Page 153 of The Hallmarked Man (Cormoran Strike #8)

Robin, who was making notes, was glad of a reason not to look Whitehead in the eye.

She hadn’t needed this encounter to learn that even the most intelligent people may be blinded by their passionate desire not to look facts in the face.

Hugo had been refused the use of the family Range Rover on the night of his fatal accident.

His family must have wondered whether he mightn’t have survived, had he only been driving that.

‘I can see why people were saying Tyler did something to the car, that he’d faked being ill that night, because, of course, it was his Mazda – he’d have keys.

But Chloe and Tyler were friends – she could have pinched them, or had a second set cut without his knowledge.

She hung around with him at his garage sometimes, so she could have asked how to fiddle with an ABS system. ’

Robin opened her mouth to speak, but Whitehead ploughed on.

‘Now, Tyler’s friends and his grandmother thought we were the ones who started the rumour that Tyler sabotaged the car, but not a bit of it.

In the immediate aftermath of the crash, Lucinda and I were at Hugo’s bedside around the clock – we had no idea what was being said in Ironbridge.

It was only later that we heard what people were saying, and about the CCTV footage.

But I could never see why Tyler would have done it, never. ’

‘I’ve been told,’ said Robin cautiously, ‘that he was jealous, that Anne-Marie was his former girlfriend?’

‘No, no, that was years previously,’ said Whitehead, waving the idea away with a large white hand.

‘When they were both sixteen or something. There was no question of him being angry about that. But when the police realised that it couldn’t have been Tyler tampering with the car in Birmingham, they seemed to rule out any possibility of sabotage.

Yet there was still that figure on film. ’

Who might have been doing up their shoe.

‘Nobody stopped to ask why Chloe Griffiths had suddenly gone off abroad,’ said Whitehead. ‘She’d shown no interest in leaving Ironbridge before the crash – and what the police never took seriously was, she’d actually made threats to kill Hugo and Anne-Marie. ’

‘Really?’ said Robin.

‘Yes. She had a terrible row with the pair of them, really nasty. We didn’t hear about it until weeks after the crash, but there were plenty of witnesses. She literally screamed “I’ll fucking kill you if you don’t stop it,” at both of them.’

‘If they didn’t stop what?’ asked Robin.

‘They’d made a joke, a simple joke, about her two-timing her boyfriend in Telford with Tyler.

There was no malice about it. They were only teasing her.

Tyler had given Chloe a bracelet – that’s what triggered the row.

Hugo came home quite shaken. He said he and Anne-Marie were calling her “Shrinking Violet” because this bracelet had violets on it, and she was getting more and more irate, and then they hinted that she was two-timing her boyfriend with Tyler, and I can only assume she was afraid the boyfriend would get to hear about it, because she became absolutely furious and screamed at them.

A huge overreaction, but everyone in the Horse & Jockey heard it – but nobody told the police about her becoming so aggressive and threatening, on such a slim pretext.

I asked other people in the pub that night to speak up.

Harvey urged them to. But the police didn’t want to listen.

“Oh, it was just a silly little row” – but to say, to literally say she’d kill them – Lucinda and I never liked the girl much,’ said Whitehead.

‘One felt a little sorry for her: no mother, juvenile father, hardly surprising she didn’t have many social graces.

She was rather quiet and sulky, but then she’d suddenly turn nasty.

I think she’s been rather used to thinking of herself as a victim, and has been indulged and humoured by her father, and she expects the rest of the world to treat her the same way.

Very pretty, but you always felt there was something unpleasant there, underneath.

And now she’s buggered off abroad, with immensely convenient timing.

That’s why I’m keen not to lose touch with Griffiths.

I want to know when Chloe’s back in the country. ’

‘I see. Did—?’ Robin began, but Whitehead spoke over her.

‘The consensus among the young people, before the crash, was that Chloe was leading Tyler on. He was very obviously smitten with her, but she treated him like a dogsbody, putting him down and so on. He’s not the brightest, but a good-natured lad, and unhappy at home.

