CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
By eight that morning, the switchboard at the Trotterdown police station had already received over one hundred calls. Half of them had mentioned Stanley Green’s name. Ten percent would have been good enough. Taylor’s idea had worked. Kathy Bradfield had outdone herself with the drawing. Quite a few of the people who had phoned in had commented that the likeness to Stanley Green was uncanny.
“Poor Alice.” Taylor sat in the canteen staring at the picture in the newspaper.
“I remember Stanley Green,” Killian said. “Bit of a wide boy, if my memory serves me right.”
“I thought you said his fingerprints weren’t on our system?”
“That’s because he never got caught. No, he and Dennis Albarn were up to all kinds of things in their day.”
“And now they’re both dead.” Taylor could not help staring at Stanley Green’s face. His features were handsome in an old-fashioned, rugged kind of way. He bore a slight resemblance to her Danny. She could see why Alice had fallen for him in the first place. “I ought to go and see Alice,” she said. “She must be in a right state.”
“She’ll know by now. Like I said yesterday, this is a small community. I’ll send one of the Whites round to talk to her.”
“I’d rather go myself.”
“What’s with you and the old beekeeper?”
“I don’t know. She’s nice. Easy to talk to. She makes a lot of sense. I think it best if I go and see her. She trusts me. Besides, both Eric and Thomas White can be a bit insensitive at times.”
“Well, make it snappy. Our workload’s going to be bad enough as it is. Three elderly people murdered in Polgarrow in the space of a week. The press are going to cotton on to it, soon enough. It’s only a matter of time before they start asking questions.”
“I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
* * *
Taylor was halfway to Polgarrow when she suddenly remembered something Alice Green had said the day before. She’d said he had phoned on Wednesday night wanting to meet up. But Stanley had been dead for almost a week by then.
What’s happening around here? She stopped and dialled Killian’s number.
“Sir,” she said, “there’s something that’s bothering me.”
“Go on,” Killian said.
“Alice told me yesterday that her husband phoned her on Wednesday and asked if they could meet up. It couldn’t have been Stanley. He was already dead.”
“Ask her about it. Ask her if it could have been somebody pretending to be Stanley.”
“There’s something else. We were trying to work out the connection between the three dead people.”
“You’re not talking about this earth wind and fire stuff again, are you?”
“Dennis Albarn was Stanley Green’s best man.”
“OK,” Killian said.
“Milly Lancaster was Alice’s maid of honour. There were only four of them at the wedding and now Alice is the only one left.”
“How do you know all of this?”
“I listen.”
“Bring her in.” Killian sounded serious.
“What for? Surely you don’t think she’s got something to do with all of this?”
“Of course not. I want you to bring her in for her own protection. Three of the wedding party are dead. Alice Green received a phone call from someone pretending to be her husband, asking if they could meet up. I think it was a trap.”
“This isn’t good.” Taylor carefully moved back onto the road. “Why would someone want to kill three people who were at a wedding forty years ago?”
“Let’s see what your beekeeper friend has to say, shall we?” Killian said.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
Taylor handed Alice Green a mug of hot tea from the station canteen. “How are you feeling?”
“Numb.” Alice gripped the mug with both hands. “Stanley was a piece of work but he didn’t deserve this. Are you sure it was him?”
“Almost positive.”
“Would it be possible for me to see him?’
“I don’t think that would be a good idea. He’s been dead for almost a week. I’d rather you didn’t see him like that.”
“What on earth happened? They’re saying it was a shark attack. What was Stanley doing in the sea in the first place?”
“We don’t know that yet.”
“I know this is difficult,” Killian joined in, “but can you think of anyone who may have wanted to hurt your husband?”
“Plenty,” Alice said, without pausing to think. “Stanley trod on a lot of toes over the years.”
“Enough to make someone want to kill him?”
“I don’t know. It still hasn’t sunk in. First Milly and now Stanley.”
“And Dennis Albarn,” Killian reminded her. “All three of them were at your wedding forty years ago.”
“I hadn’t thought about it like that.” Alice looked pensive.
“The phone call you received on Wednesday night,” Killian said, “you said it was Stanley. Are you sure?”
“It sounded a bit like him. I haven’t heard from him in a long time, though. And the line was bad and I have to admit I’d had a few glasses of port. I was ready for bed, I think.”
“What exactly did he say?”
“He said he wanted to talk. Suggested we meet up.”
“Where did he want to meet?” Taylor said.
“In Trotterdown. He said that there were too many prying eyes in Polgarrow.”
“But you said no?”
“Yes, I told him to bugger off. After all these years. I thought he had a nerve.”
“It’s good you said no,” Killian said. “I’m afraid the man who phoned you wasn’t your husband. It looks like it was some kind of trap to get you away. Stanley was already dead by then.”
“Did he phone you on your mobile?” Taylor asked.
Alice nodded.
“Then the number will still be on the phone.”
“I’m afraid I deleted it. I was so angry I wanted to remove all traces of him. How dare he come back after all this time and think he could just start where he left off? I’m sorry, I suppose I shouldn’t have done that.”
“It’s all right,” Taylor told her. “I probably would’ve done the same thing.”
“Who do you think it was?”
“We don’t know,” said Killian, “and I don’t want you to worry but I don’t think you should be by yourself for the next few days. Not until we get to the bottom of all of this, I mean.”
“Do you think somebody might want to hurt me?”
“We don’t know,” Killian said, “but I’d rather be safe than sorry.”
“You can stay with me,” Taylor offered. Killian sent her a puzzled look. “Just for a few days. I’ve got plenty of space, so you’d have your own room.”
“I don’t want to be a burden.”
“You won’t be.”
“Ok,” Killian said, “that’s settled, then — but I must emphasise that nobody must know about this.” He looked at Alice. “If anybody asks, you’re spending a few days with a friend.”
“Which is the truth, isn’t it, dear?”
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
Alice closed the door and went straight through to the kitchen. DC Taylor had dropped her off to fetch what she needed. The jackdaw pecked at its cage door, meaning he was hungry. Alice emptied a full tin of dog food into the cage. The jackdaw glared at her.