Page 125 of Fire Must Burn

‘You were right,’ he said to Sparks. ‘Both about the fishing pole and the man using it. What tipped you off?’

‘I tried to think as a detective would,’ she said. ‘As I told you at lunch, I thought of another way to get that bottle through the window, and once I thought of swinging it in by a line I thought about fishing poles and that took me to Miss Lowle’s prior match. That was information we had that you did not. And once I saw the fishing flies in her jewellery box – the badgers, he called them? – I was certain.’

‘May I see them?’ asked Mrs Bainbridge.

Parham pulled out the envelope and shook them onto the desk.

‘They are lovely,’ she said, peering at them. ‘Little works of art in their own way. I was thinking as we listened that if only he had bared his soul like that to us when he first came to The RightSort, we could have done a better job of finding a woman who could have appreciated a man like him. We could have saved him.’

‘Maybe you’ve saved your other female clients from a man who is willing to kill,’ suggested Parham. ‘He and this Lowle woman seem to be a match made in hell.’

‘So you’re saying we did our job too well,’ said Sparks.

‘She should be down by now,’ he said, glancing at his watch. ‘I’m going back in.’

He collected the earrings and went back to the interview room.

This time, a WPC was sitting at the side and Miss Lowle was the one in the chair with her hand shackled. There was a large ugly bruise running across her forehead, but her gaze was alert, focussed on Parham when he entered. He sat across from her.

‘Is your name Evelyn Lowle?’ he asked.

‘It is.’

‘How’s the head doing?’

‘Down to a dull throb,’ she replied. ‘Thanks for asking.’

He told her the charges and read her the warnings. When he had finished, she sighed.

‘This is all quite ridiculous,’ she said.

‘Why?’

‘I had nothing to do with the fire, or the attack on poor Tony.’

‘We’ve heard otherwise.’

‘From whom?’

‘From Kenneth Lonsdale, for one.’

‘Oh. Him,’ she said, her expression perturbed. ‘I was afraid it was going to be something like that.’

‘Something like what, Miss Lowle? He gave a detailed account of a conspiracy between the two of you.’

‘But that’s the ridiculous part, don’t you see?’ she said earnestly. ‘Yes, he and I dated, and honestly, I was looking for some fun, you know? It had been a while since I had any. And the lovemaking turned out to be rather extraordinary, I must say, so I came back for more the next couple of nights. But as good as it was, I realised this wasn’t going to last, so I tried to explain that to him. He refused to accept it, and that’s when I began to see he was a bit off his rocker.’

‘How so?’

‘He told me over and over that we were meant to be together for all time, and he got more and more agitated. He was starting to frighten me, so I told him it had been lovely, but I was done and moving on. He asked if I was going back to The Right Sort and I said, yeah, that was why I signed up, and he said he’d make sure the next man wouldn’t end up with me. I’m afraid I didn’t take him seriously enough.’

‘When was this?’

‘Our last day together. The Sunday before he attacked Tony.’

‘You had already received an invitation from Mr Danforth for a date by this point.’

‘Yes.’