The Judas Sheep Read Online Free PDF Page A

interference.’
    ‘I see. And you didn’t report your wife missing,’ I stated.
    He shook his head. That’s not a crime here, is it?’ he asked.
    ‘No.’
    ‘I thought not. She’s not missing, just gone.’
    ‘Have you reported the car stolen?’
    ‘I’m coming to that. I was waiting for Security to tell me my taxi had arrived when the phone rang again. Someone very politely informed me that my Rolls-Royce was at the Burtonwood services, on the M62. Eastbound. Would I please collect it? I was relieved. I thought there must have been an accident or something, and everything could be explained. I collected my spare keys, in the taxi, then had him take me to the services. The Rolls was there, as promised.’
    ‘And you have no idea who it was on the phone?’
    ‘I assumed it was you guys – the police.’
    ‘What was his accent like?’
    ‘Bit like yours, I guess.’
    Husky, but with a hint of sophistication. ‘There was nothing in the car – no message?’ I asked.
    ‘No, sir.’
    ‘And nobody has contacted you since?’
    ‘Uh uh.’
    ‘OK. Do you mind, Mr Norris, if I ask a local SOCO – that’s a Scenes of Crime Officer – to give the Rolls a thorough going over; see if we can find some evidence of who’s been in it lately?’
    ‘I’m afraid there could be a problem with that, Inspector.’
    ‘Why’s that?’
    ‘Well, you see, I was wondering the same thing myself. I felt uncomfortable in it, and it was covered in mud. So after I left Town & County on Saturday I tookit to the garage and had them give it a full valet service.’ He said g’rarge and v’lay. ‘Now it’s as spick and span as a West Point cadet’s boots on graduation day.’
    Fantastic, but I still needed some plaster casts from the tyres, to prove it was in the lane where Hurst’s body was found. ‘Pity,’ I said. ‘I’d still like him to have a go, though, if you don’t mind.’
    ‘You’re welcome, Inspector. The car will be in the garage here all afternoon.’
    I asked him a few questions about his wife and her friends and quizzed him some more about Harold. He gave me various names and numbers and I thanked him for his cooperation. As I was about to leave I said: ‘Mr Norris, can you be absolutely sure that nothing was going off between your wife and Hurst? That they weren’t having an affair?’
    He shook his head and gave a little smile. ‘Out of the question, Inspector. Marina liked her men either rich or built like Sylvester Stallone, but preferably taller.’ The last bit made the smile a full one. ‘Harold was neither.’
    ‘What was he like?’
    He pursed his lips in his thoughtful mannerism, and I wondered if he was about to give me a description of the back of his chauffeur’s head. ‘Hard to say. Not the type of person you’d notice in a crowd. Kinda … faceless.’ I already knew that.
     
    This was the kind of enquiry I like. It was out of the ordinary – something was going off that was difficult tofathom. Rich man’s wife missing, his driver found dead. What was the link? It was easier when you didn’t know the people, didn’t feel sorry for them. I called at the local police station and told the Superintendent why I was on his patch. I also used their telephone and had a look at the street plan.
    The PI that Norris said he’d tried to contact had received the message, so I advised him against following it up. Then I visited Town & County department store.
    The manager was early middle-aged, about ten years younger than me. He smiled a lot and pumped my hand eagerly. At a guess he was worried about his job, being too young to be one of the old school, yet too old to be a whizzkid. I knew the feeling.
    I refused a coffee and thanked him for seeing me without an appointment. ‘You must be very busy,’ I crawled, and he told me all about the tribulations of sales and stock-taking. He’d last seen Hurst on the previous Friday, when Mrs Norris left the store. The manager had walked out with