The Lily-White Boys Read Online Free PDF Page B

Eloise had similar interests, particularly in the art field, and spent a considerable time together without their husbands. It was not only foolish but dangerous to put all that in jeopardy because of a chance remark by her daughter.
    â€˜Actually,’ Claudia said suddenly, interrupting Abbie’s narrative, ‘it was a pleasant evening, and I enjoyed it.’
    Abbie looked at her in surprise. ‘That’s good,’ she said.
    Sergeant Penrose had been advised of Mr Trubshaw’s visit and was waiting by the van when the CID car arrived and the two detectives got out.
    Bob Dawson walked round it critically. ‘Owners never heard of a wash leather, by the look of it. Have you tried the doors?’
    â€˜No call to,’ Penrose reminded him. ‘It’s not been here forty-eight hours yet. I only came earlier as a favour to Miss Tovey.’
    â€˜Well, as you’ll have gathered, now that the owners are reported missing we’re stepping things up.’ He peered through the nearside window. ‘Keys in the ignition, would you believe! In any other area it would have been nicked before now and saved us all this bother!’ He wrapped a handkerchief round his hand and tried the handle. The door opened. Dawson stuck his head inside, then withdrew quickly. ‘Oi, oi. Something not quite kosher here.’
    â€˜How d’you mean, Skipper?’ DC Cummings made to bend forward but Dawson gestured him away. ‘Use your handkerchief, Steve, and see if the rear doors are unlocked.’
    They were. On the floor of the van lay a heap of stained tarpaulin. The two sergeants exchanged glances.
    â€˜Thinking what I’m thinking, Jim?’
    Penrose had paled. ‘Afraid so.’
    Dawson felt in his pocket and took out a pencil. Leaning inside the van, he used it to lift a corner of the tarpaulin and flick it aside. Then he stood back with a deep sigh. Now exposed to view lay the bodies of two identical young men with short blond hair, wearing the green tracksuits of Shillingham United.
    â€˜Well, well, well,’ he said, feeling in vain for first one pulse, then the other. ‘So they’ve gone to the big football ground in the sky.’
    Cummings, who’d turned hastily away as the bodies were uncovered, managed to find his voice. ‘You – you know who they are, Skip?’
    â€˜Certainly I do; our paths have crossed more than once. It’s the White twins, lad, better known on the terraces as the Lily-White Boys.’

CHAPTER 3
    By the time DCI Webb and Sergeant Jackson arrived, uniform officers were posted at strategic points on the pavement and the van was screened from public gaze. Though for all the interest the public was showing, the precautions hardly seemed necessary. North Park residents had been brought up to disregard that which was none of their business, a tendency which boded ill in a murder inquiry.
    Dawson, Cummings and Penrose were awaiting them on the pavement, together with the Coroner’s Officer, a police constable called Smithers.
    â€˜So what have we got this time?’ Webb asked, as Cummings opened the car door for him.
    It was Dawson who answered. ‘Two for the price of one, Guv; the White twins. “In their death they were not divided,” as you might say.’
    â€˜Very pretty. I gather you made the ID.’
    â€˜That’s right, I’ve had several dealings with them. Football mad, they were, and not averse to a bit of a punch-up at the ground now and then.’
    Webb and Jackson exchanged a glance. It was the opinion at Carrington Street that Bob himself was ‘football mad’, and according to his colleagues the only time he showed any animation was at a United match.
    â€˜We’d our suspicions on several breaking and entering jobs, too,’ Dawson was continuing, ‘but we couldn’t make any stick.’
    â€˜Right.’ Webb turned to Smithers. ‘Get on to Dr