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Back Harbour Street Save as PDF
Chapters (47)
  1. Contents
  2. Chapter One
  3. Chapter Two
  4. Chapter Three
  5. Chapter Four
  6. Chapter Five
  7. Chapter Six
  8. Chapter Seven
  9. Chapter Eight
  10. Chapter Nine
  11. Chapter Ten
  12. Chapter Eleven
  13. Chapter Twelve
  14. Chapter Thirteen
  15. Chapter Fourteen
  16. Chapter Fifteen
  17. Chapter Sixteen
  18. Chapter Seventeen
  19. Chapter Eighteen
  20. Chapter Nineteen
  21. Chapter Twenty
  22. Chapter Twenty-One
  23. Chapter Twenty-Two
  24. Chapter Twenty-Three
  25. Chapter Twenty-Four
  26. Chapter Twenty-Five
  27. Chapter Twenty-Six
  28. Chapter Twenty-Seven
  29. Chapter Twenty-Eight
  30. Chapter Twenty-Nine
  31. Chapter Thirty
  32. Chapter Thirty-One
  33. Chapter Thirty-Two
  34. Chapter Thirty-Three
  35. Chapter Thirty-Four
  36. Chapter Thirty-Five
  37. Chapter Thirty-Six
  38. Chapter Thirty-Seven
  39. Chapter Thirty-Eight
  40. Chapter Thirty-Nine
  41. Chapter Forty
  42. Chapter Forty-One
  43. Chapter Forty-Two
  44. Chapter Forty-Three
  45. Chapter Forty-Four
  46. Chapter Forty-Five
  47. About the Author

‘And how did that work?’ Vera asked. ‘The invitation, I mean. Did you just phone him up? I’m pretending to the world that I’m still happily married. Give me a bed for the night so that I can hide.’

‘There was no need to phone him.’ Enderby looked up at her. ‘He was here in Harbour Street, the afternoon I arrived. The afternoon of the snow.’

The afternoon of Margaret’s murder. There was a pause. Vera wondered if he understood the implication of his words. Perhaps he was deliberately pointing them towards Craggs as a possible suspect. Enderby was beginning to irritate. He was slippery and selfish.

The man continued. ‘Mike was walking up the road to collect his car when I drove up. He asked me how I was. I said: “Shit actually.” He must have realized that I was pretty desperate. He took me to the Coble and bought me a drink and said I could stay with him any time.’ He gave a brief, brittle smile. ‘I didn’t fancy it much. I wasn’t really in the mood for happy families. But I didn’t want to explain to Kate that Diana had left me.’ He paused and Vera sensed that another confession was on its way. ‘I’ve always had a bit of a crush on Kate, actually. I was about to declare my love when Stuart appeared on the scene. I never could get my timing right. So I asked the Prof. if I could stay the night with him when I was supposed to be in Scotland.’

Enderby looked up as if he was expecting another question, a comment at least, but Vera was thinking about Professor Mike Craggs, who’d known Margaret, who’d drunk occasionally in the Coble and so would have known Dee Robson. They’d assumed that he’d driven straight home when he left Malcolm Kerr on the afternoon of the first murder. Certainly that was the impression he’d given to Holly when she’d spoken to him at the Dove Laboratory in Cullercoats. So what was the man doing in Harbour Street later the same day? How had he spent the intervening hours?

‘You had a jolly evening, did you?’ Vera said. ‘That night in the Tyne Valley, when we thought you were selling books in Scotland. You and the Prof. and his wife?’ She’d never quite trusted happy families. Joe always thought her cynical. He still kept the faith.