Fry looked her up and down. Confident, capable-looking. Pretty much as she had been herself once, before she joined CID.
‘Hello.’
Gavin Murfin gave a cheerful wave from behind the steering wheel.
‘Hi,’ said Udall. ‘Withens hasn’t seen so much police activity for years. Folks round here will be getting paranoid.’
‘Some already are,’ said Fry.
‘Where have you been?’ asked Cooper.
‘To see the Renshaws.’
‘Ah/ said Udall. ‘I see what you mean. Though paranoid isn’t quite the right word.’
‘Emma Renshaw’s parents,’ said Cooper. ‘I’d forgotten they lived in Withens. What’s happening with that? Have I missed anything?’
‘Well, that’s what happens when you get promoted to the Rural Crime Team.’
‘Has Emma been found? It can’t be a murder enquiry, I would have heard. Wouldn’t I, Diane?’
‘Well, I expect so.’ Then Fry took pity on him. ‘Of course you would have heard, Ben. I’d have been kicking up all kinds of stink to get you back, no matter what the Rural Crime Team said.’
She didn’t look at PC Udall, but Udall seemed to get the message.
‘Tell you what, I’ll see you back at the car, Ben/ she said. ‘I’ve got some calls to make/
Fry watched her walk away, giving a hitch to her duty belt. Full of confidence, totally unfazed.
‘She’s a good officer/ said Cooper.
127
Tin sure.’
Fry saw the stubborn set of his face and suppressed an urge to wind him up some more. She had promised herself she was going to be nice to him. Besides, loyalty was one of his strong points, as she well knew.
‘So it isn’t a murder enquiry?’
‘Not until we get the bloodstains analysed/ said Fry. ‘And then we’ll let you know.’
‘Where are you heading now?’
“Tintwistle. To see if we can track down one of Emma Renshaw’s housemates. A young man by the name of Neil Granger, who we can’t seem to catch at home.’
Cooper put his hand on the car to stop them driving away.
‘Don’t be in too much of a rush/ he said. ‘Somebody’s already found him for you/
DI Paul Hitchens was in the incident room at Edendale, where a team was being set up for the enquiry into Neil Granger’s death. No decision had yet been taken to activate the HOLMES procedures. If an obvious suspect presented himself during the initial enquiries, there wouldn’t be any need for the drain on staff and resources that was involved in a major enquiry. If E Division had too many major enquiries, it would miss its annual targets for house burglary and street crime.
Diane Fry thought Hitchens seemed a bit distracted these days. Maybe the new DCI was giving him a hard time. There were changes in the air around E Division, but then things didn’t stay the same in the police service very long. Hitchens might be feeling the draught a bit.
‘Well, if there’s a link with the Emma Renshaw case, I’m sure we’ll find it, Diane/ he said.
‘Neil Granger was next on my list for interview/ said Fry.
‘I’m aware of that. But who could possibly have known that there was a new line of enquiry in the Renshaw case?’
‘Her parents. And I’ve already spoken to Alex Dearden as well, sir.’
‘But Diane, Neil Granger has been dead since Friday night or the early hours of Saturday morning - before you talked to the Renshaws or Dearden.’
‘Still …’
‘I know it’s frustrating that you’ve lost a witness. But come to
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the briefing in the morning, and you’ll see that there are sonic important developments in other directions.’
‘I see. The link to Emma Renshaw is a low priority in the DCI’s thinking?’
‘Yes, but you’ll see why in the morning, Diane.’
‘I’d like to make one request then, sir.’
‘What’s that?’
‘I’d like to attend the Neil Granger postmortem.’
Hitchens paused. ‘Well, I don’t see why not. Mrs Van Door never objects to an audience. I’ll clear it with Mr Kessen.’
‘Thank you, sir.’
‘This theory isn’t actually set in stone, Diane,’ said Hitchens smugly. ‘But it involves something equally solid.’
Fry waited for him to explain, but instead he smiled and changed tack.
