Winding Up the Serpent by Priscilla Masters Page A

Mike.
    â€˜What utter—’
    â€˜Crap,’ he said. ‘She was just a nosy old bag.’
    â€˜But she’s alive all right – alive and prying. Like mother like daughter?’
    â€˜Perhaps we’ll find out more tomorrow.’
    She toyed with her pen before mentioning yet another point which had been bothering her. ‘And what about the dog, Mike? I don’t believe anyone could have got past Ben.’
    â€˜Maybe if she’d let someone in,’ Mike said slowly, ‘the dog would have been calmed.’
    â€˜Maybe.’ She was not convinced. ‘But would it have let someone out without Marilyn’s presence?’
    She looked at him. ‘A lover? But no intercourse.’
    â€˜Lesbian?’ he queried, then gave a lopsided grin. ‘There wouldn’t be any need for contraception then.’
    â€˜Yes,’ she said. ‘True.’
    She cupped her chin in her hand, elbows on the desk, and gazed at Mike. ‘What do we go on?’ she said. ‘The absence of a cause of death or the absence of signs of foul play?’
    Mike was silent for a minute and then said carefully, ‘The only reason we believe it was foul play is her clothes. We know she liked attention. What if she wore them to gain it?’
    She sighed. ‘I don’t know ...’
    She doodled for a while on the pad. ‘Any more thoughts, Mike?’ Before he had a chance to answer she gave a wry smile. ‘Sod’s law,’ she said. ‘I could really have done with a nice, clean murder for my first serious investigation. What’s this going to amount to? A missed diagnosis? At best a sordid little sex crime.’
    He stood up and tapped her on the shoulder. ‘I think we should ask a few questions,’ he said. ‘The doctor she worked for ...’
    He grinned. ‘Never did trust the medical profession,’ he said.
    â€˜The trouble is,’ she said, ‘we haven’t really found anything suspicious, have we? We just can’t find a cause of death. That’s all.’
    He picked up her notebook. ‘And what about the missing Mr Shiers?’
    â€˜We’ll get a couple of the blokes to ask around,’ she said. ‘Maybe he did run off with another woman.’
    â€˜Maybe he didn’t,’ he said. ‘Maybe the two things are connected.’ He pulled the pad towards him and drew a picture of two houses – crude pictures, like a child’s.
    â€˜I know this sounds a bit farfetched,’ he said. ‘But what if... Look. House one – man disappears. House two. We know Marilyn had a nasty streak in her – wasn’t above manipulation – dirty tricks. What if she knew something?’
    She was tempted to laugh. It sounded melodramatic – detective novel stuff. But Mike’s dark eyes were deadly serious and he was staring at her.
    â€˜How?’
    He shrugged his shoulders. ‘Poison,’ he said. ‘It was poison.’
    â€˜So why hasn’t Matthew found it?’
    Again Mike’s eyes were fixed on her. ‘Do a bit of digging,’ he said. ‘Digging. I reckon Dr Levin knows a bit more about our friend than he’s letting on.’
    She let out the breath she had been holding and knew this was what had lain at the back of her mind all day.
    There were questions she knew she should ask but was frightened to. She didn’t really want the answers. But she had gained the distinct impression that Matthew had wanted her to drop the case. Why?
    â€˜Matthew’s ringing me later on,’ she said. She stood up. ‘I’m going to call in at the surgery,’ she said. ‘I want to speak to Dr Wilson again.’
    He was sitting in his room, staring out of the window, his face lined and grey, when the receptionist showed her in. He stood up courteously.
    â€˜When will this nightmare end?’
    â€˜I’m sorry.’ She sat down. ‘Sudden death