Page 55 of The Mercy Chair

‘Nothing. Where did you go after the allotment?’

‘I walked to the Dog and Gun and had the ox-cheek ragu. They will be able to vouch for me.’

‘That’s very specific.’

‘I’ve had ox-cheek ragu every night this week.’

‘What time did you leave?’

‘Kicking out time. I don’t wear a watch any more, but I think it will have been around half eleven.’

It wasn’t a cast-iron alibi, but it didn’t seem manufactured either. Poe was always suspicious when suspects had alibis that covered the entire crime window. The all-night poker game, the party with shady guests; they stank of deception. A night in the pub two nights ago would be easy to check.

‘I understand you and Cornelius had a big falling out?’

‘Did we?’

‘Your records at the Children of Job have been expunged. We were there this morning and no one mentioned you. And while living there is hardly the lap of luxury, it has to be better than this . . .’ – Poe wanted to say hovel but didn’t – ‘. . . place.’

‘And from that you got there was a falling out?’

‘If you were there for as long as we think you were, your faith must have been very strong,’ Poe said. ‘And yet, here we are in your home, and there isn’t a cross on the wall or a Bible on your coffee table. And though you might look like a hobo-Jesus, I don’t believe that’s intentional. I think you look the way you do because of neglect.’

‘No offence taken.’

‘I’m investigating a murder; I don’t care if I offend you.’ Poe sighed, aware he wasn’t getting anywhere. ‘Tell me what happened, Mr Cobb. You didn’t only lose a friendship; you lost your faith as well. What did you and Cornelius Green fall out over?’

‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ Cobb said. ‘I was friends with Cornelius, but we grew apart. I left the Children of Job fifteen or so years ago because it was the right time for me to do so. Therewasno falling out, Sergeant Poe. And I didn’t lose my faith, I just practise it differently now.’

‘People aren’t expunged from existence simply because they grew apart, Mr Cobb. What is it you aren’t telling me? And what were these courses that stopped?’

Cobb’s eyes, dead until now, sparked into life. ‘Unless you’re here to arrest me, please leave my house,’ he said, his voice suddenly cold and hard. He spun and left the room, his dressing gown flaring up like he was Marilyn Monroe standing over a New York air vent. He slammed the door behind him, leaving them alone in his front room.

‘The truth’s a swamp bubble, Mr Cobb,’ Poe called out after him. ‘It doesn’t matter how thick the mud is; eventually it’ll work its way to the top.’

Judging by the clang of pots and pans, Cobb had stomped off into his kitchen.

‘Did you see that when he turned round?’ Poe said.

Bradshaw nodded. ‘He wasn’t wearing any underpants.’

‘Also, his lower back was covered in alphanumeric tattoos.’

Chapter 48

‘We have course records going back twenty years,’ Poe said, as soon as they were back on the road, ‘and there’s nothing that was running then that isn’t running now. But the note under the windscreen wiper was clear: we were to ask Cobb why the courses stopped. What are we missing?’

‘Perhaps the person who left the note was wrong, Poe,’ Bradshaw said. ‘Perhaps there was a course they onlythoughthad stopped.’

Poe considered that carefully. ‘I don’t think so, Tilly. We were annoying him with all those questions about Cornelius, but he didn’t boot us out until I asked about the cancelled courses. And Cobb was obviously lying when he said he and Cornelius Green hadn’t fallen out; no one can fake hate like that. Everything in the note has been accurate so far, so we have to assume the Children of Job were running courses we don’t know about.’

‘Perhaps the answer is in Cornelius’s tattoos, Poe,’ Bradshaw said.

‘Perhaps,’ Poe agreed.

‘I can try to decipher them if you want. I don’t think I have anywhere near enough data though. They could be the equivalent of a one-time pad and they’re theoretically secure. With a pre-shared key that is only used once, the alphanumerical tattoos cannot be cracked, even with unlimited computing power.’

‘What if you had Israel Cobb’s tattoos as well, Tilly?’ Linus asked. ‘Assuming it’s not a one-time pad, would you have enough data?’

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