The Naomi Blake Mysteries by Jane A. Adams

Author:Jane A. Adams [Adams, Jane A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Endeavour Media
Published: 2020-01-01T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-One

“I found two Jack Chalmers on the voters register,” Alec told them.

They were gathered around Naomi’s dining table, drinking coffee and sorting through the stacks of material Simon had gathered. The mood had softened, Alec and Naomi tacitly agreeing that neither of them entirely had the right of their argument, but neither quite ready for formal apologies either.

“Neither of them could be our man,” he went on. “One’s in his seventies and the other’s a teenager, registered for the first time this year.”

Naomi knew from experience that the register of electors, though invaluable, was never complete or completely accurate. People moved house and missed out on registration, or for other reasons chose to slip through the net.

“I’ve crossed referenced with similar names – John, Jonathan, Jason and so on, but nothing seems to fit the bill. Chalmers is not a particularly common name and I’ve got only three households of Chalmers that have a male member of around the right age.”

“That’s probably not his real name,” Patrick commented.

“Maybe not, but it’s all we’ve got to go on right now.”

“And that’s the whole crux,” Naomi added mournfully. “If we could figure out who Jack really is, what his relationship is to Tally Palmer. What hold he has over her, we can get to the bottom of this.”

“At least we’re agreed he has a hold over her,” Simon said, unable to keep the satisfaction out of his voice.

“I’m not so sure it’s as simple as that,” Alec resisted. “It seems to me that this is a reciprocal thing. That Tally is as reluctant to part with Jack as he is with her.”

“I remember saying something like that,” Simon reminded him pointedly.

“Less said about that night the better.” Alec reminded him abruptly.

“What have you found, Patrick?” Naomi asked. She had been listening to him shuffling around among the newspaper clipping that Simon had collected. Now his riffling had ceased and she could sense his interest.

“Something about a car accident,” Patrick said. “You’ve fastened it together with a bit about a murder,” he said to Simon.

“Miles Bradshaw and Adam Hunter,” Simon said.

“Yeah.”

“Let me see,” Alec reached across and took the clippings. “Teenage driver killed in fatal accident,” he read. Then, “‘Quiet Close Shocked by Brutal Murder.’”

“What’s the connection?” Naomi asked

Simon took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Tally Palmer,” he said.

“What way?”

“Ok. Maybe no way, maybe...I’m not sure. Adam was Tally’s boyfriend. He’d just passed his test, went out to celebrate with three of his friends and crashed the car.”

“It says he was drunk,” Patrick put in.

Simon nodded. “Blood alcohol levels twice the legal limit. By all accounts, Tally was devastated. Rose, that’s Tally’s mother, she told me this was Tally’s first big emotional attachment and for a while she thought she’d breakdown completely.”

“And Miles Bradshaw?” Alec asked

“Oh, you must remember,” Naomi insisted. “Miles was in my year. Nasty piece of work, thought he was god’s gift. I remember the murder because of all the fuss it caused. The school was buzzing for weeks and his girlfriend was in my class, we did History together.

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