The Glass Room (Vera Stanhope 5)

Joanna Tobin and Jack Devanney are just neighbours.’
    And that was all it had taken for Mason to confirm her place in the investigation. At the end of the interview he stood up and shook her hand. ‘Thanks for keeping me informed,’ he said. ‘Good luck.’
    Back in the Writers’ House, Vera thought they’d need it. It seemed that many of the people there with the opportunity to commit the murder had disliked Tony Ferdinand, but she had no sense yet of why anyone should choose this particular time and place to do it. She arrived just as Winterton’s lecture had started. She could have told them her own stories about balls-ups at crime scenes, and had been tempted to put in her two penn’orth, but had seen that would hardly be professional. When the talk was over and the residents were preparing for dinner she took Ashworth across the yard and into the chapel.
    ‘What did you make of Winterton, then?’
    ‘He had opportunity,’ Joe said. ‘I don’t see how he could have motive. He’s never moved in literary circles. He only retired from the job twelve months ago.’
    ‘What’s he doing here then? Police pension is better than it was, but you’d not think he’d have the spare cash for this sort of jaunt. Have you seen the fees? Or did he get one of those bursaries?’ Vera wondered briefly what she’d do when she retired. She saw herself in Hector’s house, too fat and unfit to get out, watching daytime telly and drinking beer for breakfast. Then the hippy-dippy neighbours would be her only link to the outside world. Maybe after all she had more of a vested interest in Joanna’s innocence than anyone realized.
    ‘No, he applied for a bursary, but he didn’t get one. I get the impression his writing’s not up to much.’
    ‘So maybe he had a reason for killing Tony Ferdinand and he came here specially to do it. He used the course as a cover.’
    ‘Yeah,’ Joe said. ‘And that’s a piggy I can see floating past the window.’
    Vera smiled. She liked it when Joe stood up to her, as long as he didn’t do it too often. ‘He’d have the knowledge about how an investigation works. He’d understand enough to pull the stunt with the knives.’
    ‘But he wouldn’t have got it wrong, would he?’ Joe said. ‘He’d have made sure the right knife was in Joanna’s possession.’
    ‘So he would.’ Vera was feeling hungry now, but she didn’t want to eat her dinner in front of a party of suspects. Let Mark Winterton play the performing cop for them.
    ‘I was thinking Winterton might be useful,’ Joe said. ‘An insider. They’ll say things to him that they wouldn’t say to us.’
    ‘He’s a suspect,’ Vera said sharply. ‘A witness, at the very least. Sometimes you have to keep your distance.’ She saw it was on the tip of Joe’s tongue to make some comment about her own lack of objectivity . Instead he looked at his watch.
    ‘I should get home. If I don’t see the kids before they go to bed tonight, they’ll forget what I look like.’
    ‘I was going to talk to Joanna Tobin,’ she said. ‘Now that she’s had a while to think about things and we know what questions we want to ask. I can’t do that on my own. But no problem, of course. Your family has to come first, Joe, I understand that. I’ll ask Holly if she can come along. She could do with the practice. I might get her to take the lead. What do you think?’ Vera smiled sweetly. Joe Ashworth would know exactly what she was playing at. There was no love lost between Holly and Joe, and he wouldn’t want the bright young lass to take credit for any information gained in the interview. Vera lifted up the canvas shopping bag that did as a briefcase, a sign that she needed a decision.
    ‘The wife’ll kill me.’
    ‘Like I said, pet, no pressure. Holly could use the experience. You get an early night.’ But she knew now that she had him hooked.
    ‘I’ll do it.’
    Vera beamed. ‘Champion,’ she said. ‘There’s a casserole I made a couple of days ago when I was feeling domestic. I get the urge sometimes, but it soon passes. We’ll have a bite to eat before we talk to the dippy hippies, shall we? I can’t concentrate when I’ve got an empty stomach.’
    ‘And you’ll let me lead the interview?’
    ‘Of course, bonny lad. It’s only right. We can’t compromise the inquiry.’
    The house was cold and Vera put a match to the fire. From the kitchen, heating up the chicken casserole and sticking a couple of jacket