Part 36 (1/2)

'Head's too broken for us to take a statement. Concussion. Maybe by tomorrow. You didn't have to try to kill him, too, you know.'

'I didn't want him behind me while I went after the woman.'

'His nose was mashed flat against his face, he has two broken ribs, and he fractured a finger, apparently trying to protect himself from the poker. Can't you ever go easy on them?'

'I told you, I didn't want him behind me.'

Munro stared out of the window, then shook his head. 'Did you push the woman? The man?' you push the woman? The man?'

'I lost my grip on her wrist. She was off balance.'

'I wouldn't blame you if you had. He was an ugly piece of work. Cutting the head off Himple, killing Heseltine - the painting that came from Heseltine's flat pretty well cinches that one. You're always right.'

'Like h.e.l.l.'

Munro grinned at him, then became serious again. 'You think he was insane?'

'Anybody who commits murder is insane, isn't he?'

'I meant, playing at being a woman.'

Denton said nothing, then, 'She was sane. Maybe he wasn't.' 'They were the same person, Denton!'

Denton shrugged again. He felt light-headed, detached. Munro said, 'We're digging up Brown's garden to look for Himple's head.'

'Yes, you should do that. Although I don't think you'll find it.'

Munro grunted. 'No. I suppose it's somewhere like the middle of the Channel.'

'Or in an abandoned privy in Paris.'

'She wasn't here until last week - we've asked the neighbours. Why the h.e.l.l do you think she came back here here?'

'They wanted to be together, I suppose.'

Munro gave a snort of contempt. 'Queer sort of being together - murdering folk. You think it was always the two of them?'

'I didn't until I saw her in the garden. Yes, I think it was always the two of them - before anything else. Maybe Crum met Himple first at the Baths, but then when he met Brown - funny, how people pair off.' He gave a grim smile. 'There's a novel in that.' He moved the arm painfully to another position, then sipped the tea. 'Think you'll ever know who Arthur Crum really was?'

'Mr n.o.body from Nowhere. Some little chap who thought he'd found himself a clever way off the factory floor.'

'And it got away from him?'

Munro shrugged. He sighed and opened the door. 'Well, you can go. Although I think I'm letting the most dangerous man in London walk.' Denton got up and strode to the door. Munro said, 'Speaking of walk-'

'What?'

'Look at you.' at you.'

Denton looked where Munro was pointing, at his right leg. He wasn't limping. He didn't have a stick.

'Where's the bad leg, then?'

'I guess she took it over the roof with her.'

Janet Striker was waiting for him at the infirmary gate. She hurried him into a waiting cab and made him lie back into a nest of pillows she'd put there. 'Don't ever let anybody tell you that money isn't important,' she said. 'I bought these for you to lie on and they're going in the dustbin as soon as we get you home. But worth every penny!'

'I'm not an invalid.'

'You bled like a pig, I was told. You should be feeling weak and ill.'

'I'm not a pig.'