Cobweb by Margaret Duffy Page B

would have to stay late.’
    â€˜Was he coming straight home, do you know? Had you asked him to pick up anything for you on the way here? Something to do with the dinner party, for example?’
    â€˜Oh no. Hilary sees to all that. He never went shopping.’
    Patrick ignored her snooty implication that the MP had been far too grand to pop into an off-licence, saying, ‘I understand she’s your housekeeper.’
    â€˜Yes, but she doesn’t clean – someone else does that. And there’s other help in the garden.’
    â€˜They’ve all been interviewed. Do you have any theories as to why your husband was in the park?’
    â€˜Everyone’s asked me that!’ the woman snapped. ‘No, I don’t, not one.’
    â€˜A taxi driver has come forward who picked him up at the station and dropped him at the Green Man at around five forty-five. Did he make a habit of going there for a drink on the way home?’
    I made a note to check whether enquiries had been made there.
    â€˜I’ve no idea. I suppose he could have done.’
    â€˜Surely you must know if that was his habit.’
    She was beginning to lose patience. ‘Well, I don’t. Wives shouldn’t expect to know absolutely every last detail of their husbands’ routines.’ Gazing on his wedding ring she added, ‘I’m sure your wife doesn’t grill you about all your movements.’
    â€˜No, I tell her what I’ve been up to,’ was the swift response. ‘It’s too far to walk home from the pub, though, isn’t it? He’d have had to get another cab.’
    An irrritable shrug was all that was forthcoming on this.
    â€˜Your son reckons he went there to pick up men.’
    A real fan of bombshells; I drew a five-pointed star on my notepad and a load of sparks.
    â€˜I can’t remember how many times I’ve told you people that my husband wasn’t gay!’ Honor Giddings raged. ‘Besides which, Theo has absolutely nothing to do with this.’
    â€˜No, he just threatened to get even with his stepfather for having his allowance stopped. Is he so prone to making drunken threats that you get used to them and they’re safely ignored?’
    â€˜No, of course not.’ She rose wearily to her feet and went over to stand by the window. ‘I’m sorry but I’ve had enough of your questions. When can I have Jason’s body so I can arrange his funeral?’
    â€˜That’s not in my jurisdiction, but I don’t think it will be just yet.’
    There was a short, tense silence and then she turned abruptly to face us. ‘No, Theo isn’t in the habit of making threats. He’d just had a little too much to drink that evening. But Jason and he had never really got on. I suppose some sons find it difficult when their mother remarries and Theo did – very much so. He’s rather a possessive person.’
    Patrick leaned back in his chair and stretched his legs, scrutinizing her closely. ‘It suggests there’s a huge difficulty – hatred, something much more than just about money – when people make those kind of accusations. The park where your husband was found has a very bad reputation after dark. If he wasn’t there for nefarious purposes – and arguably it wasn’t yet quite dark then although a very overcast evening when he arrived at the pub – then he must have been killed somewhere else and taken there, where his body was mutilated. Again, that speaks of the deepest hatred.’
    There was another silence broken by Patrick asking, ‘Is your son capable of that?’
    â€˜No,’ Honor Giddings replied in a low voice. ‘Not at all. But I have to tell you that he is reputed to have some very unpleasant friends.’
    â€˜Criminals?’
    â€˜I wouldn’t go as far as to say that. All we had to go on was something a colleague of Jason’s said about seeing Theo