A Dreadful Past Read Free Page B

remember the sense of determination in the building among the officers; they really wanted to apprehend the felons. Was there not something about the daughter which provoked a moral outrage and made the police and the public very angry?’
    â€˜Yes, sir,’ Ventnor replied. ‘I can well understand the anger. I’d feel the same – I think we all would. The daughter was blind.’
    The assembled group of detectives groaned loudly in a shared feeling of dismay and disbelief.
    â€˜She would not have been able to defend herself or run away,’ Thompson Ventnor continued solemnly. ‘She was also very young, just nineteen years old. The house was quite remote … it is probably still quite remote. It seems that there were no dogs – not even a guide dog – and no alarms. They were very vulnerable … particularly the daughter.’
    â€˜Not even a guide dog?’ Hennessey echoed. ‘That is an aspect of the case of which I was unaware … or at least which I had forgotten. But I’m sorry, do please carry on, Thompson.’
    â€˜Apparently not, sir,’ Ventnor carried on. ‘In reading the file it seems that the trail went cold very quickly. All known felons were questioned. No one seemed to know about the murders and, according to the recording made during the investigation, the criminal fraternity in the Vale of York were equally as angry about the robbery and murders as were the police and the general public … A blind girl being battered to death. I mean, as we can all imagine, that went wholly against the criminal code of honour and fair play. No one would have shielded them or anybody for that matter for doing that … no one. I say “them” – I should explain because the indications were that the burglary was carried out by a gang of thieves being more than two but no more than six. So the local villainy were unable to help but that is interesting in itself, we might think. It meant that they were either out-of-towners or that they had no criminal record prior to the incident, and also that they didn’t mix with the local felons.’ Thompson paused and then continued: ‘There were no fingerprints to be had and so, despite the effort and the press coverage, sadly the case went cold and it appears to have gone cold very quickly. There was then no further mention of the incident until Mr Noel Middleton, being the son/brother of the deceased, presented at the enquiry desk yesterday.’
    â€˜And because, like all police forces the world over, we always look at the in-laws before we look at the out-laws,’ Hennessey commented, ‘I have to ask, is the son/brother, as you describe Mr Noel Middleton, free of suspicion?’
    â€˜I would say wholly so, sir,’ Ventnor replied. ‘Wholly so. He was with his friends at university when the Durham Constabulary broke the news of the murders to him; the blow, he said, being softened by the fact that he had drunk much beer in the few hours before he was notified. Also, I do think he is unlikely to have brought the vase here, to the police station, and asked quite strongly that the case be reopened if he was in anyway implicated in the offence.’
    â€˜Good point.’ Hennessey raised his index finger. ‘Yes, that is indeed a very fair point, so we can already eliminate Mr Noel Middleton from suspicion. What have we got on at the moment? Thompson?’
    â€˜I am heading up the ongoing series of thefts of prestige motor cars from public places like hotel car parks and the like. No progress to report as yet I’m afraid but I am confident that they – the gang in question – will trip themselves up,’ Thompson Ventnor advised. ‘And, of course, this time of the month we’re all doing our returns, getting April’s statistics drawn up for the faceless ones at Home Office to examine.’
    â€˜All right. Carmen,’ Hennessey addressed