CHAPTER 16
‘I’ll need to take a statement,’ says DI Shirley when we are back in the kitchen.
She hands me and Dennis a cup of coffee that she kindly made for us and I warm my hands on the hot mug.
My teeth are chattering. The room smells of dogs and coffee.
Dennis is talking too fast as he fills DI Shirley in on what happened, starting with the man in Dorothea’s study, as though he’s afraid he won’t be able to get it all out if he doesn’t say it quickly.
‘What did he look like?’ asks DI Shirley gently, directing her question at me.
‘Late twenties, I think. Blue eyes and slim build. Tall.’ I describe his bulky trainers and baggy jeans and dark hoody. ‘He didn’t seem to take anything apart from an old Zippo lighter. But I think he was looking for the key to the bunker.’
After DI Shirley had rescued us she wanted to check the bunker out for herself, but then Dennis took a funny turn, slumping to the ground.
While she was seeing to him I took the opportunity to run back down to the bunker on the pretence of leaving my phone behind.
I threw an old sheet over the sculpture and moved it to a corner of the bunker, surrounding it with other art paraphernalia.
When DI Shirley did go into the bunker, the only things she noticed were a load of old art supplies.
‘You don’t know that for certain,’ DI Shirley says now. ‘There’s nothing of interest down there that I could see.’
I hesitate. Dorothea left the key for me to find. She didn’t want anyone else knowing about the sculpture. It could be a clue, and if that’s the case then I already feel bad enough that Dennis knows. ‘That’s what we noticed too. Just a load of old art supplies.’
I shoot Dennis a look over the detective’s head and he gives a very slight nod of understanding.
‘Perhaps someone thought she had valuables in the bunker,’ muses DI Shirley. ‘But then why not take any of the antiques in the house?’
‘He might have been about to steal all that but Imogen disturbed him,’ suggests Dennis. He still looks a little pale, his fine white hair standing up on end.
‘Are you okay?’ I ask, concerned for him as he pulls at the neck of his cable-knit jumper.
‘I’m grand, thank you,’ he replies. ‘Just a bit of a shock, that’s all.’
Cady barks, making us both jump as Josh walks into the kitchen carrying his briefcase. He stops in surprise when he sees us all.
I introduce him to Dennis and then DI Shirley, and he stiffens when he realizes she’s a detective. ‘Is everything okay?’ He sidesteps both dogs who have trotted up to sniff him.
DI Shirley tells him why she’s here.
He looks appalled as he puts his briefcase down and pulls a chair out next to me.
He takes my hand and rubs it between his own.
I’m relieved that he’s forgotten about yesterday’s disagreement and I’m grateful for his presence.
‘We need to do something about that boarded-up studio,’ he says.
‘We could change the back door to something more secure. It’s only a single wood internal door with a stupid makeshift lock.
We need something double glazed. Triple glazed, even.
Especially as the builders won’t be able to renovate the studio for a few months.
’ Over the last week we’ve both rung around to see if any other builders are free sooner, but we haven’t been able to find anyone who can start before July.
‘That all sounds like a good idea,’ says DI Shirley, standing up.
‘I’m going to send over a team of forensics for fingerprints, so please don’t touch the study.
’ She shrugs on her scratchy-looking overcoat.
I notice white hairs among the fabric and wonder if she has a cat or dog. ‘Hopefully they can come first thing.’
‘Did Imogen tell you about the dead magpie?’ Josh asks.
‘Not yet,’ I say quickly. ‘I was just about to.’
DI Shirley looks at me questioningly but Josh jumps in to explain. I don’t mention the seven magpies on the hidden sculpture, but I can tell by Dennis’s expression that it’s not lost on him either.
‘I’ll leave you to it for now, but I suggest you sort out that back door as soon as you can,’ she says.
‘We’ve got a security firm coming tomorrow to install cameras in the garden,’ Josh says, sitting up straighter, like he expects DI Shirley to give him a gold star. He’s always like this around authority, desperate to please. ‘I’ll show you out,’ he says to her.
DI Shirley promises to be in touch and tells us we can call her anytime, and then follows Josh out of the kitchen.
‘Well,’ says Dennis, standing up too and putting his coat on. He picks up his flat cap and places it on his head. ‘Do you want Solly to stay here with you?’
Josh appears back in the kitchen and can’t hide how horrified he is by Dennis’s suggestion.
‘It’s just, it might help,’ Dennis explains. ‘Extra security.’
‘Having the dog here didn’t really help Dorothea though, did it?’ Josh replies bluntly. Dennis’s face falls and I could kick Josh for being so insensitive.
‘I think it’s a great idea …’ I start to say but Josh interrupts me.
‘Thanks, mate, but let me and Ims discuss it and we’ll get back to you. Is that okay?’
