Hell Hath No Fury by Rosie Harris Page B

be.
    They returned to the office feeling more than a little disgruntled. The name Walker rang a bell, Paddy admitted. Someone of that name had died only a couple of months ago and there had been some sort of dispute over the will.
    â€˜And you think there may be some sort of connection?’
    â€˜I remember!’ His handsome face lit up. ‘Tom Walker. He was a magazine wholesaler. Of course he would know Sandy Franklin. He’d have been one of his suppliers, and they’d have met at trade functions.’
    â€˜Anything else?’
    Paddy chewed on his lower lip. ‘Yes! I remember now. I had occasion to speak to Tracey Walker once when I was in Traffic Division. She’d overstayed on a restricted parking area. A very sexy blonde piece! Nice smile. I remember I let her off with a caution. She’d be very much Sandy Franklin’s type.’
    â€˜Tom Walker is dead, you say?’
    â€˜That’s right. He died quite suddenly, a couple of months back . . .’
    â€˜Which means he couldn’t have done it.’
    â€˜True.’ He looked thoughtful. ‘And I don’t think she’d be the type . . . Still, you never know. We probably ought to bring her in for questioning.’
    â€˜We have to find her first. If you remember, she wasn’t at home and no one seemed to know where she might be.’
    â€˜We could start with Walker’s wife and see what she can tell us.’
    â€˜I thought this Tracey was his wife?’
    Paddy chuckled. ‘That’s what everyone in Benbury thought until Tom Walker’s will was read. Then it came out that he was merely living with Tracey. She’d taken his name, but he already had a wife. Tracey raised an outcry because he’d left all his money to his legal wife.’
    â€˜Almost a reason for murder in itself, except that Tom Walker is already dead,’ murmured Ruth dryly. ‘So where does Sandy Franklin fit into this little triangle?’
    Paddy hesitated. ‘Rumour has it . . .’
    Ruth went on as if thinking aloud. ‘He could have gone there to offer her some advice . . .’
    â€˜And she lost her temper and stabbed him? I suppose it’s possible, but not very likely.’
    â€˜Tom Walker’s wife might have gone to Accrington Court to see Tracey, to have things out with her about the slanderous things Tracey was saying about her. and found Franklin there.’
    â€˜And killed him in a fit of pique because she’d always thought of him as a friend of her husband’s and was outraged to find him visiting Tracey?’
    Ruth shook her head. ‘I think that’s rather far-fetched.’
    â€˜Think about it. Even a worm turns . . . in time. And she had recently lost her husband, remember. Grief can affect people’s minds in the strangest ways.’
    â€˜I think you are grasping at straws, or you’ve been listening to too much local gossip,’ Ruth told him crisply.
    Paddy shrugged. ‘Perhaps you’re right.’
    â€˜I hope so, otherwise it means we really are looking for two murderers, since there couldn’t possibly be any connection between Franklin’s death and that of John Moorhouse if it was the result of a love triangle.’

TEN
    D etective Superintendent James Wilson was not in the best of moods. It had been a long evening, and he had far more pressing matters on his mind than instructing Brian Patterson on what his duties would be when he became master at their next meeting.
    For a solicitor, he ruminated, Patterson was exceedingly apprehensive about what he was taking on. He supposed it went with his profession – all this cross-questioning and repeating, and checking whatever he was told.
    Silently, he admonished himself to be patient. At least it would relieve some of the pressure from his shoulders once Brian was installed. He’d so much on his plate at the moment. Not least these two murders.
    As if reading his mind,