Written In Blood

17-1

17

Mitchell was not sure what to think as he walked down the path and made his way around to the house next door, where he knocked loudly. It was typical, he thought, that this should be the one time that Constance was not to be found pottering in her garden. He had to knock three times, and wait for a couple of minutes, before he got a response.

“Lewis,” Constance Hawkins greeting her visitor when she opened the door. “What can I do for you? There’s no problem, is there?”

“Hello, Constance,” Mitchell returned the greeting. “Have you got a minute, I need to ask you a few questions about your neighbour.”

“Mr Wild?” Constance had never been slow on the uptake, and she quickly put together the sergeant’s earlier visit in search of Zack Wild with his presence on her doorstep.

“That’s right. Do you mind?” Mitchell made a gesture intended to suggest they go inside. “I’m sure you’ll be more comfortable if we do this in the living room, where you can sit down.”

“Okay, Lewis, what is it you want to ask me?” Constance asked once the two of them were seated.

“First off, and I know I already asked you this last weekend, do you remember seeing Georgina Ryder a week ago yesterday on Friday evening, after six o’clock?”

Constance responded immediately with a shake of her head.

“You’re certain about that?” Mitchell held firm against the glare the question provoked.

“Of course I’m certain,” Constance said. “I have my dinner at six o’clock, every day, and after that I’m in front of the television until bedtime.”

Mitchell accepted that, there was no reason for Constance to lie. “Okay, let’s move on to your neighbour. Did you see Lucy Goulding pay a visit to Mr Wild yesterday afternoon?”

“Yes, it must have been around two o’clock when she walked past, wearing an outfit that was positively indecent.” Constance sniffed disapprovingly at the memory of what Lucy Goulding had been wearing. “I thought at first she must be going up to the Wrights’, but then she stopped next door. She was on the doorstep for a short while, talking to Mr Wild; I couldn’t hear what was being said, but he let her in. I was surprised by that, I’ve spoken to Mr Wild a number of times since he moved here, and I wouldn’t have thought him the sort of person to let a scantily clad young girl into his home – he seemed more sensible than that.”

“I don’t know if you’re aware of it, but Mr Wild is an author.” Mitchell saw Constance nod. “Well, apparently, Lucy is a fan of his books, and a budding author herself; she went there to get copies of his books autographed, and to get some advice on writing, that’s why he let her in. Mr Wild claims that Lucy left after about an hour, between three and three-thirty, did you see her go?”

Constance nodded. “Yes, I was still pottering around in the garden when she came back out. I have to admit; I did wonder what Lucy was doing there for so long.”

Mitchell was still wondering; he did not believe that Lucy Goulding had visited Zack Wild, dressed the way she was, and all they had done was talk about writing. “Did you see where Lucy went after she left Mr Wild’s?” he asked.

“Of course I did,” Constance said sharply. “She headed back down the road to the village. If she had gone to the Wrights’, you’d have heard about it when you were up there earlier, and the only other place she could have gone is the old Matthews’ place, and no-one goes there except canoodling kids. Why don’t you ask Mr Wild where she went, he followed her down the road.”

That surprised Mitchell. “He never said anything about that to me. When you say he followed her down the road, do you mean on foot or in his car?”

“In his car,” Constance said. “He drove down the road no more than a minute after Lucy walked past me. I didn’t think anything of it at the time, I just thought he was going out somewhere, but now; you said yesterday afternoon is the last time Lucy was seen?”

“As far as we’re aware,” Mitchell said. “From what we’ve been able to find out, she disappeared between leaving Mr Wild’s and reaching the village. Please don’t be offended, Constance, but are you certain it was Mr Wild you saw heading down the road after Lucy? I’m not trying to suggest you’re wrong, I just need to be certain before I do anything.”

“I’m certain. I see that car of his outside of next door every day, and I can’t imagine anyone else would have been driving down the road then.”

“And you didn’t see anyone else around, either before or just after Lucy headed down the road?”

Constance shook her head. “No-one. Until Lucy came along, I hadn’t seen anyone since Emily and Tara went off to school yesterday morning, and after Lucy left, the only person I saw was Mr Wild. You know how quiet the road is here.”

“I do.” Mitchell was aware that it was not unusual for a day or more to pass with no-one going either up or down the road outside of those who lived on it. “Anyway, thank you, Constance, you’ve been very helpful, now, if you’ll excuse me, I think I’d better go speak to Mr Wild again.”

“You’re welcome, Lewis, I’m glad I could help.”

**