Deadly Focus (16 page)

‘Barry Sanderson, mainly. There were just three of us.’

‘Nothing you can think of, anything, from back then that would come back and haunt you?’

‘No, we were just ordinary lads. Sports, girls, and in that order too. Got it, I’ll print it off for you. I hope this is of some use.’ Trevor stood, waiting for the printer to finish, hands on his hips as he sighed. ‘Martin’s son, I never knew,’ and then went on to tell Wendy what Dylan had just told him.

‘Do you know, we didn’t even exchange phone numbers. It isn’t as though we’d anything in common after all this time.’ He shook his head and handed the printouts to Dylan.

‘Is there anything else that you’ve thought about, any incidents, any other events you’ve been to, any people you know who died in suspicious circumstances, anything?’ asked Dylan.

‘We’ve sat for hours, trying to come up with something, but we just keep drawing a blank. I’m sorry, but if you see Martin will you pass on our condolences, please?’

Dylan nodded. ‘We’ll be in touch before the funeral. In the meantime if there’s anything you think of, don’t hesitate.’

Dawn and Dylan left and drove back to the station.

‘There is a definite connection between the two dads, but what’s the motive?’ Dawn asked Dylan.

‘Don’t know yet, but it’s certainly a priority line of enquiry. We’ll wait and see what Larry managed to find out. We could certainly do with some luck.’

Chapter Nineteen

Back at the office, they sat down to discuss the latest developments.

‘There’re two sites. One is
Friends Reunited
and the school also has one of its own, but I’ve come up with a name,’ said Larry, looking pleased with himself.

‘Liz Green,’ Dylan jumped in.

‘That’s right. I gave her a call and said someone would see her later today to get a download of photos from the reunion. She said she’d try to tell us who’s who and give us a list of names and contact numbers for those who attended.’

‘I don’t mind working later tonight. Ralph’s out so I’ll do that one if you like, boss.’

‘That would be great, Dawn, thank you. The other friend of Trevor and Martin, Barry Sanderson, we need to know about him. You’re working Christmas Day, aren’t you, Larry? Boxing Day, Dawn?’ They nodded. ‘Everyone on the list who attended the reunion needs to be seen as soon as possible. There could be up to thirty people, according to Martin. Can you get the team who are working over the next two days to look at that for us? I’ll see you Boxing Day, Dawn. Are you both in on the twenty-seventh? Here for nine a.m.?’ suggested Dylan.

‘Yes. What could’ve happened at the reunion that could possibly cause someone to kill like that? Our two said it was a quiet evening and nothing happened,’ said Larry.

‘We need background on them all. Let’s stay positive, eh? Anything else?’ asked Dylan.

‘When you were out, the divisional administrator telephoned and left a message about the store again. She said you hung up on her, boss.’ Dawn’s eyes went skyward.

‘Me? Never. I must ‘ave got cut off,’ protested Dylan. ‘I’ll go and have a look at the store for myself. John and Vicky reckon it would only take a day to move the exhibits to the void. If not, we can use the attic at Tandem Bridge.’

‘Wouldn’t have thought we would need to use that,’ said Larry, lazily doodling on his pad.

‘I might nip in nevertheless, just to check, in case we do,’ Dylan said.

Liz Green was a bubbly lady with verbal diarrhoea, as Larry would have said and as Dawn found out, much to her amusement.

‘How can I help you? Are you into the reunion thing? It seems so popular these days. I’ve always tried to keep tabs on my classmates and school chums. Their lives run parallel to mine, but oh, how different they’ve all turned out,’ she grinned. ‘Not what I expected, I can tell you. And now with
Facebook
,
Friends Reunited
and our school website, it’s so much easier. Can I offer you a drink?’ She spoke so quickly that Dawn didn’t manage to get a word in edgeways.

‘Tea would be lovely, thank you.’ Liz kept a pristine home. She was definitely the ‘ironing socks and undies’ type. ‘No, I’ve never been into that sort of thing myself, never had the time.’

‘Oh, you should try it. I don’t spend that much time on it, just update my profile once in a while, or if I’ve got some spare time I try to contact one or two “blasts from the past”. I’m researching my family tree, too. Thirty years since we all left school, though, what a milestone. “Let’s have a reunion,” I thought, “The Class of 75”.’ She stood in a star-struck pose for effect. ‘I was so pleased with the response. Milk and sugar?’

