A Double Coffin

Then Coffin did say, he had to ask it: ‘Are you sure this is real?’ Later, he might take Bradshaw aside, and say: Is the old man mad?

‘Oh, I am sure. My mother asked me to come with her to bury the body … I helped her put the woman in the pram, and I pushed it through the streets, and then I helped Mother bury her.’

Janet came in with the bottle of whisky, and handed drinks all round, taking one herself. She then withdrew, no doubt to listen at the door again.

Coffin received his drink gratefully, downing it in one long gulp. He felt steadier then, and able to move on.

‘So where do I come in?’

Dick Lavender said gravely: ‘I have had this on my conscience this long while.’

Did it worry your mother? Coffin wanted to ask, but he felt the answer would be that it hadn’t. She had died happy and content.

‘I want you to find out the names of the murdered women. It will be in the police records. I can give you the years.’

‘It’s been a long while, sir,’ said Coffin gently. ‘Why not leave it?’

Lavender went on, as if Coffin had not spoken: ‘All the deaths were in Spinnergate or East Hythe, that should help you. The police investigation got nowhere, I can remember my mother worrying, but time went on and nothing happened.’

‘You mean your father was never named?’ Coffin was blunt.

This too was ignored. ‘If you could find out the names and if there are any living relatives of the dead women, then I would try to do something by way of reparation. Anonymously, of course.’

I was right, I am going to be a time wanderer. Coffin thought, feeling dazed. Wandering around in the past. If I am not careful I shall never get out.

‘And I would like the woman my mother and I buried to be dug up and given a proper funeral.’

Coffin was silent. ‘Let me think this over, sir. I can see difficulties.’ Finding the grave, digging up the corpse, the holding of an inquest … the press would be there like vultures.

‘I can tell you where we buried her. I remember very clearly.’ Dick Lavender nodded at Bradshaw. ‘Get us the map. Jack.’

‘He knows all about it?’ Coffin looked at Bradshaw’s retreating back.

‘Of course, I trust him. He is writing my life, but he will only put in what I tell him to.’

I wonder. Coffin thought.

‘And Janet?’ Who listens at doors.

‘She won’t get a penny from my will unless she has been discreet.’

‘And you trust me?’

Dick Lavender gave him the famous smile, the one that had ravished the hearts of those beauties long ago. ‘I do.’ He bent his head in a kind of noble obeisance.

Oh, you charmer, you, thought Coffin. But what is it really all about? He had the distinct feeling of being led into a maze.

‘I can’t guarantee either success or complete secrecy. Just not on, sir.’

Bradshaw appeared with a map of the district, which he handed to his employer.

‘You may remember where you and your mother buried the body all those years ago, but there has been a war and a lot of rebuilding … the spot may have a tower block sitting on it, or a factory.’

‘We think not,’ said Bradshaw. ‘It was open ground then, and it still is so.’

‘It was the old churchyard, even then unused, hard by St Luke’s Church.’ Dick Lavender smiled again. ‘You will know it.’

‘Oh, I do, I do.’ One by one, facts were slotting into place. Not only was he Chief Commander of the police of the Second City, and thus in the first position to investigate a series of murders long ago, even if the investigation came to no resolution, but he also lived in the tower of the old St Luke’s Church. Former St Luke’s Church, he corrected himself. ‘It is a small public park now, over the road.’ The road, he supposed, was relatively new but before his time.

‘I have seen your wife act,’ said Dick Lavender. ‘Not recently, of course. I no longer go out. A beautiful lady.’

‘I think so …’ Coffin gathered himself together. ‘Sir, as I said before, all this was a long time ago … Why not let it rest?’

Dick Lavender looked at Bradshaw, and gave a small nod.

Jack sighed. ‘A young woman, a freelance journalist has been around, asking questions … she may have flushed something up … If so, she will certainly publish.’

‘I must be there first,’ said Dick Lavender. ‘I value what reputation I have.’ He read the expression on Coffin’s face accurately. ‘But it is mostly conscience. I have enough in my life to regret. Of this particular crime, I want to be relieved.’

‘Your father and your mother are dead … they were the guilty ones, you were young, not to be blamed.’

‘I do blame myself,’ said the old man simply. ‘Guilt grows on you with age like a mould. You will find that out for yourself one day. I do not want to die covered in mould.’

Coffin stood up. ‘I will think about it, sir, and come back to you when I have made up my mind.’

Dick Lavender bowed his head again, in dignified acceptance. ‘Please let me know.’ He leaned back in his big chair, closing his eyes. ‘Jack, show the Chief Commander out … I thank you for coming.’

Bradshaw took Coffin to the door, avoiding Janet who was hovering, then took the lift down with him.

As soon as they were in the lift. Coffin said: ‘Is this all serious?’

‘You know it is.’

Coffin was silent till they came to the ground floor and the lift door opened. He walked out into the air, taking in deep breaths. ‘I don’t know, I don’t know.’

He turned to Bradshaw. ‘Is he mad, or senile?’

‘No, not mad …’ He gave a slight smile. ‘He always remembers he was PM, but sometimes I have thought he believed he was Mr Gladstone, going out to save fallen women … the story he told you has some relevance there. And once he seemed to act as if he was Pitt the Younger, taking on Napoleon Bonaparte.’

Coffin digested the comment, half satirically meant and the more interesting for that. ‘This young journalist … she really exists?’

‘She does. No one invented her.’

‘Then let me have her name and any address you have.’

Bradshaw nodded. ‘I will send round all I have. There isn’t much. Marjorie Wardy was the name she used when she came round, may be a pseudonym.’

‘Let me have what you’ve got. I will let you know what I decide.’