The Poison Path: A Gripping Detective Crime Mystery by Solomon Carter

Author:Solomon Carter
Language: eng
Format: azw3, mobi, epub
Tags: HOGARTH, police procedural, MYSTERY AND DETECTIVE, thriller, British crime
Publisher: Great Leap
Published: 2020-05-11T00:00:00+00:00

Nineteen

“What did he say?” said Palmer. She kept her voice to barely more than a whisper. They had moved a few feet away from the street benches until they stood beneath the white wooden shed which housed the ground floor entrance to the funicular railway of the Cliff Lift. It was a small historical oddity – an alternative way to reach the top of the Cliff Gardens for the cost of a coin or two. Hogarth glanced over Palmer’s shoulder and found the girl’s solemn eyes on his. He looked away. The noise from the building site would cover their conversation.

“Marris says there were least two sets of saliva on the one shot glass.”

“Gross,” said Palmer.

“I don’t think Manning was big on washing-up, do you?”

“Not in that van, I suppose.”

“The news is that none of the saliva is his, either.”

“Bloody hell,” said Palmer. “What about prints? Do we have fingerprints?”

Hogarth shook his head. “Unfortunately not. The glass had mostly been wiped clean, probably by the street cleaner when he found it, or by the elements. But we do have very faint hints of lip prints along with the saliva, a hint of red wine and a hint of tramadol. We may have our murder weapon, Palmer.”

“Can Marris use those prints?”

“Depends on how good the prints were, I suppose. And whether he can use them for DNA checks. Trouble is, we still have two sets of lips on the glass. And the glass left the van too. Someone else could have administered the tramadol to him. It needn’t have been any of the film crew.”

“But surely it tells us something,” said Palmer.

Hogarth nodded. “The lipstick might be distinctive even if the lip prints aren’t conclusive. I’ll talk to Marris about that if we get stuck.”

“Red wine and tramadol. So someone lied about their alibi?”

Hogarth nodded. “He said he found a splash of the same red wine on Manning’s sleeping bag too. But, crucially, there was no tramadol in that drop.”

“Which means?”

“Which means the tramadol could have ended up on that glass once Manning had already ingested it...”

“Or someone else took some tramadol with him – perhaps to get him to join in,” said Palmer. “Either way, someone’s been lying.”

“Someone’s always lying,” said Hogarth. “But at least now we’re getting closer to the truth.”

“Lipstick was mentioned? They were both female then?”

“We already know Gareth Manning had two female visitors after work. And I don’t think Manning would waste such finery as a glass on the company of a man.”

“And the red wine...” said Palmer.

Hogarth nodded. “The wine takes us back to the discarded red bottle. Quentin said Manning’s gut was full of wine and brandy that night. Isla says he poured her a brandy, she never saw the wine. Which could yet prove important... Let’s hear what Annie Redfearn has to say, then we should go and see Marris and Dickens and see what else they’ve got coming our way.”

Palmer nodded and they turned back and walked the short distance to face Annie.

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