Buried Secrets: The Freeman Files Series: Book 11, Ted Tayler [best books to read for teens .TXT] 📗

it,” said Gus. “I plan to be in the office today. Alex and Lydia are interviewing Anna and Wayne Phillips this morning. Luke and Neil are in Corsham this morning and Chippenham this afternoon. I may need to send Blessing Umeh on the occasional short trip, but I should get home by half-past five with luck.”

“I might pop over to see Mum and Dad after work,” said Suzie. “I won’t be later than seven. Do you want to cook tonight?”

“It would be my pleasure. Nothing too heavy, though, right?”

“I do love you, Gus Freeman.”

“Glad to hear it,” said Gus. “Now, I’m getting out of bed. We have thirty-eight minutes to take a shower, have breakfast, and get dressed for work.”

As he stood in the shower, Gus tried to remember why thirty-eight minutes rang a bell.

Forty minutes later, he sat in the Focus and watched Suzie’s GTI edge into the lane.

He prayed the Highways Department hadn’t found another stretch of road between Urchfont and the Old Police Station that desperately needed resurfacing. He could still make the office by nine.

Suzie indicated right and turned into the London Road HQ with a brief wave.

Gus waved back and switched his thoughts to Alan Duncan. Why had he worried? It was plain sailing right into the town centre, and he parked the Focus next to Alex Hardy’s car. Good, they were upstairs already. Alex and Lydia didn’t need to leave for half an hour for their ten o’clock appointment with Wayne Phillips. As he got out of his car, Neil Davis edged into the bay on the other side of Alex.

“I’m so thoughtful, aren’t I, guv?” he said.

“You’ve left Blessing with a choice of the vacant bays at either end, Neil. Very astute.”

Neil and Gus travelled up in the lift. Alex and Lydia were hard at work.

“I have a question to add to your list this morning, Alex,” said Gus. “Can you get Wayne Phillips to improve on the description he gave of the man he saw at the duck pond? What I’m after is his hair colour. Wayne said that the guy had a crewcut. Any extra hints he can add will be much appreciated.”

“Got it, guv,” said Alex.

“Anything new Luke and I need to look for, guv?” asked Neil.

Gus shook his head.

Blessing and Luke emerged from the lift.

“Left or right, Blessing?” asked Neil.

“I reversed in next to your car, Neil,” said Blessing. “I didn’t want to risk doing any more damage to the boss’s car than a long life has accomplished.”

“Are you ready to leave, Neil?” asked Luke. “We’ve got places to go, people to see.”

“Sorry, Luke. Yes, I’m on my way.”

Luke and Neil went downstairs and headed for the Corsham factory where Bob and Alan Duncan once worked.

“What should I focus on today, guv?” asked Blessing.

“You can follow those two part of the way to Leafield Industrial Estate, Blessing,” said Gus. “I want you to revisit Bob Duncan.”

“It’s Wednesday, guv,” said Blessing. “Elizabeth will be in bed all day.”

“I’m aware of that, but we need to make progress on this case, Blessing. To do that, I need copies of every photograph Bob has of Alan and his fellow submariners. That’s copies of the front and back, properly labelled so that we can match them. If he knows the first name for someone who appears under a nickname, make a note of it. Every scrap of information will help when we analyse the pocket diary. Bob may not know the answer, but was it Alan’s camera? Did he ask a passer-by to take a group snap, or was it one of his colleagues behind the shot? Keep pressing him for as much detail as he can remember.”

“I’ll do my best,” said Blessing. “What about Elizabeth?”

“If anyone could get something from her, it would be you, Blessing,” said Gus, “Don’t push Bob too hard on that subject. If she wants to speak, don’t stop her, but I doubt that she’ll come down from her bedroom.”

“Shall I call him first, guv?”

“No, Bob will want to delay matters until tomorrow. If you’re on the doorstep, looking like you mean business, he’ll be putty in your hands.”

“Got it, guv,” said Blessing. She was halfway to the lift.

“Blessing is a character, isn’t she guv?” said Lydia.

“I imagine you’ve seen a significant improvement since you met her in Leamington?”

“It’s you, guv. You bring out the best in people,” said Alex.

“I demand nothing less, Alex,” said Gus. “I find that works best.”

“We’ll get going, guv,” said Lydia.

“Good hunting,” said Gus.

With the place to himself, Gus opted for an early coffee. The quiet office would allow him to continue the musing he had started on the road into town earlier. After half an hour, the only conclusion he had reached was that as he’d never mastered a 3-D jigsaw, he was in trouble.

Gus stopped musing and flicked through the pages of the pocket diary. He produced a list of names from the address section at the back with postal and e-mail addresses, landline, and mobile numbers. Plus anything that Alan Duncan had recorded in the diary's daily area relating to a person on the list.

Gus skimmed the company’s internal meetings and briefly considered whether the killer was someone Alan had argued with at work. When Luke and Neil returned later this afternoon, he would check whether personnel they interviewed suggested a possible name. Gus checked meetings that Alan held with visitors from other companies, some from the UK, others from overseas. Gus hunted for a name not included in the address section. He couldn’t find one.

Where next? Gus wondered where DI Phil Banks was working these days. He remembered the two lead detectives in the original investigation were at opposite ends of the country, but couldn’t recall seeing details.