6.The Alcatraz Rose Read Free Page B

letter finally arrived bearing the Thames Valley police insignia.
    Dear Lawrence
,
    It was a pleasant surprise to hear from you after so long. Your recent exploits in Staffordshire gave me cause for concern, so it was gratifying to learn from your letter that you are none the worse for wear and had chosen to hang up your deerstalker, turning over the pursuit of the miscreants to us. I think I can speak for my colleagues in commending you for your prudent decision
.
    Were it not for an unexpected occurrence, I would have sent you a polite reply, informing you that your inquiry is strictly a matter for the Gloucester police and nothing more can be done—for they have informed me that the case is now filed as undetected. For better or worse, such a reply would have resolved your dilemma and you would no longer feel beholden to the child and could start planning that round-the-world cruise
.
    There is, however, an alternative and perhaps a more satisfactory solution to your dilemma. The aforementioned “occurrence” concerns a detective sergeant who was transferred to the Thames Valley force several years ago. By a stroke of serendipity, the policewoman, Emma Dixon, was formerly with Gloucestershire Constabulary CID and had worked on the McGuire case. She has since retired, after an automobile accident left her permanently disabled
.
    Lawrence, none of us wish to be complicit in either encouraging or enabling you to continue an active investigation into this case. To the contrary, I would urge that you seriously consider not doing so. However, it occurred to me that with Emma Dixon’s cooperation, the two of you might be able to arrive at a resolution that would satisfy everyone’s best interest, particularly that of the child. If Emma Dixon were to explain, one on one, to Letty McGuire everything she knows about the mother’s disappearance, there’s a good chance that the child would accept the word of a policewoman intimate with the case. If nothing else, she might be persuaded, once and for all, to abandon her search for the truth, realizing that to continue could only mean further pain and, quite possibly, long-term psychological damage. Most of all, she should be persuaded to focus instead on her own future
.
    I have discussed this with both Emma and a senior officer on the Gloucester force, and she will be expecting to hear from you. She lives in Winchcombe. Her phone number is 01386-796-4300. For the sake of both the child and you, I hope that the matter reaches a satisfactory conclusion
.
    Regards
,
    M. K. Sheffield
    Kingston smiled. He was pleased not just to hear from Sheffield but also to learn about Emma Dixon. He put the letter aside, recalling the time, several years ago, when he was sitting across from Sheffield in theinterview room at Oxford police station being grilled and excoriated at the same time for “meddling” in police matters.
    Sheffield could be officious, and sometimes supercilious, but as they got to know each other, Kingston had grown to respect the man. It would have been easy for Sheffield to have withheld all information about Emma Dixon’s involvement in the McGuire case and left it at that. But he understood that Kingston was searching for something more than just a convenient resolution and had been thinking more of Letty McGuire than the letter of the law.
    He was even more pleased after speaking with Emma Dixon. He had reached her right away, and she had sounded both pleasant and genuinely interested in trying to help. They agreed to meet at her home in the charming town of Winchcombe, Gloucestershire, two days hence, which pleased him no end. The Cotswolds were one of loveliest parts of England, and it would be a respite to get out of London for a change of scenery, if only for a day.
    Coincidentally, he had been thinking about taking a trip to that part of the country for several days now. He had an old friend who worked not too far from Emma’s whom he hadn’t seen for several