J O O O
Davis, Chestnut Lodge. She says she’s met Laura Vernon several times. Apparently Mrs Davis’s daughter goes to the same stables as Laura did, and they got quite friendly. She describes Laura as a very nice girl.’
J o
‘What does that mean exactly? Nice.’
‘The way she spoke about some of the other children she came across, I think it means that she approved of Laura’s background, sir.’
‘Mmm. Did you get her to expand on that?’
‘As far as I could. She said Laura was polite and knew how to behave. She said she was very good with the younger children, helping to show them what to do when they were learning to
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ride. Mrs Davis told me a story about Laura looking after a bov who had fallen off his horse. Apparently, she was the only one he would let comfort him when he had hurt himself. Mrs Davis said Laura’s mother was a nice woman too.’
Somebody snorted. DI Hitchcns didn’t look impressed. ‘It doesn’t mean much.’
‘But they all seem to know of the Vernons, these people,’ viid Fry. ‘Fverv one of them.’
‘Yes, and not too charmed by them either, on the whole,’ said Wragg.
oo
‘It’s that sort of village, though.’
o ‘ o
‘What do you mean, Diane?’ asked Hitchens. ‘They’re close, this lot. They don’t like newcomers, people who don’t fit in. I mean, they’re not exactly welcoming, are
J J O’
they?’
‘I don’t agree,’ said Cooper.
‘Well, you wouldn’t.’
‘It depends on how you approach them, that’s all. If you come to a village like this willing to fit in, they’ll accept you. But if
o O ” J 1 J
you stay aloof, make it look as though you think you’re better than they are, then they’re bound to react against you.’
‘And the Vernons are like that, aloof, you reckon, Ben?’
‘Sure of it, sir.’
‘Hey, what about some sort of conspiracy against the Vernons? Local vigilantes, like, who get together and knock off Laura Vernon as a warning? Clear off out of our village, we don’t
want you. That sort of thing.’
j &
‘Don’t talk rubbish, Parkin.’
‘That sounds like something out of the Dark Ages,’ said
o o ‘
Fry.
‘Or The X-Files,’ suggested Wragg.
‘All right, all right.’
‘Any positive reactions to the trainer?’ asked Hitchens.
‘Nothing.’
O
‘Some of the old biddies don’t even know what a trainer is.’ ‘That trainer has to be somewhere.’
‘Sir, if it’s chummy from Buxton, the one B Division are after, then he’ll probably have taken it home with him as
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a memento, like they reckon he did with the tights off the other one.’
‘Yes, that’s possible, Wragg. But Mr Tailby doesn’t believe we can assume the two cases are linked at this stage.’
‘But that means we have to do everything from scratch, when they might turn out to be the same bloke after all.’
‘Have we turned up anything on the known offenders, sir?’ asked Cooper.
‘Not yet. It’s early days. Dl Armstrong is on to it.’
‘Well, she’s wasting her time anyway.’
