Chris Collett - [Tom Mariner 01] Read Online Free PDF Page B

think so. Eddie and I weren’t what you’d call close. It isn’t weeks*
    but more like months since I last saw him even though we live only a few miles apart. I left home to get married when I was quite young.’ There was diffidence to her admission and from the bare fingers of her left hand Mariner guessed that the marriage hadn’t lasted.
    That aside, none of this was beyond the scope of his comprehension. The week-old answer phone message from his mother tweaked at his conscience, but he pushed it away again. He braced himself. ‘Miss Barham, coincidentally i saw your brother earlier yesterday evening in the bar of the Chamberlain Hotel. He was with a woman, about five foot, with long, reddish hair and brown eyes. Do you have any idea who she might be?’ He’d keep his own opinions about the brunette to himself for now.
    ‘No, I’m sorry. As I said, I’m a bit out of touch.’
    He couldn’t resist. ‘Yet you seem very sure that Eddie wasn’t considering taking up a new recreational pursuit.’
    She flushed with annoyance. ‘I do know Eddie. We may not have seen each other often, but I know he wouldn’t have done that. He didn’t smoke, he hardly ever drank…’
    ‘People change. Sometimes pretty dramatically.’
    ‘Not Eddie. He wasn’t a user,’ she insisted.
    ‘He doesn’t have to have been. It looks as if it was his first time.’
    ‘No!’ Again the anger flared.
    When the silence stretched to breaking point and she still made no reference to the other item outstanding, Mariner said quietly, ‘There was another man in the house.’
    His words had a more dramatic effect than anything he’d said so far and she jumped violently, almost spilling the tea.
    ‘Jamie! God, of course! I’d completely— Forgotten? Now that was unbelievable. ‘But I don’t understand—he shouldn’t have been there. Not at the weekend. Is he all right?’ She got to finally.
    ‘Oh he’s fine.’ Involuntarily, Mariner touched his swollen nose and elicited a smirk of understanding from her. ‘Although that skull of his should be classed as an offensive weapon,’ Mariner said. ‘He is—?’
    ‘My younger brother.’ It was confirmation of what they’d already half guessed from the physical resemblance to the dead man. He was struck by her likeness to her brothers, too. Though smaller and more fragile, she had the same fair hair, tinged with red and cut boyishly short so that it curled into the nape of her neck. They were like peas in a pod, the Barhams. ‘Where is he?’ she asked.
    ‘At the station. We’re waiting for him to come down so that we can talk to him.’
    ‘Come down?’ Momentarily she was confused, but as realisation dawned, she broke into a humourless laugh. ‘Oh great, now you’re going to try and tell me that Jamie’s on drugs, too.’
    ‘Miss Barham, Eddie was found with a hypodermic needle sticking out of his arm. There’s not much doubt about the way he died. And we found more syringes in the bathroom…’
    ‘Yes, probably left over from a time when Jamie used to have seizures,’ she said matter-of-factly. ‘Afterwards, he needed an injection of Valium to help him calm down and sleep it off.’
    ‘And head-butting people is a normal part of his behaviour, is it?’ Mariner persisted. ‘We found him hiding in a cupboard under the stairs and when we let him out, he went crazy.’ Her reluctance was understandable and nothing new. ‘Look,’ he went on patiently, trying to help her out.
    ‘You don’t have to pretend to me, I’ve had years of experience of users.’
    ‘And what’s your experience of autism, Inspector?’
    ‘Autism?’ It came at him from out of left field.
    ‘Jamie isn’t on drugs, he’s autistic. He freaked out because he was frightened. He didn’t know you. It’s that simple. If he was shut in a cupboard he would have been terrified. He’s always been afraid of the dark.’ Her voice carried a triumphant ring.
    It took Mariner a few seconds to