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

exclusive. In the kitchen Mrs Maguire would move Dickens’s basket to wash the floor and attempt to mop the dog out of the way. Dickens would then dash round her back and give the ankle of his persecutor a playful nip. If successful, Sidney would then hear his housekeeper cry out: ‘Rabies. He’s given me rabies, Canon Chambers.’
    ‘Dickens is a puppy, Mrs Maguire.’
    ‘He’s a dog. And a ruddy big one too. What are you feeding him?’
    ‘Winalot.’
    ‘I don’t know how you can afford it.’
    ‘It’s not easy.’
    Mrs Maguire gave him one of her looks. ‘I should have a word with the butcher’s if I were you, Canon Chambers. I am sure Hector can give you some scraps. Especially now meat’s off ration.’
    ‘Miss Kendall says he needs more than scraps.’
    ‘Then why can’t Miss Kendall pay? After all, she brought him here.’
    ‘Amanda has other concerns.’
    ‘Then lucky her.’ Mrs Maguire began to walk up the stairs with a change of linen. ‘I notice she hasn’t paid a visit for a while.’
    Sidney tried to defend his friend. ‘She has her work at the National Gallery. She also has quite an active social life.’
    His housekeeper was already on to the next task. Even so, Sidney distinctly thought he could hear her mutter, ‘A bit too active if you ask me.’
    Sidney sat at his desk and tried to get on with his paperwork but found it even harder to concentrate on his clerical duties than he had done before. He could not get excited either by the annual scouts trip to Scarborough or by the plans for the upcoming summer fête, and they had still not found a suitably famous person to open it. He wondered if he could ask Gloria Dee. That would certainly liven things up a bit.
    He turned on the wireless and listened to the Light Programme, hoping that there might at least be some jazz to lighten his mood. He managed to find the Charlie Parker Quartet playing ‘Moose the Mooche’, but it made him feel uneasy. He knew that he was supposed to ‘get with’ this freer form of jazz and appreciate both its speed and artistry, but he could not find it relaxing. In fact, it made him rather tense. To make matters worse, Mrs Maguire was banging about upstairs, and Dickens was pawing at his shins, keen to get outside. Then the telephone rang.
    It was Inspector Keating and he was in no mood for chitchat. ‘I’ve been thinking,’ he began. ‘When are you next going to London?’
    Sidney reached for his pocket diary. ‘Tuesday, I think. There is a meeting of the Church Assembly.’
    ‘The what?’
    ‘Think of it as the Annual General Meeting of The Church of England.’
    ‘Never mind that. I’ve had an idea. Have you got any time?’
    ‘How long do you need?’
    ‘I thought you could look into Phil Johnson’s past: old cases, former crimes. We’ve got the details here, and I’m sending them round to you. They are as long as your arm but some of them are too sketchy. I was hoping you could do some digging around. There’s a newspaper library in Colindale. We’ve got the dates of the trials. You just need to see how they were reported at the time and whether any of the victims said anything; who gave interviews to the press, that kind of thing.’
    ‘You should get that new reporter from the local paper to do it.’
    ‘Helena Randall? I wouldn’t trust her as far as I could throw her. No, Sidney, it needs to be someone who is discreet, who can read between the lines and who knows about people. In short, Sidney, it needs to be you. Perhaps you could combine it with seeing Miss Kendall?’
    ‘I’m not so sure about that.’
    ‘Don’t be daft. I’ve given you a perfect excuse. And Gloria Dee is still playing. Take Miss Kendall as your cover story. I’ll even pay for the tickets. That lot are worth another look . . .’
    ‘They certainly are.’
    ‘Not for the music, Sidney. Because if Sam Morris didn’t do it, as you have suggested, then they, like everyone else, are suspects. We’re going to have to go back to the beginning and start all over again.’
    ‘So you want me to look for links?’
    ‘I do.’
    ‘In that case, I’ll need a list of the names of everyone who was in the room at the time.’
    ‘I’m sending you that too. But don’t let Williams catch you with it.’
    ‘I don’t have any intention of seeing him if I can help it.’
    ‘Make sure everything goes through me, Sidney, because if you want to save that boy you had better start making some connections.