His father, Ivor, is a mean man, so Tyler was always over at the Griffithses’ house and he was useful to Chloe, you know.

Lifts and so on. And I think it flattered her ego to have this lapdog always around.

But the night she threatened Hugo and Anne-Marie she said some very nasty, degrading things about Tyler.

She made it quite clear he wasn’t good enough for her, and Hugo was shocked – he liked Tyler, really liked him.

And after that, Hugo told me Chloe would barely speak to him, it was as though she had a vendetta against him and Anne-Marie.

Hugo tried to reason with her, but she told him to fuck off.

Incredible anger, for something so small. ’

‘Chloe told me—’

‘ You’ve spoken to her? ’ said Whitehead, with almost unnerving excitement.

‘Only by WhatsApp. As a matter of fact, she told me she didn’t like Tyler, that she’d been friendly towards him because she felt sorry for him, and she did suggest it was possible he’d tampered—’

‘There you are, you see, she’s still trying to pin it on him!

Who fanned the flames, about Tyler? Who kept the rumours going?

I think it was Chloe. Tyler was disposable to her, a useful patsy.

I’m one hundred per cent certain that she encouraged the rumours about Tyler having messed with the car .

Griffiths himself admitted to me that he first heard the rumour from Chloe.

“It’s just what the kids are saying, I’m sure there’s no truth in it. ”’

‘D’you know whether Chloe had an alibi for that night?’ asked Robin.

‘The police wouldn’t tell us,’ said Whitehead. ‘They simply didn’t want to listen.’

‘Did you know a girl called Zeta in Ironbridge?’ asked Robin.

‘Zeta? No, I don’t think so. Unless she was in Harvey and Hugo’s friendship groups, I wouldn’t have. Why?’

‘She alleges that Tyler did something threatening to her, after he heard her repeating the rumour about him sabotaging the Mazda.’

‘I don’t really blame him,’ said Whitehead stoutly. ‘Being accused of something like that…’

‘She alleges that he almost ran her over.’

‘Oh, I’m sure that’s not true,’ said Whitehead at once.

‘No, no, that wouldn’t be like Tyler. His friend Wynn Jones, now, I’d believe it of him , he’s a proper lout – but not Tyler.

You know, I wouldn’t be surprised if he suspected Chloe was behind the crash himself.

I’m very, very keen on finding him, and getting some answers, and helping him clear his name…

I think we’re going to have to wrap this up soon,’ said Whitehead, with a now nervous glance at the dark sky outside the un-curtained window. ‘If Lucinda comes back early—’

‘Of course,’ said Robin. ‘Just got one more question. If Chloe was using Tyler for lifts, does that mean she didn’t have her own car?’

‘No, but she could have borrowed her father’s, couldn’t she? It was when she didn’t have access to it that she relied on Tyler.’

‘Right,’ said Robin. ‘Well, thank you so much for your time.’

‘You know,’ said Whitehead, leading Robin back into the hall, ‘Hugo did like speed, nobody’s pretending he didn’t – he was a young man – but never in those conditions, and not with a passenger.

And,’ he added, taking Robin’s coat off its hook and handing it to her, ‘he knew the storm was on its way. We all did.’

‘I’m so sorry for your loss,’ said Robin, unable to think of anything else to say.

‘You’ll let me know, if you find Tyler?’

‘If we find him, I’ll ask him whether he minds us letting you know,’ promised Robin.

It was chilly outside. She walked briskly up the street to the Land Rover and got inside, thinking about all she’d just heard. Then she took out her phone and typed out a new message for Chloe Griffiths.

Hi Chloe, this is Robin Ellacott. I’m sorry to contact you again, but I’ve got a few more questions and I think you’re the only person who can answer them. I do understand how difficult this is for you, and I wouldn’t disturb you again if I didn’t think it was important.

Having sent this message, Robin sat thinking. For some reason, the name ‘Horse & Jockey’ ran through her mind, but she wasn’t sure why. She’d just opened Google to look at the place when the door beside her was wrenched open. Before she could scream, a hand closed around her throat.