Blind to the Bones by Stephen Booth Page A

bit of a coincidence, really. At first, when we went down there, it was just the three of us – me, Emma and her friend Debbie, who was on the same course. The two girls were big pals, you know, and they went everywhere together. But there was a fourth bedroom in the house, and after a while we started to think we’d have to try to find someone else to share. To be honest, the rent was a bit of a struggle for the three of us. You don’t appreciate what expenses you’re going to have, you know – books and all that. Emma and Debbie had a lot of equipment to buy for their course work.’
    â€˜And there would be socializing, I suppose?’ said Fry.
    Dearden looked at her suspiciously. ‘Why do you suppose that?’
    â€˜Well – student life. There’s a lot of socializing, isn’t there? Or so I’m told.’
    â€˜A bit. But if you have any sense, you don’t go mad. Not if you want to get through your course with good grades, which we all did.’
    â€˜I see. But life was proving a bit expensive, all the same?’
    â€˜Yes. Things we hadn’t budgeted for – Council Tax, electricity, the phone bill. You know.’
    â€˜Yes, I do know.’
    â€˜Anyway, it was around then that Neil got in touch. He said he had a job to go to in Birmingham. It was a two-year contract on a development project on the inner ring road, as I remember. Neil wanted to know if we’d let him rent the other room in the house. Our parents weren’t too happy, but we talked about it between us, and we decided to go for it.’
    â€˜Because he was somebody you knew, rather than a stranger?’
    Dearden hesitated. ‘Well, the thing that really swung it was the salary he was earning. He was getting good money on this contract, and the rest of us were just students living on loans. So we thought he’d be useful.’
    Fry wanted to do something to remove that smile now, but she needed to keep Alex Dearden on her side. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Murfin chewing more quickly, as if he had found something with an unpleasant taste in his mouth that he wanted to spit out.
    â€˜Mr Dearden,’ said Fry, ‘did it ever occur to you that Neil Granger might have a particular reason for wanting to rent the room in your house?’
    â€˜It was just convenience, I think. It can be quite hard to find reasonable rented accommodation, especially in a city with so many students.’
    â€˜No, what I meant was – do you think he might have had an additional reason? A personal reason.’
    Dearden still looked puzzled.
    â€˜An interest in Emma Renshaw, perhaps?’
    He raised his eyebrows then. ‘Good heavens. Neil? No, I think you’re wrong.’
    He didn’t quite say ‘again’, but he might as well have done.
    â€˜Thank you, sir. In that case, can you tell me about any boyfriends that Emma had during the time she was in the West Midlands? I’m sure she must have had some, despite what you said about the lack of socializing.’
    Dearden shook his head. ‘There were a few boys Emma and Debbie talked about sometimes. I didn’t take any notice, really. When the two girls went out, they always seemed to go together. So I’m afraid I don’t know if there were any particular boys involved in their lives. Well, all right, I expect there were. But I’m sure Neil wasn’t one of them, Sergeant.’
    â€˜Did Neil have his own friends while he was working in Birmingham?’
    â€˜Yes, I expect so. Some of his workmates from the development project, I imagine.’
    â€˜You don’t seem too sure.’
    â€˜I didn’t ask him. I was busy. I was working hard for my degree. It wasn’t my concern where Neil Granger went in the evenings.’
    â€˜Or Emma either?’
    â€˜Well, no.’
    â€˜Despite the fact that she’d been a friend of yours since you were very