Read Online Scotch Mist by Elizabeth Darrell - Free Book Online Page B

died, so any savings or funds due from military sources would go to his family. His illegitimate son did not fall into that category. Neither did his lover. So, unless Brenda married again, they would remain just another one parent family – like his own had been. Was that why he was following the unusual practice of keeping in touch with someone who had briefly been a murder suspect?
    Once a case ended he and his team had no further contact with the main players, unless normal military routine demanded it. Max shut his eyes to the fact that if his own plans for the future had not been almost as cruelly ended, Brenda Keane and her fatherless son would never have seen him again.
    Eighteen hundred. The usual time for a check on the latest evidence obtained during a major case. Most of the team had assembled, some still busy at their computers getting data. Tom had spent most of the afternoon at the Sports Ground with the uniformed boys, two of Jeremy Knott’s squad and the Fire Chief, all of them attempting to assess where the explosive device had been situated within the bonfire pile.
    They had reached no firm conclusion when Tom left them to return to his office to find which personnel presently on base would have served in Afghanistan at some stage of their careers. He found that Max’s frequent comment about a cast of thousands applied in this case.
    Leaving his desk, Tom called for attention and began garnering information. Firstly, he asked Connie Bush about the second interview with Corporal Lines, who had been in charge of the fireworks.
    â€˜Did you get anything from him now he’s over the concern about his wife’s injury.’
    Connie shook her head. ‘He’s genuinely upset over what happened, apart from the personal problem. He loves doing the shows, has a deep interest in it. He studies the content of every display he can get to, watches TV showings of those massive ones from all over the world on New Year’s Eve, and he has a pile of mags about pyrotechnics.’
    â€˜He’s not so besotted he forgets how dangerous they can be, is he?’
    â€˜He struck me as very responsible. A careful type of man.’
    â€˜Mm, not careful enough to check the contents of those boxes from Max-ee-million,’ Tom pointed out.
    â€˜He freely admitted that he compared the lists on the labels with what he had ordered, but didn’t open the boxes to confirm the contents. He told me he’d ordered stuff from Max-ee-million loads of times and they always sent the right things.’
    â€˜So who opened the boxes?’ asked Piercey. ‘It’s my bet they didn’t check contents with labels, either.’
    Heather Johnson frowned as she joined the discussion. ‘But the explosive device was in the bonfire, not set off with the fireworks. Why are we so concerned with those boxes?’
    â€˜Because we have to consider the possibility of an outside accomplice before we can rule that out,’ Tom pointed out. ‘I don’t believe the Estonian proprietor is implicated. He’s just an alien bent on building up a business here. He wouldn’t check outgoing boxes. Like Corporal Lines, he’d compare the labels with the order forms and send them on their way. He’d have overseers to ensure the right stuff went to the right place. In view of what we now know about the nature of the explosive component it seems unlikely to have been sent on to the base by a civilian. We have to keep that possibility on file, however.’
    He glanced around the grouped men and women. ‘Did any of you trace a link between someone involved in last night’s display and a local political organisation?’
    There was common dissention. ‘OK, so have we any info that poses a question mark over someone who was in any way concerned with the two-day preparations for the Guy Fawkes’ party?’
    Derek Beeny, Piercey’s friend and fellow sergeant, said in his