A Genuine Mistake by Ted Tayler (miss read books txt) 📗

“Will we need to come back, guv?” asked Luke.

“I can’t think why except to tell Rachel we know who killed Gerry and why.”

“Are we any closer to finding that person, guv?” asked Luke.

“I’m not even sure we’re moving in the right direction, Luke. We could be getting further away. When you pop in to pick up our sausage rolls, grab a few napkins, could you, please?”

“Got it, guv. We don’t want to get back to the office with greasy fingers.”

“I’m not worried about that, Luke,” said Gus. “I don’t want flaky pastry over the upholstery in the Focus.”

Thirty minutes later, they were in the lift heading for the office. Blessing and Lydia looked up when the lift doors opened. Alex was nowhere in sight.

“Welcome back, guv,” said Lydia. “Rewarding trip?”

“We picked up a few crumbs,” said Luke.

“Where’s Alex?” asked Gus.

“Restroom, guv,” said Blessing. “It’s his turn to make the coffees. We were just breaking for lunch. Shall I ask him to fetch two more coffees?”

Gus nodded and sank into his chair. Luke was right; they had only got a few scraps of information this morning. He wanted to take his time drinking this coffee and ponder what it meant.

Rachel Cummins didn’t have twenty-twenty vision.

If someone had parked a motorcycle near the gateway, she might not have noticed it.

Was the motorcycle even relevant? The neighbour couldn’t swear to the time he’d heard it pass his house. Although, he said it followed a sound like a backfire from a car or motorcycle.

What significance should they put on the lighting system in several of the rooms? Maybe the various additions to the house’s floor area increased the chances that a doorbell or a phone ringing in the distant hallway could get missed.

What about the red light? Did that suggest Gerry Hogan had enemies? Or was he just taking sensible precautions to protect his family and their property? Thieves were more likely to attack a place that flaunted the trappings of wealth.

Another thing they learned was that Rachel used music in her training sessions. The amber warning light alerted her to the doorbell, but her headphones and the backing track would have masked the sound of the gunshot whenever it occurred.

Only when she was wrapping up her practice session and putting away her kit, did she hear Sean call for his father. Rachel had removed the headphones by a quarter to seven.

The letter to Evelyn Hogan from the charity had been in the house for three months. Did she show it to Gerry? Was he aware that Evelyn had received the job offer?

“A penny for them, guv,” said Lydia.

“We’ve only spoken to two people so far,” said Gus. “Nick Barrett and Rachel Cummins. Nick remembers Gerry Hogan as an honest, honourable family man with no enemies. Rachel loved him for five years and can’t move on from an enormous house filled with memories of Gerry and his late wife, Evelyn. We can’t shake their stories so far. The few vague anomalies we’ve got from their interviews don’t point me in any particular direction.”

“Can I give you my take on this case, guv?” said Alex.

“Please do,” said Gus.

“The murder file gives us details on what the investigation believed were the most significant events during Gerry Hogan’s life. After school and university, he went to Australia with Nick Barrett. What made that trip significant?”

“Gerry met Evelyn, they fell in love, and she flew from the other side of the world to be with him,” said Blessing. “How romantic that was. They got married soon after.”

“What was his next significant life event?” asked Alex.

“Gerry set up his own business, they moved to Trowle Common, and started a family,” said Lydia.

“So, they married in 1982, moved to Trowle Common in 1992,” said Alex. “That’s ten years with no apparent drama. The boys arrived in 1994 and 1996, then at the start of 2002, Evelyn gets killed on a business trip to New South Wales.”

“We can discount Evelyn’s death as a tragic accident,” said Luke. “Another decade passed without signs that suggest Gerry had someone plucking up the courage to kill him,” said Luke. “What are you driving at, Alex?”

“If Gerry’s murder had taken place in the early Eighties, the trip to Australia would have made perfect sense as the catalyst for what happened. How can it have impacted on a murder that took place in 2012?”

“We’ve queried that more than once already,” said Blessing.

“Move forward another ten years,” said Alex. “The murder file didn’t flag any event between 1982 and 1992 as being significant enough to contact people to interview. What if Gerry had got killed during that time?”

“The police would have looked closer at the time Gerry spent working with Hargreaves Lansdown,” said Gus. “I’ll ask John Kirkpatrick whether they checked for problems with clients.”

“The timing of the murder has to be significant, guv,” said Alex. “The gap year trip and the period before Gerry Hogan became his own boss don’t fit with May 2012. The only period left is between Evelyn’s accident and the night of his death. Surely, the answer must lie there?”

“Are we missing a significant event in Gerry Hogan’s life?” asked Lydia.

“He met Rachel Cummins, fell in love, and they lived together happily for five years,” said Blessing. “I can’t see how that could have been the catalyst for murder.”

  CHAPTER 7

Neil Davis had left the Old Police Station office at five to eleven. He hoped there would be a handful of vacant parking spaces in the station car park when he reached Bradford-on-Avon. He could still make Nick Barrett’s office by half-past the hour.

Neil didn’t expect a warm reception from the resident pit-bulls, Daphne and Suzanne, but at least they recognised him when he stepped inside