On Laughton Moor by Lisa Hartley

the CID room. Knight was a strange man, she thought. Inspector Wallpaper strikes again, though he had said more to her today than ever. Even he couldn’t ignore the  unsolved Pollard case breathing down their necks, especially with Kendrick on the warpath. Catherine Bishop was sitting at her desk in the corner, frowning into the mug she held. Varcoe approached, waited.
      ‘All right, Anna?’ said Bishop, peering further into the cup.
      ‘Something wrong with your drink, Sarge?’
      ‘I’ve dropped half a Rich Tea in it, was hoping I could salvage something. I think it’s a gonner though. What’s that?’
    Varcoe held up the print out.
      ‘Our mystery caller. Craig Pollard’s “old schoolfriend”.’ To Bishop’s relief, Varcoe refrained from illustrating the quote with her fingers.
      ‘Hmm, that was quick. Let’s have a look,’ said Bishop. Varcoe handed over the sheet. The image was a little blurred, grainy, the man’s face turned slightly away from centre. ‘Not exactly a looker, is he?’ Bishop tipped her head to the side, turning the paper in her hands, then glancing up at Varcoe, who grinned.
      ‘Don’t know, Sarge. Hard to tell from that, I’d have thought.’
      ‘I’ve been running the names we got from Mr and Mrs Pollard through the PNC, but nothing so far on any of this lot. Thought we might get lucky, but I should have known better. Fancy a trip out to the Pollard house with me?’
    Varcoe shuffled her feet.
      ‘What’s the mood like in there?’
      ‘The mood? Mrs Pollard’s liable to snap at you like a shark that’s just come off hunger strike as soon as she knows you’re a copper - I was there this morning. Alexa Stathos is still there, making loads of tea and trying to stay out of the way.’
      ‘What about the story in the paper? Didn’t Alexa know about it?’
      ‘You would think. Seems Mrs Pollard was a bit sneaky about it, I suppose Alexa can’t be there all the time. Helen Bridges wrote the story, of course, and we know her of old, don’t we?’
    Varcoe nodded, sighing.
      ‘Oh yes, she’ll want to get the nationals involved if she can then. Remember the story she did about the ACC getting out of paying a parking fine? Talk about a load of trumped up rubbish.’
      ‘He did get out of it though, didn’t he?’ Bishop whispered theatrically. Varcoe smiled in spite of herself.

 
     
    13
     
     
     
     
    By one o’clock, Bishop and Varcoe were feeling a lot less cheery. Craig Pollard’s parents hadn’t been able to identify the man on Varcoe’s printout, and they’d been more or less ordered off the premises after a few minutes. PC Alexa Stathos smiled apologetically as she showed them to the door, then told Bishop and Varcoe in a furious whisper that she didn’t know what she was doing in the Pollard’s house, they obviously resented her presence, and could they talk to someone about it please? Bishop promised to see what she could do. Back in the car, Varcoe turned to Bishop.
      ‘So what now, Sarge?’
    Bishop sighed.
      ‘I think we should go to the pub.’
    Varcoe waited.
      ‘No? Okay, maybe we should go back to the station as I’ve got a meeting with His Highness DCI Kendrick at two and I don’t know what’ll happen if I’m late, he’ll probably have my head cut off and stuck up on the outside of the station as a warning to others. Although, we do have time to go via the building site Craig Pollard’s brother works on. Looks like he’s our final chance until we go to Pollard’s old school.’
      ‘There’s always Kelly Whitcham.’
      ‘True. Let’s see what Mike says first though, I don’t think Kelly was around when Craig was at school. If we don’t have any joy, as I say, we’ll go to the school, the pubs, maybe – don’t let Kendrick hear – the local press.’
      ‘You know where this building site is then?’
    Bishop started the engine.
      ‘Let’s hope I can remember.’
     
     
    The drive took