The Ten Commandments Read Online Free PDF Page B

beginning, so we can compare the cases step by step?'
    Ferris sat back, rubbing a hand over his face. 'To be honest. I can't see what the hell more we could have done. Anyway, judge for yourself.
    'As you know, it was nearly six years ago. The first we knew about it was when we got a call from the Feathers's landlord around closing time, to report a body being found in the car park. I went out there myself. No one in the pub recognized the man's description – or wouldn't let on if they did. But since he lived in Oxbury, it wouldn't have been his local anyway.'
    'Go on.'
    'We discovered later that he was killed just outside a pedestrian entrance at the back of the car park. SOCO found traces of blood on the grass, and signs of a body being dragged through the opening. Fibres matched the victim's clothes.'
    'So possibly the only connection with the pub was as a dumping ground?'
    'That's what it looked like, though God knows why he wasn't left where he was. Other than that, we came up with damn-all – no fingerprints, no foot marks, nothing. As for the victim, we were assured he was in good health, and had a steady job, an adequate bank balance, and a loving wife. Too good to be true.'
    'Perhaps it was,' Webb suggested.
    Ferris flashed him a look. 'If he was leading a double life, he took it with him to the grave. We grilled everyone who'd had any contact with him, but nothing emerged that we could get our teeth into.'
    'Hobbies?'
    'Sport, mainly football and cricket. Used to play for Oxbury United in his heyday, and still turned out for the first eleven every summer.'
    'One of the lads, then?'
    'I suppose so.'
    'What was his wife like?'
    'Small, quite pretty. Not a lot to say for herself, but we didn't exactly see her under the best circumstances.'
    'I hear she's remarried.'
    'Yep. Good luck to her.'
    'You know where she is?'
    'Oh sure, but frankly she's of no interest to us. She'd have been incapable of doing him in, even if she'd wanted to, and anyway, she had a watertight alibi. In my view, she deserves to be left alone to get on with her new life.'
    'I take it the second husband hadn't been waiting in the wings?'
    Ferris gave a bark of laughter. 'You don't give up easily, do you? No, that I did check. They didn't even meet until Philpott had been dead a couple of years.'
    'And he was an estate agent – Philpott, I mean: any dissatisfied customers? Anyone badly advised, overcharged, anything like that?'
    'Nothing sufficiently serious for the firm to have heard about.'
    'What firm was it?'
    'Ward and Johnson, in Oxbury. Are you going to see them?'
    Webb considered it, then shook his head. 'Not at this stage, Ted. I don't doubt your lads did a thorough job; the only reason I'm digging is in case there's a tie-in with the Judd inquiry. Talking of which, it's time I was getting back to it.'
    'Not been much help, have I?' Ferris said ruefully, standing up with them.
    'You've confirmed various points, which is something. But now you've come back to it with a fresh mind, as it were, something might yet strike you. And if it does, needless to say, I'd like to hear about it.'
    'Of course. And the same goes for me: if anything transpires in the new case which could be relevant to ours –'
    'I'll be in touch double-quick, never fear.'
    'Do you want to make a detour past the Feathers, Guv?' Jackson inquired as they got back into the car.
    'Not much point, Ken, since Philpott wasn't known there.' He grinned. 'Or were you thinking it was getting on for lunch time?'
    Jackson's stomach was a useful timepiece, ensuring that at least they ate regularly.
    'Well, now that you mention it –'
    'I'd rather not waste any more time on Philpott just now. We'll set off for Ashmartin and stop somewhere on the way.'
    'Right you are. Guv.'
    Webb fastened his seat belt and, relieved as always to be leaving Erlesborough, settled down for the drive ahead.

3
    'And he can't relax even now, because this TV interview's looming.'
    Gillian