Broderick’s face froze, a vein on his forehead knotted with stress. ‘If I’d known the truth I’d have stopped it then,’ he said. ‘You can’t prove any of this.’
‘I know that. You’re quite safe. I’m just curious, you know, curious to know if you were glad to see Peter Tholy’s head lolling on a broken neck.’
Broderick clipped his heels together. ‘I must go.’ He examined the braiding on his military cap. ‘I felt lots of emotions that night,’ he said. ‘We made a mistake, many mistakes, but I’m going to have to live with that.’
‘Yes. I’m afraid you are, that’s all the justice there is in Jude’s Ferry.’
Postscript
Jimmy Neate was cremated in Peterborough. Julie Watts attended but, seeing a press photographer, fled before the brief ceremony began. Walter Neate was taken by ambulance to the chapel and was the only mourner. He refused to comment on the case. A statement was issued by the health authority which ran the home in which he was a resident pointing out that he wished to be left in peace to grieve for his children, and his grandson.
Magda Hollingsworth’s bones were buried in Ely in the town cemetery, just a few minutes’ walk from her daughter’s house. Dryden attended a crowded funeral service. The lesson was read by a representative from the University of Surrey, and tribute was paid to Magda’s years of sympathetic observation of her fellow villagers at Jude’s Ferry.
Peter Tholy’s bones remained in police custody for some time. Australian police officers finally contacted his mother to inform her of her son’s death. She said she didn’t care what happened to her son’s remains as long as they didn’t send her a bill. Major Broderick paid for cremation in lieu of the £10,000 cheque from his father Peter Tholy never cashed. The ashes are interred at Ely Crematorium and marked by a simple stone plaque.
The animal rights activist identified by Dryden at Thieves Bridge led DI Shaw’s team to arrest and charge three senior members of the organization based in Coventry, including the man known as Roland. Forensic evidence for the case was collected from Coleshill Airfield near Rugby. The three are due to appear at Newark Crown Court on charges of conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm, and attempted blackmail. Eighteen similar charges are to be put before the court. The CPS is still considering DI Shaw’s recommendation that seven men face charges of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice by withholding information about the murder of Kathryn Neate. Unofficially the detective has been advised the file is likely to remain open but that action is unlikely owing to the length of time that has passed since the original offence and the deaths of key witnesses.
Henry Peyton’s business continues to flourish, security enhanced by the return of his wife’s three pedigree Alsatians. Contracts with a group of overseas universities and research institutes have allowed Sealodes Farm to concentrate exclusively on providing animals for medical research. All supplies to cosmetic and other commercial companies have been terminated. The business won a Queen’s Award for Enterprise.
Jason Imber’s body was identified by dental records. He was buried privately in Upwell but a memorial service was held at All Souls’ Church in London, beside Broadcasting House, attended by TV executives, actors and fellow writers.
Laura’s performance in The Silent Daughter was widely praised. Her return to TV seven years after the accident which appeared to have ended her career prompted a series of tabloid newspaper stories. She made a string of brief appearances in Casualty. Further offers of work are being considered by her agent.
Major Broderick resigned his commission shortly after witnessing the bombardment which had killed Jimmy Neate. The family business – Blooms – continues to blossom, and the major has diversified further, returning to his father’s first love – the breeding of roses. A deep red variety, with an almost black heart, sells extremely well and won a silver medal at the Chelsea Flower Show. It is called ‘Jude’s Ferry’.
The death of Jimmy Neate marked the end of any campaign to reclaim Jude’s Ferry as a living village. The range at Whittlesea is now in use throughout the year, training soldiers for active service in the Middle East. Joint operations with the US army are a regular feature of these exercises. The church has suffered no more wayward shells but dry rot has attacked the roof beams and a storm severely damaged the louvres surrounding the bell chamber. The church has been deconsecrated. There was no last service.
The hunt for Philip Dryden after his disappearance from the hide at Wicken Fen, and the story he had to tell once he’d walked to safety out of Jude’s Ferry two days later, made national news. But soon the media circus had rolled on and he returned to The Crow’s diet of petty crime and parish pump. But not all has remained the same: he now has a more flexible contract with the paper so that he can sometimes be with his wife during rehearsals and filming. Laura’s speech has improved remarkably, although her doctors still consider a full recovery unlikely. She has, however, mastered crutches and the wheelchair has been stowed below decks.
Ruth Lisle has written a book based on her mother’s observations of life in Jude’s Ferry. It has, as yet, failed to attract a publisher.
The Peyton Society of Pittsburgh paid $360,000 for the transfer and restoration of the family tomb to St John’s Church, Boston, Lincs. An action for compensation against the MoD was settled out of court for a sum understood to be in the region of £60,000.
Humph enjoyed Christmas in the Faroe Islands and is now learning Sami, having booked Christmas 2008 in Lapland.
Dryden has built Boudicca a wooden kennel on the bank beside PK 129.
DI Peter Shaw sits beside his sea rod on the beach at Old Hunstanton, waiting for his next case.
If you enjoyed The Skeleton Man, look out for
DEATH WORE WHITE
by Jim Kelly
(Published in Penguin paperback in January 2009)
Introducing a police partnership as memorable as Morse and Lewis, as delightfully mismatched as Gene Hunt and Sam Tyler in Life on Mars…
In the middle of a heavy snowstorm, eight cars stand on a lonely Norfolk coast road, as night draws in. A fallen pine tree stops them from going forward, the snowbound road prevents them going back.
Two hours later no car has moved – but one driver has met a violent end. Except no one has had the means or the opportunity to commit the murder, and there are no incriminating footprints in the snow.
For Detective Inspector Peter Shaw and Detective Sergeant Valentine it is an extremely puzzling case – made all the more disturbing by the distorted corpse that washed up on the beach only hours earlier. A man who appears to have died from a human bite mark on his arm…
Read on for a taster…
1
The Alfa Romeo ran a lipstick-red smear across a sepia landscape. To one side snow flecked the sand and dunes at the edge of the crimped waters of The Wash, a convoy of six small boats caught in a stunning smudge of purple and gold where the sun was setting. To the landward side lay the salt marsh, a weave of winter white around stretches of dead black water.