‘Done?’ she asked flatly.
‘Yes, thank you,’ Morton replied.
Miss Latimer looked down at the document,raised an eyebrow and proceeded to unravel the ribbon and re-tie it in analmost identical fashion to how Morton had bound it. Having repackaged itto her satisfaction, Miss Latimer turned and headed out behind the helpdesk. Morton was left wondering how their relationship had got to thispoint. He had known her for more than ten years now and in all that timeshe had never once been nice to him. To the best of his recollection,Morton couldn’t recall anything specific which had founded her acrimony towardshim; he had always put her virulence down to her infuriation when the head ofthe archives, Max Fairbrother, would bend the rules for him. He wishedMax had been on duty today.
Finally, Miss Latimer returned to thedesk, seemingly unaware that Morton was still standing where she had left himmoments before.
‘Could I have my next document, please?’Morton asked.
‘Reader’s ticket,’ she repeated.
Morton again handed over the ticket and waitedpatiently for Miss Latimer to return. She handed over the burial registerfor Winchelsea, which Morton duly took and set about devouring. It wouldhave been very easy for him to dive straight into 1911, but that would havegone against his training. He was a forensic genealogist andneeded to be exacting and precise in his searches. Starting at thebeginning, in January 1813, Morton studied every aspect of every page, notingdown anything and everything of interest. Each time the name Mercer or Blackfriarscropped up, he wrote the information down and took a digital photograph ofit. He also had open his three lists of people around Mary Mercer at thetime of her disappearance and noted down the burial of some of the domesticservants. When he reached the page detailing all of the burials in 1911,Morton took extra care to ensure that nothing was missed; he even photographedthe relevant pages for future reference, but there was definitely no sign ofEdward Mercer. Morton continued until October 1934, then exchanged theregister for the next one. In it, he found the burial notifications ofseveral Blackfriars employees and members of the Mansfield family, which hediligently scribbled down against the list in his notepad. He found theburials of Lady Rothborne in 1928, Philadelphia Mansfield in 1953 and CecilMansfield in 1959. The register ended in July 2009 and Morton thenswitched his attention to the Icklesham burial register. Having loggedthe burial of several members of the Mercer family, Morton located Edward.
Date: 28th May 1911
Name: Edward Mercer
Residence: Winchelsea
Age: 20 years
Ashe had predicted, the register had added nothing to the Mercer Case, other thanconfirming Edward’s date and place of burial. On past occasions, Mortonhad been delighted to find a descriptive vicar annotating burial registers withhis own unique take on the world. He recalled finding the burial of oneGeorge Barton who was buried in 1844 in East Peckham. The vicar had addedto the usual perfunctory information something along the lines of: the lastof 3 brothers all of whom were too fond of drink to live long, see 1840 and1836.
Morton photographed the record andcontinued searching in the register, noting down people of interest. Allthe while, Edward’s death, so close to Mary’s disappearance, played on hismind. Were there really no other records that showed what had happenedto him? He allowed his mind to mull over the question, consideringthen dismissing possible research avenues. When he had finally ended theregister in 1975, Morton returned the ledger to Miss Latimer.
‘Deidre, I’ve got a researchquestion that I wonder if you could help with,’ Morton said, relishing the waythat she winced when he addressed her by her first name.
‘It’s Miss Latimer, as you have been toldbefore. What is it that you need help with now?’ She didn’t eventry to hide her annoyance with him.
Morton glanced at his notepad. ‘I’mlooking for a record of an inquest that took place in Winchelsea in 1911—do youknow if it still exists?’
Miss Latimer frowned. ‘I doubt it,’she said. Perching a pair of glasses on the end of her nose, she turnedto the computer and began tapping at the keyboard. After a while sheremoved her glasses, looked up at Morton and shook her head. ‘Nothing atall for that period. We’ve got bits and pieces for the Brighton districtand Lewes district, but nothing for the Rye district. Those are the onlytwo districts for this county.’
Morton saw the tiny hint of a satisfiedsmile on Miss Latimer’s face. She really was an obnoxious woman whoshould have a restraining order on being within fifty miles of the generalpublic. ‘Okay. How about police surgeon reports?’
Miss Latimer sighed, remounted her glassesand began tapping at the computer keyboard. ‘Again, nothing. Iassume you’ve tried the Sussex Express?’
‘Yes, I have.’
‘That’s probably all you’re going to find,then,’ she said, ending their conversation by picking up a booklet and reading.
Morton returned to his desk. Therewas little other research he could conduct here at this point in the MercerCase. It was time to go home and investigate other potentialavenues.
Having collected all of his belongings,Morton headed out of the Reference Room. ‘Could you open the doorplease?’ Morton asked as he passed the helpdesk, avoiding an inevitablestand-off.
Without looking up, Miss Latimer pressedthe release and the glass door rolled open.
‘Thanks, Deidre,’ Morton called, stridingthrough the opening, through the Reading Room and back into the mainlobby. He collected the remainder of his bits from his locker and leftThe Keep with a smug smile on his face at having had the last word with MissLatimer.
His smile dropped when he saw hisMini. The front passenger-side tyre was flat. Brilliant. Justwhat he needed, to waste time changing a tyre in The Keep car park. AsMorton approached the boot of the car, he noticed that the back passenger tyrewas also flat. ‘Damn it!’ he said, circling the car and discovering thatevery tyre was flat, each with an inch-long incision just above the metalalloys. Morton flicked his head around the car park: he couldn’t seeanybody suspicious loitering in the shadows. He marched back
