Read Online The Nine Bright Shiners by Anthea Fraser - Free Book Online Page A

round polystyrene cups, sipping the scalding liquid.
    Suddenly, over the frosty fields, came the sound of a dog’s excited barking. They all looked at each other expectantly.
    â€˜That was quick!’ Linton exclaimed.
    â€˜If he’d been in a hurry, he wouldn’t have had time to dig deep. Get the spades and let’s see what they’ve found.’
    Twenty minutes later, a pile of clothes, clogged with earth and mould, lay on a plastic sheet on the frozen ground. At first sight, there appeared to be no identifying papers among them. Webb glanced at his watch. ‘We must get back – these people from London are due. Let me know what the lab makes of this lot, Dick. I’ll be waiting with bated breath.’
    Webb’s heart sank as soon as he saw the girl. Not the type to make a reliable witness, he thought gloomily. Still, she must know something, and at least she’d positively identified the body. The WDS from London led her over to a chair and stood protectively beside her, a hand on her shoulder. Webb said irritably, ‘All right, Sergeant, you can take a seat. We’ll go easy with her. Now, Miss Potts, have a sip of tea and then we’d like you to answer some questions.’
    The girl gulped, sniffed and nodded.
    â€˜How well did you know Mr Marriott?’
    Her eyes brimmed again. ‘We were living together, weren’t we?’
    â€˜For how long?’
    She shrugged. ‘Three months – maybe four.’
    â€˜And he was a journalist?’
    â€˜Yeh – freelance. That means not for any particular paper,’ she added helpfully.
    â€˜Quite. If you could tell us some of the ones who published him?’
    She mentioned three or four, and Jackson noted them down.
    â€˜And did he use a notebook, or pocket recorder?’
    â€˜Both. He always had both on him.’ There’d been neither with the body. ‘Sometimes he’d tease me by leaving the recorder switched on at the flat, and then playing it back.’ She bit her lip and looked away.
    â€˜Tell me about the last time you saw him.’
    â€˜Well, it was before Christmas, and we were going to buy my present the next day during my lunch-hour. But then Guy says he can’t meet me after all, because he’s got to go to Broadshire.’ She gave a hiccuping little sob at the memory.
    â€˜He didn’t say where in Broadshire?’
    She looked vague. ‘I don’t think so.’
    Webb sighed, and tried another tack. ‘Presumably he’d have come by car?’
    â€˜Oh yes.’
    â€˜Well, if you could give us the make and number –’ He broke off at her blank look.
    â€˜It was a blue one, two-door,’ she said. ‘I don’t know the number.’
    â€˜Or the make?’
    She shook her head.
    â€˜That’s not much help, then.’ Webb felt rather than saw the woman sergeant stiffen defensively. Obviously considered him a clumsy bumpkin, he thought resentfully.
    He tried again. ‘If he broke a date to come over, surely he explained why?’
    She looked stricken. ‘He did start to tell me, but I was watching telly and told him to shut up.’
    Webb held in his frustration. ‘Tell me what you do remember.’
    â€˜It was about the story he was working on.’
    â€˜And what story was that?’
    Shirley Potts gazed at him desperately. Her anxiety to help was palpable, as was her inability to do so. ‘I don’t know,’ she whispered.
    Webb kept his voice steady. ‘Can you think of any stories he’d been working on recently? Please, Miss Potts, this could be very important.’
    She frowned and the tip of her tongue appeared, like a child trying to concentrate. ‘There was one about a film star who’d come to London.’
    â€˜When was that?’
    â€˜Oh, during the summer, I suppose. I think he’d finished that one. And there was something about the Government, but I