Predictably, Tailby was responding to Vernon’s indignation by retreating into aloofness. They were like two well-groomed cats gradually throwing their veneer of civilization aside as they raised their fur and puffed their bodies up to make themselves look bigger than they really were.
‘Both Mr Sherratt and Mr Holmes have made statements, Mr Vernon. And naturally we are taking the information which has emerged from those statements into account in our enquiries.’
‘Who the hell is Mr Holmes?’
‘Simeon Holmes was Laura’s boyfriend.’
Vernon began to splutter. ‘Her what?’
‘Does it surprise you that Laura had a boyfriend?’
‘Surprise me? You’re talking rubbish, man. Laura had no time for boyfriends. She spent her time studying during the week. She worked hard. At weekends she had her music lessons. She practised the piano for hours. On Sundays she would go riding — we kept her horse at the stables on Buxton Road. She was always either out hacking or we’d take her to a gymkhana somewhere. When she wasn’t doing those, she was at the stables anyway.
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She was like a lot of fifteen-year-old girls, Chief Inspector — she was more interested in horses lh<m uovs. And thank Gud for that. Fifteen is too young to be having boyfriends.”
‘Nevertheless ‘
‘Who is this Holmes, anyway? Someone she knew at school, I suppose. I would have preferred to send her to a single-sex school, but it would have meant her boarding somewhere.
‘ O
My wite wanted to have Laura living at home. A mistake, it seems now.’
Tailby ignored the turning down of Vernon’s mouth, pressing on to prevent the man slipping into grief or self- pity.
‘According to Mr Holmes, Laura hated school. She used to play truant to meet him in Edcndale. Or indeed to meet other young men, it would seem. Were you aware of that, sir?’
‘No, I was not.’
‘Perhaps your wife would know more about that side of your daughter’s life, sir.’
‘I’d rather you didn’t ask my wife questions like that,’ said Vernon. ‘She is just starting to come to terms with all this, Chief Inspector. Don’t knock her back, please.’
‘Mrs Vernon seemed to cope very well in front of the television cameras this morning. I thought that went very well, sir.’
‘Clutching at straws.’
o
Ben Cooper stood in the background, watching Vernon carefully. The man had a square, heavy jaw and a face like an unfit boxer’s. It suited his aggressive manner, but went oddly with the atmosphere of the study. It was a large, high-ceilinged room with heavy pieces of furniture and a vast oak desk. A Turkish rug was thrown over a fitted oatmeal Berber in front of an arched brick fireplace and a cast-iron log basket on the hearth.
‘I know nothing of any boyfriends. Where does this Holmes live? Is he a friend of Lee Sherratt’s? Have you thought of that?’
‘I don’t think that’s very likely, Mr Vernon.’ ‘Well, you’d better be sure, hadn’t you, Chief Inspector?’ ‘Lee Sherratt, of course,’ said Tailby calmly, ‘is telling a similar story to that of Mr Holmes. Except that he insists that he had no relationship with Laura.’
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‘Lies and more lies. Something for you to sort out, eh? You’d !>e better employed proving wliich of them killed Laura instead of asking me these ludicrous questions. I’ve told you what sort of girl Laura was. She was my daughter. Don’t you think I
o J O J
would know?’
‘You might know,’ said Tailbv, as if to himself. ‘But would you tell me, I wonder?”
‘What do you mean?’
‘i mean that 1 have to doubt what you say to me in view of the things that your own son tells me. Things that suggest you have been lying to us, Mr Vernon.’
There was a silence in the study. Somewhere far away in the house, a vacuum cleaner started up. A telephone rang three times, then stopped. Tailby waited until Graham Vernon slumped and looked pained, as if an ulcer had suddenly flared in his stomach.
‘Daniel. What has he been telling you?’
O J
Tailby smiled grimly and asked Ben Cooper to read his notes of the interview with Daniel. Cooper read them in as steady a voice as he could manage, trying to put no particular inflection on the sections where the young man had become angry or upset. Vernon listened in silence until he had finished. By the end, his head was bowed and he couldn’t meet their eyes. When Tailby spoke, he sounded almost sorry for the man.
‘Now, Mr Vernon. Shall we start from the beginning? What would you like to tell me about Lee Sherratt?’
j
The mood in the briefing room was subdued. Though they had followed up all the available leads, many officers felt that they still didn’t seem to be getting anywhere. It was the start of a feeling that the enquiry might be running out of steam. Cooper recognized it, and knew that Tailby would too. It was the DCI’s job, as Senior Investigating Officer, to keep the troops motivated.
‘OK,’ said Tailby. ‘We have traced and interviewed both Lee Shcrratt and the boyfriend, Simeon Holmes. But to eliminate one or both from the enquiry, we still need evidence, and that’s what I’m not getting. Forensics have given us very little so far. I
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remain hopeful of the bite mark,
