Maeve Kerrigan 04: The Stranger You Know by Jane Casey

Author:Jane Casey [Casey, Jane]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Fiction
ISBN: 9781448117789
Google: DqZ2eiHECCcC
Amazon: 0091948339
Publisher: Ebury Press
Published: 2013-07-04T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter 20

I tracked Claire Naylor down by calling the four card shops in Bromley. As luck would have it, she was the manager of the fourth, and was off sick. I insisted on getting an address out of the very hassled deputy manager. The reduced Sunday opening hours were a nice idea in theory, but it just made the shops busier for a shorter space of time. It was, the deputy manager told me bitterly, the run-up to Christmas. Already.

I decided it was worth a trip to see Claire in person rather than a phone call. I drove a pool car that had an iffy clutch, got stuck in traffic on the way and spent an hour touring Bromley before I spoke with her, by which time I was in the blackest of moods.

I found Derwent’s old home, now inhabited by an Asian family, and the cemetery where he and Angela had shagged, though I didn’t make a pilgrimage to the exact spot. There was unlikely to be a plaque, I thought. I drove from there to Kimlett Road and the Pooles’ old house. From what Shane Poole had told me, it had changed hands years earlier so there was no need to worry about upsetting family members. Even so, I kept a low profile, standing near the gate and looking into the garden to see where Angela had met her end. The tree was gone, the hedge between the houses had been replaced by a high wooden fence and the house had acquired a large conservatory that took up most of the garden. The house next door, however, looked much the same as it had in the pictures. Stuart Sinclair’s house. It was worth ringing the doorbell, I thought, and did so. A child opened the door, a girl aged nine or ten whose face fell when she saw me. Her mother came hurrying towards me down the dark hallway. She was stocky, with heavy features and very dark straight eyebrows that made her look fierce.

‘Sorry. She thought it was her friend.’ To the girl, she said, ‘Into the sitting room, Milly, quick. I’ve told you before not to answer the door.’

She waited until the girl had gone out of sight before she said, ‘I don’t buy at the door.’

‘I’m not selling anything,’ I said quickly, showing her my ID as she started to close the door. ‘I’m a police officer. DC Kerrigan is my name. I just wanted to ask you if Stuart Sinclair still lived here, or if you had an address for him or his family.’

‘He’s the landlord. Dunno where he lives.’

‘How do you contact him then?’

‘I don’t.’ She sighed. ‘Look, I can ask my husband. He’s the one who handles all that.’

‘Is he here?’

‘He’s away. A stag weekend.’ She rolled her eyes. ‘At his age.’

I gave her a business card. ‘It’s really important that I get in touch with him. If you could get your husband to call or email me, I’d appreciate it.’

‘I’ll see what we can do.

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