Dishing the Dirt

Agatha set out the following morning. Comfy Baby supplied goods for the new baby: cots, nappies, feeding bottles and clothes. The offices looked new and prosperous.

After waiting twenty minutes, she was ushered into the managing director’s office. Henry Pilkington was a small man wearing thick rimless glasses. It was hard to believe he was the same age as Justin. He was bald on top and his thin brown hair was already going grey.

He studied Agatha’s business card as if it were some sort of poisonous insect. “So,” he said, “she’s done it at last.”

Agatha looked bewildered. “Who’s ‘she’?”

“My bloody neurotic wife. Always accusing me of having an affair. How does she think I got this job so young? Leaving the office early? I’ve slaved and worked long hours to get where I am.”

“I am not here because of your wife,” said Agatha. “I would like to know about Justin Nichols.”

His face cleared. “Oh, the golden boy. I was at prep school with him. Smarmy little creep. I’m telling you, the teachers fawned on him.”

“Do you happen to know if his father’s divorce hit him badly?”

“I wasn’t one of his buddies. But I guess it did. I know he had long sessions with the school counsellor.”

“Can you remember her name?”

“A Miss Currie.”

“Do you know if she is still at the school?”

“No.”

“Had Justin a particular friend?”

“I suppose John Finlay was close to him. He’s working here. He’s a sales rep. I’ll see if he’s around but he may be out on the road.”

He picked up the phone and asked if John Finlay was in the building. Then Agatha heard him say, “Send him to my office.”

Pilkington smiled at Agatha. “He’ll be here in a few minutes. Good chap, but likes his drink.”

When John Finlay arrived, Pilkington said, “You can use my office.” He made the introductions and explained that Agatha wanted to know about Justin.

John Finlay was tall and handsome with thick curly black hair and an engaging smile. “I don’t know if I can help you,” he said. “I haven’t seen Justin in ages. What’s he done? Got a jealous wife?”

“Nothing like that,” said Agatha, reflecting that the very name “private detective” immediately made most people think of divorce. “I’m interested in Justin’s prep school days, particularly his reaction to his father’s divorce.”

“It hit him hard. He loathed his stepmother. Said she made his life hell, always sneering at him when she wasn’t calling his father a waste of space. He was devoted to his father. He wanted to go on to Ratchett, the public school, but he did badly in the exams. His teachers intervened and managed to get him a place at Mircester High School, which is a state school. I remember now. There was a fire at the school in his final year and someone had seen him near the school on that night, but his girlfriend, Sadie Broody, stepped up and said he had been with her all night.”

“Do you know where I can find Sarah Broody?”

“Haven’t the faintest idea. What’s this all about?”

“Nothing serious. Just checking up on something which hasn’t got much to do with Justin. Thank you for your time.”

When Agatha had left, Finlay was joined by Pilkington. They stood at the window and watched Agatha cross the car park and get into her car. “I like Justin,” said John Finlay. “Might see if I can look him up and tell him that some detective has been asking questions about him. I mean, it was his stepmother who was murdered. Is that what she’s investigating?”

*

Broody was not a common name and Agatha found an address for an S. Broody. Her flat was near Toni’s. She rang the bell but there was no reply. By asking the neighbours, she learned that Sarah sold cosmetics at Jankers, Mircester’s most expensive store.