Martin Edwards - The Frozen Shroud

‘How will you put things on an even keel?’ Daniel asked.

Oz spread his arms. ‘Your guess is as good as mine. Neither of us has taken a wage out of the business since April; we’re living on our investments, and they are shrivelling fast. The situation’s out of my hands, that’s what I hate. We need to stop the haemorrhage of clients and revenue. And pray the police get their finger out, so we can start putting our lives back together.’

Daniel concentrated on Melody’s rum-and-raisin pudding. Oz was a control freak, and he’d yet to meet a happy control freak. Was that need to be in charge a source of tension in their marriage?

‘I can’t believe they let that man go.’ Oz drained his third glass of Rioja, and raised his voice a little, as he warmed to his theme. ‘Terri was scared stiff of him, we were concerned for her safety, like any decent employer. She said he’d beaten up his wife, and hit the woman so hard she was lucky not to lose an eye. Someone like that shouldn’t be roaming the streets.’

Daniel said, ‘The police will be working night and day on the case. Don’t forget, Terri was best mates with one of their senior detectives.’

‘And she’s a friend of yours,’ Oz snapped. ‘How does she feel about letting loose the man who almost certainly killed her friend?’

‘No one wants justice for Terri more than Hannah.’

‘Justice!’ It was almost a snarl. ‘Then I wonder why she let-’

‘Hannah isn’t part of the investigating team.’ Daniel fought back a rising anger. ‘It wasn’t her decision to release the man.’

Oz said, ‘This uncertainty makes people think there’s no smoke without fire. None of us can relax.’

He poured himself and his wife yet another glass of wine. Daniel was glad he’d stuck to orange juice. With a touch of malice, Oz added, ‘Even you must feel uncomfortable, Daniel. You were at the party with the rest of us.’

‘I feel worse than uncomfortable,’ Daniel said quietly. ‘I liked Terri, though I didn’t know her well. I’d like nothing better than to see whoever did this put behind bars.’

Melody forced a laugh. ‘Before long, rumours will start flying that everyone who came to the party was in it together. Like that film, you know, on the train.’

‘Robin and Terri didn’t quarrel, did they?’ Daniel asked. ‘Is there any reason for him to worry about the police?’

‘None whatsoever,’ Oz said wearily. ‘She was vivacious and good-looking, but — how can I put this? — more mature than Robin’s previous girlfriends. At least those I’ve met.’

‘Did any of them last long?’

‘Nope, there was never any question until now of Robin settling down with someone, far less setting up home somewhere new. But if you ask me, he’s scared stiff. When one person in a relationship is killed, the other partner inevitably comes under the spotlight.’

‘Better take special care of me, then, darling.’ Melody’s smile was strained, her voice cracking. Daniel frowned; she was too close to the edge for comfort. ‘We’re deep enough in the shit as it is.’

‘Fern’s right, if you ask me,’ Les Bryant said. ‘I don’t believe that bastard killed Terri.’

He and Hannah were taking a quick bite of lunch together in the staff restaurant, Les feasting on a bacon, egg and sausage bap while she dipped her wholemeal toast in a pot of hummus.

‘What makes you so sure?’

‘Think about it. It’s clear he was set up. Two women killed in identical circumstances, five years apart? Why would he try to repeat history, what would he have to gain?’

‘And your preferred solution is?’

He chewed furiously. ‘We both knew Terri. The murder victim’s personality is the biggest clue to the motive for the crime.’

‘It doesn’t say that in the Murder Investigation Manual.’

‘No, but it bloody well ought to.’

‘I’m not sure I like the idea that Terri brought her own murder upon herself.’

‘You’re a DCI, and your mate’s been beaten to death,’ he growled. ‘You can’t afford to be prissy about this. I’m not saying Terri was killed because of anything she did consciously. Maybe it was because someone had reason to be afraid of her.’

‘Where are you going with this?’

He wiped the runny egg from his grizzled chin. ‘She was a livewire, right? Into everything, like a little kid.’

‘Yes.’ That was Terri’s gift, her boundless enthusiasm, her love of life. ‘She was incorrigible.’

‘What if her curiosity led her to find out something she wasn’t meant to know?’

‘Such as?’

‘Suppose she stumbled on a clue to what really happened at Ravenbank five years previous? Something that pointed the finger at one of her new neighbours?’

‘She’d have told someone, wouldn’t she? Me, for example. She was hiding something from me, yes, but it was the fact that she’d teamed up with this man Robin Park. Daniel and Louise say she was just very happy, looking forward to a new life with him.’

‘What if she didn’t appreciate the significance of what she’d learnt? Whoever killed Shenagh Moss would have to move quick, to get her out of the way before she tumbled to the truth. Park’s stomach bug was a gift, it offered the chance to get Terri on her own late at night, when she’d had too much to drink.’

Hannah smeared margarine on her last piece of toast. ‘Maybe it’s worth someone taking a look at the paperwork on Shenagh’s death.’

He reached into his inside jacket pocket, and pulled out a dog-eared notebook. ‘Mission already accomplished. Just as well I got in quick, given that Fern’s team have just requisitioned the old file. Well, it’s a cold case, any road, so I thought I’d make a few notes on the SIO’s Blue Book, and the investigators’ rough books. Take ’em, for what they’re worth.’

She stretched out a hand. ‘You’re a star. Though I guess you’ve broken half a dozen of Lauren’s rules about information security.’

‘With any luck.’ The craggy face relaxed into a rare grin. ‘What’s the worst that can happen? She’s already given me the sack. That’s why I leaked the restructure to the press. Just on the off chance it might save the jobs of everyone else.’

Oz saw Daniel to the door after Melody announced she felt a migraine coming on, and was going upstairs for a rest. At the front step, Oz halted.

‘I’m worried sick about her, you know.’

Daniel mumbled something bland and sympathetic, but his host interrupted. ‘Don’t be fooled by that cool elegance, underneath she is fragile. Long before we ever met, she had a spell in a psychiatric unit. It was to take her mind off our money worries that I encouraged her interest in writing, and the legend of the Frozen Shroud. Big mistake. It’s backfired horribly.’

‘If-’

‘No!’ Oz raised a hand. ‘Let me finish. You and she are never going to prove Letty’s innocence, not after all these years. An ancient murder is the last thing Melody needs on her mind right now.’

‘Yet she could be right about Letty.’

‘What if she is? Who cares?’

Daniel gave a shrug. ‘If someone can be cleared of committing a brutal murder, even long after their death, isn’t that worth caring about?’

‘So you are persisting with this?’

‘Why not? This afternoon, I’m going to Keswick Museum. Roland Jones donated some papers to their archives. I’m hoping to pick up more information about him there.’

‘Letty was sick. If she hadn’t killed herself, she’d never have hanged, not even in Edwardian England. Doesn’t what happened to Terri make what happened years ago seem pretty trivial?’

‘Any historian believes the past can tell us something about the present. Take the murder of Shenagh Moss.’