Sidney Chambers and The Shadow of Death (The Grantchester Mysteries)

want to touch.’
     
    Inspector Keating made it clear to his friend that this was the last time he was prepared to go out on a limb and help. It was only because he was fond of Amanda, and recognised that she could, potentially, curb Sidney’s more extreme flights of fancy, that he had agreed to step in and provide two cars and six men on what could turn out to be an embarrassingly wild goose chase.
    Sidney had already made enquiries in the area, and it was acknowledged that Wilkie Phillips had always been strange, that he had seldom been seen since the death of his mother and that the local vicar had given up trying to pay any pastoral visits since it had been made clear that they would not be welcome. The local shopkeeper said that Phillips came as little as possible but that, when he did so, he stocked up on condensed milk, salmon paste, bread and bananas. He seemed to eat little else. Whether this made him dangerous, or merely eccentric, was another matter.
    Keating asked his men to park out of sight and approach the house across the neighbouring fields. Sidney was to try to make a normal visit once more and, should there be any problems, then the police would be on hand to give immediate assistance. If there were no reply at the door, Keating would issue a warning with a loudhailer. Any further silence would result in them entering the premises and retrieving Amanda by force. He assured Sidney that they would not leave the area without her.
     
    For a short while Amanda had been able to sleep but when she woke she found that her hands and feet had been bound. She wondered if she had been drugged, or if she was still dreaming. Wilkie Phillips was in the lavatory and he was sitting on a stool. He had been watching her.
    ‘I hope you had a nice rest, my dear. I did so enjoy last night. Wasn’t I good to leave you alone? I was so tempted to be naughty.’
    ‘What have you done to me?’
    ‘I thought we might play a little game.’
    ‘How did you do this?’
    ‘You were tired, and so sleepy, and I just tampered with the water tank. Only a little, you see, but just enough to send you off. And then I was very careful. You didn’t notice me at all. But perhaps all this is a bit tight for you.’
    Wilkie Phillips knelt down beside Amanda and began to unbutton her blouse. The speed of his breathing increased. His breath smelled of stale banana and fish paste. As he reached the lower buttons Amanda dipped her head and bit his hand. Phillips leaped back. His hand shook with the pain. She had drawn blood.
    His face contorted but his voice remained calm. ‘That was a mistake, my dear.’
    Amanda noticed a toolbox on the floor by the door. Phillips crossed to it and pulled out some black gaffer tape. He tore off a length and returned. He pulled back her hair and gagged her. He forced her on to her front, lifted up her blouse and undid her bra at the back. He turned her over and pulled the bra away. He leaned forward, over Amanda, but as he did so she twisted her head away to gain momentum and used her forehead to hit him in the face. Phillips’s nose began to bleed. He checked the blood. There was a momentary pause. Then Amanda saw his fist coming towards her face.
    All was darkness.
     
    The police took up their positions. Sidney approached the front door and rang the bell repeatedly. There was no reply. He walked round the outside of the house, banging on every window and every shutter. It was impossible to see inside until he reached the barred lavatory at the rear of the house. He looked in and saw Amanda half-dressed, bound, gagged and unconscious on the floor. He called out her name. He heard a noise from inside and saw the shadow of a man move across a doorway. He ran back to the front door and waved Keating forward. He shouted out what he had seen. The officers were summoned. The door was broken down. Two men ran to the back of the house. They found the lavatory unlocked. They knelt down beside Amanda. She was still breathing.
    Police officers searched the house. When they came to the snug they found Wilkie Phillips standing before the painting of Anne Boleyn. He was shouting and swearing and blaming his mother for his impotence.
    He was also naked.
     
    As he sat by Amanda’s bed in Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Sidney realised that he had never seen her without make-up. He knew that she would not want him to see her like this, bruised and vulnerable, that she always liked to look at her best; but now that she