‘Yes please.’

‘Help yourself to the mince pies. They’re just out of the oven.’ Liz placed a full cooling tray in front of Dawn.
She can’t be all that bad
, thought Dawn as she bit into a mince pie. She was definitely warming towards the woman.
She might rattle on a little, but she makes a good shortcrust
.

Liz Green had a computer station in one corner of the neat, brightly-lit kitchen. She beckoned Dawn over and offered her one of the two chairs that she had positioned ready so that they could both see the screen, talking all the while.

‘Right, let’s get organised. I’ve got a list of people in the class, some addresses and a few dates of birth. We’ve even got two with the same birthday, would you believe it?’ She brushed her long, straight, brown hair away from her face and tucked it behind her ear, pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose and picked up a piece of paper from the desk, handing it to Dawn.

‘Okay, here’s a list from 1975. Now this one,’ she said, passing Dawn another sheet, ‘Is the list of people who came to the reunion. The Club required numbers for health and safety, and food. We had three different meats, six pounds fifty a head. Not bad, if you ever need a venue, it’s good value for money.’ She searched for her hankie in the front pocket of her blue floral apron. Wiping her nose, she said, ‘You know how it is. Some people join in wholeheartedly, some not at all.’

Dawn helped herself to another mince pie; she could be in for a long evening.

‘Some people update their website regularly. Put on recent photographs, like, and others just enter a brief resume. It’s nice to see pictures though, don’t you think?’ Dawn nodded in agreement as she sipped her tea.

‘The man who telephoned me said you wanted to talk to me about a murder, though. That’s frightening. Who’s been murdered, do I know them?’ Dawn saw her chance to talk.

‘Yes, well, you know the parents. In the last six months, Trevor Hind’s daughter Daisy was murdered, and then, more recently, Martin Spencer’s son, Christopher. You’ve probably read about it in the papers?’

‘Oh, gosh, yes, but I never made the connection. How awful. Martin has put his details on the website. Just a minute,’ Liz said peering at the screen for confirmation. ‘He says he’s set up a tile shop in town,’ she said as she clicked onto the web page. ‘Trevor, if I recall correctly, had put a picture of himself with his wife and daughter. Oh, god, you don’t think it was someone in our class, do you?’ she said as she held her hand up to her mouth.

‘No, no, it’s just the family’s background that we’re looking at. We can’t leave anything to chance,’ Dawn reassured her, grabbing another mince pie.

‘You had me worried there for a minute. Look, some of these are photos from the night of the reunion. See her there, the one with the blonde hair? It used to be so long she could sit on it. She married a lottery millionaire.’

‘Interesting. Do you think I could have copies of the lists and the pictures, please, Liz?’

‘Sure. It might take a while to print them off. Help yourself to more tea and mince pies whilst I do it for you.’

‘Thank you. I’d like you to keep this to yourself at the moment, Liz. The last thing we want is for people to panic,’ Dawn said, with her mouth full.

‘No problem. I used to be a Girl Guide, you know, duty to God, serve the Queen and all that.’ She laughed with three fingers pointed in a salute to her brow.

The printer made a constant burr as the head went from side to side, spewing paper onto the floor. Liz tried to retrieve it in page order.

‘This is so good of you, Liz. I’ll get you a replacement cartridge and some paper.’

‘No, no, I wouldn’t hear of it,’ she said. Liz Green presented Dawn with the printed information she had requested, plus photographs with names added, all neatly stacked and placed in a folder.

‘Thank you for your hospitality, Liz, I am really grateful to you. Merry Christmas.’

‘Oh, that’s no problem at all. I’m just glad to help and I hope those,’ she said pointing to the folder, ‘Are useful to you. Merry Christmas to you too.’

‘Oh, final thing. Do you remember anyone having any major arguments or grudges at school? You know, really bad fall outs?’

‘Kids row, don’t they? But there’s nothing that stands out in my mind as anything out of the ordinary, no,’ she said. ‘There were loud people, lads can be bossy, girls bitchy, but I was a bit of a geek at school, believe it or not,’ she laughed. ‘So I never really got involved.’

‘Thanks again, Liz. And please keep this to yourself for now. We don’t want people getting the wrong idea, do we? It’s just a routine enquiry, but some put two and two together and make five.’

