Blind to the Bones by Stephen Booth

In Withens. Do you know it at all?’
    â€˜I haven’t been there yet.’
    â€˜Well, when you see it, you’ll understand. There’s nothing to the place. Children of around the same age couldn’t help but know each other. We went to the same junior school, in Tintwistle. And later on, to the same secondary school, too. But our parents were on friendly terms anyway, so we were thrown together a lot.’
    â€˜And after school, you even ended up going to the same university.’
    â€˜No,’ said Dearden. ‘You have that wrong. I went to Birmingham University. Emma was at UCE, where she attended the art school. That’s the University of Central England. It’s a former polytechnic.’
    â€˜Right.’ Fry looked at Alex Dearden and saw the little superior smile. He thought he had the better of her now, and was feeling more relaxed.
    â€˜But our universities were close enough that we thought it might be a good idea to pitch in together and rent a house,’ he said. ‘It beats being thrown in with a load of strangers. You don’t know who you’re going to have to live with for three or four years when you do that. It’s madness. At least I knew Emma wouldn’t be too much trouble. And our parents thought it was a good idea, too. They put the money up front for the deposit, of course.’
    â€˜Of course,’ said Fry. She had never been to university herself, and had never had any parents either willing or able to put the money up to rent a house for her. But she nodded and smiled to encourage him.
    â€˜And your other housemates – one was Neil Granger.’
    â€˜Ah, well, he’s a bit of an odd character, is Neil.’
    â€˜Odd?’
    â€˜Well, don’t get me wrong. He’s OK really. But he didn’t mix with us so much back in Withens, you know, because he was one of the Oxleys.’
    â€˜I’m sorry? Could you explain?’
    Dearden shifted on his seat and his smile faded. He glanced at Gavin Murfin, unnerved by the silent one, as they always were.
    â€˜You’ll have to find out about the Oxleys,’ said Dearden. ‘They’re a bit of a rough lot, always in trouble. We never normally had anything to do with them. Actually, I thought you would know of them already – they’ve all got criminal records, of course.’
    He looked at Murfin again, who stared back at him blankly, in the way that only Murfin could. Holding his gaze, Murfin began to work his jaws a bit, as if he were chewing gum. But Fry knew that he hated gum. He said it was like going out with a prick-teaser – it promised to be food, but never was.
    She looked down at the notes she’d brought. ‘I think I have heard the name Oxley, now you mention it,’ she said.
    Dearden looked relieved. He was on safe ground again, talking to people who were on the same wavelength. He was uncomfortable about his attitude to the Oxleys, and he didn’t like having to justify himself. Fry filed away that piece of information for future reference.
    â€˜Neil Granger is some kind of cousin of the Oxleys,’ said Dearden. ‘There’s Neil and his brother Philip, and they were brought up with the Oxleys. But he’s a decent enough bloke, Neil. When you’re talking to him, you can forget he’s an Oxley.’
    â€˜He was at the same school with you and Emma? In the same class?’
    â€˜Yes.’
    â€˜And which university did he go to? Birmingham or Central England?’ She shuffled her papers. ‘I’m afraid I don’t seem to have that information, either.’
    Fry looked at Alex Dearden with a hopeful expression, and was pleased to see the complacent smile was back.
    â€˜Neither,’ he said. ‘Neil wasn’t at uni.’
    â€˜But he shared this house with you in, where was it, Bearwood? Why did he go all that way to share a house? I don’t understand.’
    â€˜It was a