The Reckoning Read Online Free Page B

assertion. Billy acknowledged the word with a nod.
    â€˜That’s just how it seems to us, sir. Outrageous. But we still have to look for an explanation, if there is one. It helps that you’re a solicitor: you know how police inquiries proceed. We need to know if anything unusual happened to your brotherlately, anything out of the ordinary. It might not have seemed important at the time, but—’
    He broke off. He’d noticed a slight change of expression in the other man’s face: a look not so much of puzzlement, as of indecision.
    â€˜Look, I don’t know if this is significant . . .’ Gibson seemed to gather himself. ‘But there was something he wanted to discuss with me.’
    Billy waited.
    â€˜I haven’t mentioned it, but I was due to come down this weekend anyway. On my own, as it happened – my wife had other plans – and Oswald was pleased at the thought that we’d have some time together. He was going to have another go at turning me into a fisherman, he said.’ Gibson smiled sadly. ‘Some chance of that! But the point is that he also said, when we spoke on the phone, there was something he wanted my advice on.’
    â€˜Did he say what?’
    Gibson shook his head. ‘I asked him the same question, but he said he’d tell me when I came down. It was too complicated to explain on the telephone.’
    â€˜ Complicated? ’ Chivers spoke up.
    â€˜That was the word he used.’ Gibson frowned. ‘But I could tell it wasn’t serious, or urgent.’ He looked at them both. ‘I knew my brother well, believe me. In fact I was the person he usually turned to. I knew when he was worried or upset, and that wasn’t the case. It was just something that he mentioned. I was struck by how cheerful he sounded – he was looking forward to our weekend together.’
    He sat back. Billy waited until he was sure Gibson had finished.
    â€˜Well, thank you for telling us that,’ he said. ‘We’ll keep it in mind.’
    The solicitor turned his gaze on him. His eyes had narrowed slightly and his next words confirmed an impression Billy alreadyhad that his initial judgement of the man might have been wide of the mark: Gibson was a lot shrewder than he looked.
    â€˜Before we part, there’s something I’d like to ask you, Inspector. How does Scotland Yard come to be involved in this? There must be a reason.’ When Billy failed to reply at once, he added, ‘As you said yourself, I’m a solicitor. I know the drill.’
    Billy shrugged. ‘I wouldn’t say involved exactly. Not yet, at any rate. But we’ve had a report of a similar shooting in Ballater, in Scotland. It’s possible the two cases are linked, which is why I’m here.’
    â€˜Ballater?’ Gibson looked bemused. ‘I think I can safely say Oswald had no connections north of the border, or any contacts that I was aware of. We were born in London, both of us, and he spent all of his working life in the south. He joined the bank when he was quite young, before the First World War, and stayed with them until he retired. I can give you a list of the places where he worked. They were all in the south.’
    â€˜That could be useful.’
    Gibson rubbed his chin. ‘Have you considered that this might be a tragic error? That Ozzie was mistaken for someone else?’
    â€˜What do you mean exactly, sir?’
    â€˜This man who shot him – the one who was seen walking off afterwards – doesn’t his behaviour strike you as odd, almost unbalanced?’ He looked at the two detectives. ‘I mean, there was poor Ozzie, busy with his fishing and, as far as I can gather, this man simply walked up to him and shot him. Might he not be deranged?’
    â€˜Acting at random, you mean? Looking for anyone to shoot at?’ Billy caught Chivers’s eye. ‘It’s certainly a possibility. We’ve