Christmas Nights

‘A Mrs Sheila Rayner. She was the foreman of the jury, if you remember,’ he answered, looking at her curiously.

‘Yes, of course.’ Paris’s heart started to beat again, relief to flow through her veins and bring the colour back to her cheeks. ‘That—that’s terrible. I’m so sorry.’ Getting to her feet, she turned away. ‘Would you like a drink?’ Both men refused but she topped up her own glass and took a long swallow before she faced them again. ‘I didn’t know any of this. I’ve been away, in Hungary, and it wasn’t easy to get English papers.’

‘We know,’ the inspector said with a small smile. ‘We’ve been calling here hoping to find you for a week or so.’

‘To warn me?’

‘Partly that, but also because we’re taking everyone who was involved in the trial to a place of safety. We don’t want anyone else being hurt while we catch Ramsay again.’

Paris’s eyes widened. ‘You’re taking everyone involved? Even the jurors?’

‘Everyone,’ he confirmed. ‘The judge, barristers, witnesses, jurors, even the clerk of the court.’

‘But surely the jurors’ names were never stated in court; how could Ramsay possibly know who we are?’

A grim look came into the policeman’s eyes. ‘Unfortunately the records of the case have disappeared from the archives; we can only assume that Ramsay or an accomplice must have taken them. And if he has—’ he shrugged expressively ‘—then Ramsay knows the names and addresses of everyone connected with the trial.’

‘Don’t you have any leads?’

‘We’re pursuing the matter with the utmost urgency, of course,’ he told her, in what was plainly a stock police phrase for saying that they didn’t have a clue. ‘But he’s already got one of you jurors and I’m not taking any chances. So if you’ll pack a suitcase we’ll get you to a place of safety tonight.’

Paris stared at him unseeingly, her mind whirling as she tried to take in the implications, decide what to do. ‘Are all the people being taken to the same place or are you splitting them up?’

‘No, you’ll all be together. It makes it easier to protect you that way.’

That, of course, made her mind up fast. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said firmly, ‘but I can’t possibly go. Please don’t worry about me. I shall be quite safe here and I—’

‘You will not be safe.’

He spoke sharply but Paris didn’t hesitate before saying, ‘But of course I will. My old address may be on the records but I’ve moved three times since then. And I’m ex-directory. No one could possibly trace me.’

‘We did,’ the second policeman, a sergeant, pointed out with some irony.

‘Yes, but you’re the police; with all the resources you have you’re supposed to find people.’

‘You’re on the electoral roll for this district. Anyone can walk into a library, look at it, and find your address. With a Christian name like yours it was simple.’

Paris bit her lip, not for the first time blaming her parents for giving her such a distinctive name. But she persisted, saying, ‘I’m sorry, but I refuse to go. You can’t make me.’

‘No, we can’t,’ the inspector agreed. ‘Is it because you’ve made plans for Christmas, or are you having guests to stay?’

‘No,’ she admitted. ‘But I’ve already been away for over a month; there’s loads I have to catch up on, at work as well as here.’

‘I’ve already spoken to your employers and they quite understand the situation. They told me to tell you that they don’t expect to see you again until Ramsay is caught.’

She gasped, amazed that the police had gone to those lengths before they’d even talked to her. ‘I’ve been invited to several parties,’ she said doggedly. ‘If I didn’t go to them my friends would worry and—’

‘In that case you can phone and tell them you’ve changed your plans. Tell them you’ve had an unexpected invitation and that you’ll be going away for Christmas instead.’

‘But…’ She sought for a convincing argument. ‘But it could take weeks, months even, before you catch him. I can’t possibly be away for that length of time.’

‘We don’t anticipate it taking anything like that long, miss.’

‘Are you saying that you’re close to catching Ramsay?’

‘I don’t want to commit myself, but just take my word for it that it won’t be for very long.’

Paris didn’t believe him but there was no point in saying so. Finishing her drink, she shoved her hands into the pockets of her jacket so that the men couldn’t see the way they tightened into fists. ‘Look,’ she began, then stopped, not wanting to say this. But there was no help for it—the policemen were so very determined. ‘There are reasons—very personal reasons—why I can’t possibly go with you.’

‘What reasons?’

‘They needn’t concern you,’ she snapped. ‘But I am not going.’

The middle-aged inspector, who looked as if he wouldn’t be sorry when retirement came along, gave her a tight-lipped look. ‘Very well, Miss Reid. In that case you leave me no choice.’

‘What do you mean?’ Paris asked warily.

‘If you won’t let us take you to a place of safety, then I shall have to give you police protection.’

To Paris that didn’t sound at all bad but his voice had had a threatening note in it, so she said, ‘Which means?’

‘A woman police officer will have to be with you at all times, day and night, and there will also be a male constable at your door. We will turn this place into a fortress,’ he threatened determinedly.

‘But my neighbours would hate that—and besides, there isn’t enough room here for two people to live,’ Paris protested.

‘No help for it, I’m afraid—if you’re going to be obstinate.’

He had deliberately made the conditions impossible to accept, she realised, and burst out on a desperate note, ‘Don’t people’s personal feelings matter to you?’

‘Not when their lives are in danger, no. I can’t let them matter,’ the inspector answered emphatically.

She was cornered, and hesitated, wondering whether to throw herself on his mercy and explain just why it was impossible for her to go. But a glance at the inspector’s set face, wearily patient but determined, made her decide it would be no use. He was too stolid to understand the trauma of seeing again an ex-lover, a man who had, quite literally, thrown her out of his life.

Clenching her fists till it hurt, Paris said, ‘Are the other people already at this safe place?’

‘Yes.’

‘All of them? All the jurors?’

His assessing eyes met hers. ‘All except the lady who was murdered, yes.’

Murdered. Such a dreadful word. It brought home to Paris for the first time the danger she was in. But she still said, ‘Please, I can’t go with—with all the others. I’ll go somewhere else, if you like, but not with them.’

He nodded, in no way surprised. ‘I see.’

She caught her breath, realising that there had been no need for any soul-searching; he already knew it all. ‘Yes, very likely you do,’ Paris said bitterly.

The inspector glanced at his colleague, hesitated, then said with a degree of sympathy that she hadn’t expected, and which confirmed his knowledge, ‘It probably won’t be for long, perhaps just a week or so, and then you’ll be able to come home. There will be a lot of people there, enough so you won’t be thrown together with anyone you don’t want to be with. You’ll have your own room and be as private as you like. But I’m sorry, I can’t arrange for somewhere else for you at this short notice. If it goes on for longer I might be able to arrange for you to go somewhere else after Christmas, though.’