Date: Mon, 16 Jun 2003 12:15:07 +0100 (BST)
From: "[iso-8859-1] Steve Rose" <cutrose40@yahoo.co.uk>
Subject: Martin Roberts and the Greymount College Murders - 8

DISCLAIMER:
This is a story. None of the characters in the story
exist and the events that take place are purely
imaginary. This is a detective story with sexual
overtones and is a sequel to `Martin Roberts
Investigates'. I hope that you like this as a piece of
writing.

WARNING:
Do not read this story if you are in any way offended
by acts of a homosexual nature.

Do not read this if you are under the legal age for
accessing adult sites.

Always indulge in safe sex.

Copyright Steven Rose 2003. Not to be reproduced
without the author's permission.

MARTIN ROBERTS INVESTIGATES THE GREYMOUNT COLLEGE
MURDERS

Chapter 8

Slightly to the other two policemen's surprise, Martin
did not begin the meeting by referring to the main
discussion he was expecting to have concerning the
evidence report from the tower. Instead, the
Superintendent began by reviewing the progress of
interviews with staff and students,

"Yesterday, we saw every member of the teaching and
non-teaching staff except for Anna Young, the
Assistant Matron and David Graham, the cricket coach.
I'd like Mark to interview Anna and Mike to talk to
David as soon as possible today, please. I have also
asked Mark's local Station Commander for extra people
to help interview the remainder of the students. Mark,
will you brief them when they arrive? I think we just
need a brief account of where they were at the time of
the murder and whether they saw anything suspicious.
Thanks. I hope to have this job completed by the end
of today. Please make sure that one or other of you
looks at all the statements and let's me know whether
there is anything of interest."

Martin then decided that it was time to review the
evidence that Mike had reported from the report on the
tower. The Superintendent outlined the various lines
of enquiry that the news that there was no evidence of
smoking in the tower indicated. After he had run
through the options Martin said that he could not
think of any more lines of enquiry and regretted that
this important piece of evidence had not made the case
any clearer. Then the Superintendent looked at Mark
and Mike and asked if they had any comments. Mark, as
the next most senior policeman present went first,

"I haven't any other suggestions, sir and I think I
agree that the possibilities you have outlined are
probably the most likely. I agree that it has not
narrowed the field very much. Given the circumstances
and if we believe the deaths were linked and the
connection was their sexual relationship, it seems to
me that either the source was one of the murdered guys
themselves and we can't ask them for obvious reasons.
That line still seems the most plausible and we can
approach one of the other students we know knew about
what went on in the tower, by which I mean Bobby
Marsh. As to some other reason for wanting to keep
people away from the tower, well we have no evidence
that it was used for any other purpose. There's no
evidence of drugs or alcohol, so what other motive
might there be? I think the last possibility at this
stage is the weakest but we should still investigate
it."

Mike had been nodding while the Chief Inspector had
been speaking and when Mark finished speaking, the
Sergeant offered his views,

"I agree largely with the Chief inspector, sir.
However, I would not dismiss the last possibility as
totally unlikely. I know we haven't found a motive yet
for anyone else wanting to keep people away from the
tower, but it doesn't mean that there isn't one. The
odds seem to favour the gay group wanting to keep
there rendezvous to themselves but others might have
been interested in doing the same thing but for other
reasons. One thing that was not mentioned was the
possibility that other people used it for sexual
purposes. After all, this College is full of horny
teenage boys and they might have used it for meeting
local girls, it's not just gay people who indulge in
sex, so I'm told!"

The Superintendent and Mark laughed at the implied
criticism and Martin then said,

"OK, good point, Mike. I can remember who told me
about the tower but, just in case there are any other
possible sources, I wondered if either of you can
remember where you first picked up the story about
smoking in the tower?"

