Page 71 of Fire Must Burn

‘No,’ said Sparks. ‘Pickard went on an extended holiday when the term ended. He had graduated, so there was nothing unusual about that. Bruce Cater and Tony Danforth left for Spain in September.’

‘You mentioned the possibility of a letter left behind by this Miss Spurlock. When was that?’

‘Rumours started circulating about it at the end of the term, but nothing concrete was announced by the police or the university.’

‘In that case, it seems to me that had someone wished toseek revenge on her behalf, they would have had time to do so back then,’ said Parham. ‘And whatever may have happened to her, and you still don’t know what it was, I would think that Mr Danforth would not be a target, as opposed to the other two.’

‘I agree with you on that last point,’ said Sparks.

‘I’ll ring the Cambridge police, see if they have anything in that file, but it doesn’t sound all that promising to me. I’m going to concentrate my efforts here.’

‘Have you found anything else to go on?’ asked Mrs Bainbridge.

‘We’ve knocked on doors of the buildings across the street,’ said Parham. ‘But nobody was looking out their windows to see any shadowy figure heaving a flaming bottle at the time it happened. Mr Danforth could not think of anyone who might want to harm him. He did mention one interesting detail, though.’

‘What?’ asked Sparks.

‘He had only just moved into that flat,’ said Parham. ‘He hadn’t given his new address to the Foreign Office yet. Which means besides the building management at Grenville House, there was only one other place that knew it.’

‘Where was that?’ asked Sparks.

‘He gave it to us, Iris,’ said Mrs Bainbridge quietly. ‘When we interviewed him.’

‘Exactly so,’ said Parham. ‘Did either of you mention it to anyone?’

‘No,’ said Mrs Bainbridge.

‘Absolutely not,’ said Sparks. ‘Why would we?’

‘No idea,’ admitted Parham. ‘I will ask your secretary as well. Oh, and I’ll need the contact information for the woman who had the date with him.’

‘I have that here,’ said Mrs Bainbridge, opening a file box on her desk containing the index cards for their female clients and pulling Miss Lowle’s from it. She copied down her information and handed it to him.

‘That’s her office number,’ she advised him. ‘She’s with the Ministry of Food.’

‘Thanks,’ said Parham. ‘Did you happen to notice if your doors were unlocked in any of the mornings since you interviewed Danforth?’

‘They weren’t,’ said Sparks. ‘But these locks are not unpickable by any stretch of the imagination.’

‘I happen to know you are speaking with some expertise on that topic,’ he said. ‘Very well. I’m going to grab a kip, then continue on. My higher-ups would like a quick result in this one. Oh, I almost forgot. Mr Danforth would be most grateful for a visit from Miss Sparks. I have placed your name on the visitors’ list.’

‘Thank you,’ said Sparks. ‘I’ll go and see him later today.’

‘Miss Sparks and I plan to keep looking into the Cambridge aspects,’ said Mrs Bainbridge.

‘Be my guests,’ said Parham. ‘Let me know if you turn up anything useful.’

‘You’re not going to tell us not to get involved?’ she asked.

‘When has that ever stopped you?’ he asked. ‘Thank you for the tea, ladies.’

He left. Iris buzzed for Mrs Billington, who appeared a minute later, the morning’s correspondence in her hand.

‘What’s on the schedule for today?’ asked Iris.

‘There’s a Mr Mellon coming in for an interview at eleven,’ replied Mrs Billington. ‘Other than that, nothing.’

‘I can take Mr Mellon while you go to the hospital,’ offered Gwen. ‘Then call me when you’re done, and we can go to Holland Park after.’