Chapter Twenty

That evening Dylan was home on time, but still with his bulging briefcase in tow. Carol singers stood in the porch, and he smiled as he listened to them.

‘The dads know each other,’ he announced to Jen as he took his coat off and hung it up in the hallway.

‘Really?’ Tea’ll be ready in a minute if you want to come sit down, love. Want a glass of wine?’

‘A bottle.’ Dylan joined her in the kitchen, Max in his wake.

‘If they knew each other, why didn’t they tell you before?’ she asked, as she greeted him with a kiss.

‘They didn’t realise they did,’ he said cuddling her from behind as she stirred the contents of the pan on the stove. ‘Mm, something smells good,’ he said, pinching her spoon and tasting the gravy.

She smiled. ‘But they do now?’

‘Yes. They were at school together and went to a reunion back in October.’

Dylan relaxed over their meal. Jen didn’t say anything, but he was quieter than usual and she knew he would be mulling over the new information.

Miraculously, he wasn’t called out on Christmas Day. The turkey he’d imagined he could smell for weeks was delicious and, as it was the season of goodwill to all men, he assumed that meant dogs too, and plated Max up a turkey dinner, although he knew they would suffer later from the rancid smell of the dog breaking wind. It was only after he sat down following their Christmas dinner that he noticed how lovely Jen’s decorations made the house and tree look. In fact, it was the first time he had been in the house long enough to sit in the lounge since the decorations had been put up. She had bought him a gold onyx signet ring along with a silk tie.

‘It’s a lucky tie,’ she said.

He watched her every move and he caught her watching him, making sure he was taking it easy. She insisted he rest. Jen bossed him and he loved it that she cared so much. He felt lucky he had found her. She was nine years his junior and he didn’t know why she had chosen him to be with, but he was so glad she had. It was the best bit of detective work he had ever done, finding her; he was sure of that.

The table was empty and the dishwasher full. ‘Let’s watch a DVD, eh? Mum and Dad sent me
Sense and Sensibility
for Christmas,’ Jen said, as she crouched down to switch on the DVD player. She jumped back on the settee and settled in the crook of Jack’s arm.

‘Mm, it should be like this every night. Thank you so much for my present, I love it,’ she said, holding her arm up in the air to show off the bracelet that Jack had bought for her.

‘You’re my best present,’ he told her, kissing the top of her head and cuddling her tight. ‘Have you missed going to the Isle of Wight this year and spending Christmas with your mum and dad? We could have a week there soon. What do you think?’

‘You, have a whole week off work?’ She turned to him in surprise. ‘Don’t make me laugh,’ she said prodding him playfully in the stomach.

‘No,’ he laughed. ‘I mean it, honest I do. Book it now if you like.’

‘Yeah, sure, whatever,’ she smiled snuggling up to him.

Dylan had to prise himself from bed for work the next day. Jen’s body was so warm and inviting, and it was freezing cold when he tested the temperature outside the bedcovers with one arm and leg.

‘Morning. Happy Boxing Day.’ Dawn was already in the office when Dylan walked through the door.

‘Good Christmas?’ asked Dylan.

‘Well, let’s see, Ralph worked, drank too much, and slept most of the time we did have together, and I’m here today. So you could say it’s business as usual. You?’

‘Yeah, quiet, you know. Thought you two were trying for a family?’

‘Not much chance for that, is there, at the moment. We don’t see each other enough,’ Dawn laughed. ‘Press Office has been on the phone wanting to know if there’s anything that we can give them to renew the appeals.’

‘I was actually thinking we might do Crimewatch. We need to do whatever it takes to nail the bastard.’

‘Whatever what takes?’ asked Larry, as he entered the room, lobster red.

‘You been on the sun bed again?’ asked Dawn. ‘Don’t you listen to all the warnings about skin cancer?’

Larry pulled a face behind her back.

‘I thought you were off today?’ Dylan said, studying the Chief Constable’s log to catch up on events that had taken place in the force over the last couple of days.

‘Couldn’t keep away. You know me, Mr. Conscientious himself.’ He slumped in a chair and proceeded to read Christmas Eve’s
Harrowfield Times
.

‘More like Mr. Saddo hasn’t got a life,’ commented Dawn.

‘Can you speak to the Press Office for me, Larry, and tell them we are thinking of doing the reconstruction?’ asked Dylan.