Free Gently Go Man by Alan Hunter Page B

throat, I ain’t never likely to forget them. The screws describe them. They show me photographs. They make it like a crime if I don’t knowthem. Maybe I’d remember some of the others if you kept telling me who they were.’
    He grabbed up some chocolates, neglected to polish them, shoved them roughly into the box.
    ‘Did you see them together,’ Gently asked, ‘any time during the evening?’
    ‘I run this show,’ Leach said. ‘Do you think I’ve got time to see who’s with who?’
    ‘Did you?’ Gently asked.
    Leach leaned on the rostrum. ‘Whose been talking?’ he said.
    ‘People do talk,’ Gently said. ‘Did you see Lister and Elton together?’
    Leach kept leaning. He was thoughtful. ‘Maybe I did see something,’ he said.
    ‘Something you didn’t tell us before?’
    ‘Yeah,’ Leach said. ‘Something I didn’t tell you.’
    ‘Why didn’t you tell us?’ Gently asked.
    ‘Reasons,’ Leach said. ‘I had my reasons. Maybe I could see it looked bad for Elton. I don’t like sicking the screws on a customer.’
    ‘Even though he might be a murderer?’ Gently asked.
    ‘Elton ain’t no murderer,’ Leach said. ‘But that was the way the screws were looking at it, that he’d got a grudge and knocked Lister off.’
    ‘What was it you didn’t tell us?’ Gently asked.
    ‘Well,’ Leach said, ‘I broke up a row they was having.’
    He licked his lips, flashed a probing look at Gently. Gently wasn’t looking at Leach at all. He’d just noticed that the round mirror which hung on the half-landingof the stairs reflected another, higher, mirror, which gave a view down the bar. It was neat. He could see the blonde paying change into the till.
    ‘Here in the milk bar?’ he said.
    ‘Yeah,’ Leach said. ‘That’s right.’
    ‘Nobody else mentioned it,’ Gently said.
    ‘Well,’ Leach said, ‘it was in the toilet.’
    ‘Tell me what happened,’ Gently said.
    ‘Yeah, in the toilet,’ Leach said. ‘About ten o’clock, I think it was, the band was having its refreshments. So I went into the toilet and there were these charlies shouting the odds. Elton was going to knock Lister’s block off, he’d swiped his girlfriend or some caper. I could see he meant it too, he’d got an ugly look in his eye. So I broke it up. I give them the warning. Round about ten o’clock, that was.’
    ‘Nice of you to remember,’ Gently said.
    ‘Yeah,’ Leach said. He put the lid on the box.
    ‘We might never have known about it,’ Gently said.
    Leach tied on the ribbon, placed the box on the pile.
    Another customer had come into the bar upstairs, a dingy old man with the appearance of a pensioner. He seemed to be having quite a conversation with the blonde whose doubtfulness was expressed by her attitude and gestures. Leach looked at the mirrors, then at Gently. He patted the box, rearranged the ribbon.
    ‘That’s just a dodge of mine,’ he said. ‘Got to keep an eye on the till when you’re down here.’
    ‘On your customers, too,’ Gently said.
    ‘Well,’ Leach said, ‘they don’t all come from Mayfair.’
    Now the old man had produced an envelope and handed it to the blonde. The blonde turned her back to open it, then nodded, glancing at the cellar entrance. She reached underneath the bar.
    ‘Now see this mike—’ Leach began, moving.
    ‘Hold it.’ Gently pushed him aside.
    What the blonde had handed over was a box of chocolates.
    Gently was up on the instant, ran down the cellar and up the stairs. Leach came bolting after him shouting, trying to catch hold of his jacket. The old man was opening the door to go out. He stopped in surprise as the two men rushed in. Gently grabbed the box away from him, planted himself panting against the door. The blonde chose the moment to let go a scream. A customer knocked over a chair as he jumped to his feet.
    ‘You give that back to him!’ Leach was shouting. ‘You give that back to him, or I’ll do you!’
    ‘Get over there,’ Gently