‘Of course.’ Dennis snaps the leads back on the dogs’ collars and then flashes me a kindly smile. ‘See you, Imogen. If you ever need anything …’
‘Thanks, mate,’ Josh says again, taking his coat off. I can tell he’s itching to get rid of Dennis and I cringe inwardly. ‘We’ll let you know.’
I show Dennis out, stopping to give Solly and Cady a quick pat. ‘Thanks so much for your help today, Dennis. I’m so sorry about what happened in the bunker.’
‘You won’t go down there again, will you, dear? Not on your own?’
‘No. I promise. I’ve taken some photos but …’ I lower my voice. ‘Please don’t say anything about the sculpture. I want some time to try and work out what it could mean before I share it with anyone she might not have trusted …’
He taps the side of his nose. ‘I promise to keep schtum.’
‘Thank you.’
I watch as he leads the dogs down the path next to our driveway and out of the side gate. He turns and gives me a quick wave and then he’s gone.
When I return to the kitchen, Josh has a pan of pasta boiling on the hob.
‘Are you okay, babe?’ he asks with concern. ‘It must have been really scary. Dennis seems a nice fellow. A bit nosey, perhaps. What was he doing here anyway?’
I explain how he helped me after I found the intruder. ‘The whole thing was really horrible, Josh.’ I slump onto a seat. ‘Can I help?’
‘No, of course not. You’ve had a shock.’ He’s silent for a few moments and I can tell he’s chewing something over. Then he says, ‘Why were you and Dennis in the bunker in the first place?’
I explain about the key I found and the what3words on the Post-it Note.
‘Why didn’t you mention this before?’ He stirs the pasta more vigorously.
‘I forgot about it. It wasn’t until the man broke in and I realized he was looking for something that I remembered about the key.’
‘Right.’ A loaded pause. ‘And what was down there?’
‘Just … some art supplies.’
If I tell him about the sculpture he’ll only worry. And he’ll know I won’t be able to resist trying to figure out what it means.
‘Look, about Dennis’s offer,’ I say to change the subject. ‘I know you’re not a fan of dogs, but I’d feel more comfortable …’
Conflicting emotions pass over his face.
‘I don’t know. A dog is a big responsibility.’
‘If we continue to live here we need a dog. For security.’
‘A Golden Retriever is hardly a bloody guard dog.’
‘He saved my life today.’
Josh dishes out the pasta without speaking. The sky is darkening outside and I push away the unease that grows in the pit of my stomach. Is someone prowling around our grounds right now? Killing magpies and thinking up new ways to threaten me?
‘Right, fine,’ announces Josh as we sit down. ‘We can take Solly. But he’ll be your dog. Your responsibility.’
‘Yes, thank you, thank you, thank you,’ I cry, jumping up and kissing him. ‘You won’t regret this.’
‘I better not.’
The next morning, while Josh is busy showing the security firm where he wants the cameras to go, I head over to Dennis’s house to get Solly. A forensic van turned up at 8 a.m. and the officers are currently in Dorothea’s study dusting for prints.
It rained in the night and as a result the air is clear and fresh, the lane muddy.
I’m wearing an old pair of Dorothea’s wellies and one of her quilted jackets that was hanging on the coat stand and it still smells faintly of her perfume, which takes me right back to the summer of 2008.
As I head down the lane, splashing through puddles, I pass Mick and Sue’s house and think fondly of Harry, wondering how he is.
Their house is similar to Dorothea’s but much smaller and with less land.
I slow down to glance through their wrought-iron gates.
The driveway is empty. I might call in on them in a day or two, when Josh is out at work.
He doesn’t know about Harry and I’m not going to tell him, as it would only make him jealous.
He likes to believe he’s my first boyfriend.
Plato House, where Dennis lives, is the other side of Mick and Sue’s.
It’s a pretty, semi-detached Georgian cottage with ivy growing up the Bath stone walls and the name of the house pressed into the gatepost. The front door is on the side of the house, surrounded by a stone porch.
I push open the wooden gates to the drive where an old Skoda sits.
Rubber dog toys are scattered on the gravel.
I knock on the door and instantly there is the sound of dogs barking.
I wait, expecting to hear Dennis calling to them or maybe his footsteps.
But there’s nothing. Maybe he’s out, although he said himself he leads a small kind of life these days.
Unless he’s visiting his daughter. He mentioned yesterday that he often goes and stays with her.
But I heard him say to DI Shirley yesterday that he’d be in today if she needed to ask him more questions, and there is no way he’d leave the dogs alone in the house to visit his daughter all the way in Liverpool.
And his car is in the driveway. The first stirrings of anxiety ripple through me as my second knock goes unanswered.
I remember how he clutched his chest yesterday while we were locked in the bunker, and I hurry around the side and into his back garden.
I press my nose to the glass plane in the back door, which has a view of the kitchen. The dogs rush to the door barking wildly, jumping all over each other in their eagerness, and then Cady starts to whine. I cup my face with my hands and then my heart stops.
Lying on the tiled floor, a halo of blood around his head, is Dennis.