Static on the line; an eight-beat pause. ‘How did it happen?’

‘He was hung from a tree.’

There was a longer silence on the line. ‘I see,’ Mayerlink said at last. There was a slight echo on his voice. ‘You think the allegations led to his murder?’

‘What would you say?’

‘I’m not a detective.’

But Rebus knew Mayerlink was lying: detection was exactly the role he’d chosen in life. A detective of history.

‘I need to talk to David Levy,’ Rebus said. ‘Do you have his address and phone number?’

‘He came to see you?’

‘You know he did.’

‘It’s not that simple with David. He doesn’t work for the Bureau.

He’s self-motivated. I ask him for help occasionally. Sometimes he helps, sometimes he doesn’t.’

‘But you do have some way of contacting him?’

It took Mayerlink a, full minute to come up with the details. An address in Sussex, plus telephone number.

‘Is David your number one suspect, Inspector?’

‘Why do you ask?’

‘I could tell you you’re barking up the wrong tree.’

‘The same tree Joseph Lintz swung from?’

‘Can you really see David Levy as a murderer, Inspector?’

Safari suit, walking stick. ‘It takes all sorts,’ Rebus said, putting down the phone.

He tried Levy’s number. It rang and rang. He gave it a couple of minutes, drank a coffee, tried again. Still no answer. He called British Telecom instead, explained what he needed, was finally put through to the right person.

‘My name’s Justine Graham, Inspector. How can I help?’

Rebus gave her Lintz’s details. ‘He used to get itemised bills, then he switched.’

He heard her fingers hammer a keyboard. ‘That’s right,’ she told him. ‘The customer asked for itemised billing to be discontinued.’

‘Did he say why?’

‘.No record of that. You don’t need to give an excuse, you know.’

‘When was this?’

‘A couple of months back. The customer had requested monthly billing several years previously.’

Monthly billing: because he was meticulous, kept his accounts by the month. A couple of months back - September the Lintz/ Linzstek story had blown up in the media. And, suddenly, he hadn’t wanted his phone calls to be a matter of record.

‘Do you have records of his calls, even the unitemised ones?’

‘Yes, we should have that information.’

‘I’d like to see a list. Everything from the first unitemised call through to this morning.’

‘Is that when he died - this morning?’

‘Yes.’

She was thoughtful. ‘Well, I’ll need to check.’

‘Please do. But remember, Ms Graham, this is a murder inquiry.’

‘Yes, of course.’

‘And your information could be absolutely crucial.’

‘I’m quite aware of -’

‘So if I could have that by the end of today ...?’

She hesitated. ‘I’m not sure I can promise that.’

‘And one last thing. The bill for September is missing. I’d like a copy of it. Let me give you the fax number here, speed things up.’

Rebus congratulated himself with another cup of coffee and a cigarette in the car park. She might or might not deliver later in the day, but he was confident she’d be trying her best. Wasn’t that all you could ask of anybody? Another call: Special Branch in London. He asked for Abernethy. ‘I’ll just put you through.’