Jason Giddings, I don’t like the way Gray was done to death as soon as he took over sole charge of the case, having doubted the inquest findings on Harmsworth.’
    â€˜What about Fred Knightly, the Super?’
    â€˜I don’t think there’ll be much input of a constructive nature from him with regards to any investigation into Harmsworth’s death – he’s far too busy with having to do most of the work of heading up the Giddings inquiry. There’s another individual lurking around who’s reputed to be from Special Branch, but they don’t even know his name yet. Going back to Knightly: he gets wheeled out and well briefed when there’s a press conference and that’s about it. He’s good at PR. Erin was quite clear on that. Normally spends most of his time filling in risk-assessment forms and attending every government law-and-order-initiative conference he can to get himself out of the building. He definitely thinks Harmsworth ought to be laid to rest.’
    Due for retirement? Over the hill? Dead? Did it matter to no one but us?
    The village of Beech Hanger, some two miles from Woodhill, was select, as I had expected it to be: crisply clipped hedges, glimpses of very large gabled houses down gated drives, paddocks and rows of loose boxes. The Giddings residence, The Chantry, was at one end of the village street, just past a pretty church.
    â€˜Have you made an appointment to see her?’ I asked as we turned into the drive.
    â€˜Yes.’
    â€˜Just as well, as she takes lumps out of people.’
    â€˜You’ve really got your knife into this woman, haven’t you?’ Patrick said with a chuckle.
    The drive wove through a rather contrived but very beautiful planting of
Betula utilis jacquemontii
, white-barked Himalayan birch, and then straightened on the approach to the house, which, surprisingly, appeared to be very old. Perhaps it incorporated a real chantry, I thought, a chapel where monks had prayed for the souls of the dead.
    A woman who was not Honor Giddings answered the door and without introducing herself led us through a hallway to a large, low-ceilinged room on the left. I thought for a moment that the room was unoccupied, but as the door was closed almost silently behind us the widow rose suddenly from a winged armchair that had its back to us facing the fireplace.
    â€˜Patrick