Page 71 of The Chapel of Bones

Baker gave a bitter laugh. ‘Those weren’t their real names. The two of them were in a world of their own. Hello clouds, hello lambs. Hippies without a care in the world. They kept themselves to themselves.’

‘What was their relationship with Carlo Lanzani?’

‘As far as I know, they didn’t have one. They kept to their own part of the house. Rarely saw them.’

‘What happened to them?’

‘No idea. For all I know, they’re now living the suburban dream. Nine-to-five jobs and two-point-four kids. People sell out. I’ve seen it time and time again. The world grinds people down.’ He gave the two detectives a look of pure disdain. ‘Like you. Servants of the oppressive state.’

‘So it was just the four of you living at St Julian’s?’

‘That’s right. I think there used to be more, but when I was there it was only four.’

‘This was in May 2011, just before the house was sold to a Timothy Fontescue-Burns?’

‘Was that his name? Yeah. It must have been around then.’

‘Was any building work carried out in the dining room next to the kitchen while you lived there?’

‘No,’ Baker said quickly, the colour draining from his face.

Wesley looked at Gerry. He knew the man was lying.

‘So you don’t know how the body of Aleric Donnal came to be sealed up behind the wall in the dining room? Because it probably happened while you and Carlo Lanzani were living there.’

A shadow of panic passed across Baker’s features and he looked away. ‘I don’t know anything about that. Can I go?’

Wesley could tell that his questions had upset him and he needed to get to the truth. ‘Are you sure about that? Because you must have been there at the time.’

Baker flung his head back. ‘I need a break.’

When Wesley returned to the office Rachel walked over to his desk and perched on the edge. He could tell by her expression that she had news.

‘I’ve just spoken to Fiorenza, alias Pauline. She was surprisingly helpful. She’s now running an arts workshop in a deprived are of Leeds. Got a partner and two kids. Mortgage too, she said.’

Wesley raised his eyebrows, thinking of Jim Baker’s words: how the rebellious spirit of youth often faded in later life when reality hit. ‘She’s left the carefree commune life behind, then?’

‘Sort of. But she still goes on demos. She’s very passionate about animal rights.’

‘What did she say when you told her about the body in the wall?’

‘She sounded genuinely shocked. She says she doesn’t watch the news so she hadn’t heard about it. She swore she’d never heard of Aleric Donnal and that to her knowledge nobody fitting his description ever visited Casa Mirabilis.’ Rachel smiled. ‘She still called it that.’

‘Did you believe her?’

‘Yes, I did. She only moved in after Tim bought the place. She said she’d known him previously and that they were friends. But reading between the lines, I’d say they were more than that. She said he bought the place from some old guy who had a bookshop – her words, not mine. I asked her whether any building work was carried out in the room next to the kitchen while she was living there, but she seemed pretty sure that the downstairs loo was the only work done.’

It seemed that Fiorenza had proved to be a dead end, and Wesley felt mildly disappointed. But he saw a smug smile on Rachel’s lips, as though she was about to divulge some delicious secret.

‘There’s more. She told me that Aphrodite was already living there when she moved in. There were a couple of other sitting tenants, but Tim asked them to leave because he didn’t think they had the right vibes. Aphrodite, however, ended up staying on with her boyfriend, Apollo. Which proves they were there when Donnal was put inside that wall.’

‘We already knew that, but we’re no nearer to finding them. Did she know where they were now?’

Rachel’s smile widened into a grin of triumph. Wesley half expected a drum roll. ‘After the commune closed, she met up with them at a few demos. They’d decided to abandon their fancy names, and guess what? Aphrodite’s real name is Betsy and Apollo’s name is Barnaby. Last she heard, they were running akennels up on Dartmoor and they share her passion for animal rights.’

‘Betsy and Barnaby Chalmers. Our dognappers.’

‘They’ve been released on bail.’