Page 42 of The Killer’s Mark

‘I am.’

‘Why do I find that hard to believe?’

Poe shrugged. ‘You can confirm it with a single phone call.’

Greene didn’t press it, which meant he’d already checked Poe out. ‘And now you’re a private investigator?’

‘I am.’

‘Bit of a fall from grace.’

‘That’s one way of looking at it.’

‘What was the meeting about?’

‘He wouldn’t say.’

‘Yet you got off the train at Warrington and came straight back.’

Poe shrugged. ‘What can I tell you? I’m whimsical.’

Greene was silent for a few moments. Then he said, ‘No, what you are is under arrest.’

Chapter 35

Poe was arrested for the murder of Mark Buckby. A holding arrest. It meant they could take him back to a police station. Question him. They could keep him without charge for twenty-four hours. Longer if they could convince some sucker they needed more time. He was taken to Walworth. The custody sergeant asked who he wanted informed of his arrest.

‘My wife,’ Poe said.

‘You got her number?’

‘You got my mobile?’

‘No.’

‘Then I don’t have her number.’ Poe cursed what the convenience of electronic devices had done to his short-term memory. ‘What’s the time?’ he asked.

‘A little after five.’

He did some mental gymnastics. Bradshaw would be back at Cowie House now. She’d be waiting for his call. She’d want to discuss the crime-scene videos he’d sent her. He’d asked her not to open them until he got back, and he knew she wouldn’t have. ‘Do you have a Yellow Pages?’

‘What are you, Amish? Of course I don’t have a Yellow Pages.’

‘Can you find a building in Carlisle called Cowie House on your computer then? If you can, dial the number.’

The sergeant did. Monica Costelloe answered. Poe asked her to put him through to Bradshaw.

‘Hi, Tilly,’ he said. ‘I can’t explain right now, but I need you to listen and not ask any questions.’

‘Whatever for, Poe?’

‘That’s a question, Tilly.’

‘Sorry, Poe. Are you OK?’

‘I’m fine. But Mark Buckby isn’t. By the time I got to Elephant and Castle, he’d been murdered.’

Poe heard her typing. Making notes. ‘Go on,’ she said. No nonsense, all business.