Snow Kills by Rc Bridgestock Page B

Barry gripped it tightly.
    ‘It’s good to see you mate,’ he said.
    ‘Tea and biscuits, Detective Inspector Dylan?’ asked Barry’s wife Trish. ‘I haven’t seen Barry so enthused about a meeting in a long number of years,’ she said with a smile. ‘He’s been busy up in the attic digging out all his old paperwork since you rang,’ she added, ruffling the few remaining hairs on her husband’s head.
    Barry’s hands were resting protectively upon a pile of papers. ‘Well it’s not often people are as interested as I am in the Tina Walker case these days,’ he said.
    Trish put a loving arm around her husband’s shoulders and squeezed him tight. ‘It’s not, is it dear?’ she said, planting a kiss on the top of his head.
    Barry squirmed. ‘If it’s the last thing I do I’ll find the bugger that abducted her,’ he said with a hint of fire in his eyes.
    ‘I thought at one time that investigation would be the last thing he ever did do,’ Trish said seriously to Dylan.
    ‘Baloney woman, you fret too much,’ said Barry.
    ‘Coffee would be lovely, thank you Mrs Sharpe. It would be great to get a positive connection in the two cases,’ said Dylan.
    ‘It troubles me even now. Did we miss something? Was it me that was off the boil? Did I have tunnel vision? I was so determined to get the culprit for this one... We never found her, her clothing or her bike. It was as though she just vanished into thin air that day.’ Barry’s stare was steady and unblinking as he looked at Dylan and beyond. ‘There was another girl went missing just over the border not long afore in the snow, y’ know. She was never found either, but because she was a member of the travelling fraternity, it was deemed she might have moved on. They called her Defiance ... Diffy for short.’
    Dylan smiled. ‘If Jen heard you right now, she’d say you sounded just like me,’ he chuckled.
    ‘Then I don’t envy your wife one bit,’ Trish said, raising her eyebrows as she took leave of the two men to make the drinks.
    ‘I’m sure you did the best you could with the technology you had back then, Barry. Don’t be too hard on yourself. And Tina’s disappearance might not even be connected to Kayleigh, so I don’t want you getting your hopes up, but we will revisit the investigation to see if there is any similarities and if they are connected or not.’
    Barry’s eyes lit up. ‘But you suspect the worst don’t you? Just like I did, don’t you?’ he said.
    ‘The facts speak for themselves, unfortunately. She’s a young girl, pretty, supposedly street wise, but she suddenly goes missing in atrocious weather, body not found. You of all people know the types of predators out there, somebody will highly likely have taken advantage of her situation – and unfortunately, if they have, she’s become their victim. I just hope we get some leads, otherwise some detective might be coming to see me in a few years time to see what I know, as I have with you.’
    ‘I hope you solve it Dylan, not just for her family but, selfishly, for me too... If we get a result then I’ll go back into my garden in peace this year,’ he said, pointing towards his sanctuary.
    ‘Like I said, Kayleigh’s disappearance may have nothing to do with Tina Walker’s but if it has we’ll do our damnedest to find the connection. You obviously have green fingers. It’s like a park out there,’ Dylan said looking out to the garden.
    ‘Ah, not at this time of year but it’s good exercise, so the wife tells me,’ he said with a nod of his head in her direction. ‘You can see the results almost instantly when you do a bit of work out there – and that’s what I like these days.’
    ‘I don’t get much time for gardening,’ said Dylan, thoughtfully. ‘It’s like everything else, left to Jen, especially when a job’s running.’
    ‘Neither did I back then, but God willing you will. The years fly past. Before you know it your thirty years will have gone