Mark responded,

"I believe that it's probable that Paul told Lawrence
Miller about the tower and that they used it as a
meeting place. Paul told me that the tower had been
used as a gay venue a few years before when he was
first at the College. In fact, as I recall he even
mentioned it when he was talking to us. That adds
credence to the gay theory I guess. Also, I think that
both the House Master, Raymond Collinson and the
Assistant House Master of College House, Andy
Stephens, said something about it as well when they
were talking to us."

After Mike had indicated that he had no further
suggestions, Martin nodded appreciatively,

"Yes, I'm sure Mark's right, I knew I'd heard those
last two people he mentioned talk about smokers but I
couldn't remember whether anyone else had done so. But
I think what Mark has said settles it. I assume we are
all agreed that we need to pursue every possible lines
of inquiry on this matter. I also think we need to
find out the source of the suggestion that the tower
was a hideaway for smokers and whether or not the
people who told us were the originators or were
passing on something they had learned from someone
else. I suggest that we go about our routine and
agenda for today as originally planned. First of all,
therefore, I'd like you two to get those statements
from Anna Young and David Graham. Then, I want us to
turn our attention to nailing down the source of this
smoking question by going to talk to the original
surviving sources and other likely people who might
know about it to see if we can get to the bottom of
where the story came from. I suggest the following
approach. I propose to talk to the Principal. He
hasn't mentioned the possibility of students smoking
in the tower but he must know that there is smoking
and other things like drinking going on inside the
College grounds somewhere. We need to know how much he
is actually aware of and I think it best if I talk to
him. Mark, after you've spoken to Anna, I'd like you
to have a word with Raymond Collinson and ask him
where he heard the story of smoking in the tower.
Mike, I would have liked to ask you to talk to Andy
Stephens after seeing David Graham but I understand he
is away from the College today at some training
session, so instead, talk to Bobby Marsh and, perhaps,
Peter Fowler, see if they can shed any light on the
matter. Please stress to all the people you talk to
about this the confidential nature of the enquiry.
Until we have fathomed out where the story came from,
if we ever do, I don't want people getting together to
concoct a plausible story."

Mark and Mike nodded their understanding and agreement
and Martin indicated that they should start their
day's work. The Superintendent reached for the
telephone and dialled the Principal's number. Alex
Scott-Brown's wife, Lizzie, answered the phone and she
informed Martin that her husband was in a meeting with
a prospective parent at that precise moment. However
Lizzie added that she though that Alex would be free
quite soon and she would ask him to let the
Superintendent know the moment he was available.
Martin thanked Lizzie courteously and said he looked
forward to hearing from her in due course.

After he had left the meeting with Martin, Mark
Jamieson had found Anna Young relatively easily as she
was back on duty in the sick bay even though it was
empty of patients at the time. The Assistant Matron's
account of her movements on the day of Paul's murder
seemed to straightforward. The pretty young nurse had
been in the sick bay with Johnny Price for the early
part of the afternoon and then had brought the student
out to watch the cricket. Anna had hoped that her
boyfriend, Andy Stephens, who disliked cricket
intensely, would have accompanied her back to the sick
bay but he had been busy talking to the Principal and
she did not want to interrupt him. She had returned to
her post in the sick bay and watched some television
until she heard the commotion and went to see what had
happened. Mark thanked Anna for her time and then left
to try to locate Raymond Collinson.

Mike Rickwood's morning was nowhere near as successful
as Mark's as his efforts to locate David Graham had
met with little success. He had first gone to the nets
but there was no sign of the cricket coach there and a
similar result was found when he went to the pavilion.
There was no sign of David in any if his usual haunts.
Mike saw other members of the College staff and
enquired as to whether they knew the cricket coach's
whereabouts but nobody had seen him. Although none of
the people he spoke to seemed unduly worried by the
cricket coach's absence, nevertheless Mike felt that
he ought to let the Superintendent know about it as
soon as possible.

