The Wages of Desire Read Free Page B

at Lamb as if he thought the answer to the question obvious. “He told me there were a dead girl in the church cemetery. Shot to death, he said.”
    â€œHave you seen the girl?”
    â€œI glanced at her. I don’t like dead bodies as a rule.”
    â€œDid you recognize her?”
    â€œWell, I didn’t see her face, like, as she were lying on her stomach. But no, she didn’t look familiar to me.”
    â€œAnd you, Mr. Tigue? Did you recognize her?”
    â€œWell, it’s hard to know for sure, of course, as she was lying facedown, as Mr. Built said.”
    â€œDid the vicar tell you how he had found the body, Mr. Built?”
    â€œHe said he were just returning from his morning walk when he heard a gunshot from the direction of the cemetery. That’s when he went there and found the girl, dead as you please.”
    Built’s version of the vicar’s story conflicted slightly with the one that the vicar had told Wallace on the telephone. According to Wallace, Gerald Wimberly had made no mention of having heard a gunshot from the cemetery; he’d said only that he’d returned from a walk and found the woman lying among the graves.
    â€œDid the vicar say that he had seen anyone in the cemetery or that he’d found the gun used to shoot the woman?” Lamb asked.
    â€œNo. But then, I didn’t ask him. Saw no reason to. Had he seen anyone or found the gun, I reckon he’d have told me.”
    â€œDid he tell you that he knew who had shot the woman, or that he suspected that he knew?”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œHow far is your farm from the church?”
    â€œHalf mile.”
    â€œHow long did it take you, then, to walk from there to here?”
    â€œLess than ten minutes.”
    â€œSo is that ten minutes for you to put on your guardsman’s outfit and to get here? Ten minutes total, in other words?”
    Confusion clouded Built’s eyes for a moment. “No,” he said. “It took me a couple of minutes to get into my uniform.” Built nodded at Tigue. “And I telephoned Mr. Tigue and told him what were happening.”
    â€œSo, can we say it took you fifteen or so minutes for you to get to the church from the time the vicar alerted you?”
    â€œI suppose,” Built said.
    â€œAnd what did you do when you got here?”
    â€œI went into the cemetery to look at the girl, as I said. It were the vicar who said we couldn’t allow anyone from the village in to look at her. It’d become a circus, he said. Then he told me that his wife had had a shock and that I should guard the gate while he went in and called you lot and saw to her. I took my place at the gate, just as the vicar ordered. Then the people from the village started showing, as word spread. Then you arrived.”
    â€œAnd where is the vicarage, exactly?”
    â€œAround the other side of the church, toward the back.”
    Lamb turned again to Tigue. “And when did you arrive, sir?”
    â€œShortly after Mr. Built and the vicar. When Mr. Built called I was still in bed, I’m afraid.” Tigue smiled, as if this fact mildly embarrassed him.
    â€œI wonder if you wouldn’t mind turning over your pistol to us,” Lamb said.
    Surprise flared in Tigue’s eyes. “My pistol?” he said.
    Lamb smiled. “Yes, sir. Just so we can check it for forensics and eliminate it from our inquiries. It’s merely routine, of course, but it would prove helpful.”
    Tigue smiled in return. “Of course,” he said. He removed the pistol from its holster and handed it to Lamb, who in turn handed it to Larkin.
    â€œThank you,” Lamb said to Tigue.
    â€œMe, too?” Built asked.
    â€œPlease.”
    â€œI’ll get it back then, won’t I?”
    â€œWe’ll keep it only as long as we need to.”
    Built broke open the shotgun and removed the cartridges before handing everything to Larkin.
    Lamb