Dead Wrong by Helen H. Durrant Page A

a bit extreme.”
    “The way they were killed was certainly that, Mr Ireson. So you see I’m interested in any background information I can get. We are pursuing a number of enquiries but nothing concrete, not yet.”
    He grinned. “Is that a euphemism for you haven’t got a clue?”
    “No — it’s exactly what I said; nothing concrete.
    He handed her a mug of coffee and pointed to a battered old sofa. “Sit down, and I’ll have a think. You see, the problem is that it’s a while ago since the Morpeth boy, and I could do with mulling it over. As I said, I made a statement at the time so you can read that, but basically I got to the scene too late. Morpeth was already dead and no one had actually seen him fall. Edwards and Hurst were there, of course, ogling the scene and pretending to be shocked. But they weren’t. It didn’t touch them — hard bastards.”
    “Take your time, Mr Ireson. I’m interested in things around the incident, like family ties and friends we might not know about. A statement tends to contain only the bare facts, so I’d like a little more meat on the bone.”
    “I see. I’d like to help, to remember anything I can that might prove useful.” He sat down beside her. “You think there’s a link to what happened to them? Something that connects the two events?”
    “I can’t say yet. Not until I know more. But probably not. The incident with the Morpeth boy is just further proof of how wicked the two of them really were, and how adept they were at covering their tracks. But they certainly fell foul of someone recently who had the means to make them pay, and pay dear.”
    “It was her I felt sorry for — his mother. Poor cow, she stood no chance. She’d failed, you see. She couldn’t cope with David and had to put him into care. She disappeared after his death. As far as I know, she left the area.”
    He took the empty mug from her hands and put it in the small sink in the corner of the room. He was nice, Ruth thought. Easy to speak to and quite good-looking. His hair wasn’t only longish, but slightly spiky too. The more she looked at him, the more Ruth realised that he was a man she could fancy. He had his own little corner of the staff room full of his books. He obviously loved his work. Something they had in common.
    “Look, I don’t want this to sound too forward, but can we meet sometime, when I’ve had time to think about this some more?” he asked.
    Even better! Ruth couldn’t recall the last time a man had asked her out — if that’s what this was.
    “We could get together at the weekend perhaps — have something to eat and a drink. In the meantime I’ll rack my brain, go back over the school records, look at some faces, and then I can give you a better overview of what happened. What do you say?”
    Ruth raised her eyebrows. “Are you asking me out, Mr Ireson?”
    He shrugged and buried his face in his coffee mug. “Suppose I am . . . Is that okay with you, Sergeant?”
    Ruth nodded. Yes it certainly was . . . though against regulations, but she knew plenty of male officers who met women, while on the job.

 
    Chapter 10
    “DCI Jones is looking for you, and Doctor Hoyle’s rung.” Rocky said the moment Calladine entered the incident room.
    That was good — well, the doc part was. He wasn’t so keen on talking to Jones. He’d gone ahead and visited Fallon without his say-so. But that was only because Jones was too pedantic. If he’d waited for permission it would have been Christmas before he got clearance to speak to his cousin.
    The case couldn’t wait. They needed to make some headway, and fast. Hopefully there would something from the post mortems. He could do with a break. He stared at the board. The faces, the images — they weren’t talking to him. He couldn’t get a handle on this at all. They were looking at murder — more than one, possibly serial murder. But why? What was the motive? He could understand why Edwards and Hurst weren’t