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‘Thirty-five minutes, boss,’ Yellich said as He
‘Right. So that ties in with Lieutenant Williams’s statement about getting home at about half past midnight, if Mr Vialli is correct about the time they left the Mill. Let’s have a look inside the house.’
They left the car, ducked under the blue and white police tape which had been strung across the driveway from gatepost to gatepost and entered the house using the back door key.
‘What are we looking for, boss?’
‘Don’t know, Yellich.’ He
‘What is it, boss?’
‘Just the neatness, the tidiness, the everything-in-its-place-ness. I couldn’t relax in this house. Little wonder the son was drawn to the navy. Anyway. If you wanted to find out about a woman’s private life, where would you look?’
‘The bedroom. Her dressing table.’
‘So would I.’
‘And if you wanted to find out about a man’s private life, where would you look?’
‘In his study if he has one; among his papers, at any rate.’
‘So would I. Man does. Woman is. There is still much truth to that statement, despite what the angry sisterhood might think.’
‘Yes, boss.’
‘Right. We’ll stay together. Bedroom first. Bit strong, isn’t it? The smell of disinfectant, bleach as well, I think.’
‘Just the sort of house it is, sir. And the windows haven’t been opened much, in this heat, just the ideal conditions to make smells rise.’
‘Daresay you’re right. Let’s find out about Mrs Williams.’
He
‘Must have, sir,’ Yellich muttered, picking up a printed card from the table. ‘But here’s Sheringham.’ He handed the card to He
‘Sheringham’s Gym.’ He
‘Nice and central,’ Yellich offered. ‘A lot of mixed housing there, plenty of old properties that could be turned into a gym.’
‘We’ll pay a call there.’ He
He
‘You know, boss, in the CID training course, they impressed on us not to leap to conclusions, and not to dismiss the unlikely. That’s what they said.’
‘Did they indeed? Let’s look at the study.’
Yellich turned and left the room. He
‘Yes, sir. They said that “improbable” and “impossible” are two different words, each with their own meaning, and CID officers shouldn’t blur the meanings.’
‘Don’t say.’ The two men stood in the living room of the house. ‘I never actually did CID training. In my day, you were just promoted and you got on with it, learning as you went along.’
‘The point being, that what is improbable is not impossible.’
‘Well, there’s wisdom for you.’
‘Well, this is just a long-winded way of saying I think your waters are right. I thought it suspicious all along but I didn’t dismiss kidnap or embezzlement.’
‘Now you do?’
‘Yes, boss.’
‘We can still be wrong. I hope for Max and Amanda Williams’s sake that we are. You said there was a study?’
‘Here, sir. A little cubby hole with a bureau.’
Which He
‘Everything shipshape and Bristol fashion,’ Yellich said, nothing the neatness of the papers in the bureau. ‘Just like the rest of the house.’
‘Everything what fashion?’
‘Bristol fashion, boss. Mate of mine has a small yacht, a twenty-five-footer, keeps it in Hull Marina, uses that expression a lot.’
‘Well, Bristol must be a neat town.’
‘Don’t know, boss. I’ve never been there.’
He
‘Double suicide, do you think, boss? Blow it all away then top themselves. It’s not unknown.’
‘Well, they’ve still got the bungalow…so all is not lost. But if they have been murdered, it wasn’t for their money. And you were right to rule out kidnap and embezzlement. Nothing here to pay a ransom, nothing to embezzle. It veers me still further to the belief that the Williamses are no longer with us by the hand of A. N. Other, or others.’
The phone in the bungalow rang. Yellich and He
Yellich strode into the living room. He picked up the warbling phone and said, ‘Hello…DS Yellich, North Yorkshire Police. Who is this?…Oh…right…well, no, we don’t know what has happened to your parents. Can you hold the line, please?’ Yellich pressed the monitor button on the phone and called to He
‘So can I, Yellich. Daresay I’d do the same if I was in her position. Right. Ask her when she last saw her parents, ask her if the name Sheringham, possibly Tim Sheringham, means anything to her, ask her if she knows of any enemies her parents might have and ask her for a contact phone number.’
‘Right, sir.’
He
He replaced the phone and joined He
‘So she saw both of them. By the time she was ready to leave, her father had crawled groggily out of bed with a bad head.’
‘It would appear so, sir. She left at about three p.m. That would be their last sighting. She knows Tim Sheringham.’
‘She does?’
‘Manager of the gym. Her mum goes to work out there, makes no secret of it.’
‘She wouldn’t if she was having an affair with the manager. Especially if said manager was younger than her son.’
‘Aye, happen. She knows of no enemies that her parents might have. And she’s given me her home and office phone number.’