Tainted by David Evans

Author:David Evans [Evans, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Orchard View Publications
Published: 2019-02-06T22:00:00+00:00

42

It was early afternoon when Strong and Stainmore walked out to his Mondeo to take the shirt back to Annabel. As they set off, she asked how he and Ormerod had fared with the visit to Brannigan. Strong told her of the conversation with the youth.

“So he’s still a person of interest then?” she said.

“It would seem so,” Strong replied. “But I’d like to see the car in the flesh first. It’s just a pity the quality of the images is so poor. It might be worth trying to have them enhanced but only if we can find something distinctive about it.”

They fell silent for a few miles before Stainmore spoke again. “So, how do you plan broaching this one, guv?”

“I thought we’d suck it and see. I just told her I was returning her husband’s shirt and we’d be in the area.”

“Again?”

“Not beyond the bounds of possibility.”

Stainmore merely gave a shrug.

This time the rain was lashing down when they stopped outside the Monk’s abode. Mrs Monk spotted them from the living room window, drawing to a halt outside. She opened the door as they walked up the path, inviting them straight in. After making a pot of tea, they all sat down in the front room.

“Was it useful? Did it work for your forensic colleague?” she asked as Strong handed over the garment in a brown bag.

“Perfectly,” Strong replied. “That’s given him a valuable control sample for a two-year period.”

“I’m glad,” she said, taking the shirt from the bag and holding it close for a second. “At least something useful has come out of Richard’s passing.” She placed the shirt on the chair arm and looked across at Strong. She could tell there was something else. “Is everything okay?”

He hesitated then said, “This is a bit difficult, Mrs Monk,” he began.

“Oh, Mrs Monk’s a bit formal,” she said, “I thought I was Annabel to you.” The nervous smile evidenced her feeling of unease.

“Well, Annabel,” Strong said. “When I asked if I could take Mr Monk’s shirt, I wasn’t being entirely open with you regarding the reason.”

A puzzled expression appeared on her face. “I don’t understand.”

He took a deep breath before he continued, “As part of Gary’s joining process you know he had to agree to us taking fingerprints and DNA samples …?”

Annabel stiffened. “Go on.”

“What that threw up was something I needed to check.”

“Which was?”

“Gary’s profile provided a familial match to another sample we already had on our database. Do you know what that means?”

Strong could see the turmoil behind her eyes but pressed on. “It means a close relative of your son has had their DNA sampled before.”

Annabel said nothing but her eyes became moist.

“However …” Strong paused for a moment.

The woman wiped the back of her hand across her face and looked away. “I think I know what you’re going to say.”

Strong remained silent. The atmosphere in the room was almost claustrophobic.

Finally, Annabel looked back at Strong. “Richard wasn’t Gary’s father, was he?”

“I’m afraid not.” Strong looked over to the framed photographs by the side of the fireplace for a second.

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