By the time that the Sergeant had got back to the
incident room, Martin had already left to go to talk
to the Principal so the room was locked and empty.
Mike left a note for his superior and then went off to
see if he could find Bobby Marsh. Meanwhile, Martin
had walked across to the Principal's house and was
seated in his comfortable study. Alex Scott-Brown had
offered the Superintendent a cup of coffee that his
wife had prepared and then the two men got down to the
serious business. The College Principal looked
anxiously at Martin and said,

"What can I do for you today, Superintendent? Not more
bad news I hope!"

The Superintendent responded quietly,

"No, Mr Scott-Brown, not bad news I'm pleased to say
but there is a matter that I would like to raise with
you in confidence, if I may?"

"Please, Superintendent, go right ahead. Anything you
tell me will go no further than this room."

"Well, Mr Scott-Brown, you may recall that one reason
given for why Mr Miller was in the tower when he was
killed. One suggestion was that he was looking for
smokers, although we now know that was not the case.
Firstly we suspect he was hoping to meet Paul Ferris,
but you know that. The second reason for discounting
the `looking for smokers' explanation is that our
investigations show that there are no traces of
smoking detritus in the tower. So my question is this,
were you aware of the rumour that smokers used the
tower?"

"I cannot say that I had never heard such a
suggestion, of course, Superintendent. I like to think
that I keep up with what is going on in the College. I
am aware that smoking takes place and, I regret to
say, drinking by a few students but we were never able
to find exactly where these misdemeanours took place."

"Can you remember who told you that the tower was used
by smokers, Mr Scott-Brown?"

"I can't be certain, Superintendent."

"Was it a member of staff or a student, can you
recall?"

"Again, I'm sorry, Superintendent, I can't, but I will
give you a name if it occurs to me."

"Did you ever hear of any suggestion that the tower
was being used for any other purpose?"

"No. We had placed the tower out of bounds because it
was unsafe and I expected all students and staff to
observe that decision. Staff obviously would
investigate if they heard of anyone flouting this
decision. I would have been shocked to learn that any
member of our community had deliberately flouted that
rule, but obviously some of them have."

Alex Scott-Brown pointedly looked at his watch as he
made his last remark and Martin took the hint,

"Well thank you, Mr Scott-Brown. Do please think about
what we've talked about but don't talk about it to
anyone else and if the name comes back to you, please
let me know. I leave you in peace as I have other
things to do and I'm sure you have as well."
Alex Scott-Brown stood up as Martin left his study and
walked with the Superintendent to his front door and
watched as the policeman walked back towards his
incident room. When he arrived at his temporary
headquarters, Martin found the note from Mike and also
discovered that there was a large pile of new
statements from students that had been collected by
local Police Officers. Before he set off to try to
find Mike, the Superintendent glanced at the pile of
statements and sampled a few of them, but saw nothing
very interesting. As he was doing this, Martin saw
Mark walking towards the entrance to the building
where he was situated so he decided to wait for the
Chief Inspector.

Mark walked in and immediately told his friend the
Superintendent about the interview with Anna Young and
also about his conversation with Raymond Collinson.
Martin reacted to the account of Anna Young's
movements at the time of the murder of Paul Ferris was
not quite what Mark had expected. Unlike the Chief
Inspector who had seen nothing suspicious in her
activities. However, the Superintendent pointed out
that she did not have much of an explanation for what
she had done after she left Johnny Price at the
cricket field, as `watching television alone' was
hardly a convincing alibi. Mark was not sure that
Martin was serious but had to agree that what he
suggested was something that should not be discounted.
Slightly ruffled, the Chief Inspector next turned to
his account of the interview with Raymond Collinson.

Mark had found the House Master at break time and had
asked him if they could have a quiet and confidential
word,

"Mr Collinson, we're interested in finding out the
source of the rumour that the tower was used by
smokers, because we have found evidence that it is not
likely that it was."

Raymond Collinson had a surprised look on his face as
he responded to the Chief Inspector's question,

"I should hope it wasn't! The tower was out of bounds
and dangerous, only the foolish or the desperate would
have gone in there."

