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“She said ‘no’ loud enough to be heard at the end.”
“What did Devenish do about that?” Archer asked.
“He looked around nervously, but the other man took her hand and said something to her. I think he was telling her she had more customers, because she turned and then went back into her shop.”
“So he took charge of the situation? The delivery man?” Archer’s surprise was clear.
Gabriella nodded. “It felt like there was something going on between them. And I thought I saw him with her at Dance-A-Go-Go. She looked as if she was waiting for someone, and then a man came up behind her and they disappeared into the crowd. It was hard to see for sure, but I thought it was the delivery driver.”
“You think he could have been driving the white van?” Archer asked.
She lifted her shoulders. “He wasn’t the one driving it earlier. When Patty left Devenish and the delivery man on the street, the delivery man got into the blue car and drove off. Whoever was in the van threw out their cigarette, started up, and did a u-turn. It looked to me like he was following after the car, but it really might have been coincidence.”
Archer studied her. “And you’re sure you can’t say it was the same van that picked up Patty?”
She shook her head. “I thought it was very similar, or the same, but I honestly couldn’t say for sure. And there are a lot of white vans in London.”
He gave a grim nod. “Unfortunately.”
“Did you speak to the people who work at the dance club?” she asked, thinking of Melvin. He would have seen the delivery man, but he most likely wouldn’t have noticed who he talked to once he was inside the club.
“They were surprisingly cooperative, but it was their busiest night of the week, and they didn’t notice anything off.”
She glanced at his empty plate and nudged the bread toward him. “Would you like some more?”
He looked torn, as if he’d like to say yes, but instead, he pushed back his chair and got to his feet. “I have to go. But thank you. What you’ve told me helps.”
She got to her feet, and felt suddenly shy.
He drew her.
There was something clear and straightforward about his manner, and his face was open, his height and his strength very attractive.
“Be careful when you go about,” Archer said when he got to the door, his gaze locking with hers. “If the driver of that white van was responsible for Patty’s death, he might have seen you.”
She hadn’t thought of that. She didn’t like it.
She gave a nod.
“If you feel like someone’s following you, or you’re in any way uncomfortable, go into a shop or something, and get them to call me.” He handed her another card, and she took it, careful to make sure their fingers didn’t brush.
“Thank you.” She leaned against the doorjamb as he stepped into the passage.
He gave a nod, looking like he wanted to say something more, but then he tipped his head and disappeared down the stairs.
chapterthirteen
Gabriella Farnsworth’sbedsit was small, but it was neat, and it had a warmth about it that James didn’t know how to create himself.
His flat was larger—he had a separate bedroom, not a little nook hidden from view with what seemed to be a Chinese-style folding screen like she did—but his place looked unfinished somehow. The fact that he lived in a new block of flats built out of the rubble of the war, and she lived in a cramped, converted Victorian, didn’t seem to matter when it came to style.
He’d wanted to stay—he had really wanted to stay—but it had been too tempting.
He had found himself on her doorstep after coming from Patty Little’s parents. Her father had gone very quiet when he gave them the news, pacing the front room, while her mother had sobbed in loud, heart-wrenching bursts.
They had been trying to contact her friends since Sunday mid-morning, looking for her, and James could tell they wished they had gone to the police immediately.
“She were a good lass,” her father said, when James asked to see her room, and had followed him up the tight stairs to a small bedroom at the top of the landing. “She loved fashion, and such. Pleased as punch she were, getting a job in that fancy clothes shop. Were ever so particular, she was, in what she wore. She wanted to be a designer. She were going to night college, to study for it.”