the sort of development where people were at home all day.
"At least we know where to find him," Weird said. "It looks like he lives alone."
"What makes you think that?"
Weird gave him a look that said, Duh.
"No feminine touches, eh?"
"Not a one," Weird said. "OK, you were right. It was a waste of time." He glanced at his watch. "Let's go and find a decent pub, grab a bite of lunch. And then we can go back to bonnie Dundee."
Chapter 37~38
Chapter 37
Professor David Soanes was a chubby butterball of a man. Rosy-cheeked, with a fringe of curling white hair round a gleaming bald pate and blue eyes that actually twinkled, he bore a disconcerting resemblance to a clean-shaven Father Christmas. He ushered Alex and Weird into a tiny cubicle that barely had room enough for his desk and a couple of visitors' chairs. The room was spartan, its only decoration a certificate that proclaimed Soanes a freeman of the city of Srebrenica. Alex didn't want to think about what he might have had to do to earn that honor.
Soanes waved them to the chairs and settled in behind his desk, his round belly butting up against the edge. He pursed his lips and considered them. "Fraser tells me you gentlemen wanted to discuss the Rosemary Duff case," he said after a long moment. His voice was as rich and plummy as a Dickensian Christmas pudding. "I have one or two questions for you first." He glanced down at a piece of paper. "Alex Gilbey and Tom Mackie. Is that right?"
"That's right," Alex said.
"And you're not journalists?"
Alex fished out his business card and passed it over. "I run a company that makes greetings cards. Tom is a minister. We're not journalists."
Soanes scrutinized the card, tilting it to check the embossing was real. He raised one bushy white eyebrow. "What is your interest in the Rosemary Duff case?" he asked abruptly.
Weird leaned forward. "We are two of the four guys who discovered her dying body in the snow twenty-five years ago. You probably had our clothes under your microscope."
Soanes inclined his head slightly to one side. The wrinkles at the corners of his eyes tightened almost imperceptibly. "That was a long time ago. Why are you here now?"
"We think we're on somebody's hit list," Weird said.
This time, both of Soanes's eyebrows rose. "You've lost me. What has that to do with me or Rosemary Duff?"
Alex put a hand on Weird's arm. "Of the four of us who were there that night, two are dead. They died within the past six weeks. They were both murdered. I know that could just be coincidence. But at both funerals, there was an identical wreath saying, 'Rosemary for remembrance.' And we believe those wreaths were sent by Rosie Duff's son."
Soanes frowned. "I think you're in the wrong place, gentlemen. You should be talking to Fife Police, who are currently conducting a review which includes this very case."
Alex shook his head. "I've already tried that. ACC Lawson as good as told me that I'm paranoid. That coincidences happen and I should go away and stop worrying. But I think he's wrong. I think someone is killing us because they're convinced we murdered Rosie. And the only way I can see to get myself off the hook is to find out who really did."
An impenetrable expression flickered across Soanes's face at the mention of Lawson's name. "All the same, I still don't quite understand what has brought you here. My personal involvement with the case ended twenty-five years ago."
"That would be because they've lost the evidence," Weird interrupted, unable to do without the sound of his own voice for long.
"I think you must be mistaken. We recently carried out some tests on an item. But our tests for DNA were negative."
"You got the cardigan," Alex said. "But the important things, the clothes with the blood and semen on, they've gone missing."
There was no mistaking the upsurge in Soanes's interest. "They've lost the original exhibits?"
"That's what ACC Lawson told me," Alex said.
Soanes shook his head in disbelief. "Terrifying," he said. "Though not entirely astonishing under this command." His forehead wrinkled in a disapproving frown. Alex wondered what else Fife Police had done that had failed to impress Soanes. "Well, without the principal physical evidence, I'm really not sure what you think I can do to help."
Alex took a deep breath. "I know you did the original work on the case. And I understand that forensic experts don't always include