an implausible scenario.
‘Okay - we’re on it. Somebody will get back to you as soon as. If there’s anybody on duty now who might be able to help, I’ll get them to give you a call. Otherwise it might be tomorrow. Let me know how it goes.’
‘Thanks Steve. How are things going with the Abbie Campbell case?’ Tom asked.
‘Crap. We keep hitting brick walls. Have you heard any gossip since we last spoke?’
‘Nothing useful, I’m afraid. The villagers are breathless with excitement about the fact that you’ve been interviewing teachers and the like, but apart from that nobody seems to have a clue. I’ll keep my ear to the ground.’
‘Okay - that would be great. Speak soon.’
They said their goodbyes, and Tom continued to sit at his desk, turning a pen over idly in his fingers as he thought about Leo and whether helping her would be a good idea or bad. He had a feeling that, when the time came, he might have to implore Leo not to shoot the messenger.
* * *
By the time Tom had made and eaten a bacon sandwich for his lunch and returned to his desk to start his online research, Steve and his sergeant had obviously done their stuff because the phone rang and Tom heard a voice he didn’t recognise.
‘Good morning, sir. My name’s Ernie Collier. Detective Inspector Corby asked me to call you with regard to Ted Harris - is that right?’
This policeman didn’t need to call him sir, but Tom knew that he would be uncomfortable with anything else if he was one of the old guard, so he let it pass. More interestingly, he called Edward Harris “Ted”, which indicated that he knew who he was.
‘If Ted is Edward Harris, formerly of Willow Farm, Little Melham, then anything you can tell me about him would be useful. I’m trying to track him down for his daughters.’
‘Not sure you’ll be wanting to do that, sir, if I may say so as shouldn’t,’ Ernie said. That was a phrase Tom hadn’t heard in a while.
He sighed. This wasn’t going to have a happy ending, but then given what he already knew about the man, it had always been unlikely.
‘Why do you say that, Ernie?’ he asked.
‘I was a beat bobby in Little Melham for five years. I got to know the locals pretty well, and I knew about his other daughter coming to live there. She’d been there a couple of years by the time I arrived, but it was still news as far as the villagers were concerned. There wasn’t much went on, so a good story could last a fair few years. They all knew the girl had a different mother and that Ted had a long term relationship somewhere else.’
Tom decided not to mention the word bigamy, as this had never been pursued at the time.
‘The girls know all about that of course, but I’m wondering why you think it would be a bad idea to find out what happened to him, or to discover if he’s alive.’
‘He had a bit of a reputation - not something his daughters would be proud of. Liked to put it about a bit – you know – spread his favours, as it were. Not just in the village, but round the area in general. There were lots of angry men, and a few were baying for his blood from time to time. But as I understand it, he’d disappear for a while until things calmed down, then turn up again.’
‘So do you think that one of these women’s husbands might have got to him in the end, then?’ Tom asked.
‘Not husbands, sir. Fathers. He liked ’em young, did Ted. Legal - but barely.’
Christ, Tom thought. How the hell was he going to tell Leo any of this? Easy answer - he wasn’t. This was rumour and conjecture. He would tell her the truth about her father as and when he found it.
‘Was there anything solid, Ernie? Anything that might indicate what happened to him and why finally he went and didn’t come back?’
‘I’ve been pondering that one since DI Corby called, but nothing’s coming to me. I’ll think on - and if it does, I’ll let you know. I don’t know that any of this is fact - it’s just village chitchat. Nobody reported him to us, so as far as we know officially, he didn’t commit any crime. But on balance, I would say a smooth talking slime ball, if