Inspector Morse 13 The Remorseful Day

Isn't there blood everywhere?  Blood all over your clothes?

Yes.

Haven't you got to change your clothes then ?

Yes.

So you couldn't just leave the car anywhere, could you?  You couldn't walk

too far all covered in blood?

No.

So where would you go ?

I'd go home, like as not.

Before, or after, you'd ditched the car?

Before, probably, although .  .  .

Go on!

Might be a bit risky.  Neighbours would probably notice the strange car.

Might even notice the blood-stained clothes.

What's the alternative for you?

Well, get someone to meet me somewhere and bring me a full change of clothes.

Where would you meet?

Anywhere.  How do I know.  Except.  .  .

Go on!

If we met in a lay-by, say, I'd have to leave the car there, wouldn't I?  I

couldn't get back in and get the new clothes 139

 almost as blood-stained as

the old.  And the car would pretty certainly get reported almost immediately.

So .  So?

So I'd have somebody to meet me.  Friend?  Wife, perhaps?

Where do you meet?

I don't know.

You do know.  You know the Chesterton story I've often mentioned it.

Remind me.

Where do you hide a leaf?

Ah, yes.  In the forest.

Where do you hide a pebble?

On the shore.

Where do you hide a corpse?

On the battle-field.

And where do you hide a car?

In a car park.

Which car park?

I don't know.

The bigger the better?

Yes.

In Oxford?

Probably.

How many car parks are there in Oxford?

Dozens.

If you'd committed a murder near Oxford what would you want to do above all?

Get the hell out of the place.

How?

Drive away.

You haven't got a car now, have you ?

Bus?

Where's the bus station?  , Gloucester Green, l Isn't there a car park

opposite?

Yes.

And you could catch a train?

Yes.

Isn't there a station car park opposite?

Yes .  As he drove down towards Oxford, Lewis felt pleased with himself, and

just after he'd negotiated the Cutteslowe round- about he was tempted to call

in on Morse.  But he put the temptation behind him.  He felt fairly certain

that the great man would be asleep.

And on this occasion he was right.

Instead, he decided to continue the Socratic dialogue, though this time

installing himself as Chief Inquisitor, and making the far bolder hypothesis

that if only the blurred outlines of the anonymous murderer could be adjusted

more sharply, it was Harry Repp who would come into focus.

Don't you think it would be easier, sir, for Debbie Richard- son to take a

change of clothes to him?  Wouldn't it be dangerous for him to go out to

Lower Swinstead?

/ don't know, Lewis.

I asked you two questions.

/ don't know.  I don't know.

What do you think Harry Repp did?

I just don't know.

What about the car?  Where's that?  Come on!  Back your hunch!

The car?  Oh, I know where the car is, Lewis.  It's parked at the back of

Oxford Railway Station.

141

chapter thirty-one His voice was angry: "What time do you call thisf She

stood penitently on the doorstep: " Sorry!  "

"Where* we you parked?"  (It was the decade's commonest question in Oxford.

) "Exactly.  I just couldn't find a parking space anywhere."

(Terry Benczik, Still Life with Absinthe) lucky lewis!

He was walking up the steps to the station when the auto- made doors opened

in front of him, and Sergeant Dick Evans of the British Transport Police came

towards him.  Old friends, they greeted each other with appropriate

cordiality.

"Know anything about a stolen car R456 LJB?"

"Parked here?"

"Dunno," Lewis admitted.

"Well, not as far as I know.  I've been in Reading all day, though.

Just got back.  Bob Mitcheli'd know, perhaps.  He's on duty here.  "

"I'd better go and wake him up then."

"He's not in the office.  I looked in a couple of minutes ago - door's

locked.  Probably called out on some trouble some- where.  Saturday!

Football yobos and all that.  "

"But it's not the football season," protested Lewis.

"What's that got to do with it?"

"You straight off home?"

"Well, yes.  It's getting late.  If I can do anything to help an

old mucker though .  .  .  What's the trouble?  "

Lewis told him; and the two men walked down the steps and across to the

station car park.

It had been more than a year since Lewis had visited the station complex; and

he was immediately surprised to find that the previously fairly extensive

car-parking space had been drastically reduced: the northern section had been

taken over by

"Another Prestigious Development' - a series of Victorian- style town-houses,

built in attractive terra-cotta bricks, with white stuccoed lower storeys;

'spacious and luxurious' as the site-board guaranteed.

"Year or two back," volunteered Evans, Td've parked up there if I'd wanted to

keep out of sight for a while.  Used to be a bit dark and creepy late at

night, if you got back late from Paddington on the milk float.  "

Lewis nodded, but without comment.  Late-night returns from concerts and

operas in the capital had never figured large in the lifestyle of the

Lewises.  But now, in sunny daylight, the area seemed wholly benign, and

still almost packed with cars marshalled there in semi-legitimate rows.

"What if you come," asked Lewis, 'and you just can't find a space?  "