Part 36 (1/2)

'Oh, yes, definitely.' Ian looked at them in surprise. 'Didn't you know?'

'We were working on that a.s.sumption, but no one had confirmed it,' said Fran. 'Funnily enough, we didn't have access to the DNA.'

Ian laughed. 'You seemed to manage fairly well without official access.'

'Intelligent guesswork,' said Libby smugly.

'And an extremely helpful policeman,' added Ian.

'Who shouldn't really talk to you about anything.'

He turned to his sergeant. 'Should he, Maiden?'

Maiden's ears turned pink. 'No, sir,' he said.

'Another thing,' said Fran. 'Why was Superintendent Bertram on the spot so much? Surely she should have been back at the office superintending.'

'New promotion,' said Ian.

'Ah,' said Libby. 'Making her mark. We thought it might be because the case was higher profile than we thought.'

Ian and Maiden exchanged looks.

'Shepherd was a famous actor,' said Ian. 'And we did think it was his body at first.'

'That puzzles me,' said Libby with a frown. 'Because the first reports said it was a male between thirty and fifty, and Shepherd was well over sixty when he disappeared. And you didn't know it had been Shepherd's house then, did you?'

'Libby! Of course we did. Just because Osbourne-Walker hadn't seen fit to tell us about his slightly unorthodox purchase of Creekmarsh didn't mean to say we didn't immediately do a search and discover who was the previous owner. And that West was his power of attorney.'

'So you linked the murders straight away?' said Libby.

'I wasn't on the case then,' said Ian, 'but yes, of course they were linked. We're not as dumb as all that, you know. And we do have access to all sorts of information the public don't.' He sent Libby a significant glance.

'See,' said Libby to Fran, 'we always say the police get there before we do.'

'But we're always grateful for certain unorthodox help,' said Ian with a grin.

'When you can bring yourselves to accept it,' said Fran.

'Well, we did this time,' said Ian, 'and it let Osbourne-Walker off the hook.'

'Didn't save Cindy's life, though, did it?' said Libby. 'Why do you think she was killed?'

'Well, it wasn't for the doc.u.ments in that briefcase. Her pa.s.sport was there and her marriage certificate, but that was all. There were no doc.u.ments relating to Kenneth or Gerald Shepherd and no details of the home he was in.'

'So if we hadn't found Frank for you, you might never have found Gerald?' said Libby.

'I'm afraid that's true,' said Ian.

'Yay!' said Libby.

'Did Cindy kill Kenneth?' asked Fran.

Ian and Maiden both looked startled. 'I can't tell you that,' said Ian. 'There's no evidence to suggest it. We're not even sure how he died.'

'How did Cindy die?' asked Libby suddenly. Everyone froze.

'I can't tell you that, either,' said Ian eventually, looking uncomfortable.

'And have you found the cellars?' asked Fran.

Ian sighed. 'As I said before, I don't think any entrances exist to tunnels or pa.s.sages anywhere.'

'Frank showed us his map and said that there were cellars at Creekmarsh,' said Libby. 'They must still be there.'

'Have you proved whether Cindy got into the icehouse from the water or the land? Or through the tunnel?' asked Fran.

'Oh, really!' Ian stood up. 'I've been extremely forbearing, but this is too much. You know I can't tell you anything more. And don't go poking around any more, either,' he added, 'or I'll lock you both up.'

'He wasn't that mad,' said Libby, as she shut the door behind the two men, 'or he'd never have said that.'

'And he is grateful for our information,' agreed Fran, 'he had to admit that.'

'Right,' said Libby, fetching the wine bottle, 'what do we do now?'

Chapter Thirty-two.

OVER THE WEEKEND FRAN and Guy had pre-wedding things to do and Ben and Libby began to make lists of what needed to be done at Steeple Farm. The sitting room and the kitchen were the most obvious rooms needing resurrection, and although Libby had fairly firm ideas about interior decoration, or the lack of it, the job before them was beginning to look insuperable.

'I wish Lewis would project manage it after all,' said Libby with a sigh, picking at a piece of unsuitable wallpaper on the wide chimney breast. 'We don't know this other chap, do we?'

'He's a friend of Mog's,' said Ben, 'and comes with excellent credentials.' 'It's more telling him what to do than his ability to do it,' said Libby. 'It's easy in this room,' said Ben. 'Strip everything.' 'I know,' said Libby, 'but what about the kitchen?'

She continued to worry about it all through Sunday until Ben told her he'd change his mind about going to live there if this was what she was going to be like.

'Sorry,' she said, sinking down on the sofa and gathering Sidney onto her lap. 'I know I'm being a pain.'

'You don't really want to move, that's what it's really about, isn't it?' said Ben, coming to sit beside her.

'No, it isn't,' said Libby. 'I would love to live there, but I still love this cottage. I can't have both.'

'Perhaps you could sign this over to the children?'

'Adam would be the only one to use it,' said Libby. 'Mind you, he'd probably be delighted.'

'Let's leave it on the back burner for a while,' said Ben. 'It's the wedding of the year on Friday, after all. Fran might have things she'd like help with.'