The Reckoning Read Free Page B

about Mr Gibson being dead and described the man he’d seen with him, I rang Mr Chivers at once, and he told me to go back to the stream with Mr Hammond and wait by the body. But just as we were setting off I saw some hikers coming back from the Downs. I knew they must have been on the same path and I asked them if they had seen the body. They told me they hadn’t, and when I got out to the stream I saw why. It was lying near the bottom of the bank; easy to miss. And, besides, it was getting dark.’
    â€˜What about the shooter?’ Billy asked. ‘Surely he was on that same path.’
    â€˜He was when Mr Hammond spotted him.’ Boon nodded. ‘But the hikers never saw him, so he must have got off it.’
    â€˜These hikers . . . Were they all together? Are you sure he wasn’t one of them? Couldn’t he have slipped past you that way?’
    â€˜No, sir, he couldn’t have.’ Boon spoke firmly. ‘There were seven of them: two couples who’d been together, and three ladies who were walking on their own. As it happened, I recognized one of the couples by sight. They’re members of a ramblers’ club in Brighton and I’ve seen them up here before. The other couple were friends of theirs. Anyway, Mr Hammond said it wasn’t either of the men. The bloke he’d seen was younger and dressed differently—’
    â€˜They’ve all been spoken to,’ Chivers interrupted. ‘The couples went back to Brighton as soon as they reached the station, but after Boon alerted me I arranged for them to be met and interviewed when they stepped off the train. The three women were staying in the same hotel in Lewes. I questioned them myself the next morning. They’d been on the Downs all afternoon, but none of them remembered seeing anyone like the man Hammond described.’
    â€˜So what happened to him?’ Billy looked from one to the other.
    â€˜That’s the question.’ Vic looked rueful. ‘And I wish I had an answer. It’s pretty certain he never came into Lewes. He was going in the opposite direction when Hammond saw him, heading for the South Downs Way, which links up with a track called Jugg’s Road that’ll take you to the outskirts of Brighton.’
    â€˜Didn’t you say it was getting dark?’
    â€˜Yes, but with a torch and an Ordnance Survey map he could have found his way easy enough. And he must have known he’d have to get off the Downs before daylight; that we’d have searchers out from early next morning, which we did. His description was circulated to every police station and village bobby in the area. If he’d still been out there, we’d have collared him, Billy. You can be sure of that.’
    â€˜So you reckon it had to be Brighton he was heading for?’
    â€˜It was the only place that made sense. He could have walked down to Newhaven, I suppose, but that would have taken him all night, and we had it covered. Unless he lived locally – which seemed unlikely then, and even more so now, given the enquiries we’ve been making – he would have been looking to leave the area, and I had the police in Brighton checking the trains and buses that night and for the next few days. There was no sign of him.’
    â€˜Could he have had a car?’ Billy wondered. ‘Could he have got out that way?’
    â€˜From the Downs? Not a chance.’ Vic dismissed the idea. ‘There just aren’t the roads. Never mind petrol rationing.’
    He shrugged.
    â€˜The truth is I can’t explain how he disappeared. For my money, he’s a blooming Houdini.’
    â€˜And that’s only the half of it.’
    Leaving the constable to continue his vigil, Billy and Vic had started back on the path to Kingston. But Vic wasn’t done yet.
    â€˜It’s bad enough that he was able to slip through our fingers so easily. But what brought him here in the first place?