Read Online Blood Never Dies by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles - Free Book Online Page B

– like a man with stuff to do. Who would have thought . . . Did he leave a note saying why?’
    ‘He didn’t leave anything. We don’t even know for sure who he is. All we have to go on is the tattoos – hence my visit, hoping for a name.’
    ‘Oh dear. Well, I’m very sorry I can’t help. But in my line of business people just come in off the street and usually pay cash. You don’t take names and addresses any more than a sandwich bar does.’
    ‘I understand,’ said Atherton. ‘It’s a pity, though. Can you remember anything else about him that might help us?’
    ‘Like what?’ Johnson screwed up his face in thought. ‘I don’t know, I’ve told you what I remember, his nice clothes and—’ Something occurred to him. ‘Wait, yes, there was one thing. I don’t know if it means anything. He’d had his legs waxed.’
    ‘Waxed?’
    ‘To take the hair off,’ Johnson expanded. ‘Like women do.’
    ‘Yes, I know what it means.’
    ‘I noticed because of course it made my job easier.’
    ‘Maybe that’s why he did it.’
    ‘Maybe. It’s unusual though. They were smooth as glass. It looked really unnatural.’
    Unnatural smoothness, Atherton thought. And when something was unnaturally smooth, you couldn’t get a grip on it. Like this case. ‘Well, if you think of anything else, here’s my card. Give me a ring. Anything, however trivial. You never know what may help.’
    ‘Oh, I will,’ said Honest John. He looked at the photograph again with a sort of reluctant fascination. ‘Can I keep this? I could ask around. I get all sorts of people coming in, and someone may’ve seen him somewhere.’
    ‘Yes, by all means,’ Atherton said. ‘Any help always gratefully received.’
    ‘Waxed legs?’ Slider said. ‘What does that tell us? Why would a man wax his legs?’
    ‘Swimmers and cyclists do it to cut down on resistance. Athletes of all sorts do it,’ Atherton said, ‘because they have a lot of massages, and it can hurt if you’re hairy.’
    ‘He wasn’t muscled enough to be an athlete.’
    ‘Surgeons sometimes wax their arms because it makes scrubbing up easier.’
    ‘But it wasn’t his arms.’
    ‘Well, some men just like the look of smooth skin,’ Atherton tried.
    ‘But he wasn’t still waxed, so it can’t have been that he liked the look.’
    ‘So what do
you
think?’
    ‘It could have been something he just tried out and didn’t like. Or there was some reason we haven’t twigged. I don’t know. It just adds to his peculiarity.’
    Atherton was thinking. ‘Is there a pattern here?’ he asked. ‘False name—’
    ‘Probably.’
    ‘—county cords to visit Honest John, tight jeans and trainers to move into Conningham Road. He’s acting a part.’
    Slider sighed. ‘I thought from the moment I saw him he didn’t fit in at that flat. The tattoos are just a little touch of insanity to add to the mix. If he was your high-flier suddenly gone bust and reduced to a furnished let, why would he get himself tattooed? It’s just too frivolous.’
    ‘I’m losing enthusiasm for that theory,’ Atherton admitted. ‘And the missing keys suggest black-sack man was something to do with it, and did take stuff away.’
    ‘It’s not only the keys,’ Slider said. ‘Freddie Cameron says Williams took some kind of narcotic, but if it was suicide, what did he bring it home in? No suitable bottle or packet in the place. He could have had a pocketful of loose capsules, but where are the capsule cases? And if it was just a powder, he couldn’t have brought it back in his cupped hands, could he?’
    ‘The murderer brought it in and removed the evidence,’ said Atherton. ‘I’m a willing convert to your side. So where do we go from here?’
    ‘We’ve got the pizza to follow up. Still some neighbours to canvass. McLaren’s on car movements in the area at two a.m. Selective circulation of the mugshot – and I think we’ll circulate the tattoos as well. Nothing from