The House on Downshire Hill by Guy Fraser Sampson

Author:Guy Fraser Sampson [Sampson, Guy Fraser]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781912666119
Publisher: Urbane Publications Limited
Published: 2018-11-08T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 20

“You did well, Priya,” Collison said the next morning.

“Do you think so, guv? I was gutted that I couldn’t get her to tell me where she was, or agree to a meeting.”

“She did say she’d call back,” Collison replied, “and you gave her your number here at the nick.”

“Yes I know, but will she?”

“Of course, it could be a hoax,” Metcalfe pointed out. “It happens a lot, doesn’t it? Remember the Yorkshire Ripper enquiry. That was completely derailed by a hoax caller they took seriously.”

“Yes, Peter had an idea about that,” Willis said. “He suggested that if she does call back we tell her exactly that. Namely, that unless we can talk to her in person and verify her identity then we can’t be sure that she’s on the level. In other words, we hint very strongly that if she’s just a voice on the end of the phone we will probably have to assume she’s a hoaxer.”

“That sounds like good advice,” Collison observed. “If she was keen enough to get in touch with us then surely she’ll also be keen enough for what she has to say to be taken seriously.”

Metcalfe looked at his watch. It was already 9:30 and the morning meeting would normally have been taking place, but had been delayed until 10 o’clock to allow the team, who had been at the television studio until quite late, a little extra time in bed.

“Can I suggest that Priya goes and sits by her phone? If she does call then we don’t want to miss her.”

“Yes, good idea, Bob. Priya, off you go. Now then, you two, before the rest of the gang arrives let’s have a little think about where we go from here. We obviously have two alternative possibilities: either the body in the flower bed is Elizabeth Schneider, in which case last night’s call was just some sort of sick joke, or it’s not. I must say that I rather like the second alternative since it keeps alive the possibility of this having been the first victim of a serial killer, namely Johann Schneider.”

“I was proposing to detail some of the team to investigate any reports of young women having gone missing locally at about that time,” Metcalfe said. “I’m also going to ask people to investigate local dentists to see if anybody might have Elizabeth Schneider’s dental records. It’s a long shot of course, since it was a long time ago.”

“Good, I see we’re thinking along the same lines. If it isn’t the Schneider girl, then of course that opens up all sorts of other possibilities apart from Johann. We know from Rowbotham that pretty much anybody could just have wandered in off the street, though whether they would have done so carrying a body must be open to question. And if it isn’t the Schneider girl, then what on earth prompted the sudden disappearance of the rest of the family? Unless the death and the disappearance were entirely unconnected, which seems hugely unlikely.

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