Buried Secrets: The Freeman Files Series: Book 11 by Ted Tayler (highly recommended books txt) 📗

into the farmyard, I heard a car. It was that Vauxhall driver. He must have driven to By Brook and taken the lane towards the White Hart at Ford. It’s the only way he could have reached High Grove Farm from that direction. He slowed by the gateway and then sped off towards the village. I never saw him again.”

“What did you do between then and seven fifty-three?”

“Wrestled with my conscience,” said Bunny. “I had to tell someone what had happened, but I couldn’t say how much I’d seen. So, I left it a while and then told the officer that someone had dumped rubbish in our field. That driver frightened me. I can see his face now, a sickly smile, and then he tapped his nose before driving away. As if to remind me, he knew where I lived.”

“Is the man you saw arguing with Mr Duncan among these photos, ma’am?” asked Luke.

He showed Bunny an array of submariners plus the mystery man.

Bunny pointed out the same man as Greg Meakin and the others.

“That’s him. Who is he?”

“We don’t know yet,” said Gus. “Our colleagues should have had this information ten years ago, Mrs Campbell-Drake. I’m afraid this isn’t the last you’ll hear of this matter.”

Gus and Luke left Bunny in the sunroom. As soon as he closed the door, Gus saw Alice appear out of the darkness.

“Lovely coffee, Alice. Thank you,” said Gus.

Luke looked back when they reached the front door. Alice hadn’t moved.

“You’ve upset her,” she said.

“Your mistress might appreciate seeing a friendly face,” said Gus.

“Where will I find one at such short notice?” said Alice.

Gus sat beside Luke and waited for him to drive them back to the office.

“What just happened?” asked Luke, sitting with his hands on the steering wheel.

“Three steps forward, two steps back, as usual,” said Gus. “Lady Muck will have to face a charge. We can’t let people decide how involved they wish to be in a murder enquiry. What that woman saw didn’t change the time of death, but Banks would have had a decent description of the killer before the autopsy. Because someone whispered suicide in his ear early doors, he didn’t pull the stops out until the autopsy revealed that Duncan died of strangulation.”

“Banks and Tallentire didn’t grill her in the way you did, guv,” said Luke.

“Hang on,” said Gus. “The times she stated in 2008 didn’t gel with what she said this morning. I thought that something else had occupied her for an hour. Perhaps, a liaison kept her out of Ham Lane and Fifty Acre field until five to eight. Oh, Mr Meakin, what a large telescope you’ve got. These posh types often fancy a bit of rough from time to time. The last thing I expected was for her to admit that she’d seen the killer arguing with our victim.”

“What did you make of the word that Bunny said she overheard, guv?”

“Worthless? The killer could have been passing comment on Alan Duncan as a person, or as a friend. We know they met when Duncan was on shore leave. Perhaps, Duncan sold the guy something that was supposed to be valuable, but it turned out to be a fake or a cheap knock-off. We must dig deeper, Luke. Let’s get back to base. Why, what do you think?”

Luke started the car.

“From everything we know of Alan Duncan, I can’t see anyone who would believe he’d get involved in anything shady, do you? He was Mr Dependable, one of the good guys. Neil and I spoke to several people at the factory yesterday. Duncan was a stickler for getting the job right. The company’s clients knew they could rely on him to ensure the products they ordered met their specification. The boss had a dozen pieces of correspondence he’d received after the news broke that showed how valuable Duncan was to the business.”

“Whatever secret Duncan was hiding, he buried it deep,” said Gus.

Blessing Umeh had left the Ferris’s farm in Worton a few minutes early. The drive into Devizes and out to London Road was shorter than her daily drive to the Old Police Station office, but you could never rely on things being as you remembered them. Her father had drummed that into her often enough. Blessing didn’t want to be late.

She turned into the London Road HQ and found the Hub building exactly where her colleagues assured her it would be yesterday afternoon. After she took care parking in one of the many vacant bays, Blessing checked that she had everything she needed, It was still only a quarter to nine. Should she ring Divya to come to the main door? What if she wasn’t in yet?

An Indian girl walked past her Nissan Micra and looked back, Was that Divya? Blessing waved a hand. The girl stepped back towards her.

“You must be Blessing Umeh,” said Divya.

“Is it that obvious?” asked Blessing.

“Alex told me you were likely to be early. Come on. I’ll show you around before the others pile in at nine o’clock.”

Once they were inside the Hub offices, Blessing could see what Alex meant. The equipment was state-of-the-art and a priceless asset to the force. The pictures on the walls featured well-known beauty spots and historical interest places within the county boundaries.

“Have you worked here long, Divya?” asked Blessing.

“Ever since it opened,” she replied. “I used to work at a computer bureau near Tottenham Court Road, but it proved too expensive to live in London. When an opportunity to get out came up, it was no contest. My husband and I moved to Marlborough. He’s a junior doctor at the Great Western Hospital in Swindon. We have the same commute, twenty-five minutes. A quarter of the time it took in the city.”

“I lived in Claverdon, a village five miles from Warwick,”