AS IT HAPPENED, ONE of Staveley’s acquaintances had seen him in town. This fact was discovered by Gerry Hanks during routine questioning. Hanks returned to the station and brought it to Rafferty’s attention just after Diana Rexton and Gary Oldfield had left. Staveley had been seen around three-thirty, so it didn’t put him out of the running for the murder, but at least it went partway to establishing his story.
Several of their suspects seemed to be slithering away from them. They’d think they’d got something firm on one of them when it vanished like a prop in a magician’s box of tricks.
Why couldn’t they find a timeframe of more than fifteen minutes when Oldfield could have committed the crime? Why had John Staveley been seen, wandering in the town when they should have been able to pla
