“Thank you, Lydia,” said Gus. “Well, that puts another loose end to bed. If his killer had a grievance, it had nothing to do with the way Gerry handled his money.”
Blessing wondered what Gus would do if Divya came up empty-handed.
Gus’s phone rang fifteen minutes later.
“Turkish delight, I wonder?” he said before picking up.
“Good afternoon, Byron. Gus Freeman here, from Wiltshire Police. I don’t know if you’ve heard from Sean.”
“No, sir,” replied Byron.
“Well, my colleague DS Sherman contacted you earlier in the week to explain what we’re doing. As I told Sean this afternoon, no case is ever closed. Six years ago, we didn’t find your father’s killer, but we could be closer to the truth now. I don’t need to trawl through the same ground I went over with your brother. I wish you to tell me one thing, and one thing only. Think back to when your Dad heard Rachel call him on that Sunday night. Remind me, where were you?”
“In the games room. We were playing a few frames before the evening session started.”
“You were playing Sean, is that right, and Dad was the referee?”
“That’s right.”
“You heard Rachel call out. Then what happened?”
“Dad went to see who it was at the front door.”
“Did he do anything before he left?”
“He told me off for swearing. The amber light flashing put me off. I got into perfect position on the final black, but the red wobbled.”
“Nothing else?”
“No. Why?”
“So Dad still wore his white referee gloves?”
“He must have. Dad didn’t remove them. I’m positive. I can see him now, wagging a finger at me because I swore.”
“That’s fine, Byron,” said Gus. “That was what we needed to know. I hear you won this afternoon, is the tournament going well?”
“I played poorly and won today,” said Byron. “I’ll have to up my game tomorrow night if I want to be around at the weekend.”
“Good luck,” said Gus. “We might pop over to Trowle Common for a chat next week before you fly out again.”
Gus ended the call.
“Listen up,” he said. “Let’s run through our revised scenario. Gerry is outside with a stranger just after six-thirty. Gerry is casually dressed and wearing a pair of white gloves. The stranger has a weapon containing a single bullet. There’s an argument, and the gun gets fired. Gerry falls to the ground, fatally wounded. Rachel hears Sean calling for his father and leaves the gym at six forty-five. When she opens the front door, the stranger has gone. Gerry is dead and no longer wearing the gloves. What happened?”
“The gunman took them,” said Alex, “but why?”
“Over to you, Blessing,” said Gus.
“If there was a motorcycle in the area that evening, it had nothing to do with the murder,” said Blessing. “If someone who wanted Gerry dead hired a killer, they would have expected them to prepare for every eventuality. To use a silencer to mask the sound and deliver two shots to the head, which is standard. Loading a single bullet is the action of an amateur. The gunman panicked at the sight of blood. Probably, they never meant to kill Gerry Hogan, just to frighten him. The gunman hadn’t prepared for something like that to happen, so they had to think fast. They took the gloves from the body, used them to wipe their fingerprints from the weapon. Then they wrapped the small handgun in the gloves and escaped.”
“On foot?” asked Neil.
“There are three bus services and four stops on the Common, Neil,” said Blessing. “Our killer could have arrived at the Hogan house at six-thirty. I’ve checked the times. When he ran away, sometime between six-thirty and six forty-five, he wouldn’t have wanted to jump on a bus straight away. The driver, or a passenger, might remember him. He got rid of the gun in the drain and then ditched the gloves in a bin he passed.”
“Can you see any flaws in that scenario?” asked Gus.
“We still don’t have a motive, guv,” said Lydia. “It sounds a plausible sequence of events, but why was the stranger there in the first place?”
“The only source for that information is at the Hub,” said Luke.
“That was a long shot, at best,” said Alex.
“Where do we go if Divya doesn’t find a suitable candidate?” asked Luke.
“The answers to these questions and more in tomorrow’s episode,” said Neil.
“I admire your confidence, Neil,” said Gus. “You heard Blessing’s theory of how things went based on the facts we have. Is there an alternative scenario?”
“Not one I can justify with irrefutable facts, guv,” said Neil.
“Back to the drawing board,” said Lydia.
“How are you getting on with your file updates, Blessing?”
“Over halfway, guv. Belinda had plenty to say.”
“I don’t think we can give you guys anything to bite on until the morning. Why don’t you have an extra hour at home? Blessing and I will finish up here, and we’ll see you in the morning. We’ll be hanging around until lunchtime, anyway.”
Alex and the others didn’t need asking twice. They packed up and left.
Gus and Blessing continued updating their digital files.
“I’ve finished, guv,” said Blessing. “Do you mind if I get off home to Worton?”
“No, you can run along, Blessing,” said Gus. “I’ll be five more minutes.”
“How’s your jigsaw going, guv?” she asked as she passed his desk.
“I’ve completed the outside pieces, Blessing,” said Gus. “Tomorrow, I hope your pal Divya will deliver the missing pieces to help fill in the gaps in the middle.”
Friday, 17th August 2018
Gus headed into town, ready for a new day at the office. He and Suzie had enjoyed their planned quiet night at home. They talked and listened to