"Did you ever hear anyone mention this matter? I
assume you must have done because you mentioned it in
an interview with me when we were investigating
Lawrence Miller's death. Can you remember who told you
about it?"

"I think it was Paul Ferris who mentioned it to me. He
was reporting to me one evening and said that there
had been a few young men who had been involved in a
smoking circle and that he believed they might be
using the tower as place to meet. He also told me he
had mentioned it to Mr Miller. Now that we know more
about the relationship between those two, it might
have been a rumour that they started to keep people
away."
"But wouldn't it increase the chances of staff members
poking their noses in there to check if there were any
smokers. Wouldn't it increase their risk of being
caught?"

"Not necessarily, Chief Inspector, if either of them
was seen by the tower they could easily claim that
they had thought they had seen someone near the tower
and wanted to see whether it was a smoker."

"Strangely enough, you're not the only person to
suggest that. I believe that Andy Stephens gave that
as a reason for suggesting that searchers should try
looking in the tower when Lawrence Miller was found.
Did he ever mention he had heard the rumour to you
before that?"

"Now you come to mention it, he did. However, I
assumed that he had got the idea from Mr Miller. After
all they were both Assistant House Masters and so
might well be looking for similar acts of rebellion
and so they probably compared notes. Of course, I'm
speculating and, if you really want to know where he
got it from, you'll have to ask him."

"Yes, I'm sure we will. That's been very useful. One
final question, before I let you go. Can you tell me
of any other reason why any student or member of staff
might have wanted to put such a rumour about?"

"None at all, Chief Inspector. I like to think that
nobody would use the tower for any purpose, although I
know that is not always the case as events have
proved. I suppose someone might have used this rumour
as a means to hide some other bad behaviour. The
obvious ones are drinking, drugs and sex, I suppose
and I expect they do go on but I never heard any
rumours about any of those taking place at or near the
tower!"

"Thank you, Mr Collinson. Please let me know if you
think of anything else but in the meantime, please do
not discuss this matter with anyone else."

Martin had listened intently to Mark's account of the
interview with the House Master and asked one simple
question,

"Did you get the impression that Raymond Collinson was
telling the truth?"

Mark thought for a moment and responded,

"Yes, sir, I did."

Martin nodded and said,

"I thought the same about Alex Scott-Brown. So far we
haven't got very far but we do need to talk to Andy
Stephens, who seems to be a potential source of the
information. I wonder if Mike is having any more joy
from his interview with Bobby Marsh. Talking of Mike,
he's left a note to say that David Graham has not
shown up again today. I'm minded to send a car over to
his house and either bring him in here for questioning
or go out there ourselves. What do you think?"

Mark responded immediately by saying,

"I'll ask one of our patrol cars to call round at his
house and ask him to come in as soon as possible."

"OK, Mike, let's do that and in the meantime let's go
and see what Mike's up to."

It did not take the two senior officers all that long
to find Mike Rickwood. The handsome Sergeant was
standing by the cricket nets talking to Bobby Marsh
and Peter Fowler was standing close by. To casual
observers, Mike looked as though he was offering more
advice to the young fast bowler but in reality they
were talking about the tower.

"OK, Bobby, who first told you that the tower was used
by smokers? Did either you or Paul start the rumour to
keep prying eyes away from the place you used for
sex?"

Bobby responded immediately,

"I haven't used the tower for sex since it was closed
although Paul did suggest and hint that that was where
he and Lawrie .. I mean Mr Miller .. sometimes met. He
also asked me if I wanted to go there. It was a place
that was used when he and I first got involved in sex
when I was in my first term at the College. However,
the new Principal stamped down on it hard. The two
most senior boys left the College for University and
the tower was closed and we had to make do with
hurried meetings out in the open or in quiet places
around other buildings. When we first got involved I
think the people who organised the orgies did use
smoking as a cover and a way of discouraging too many
prying eyes. Also the old Principal was far more
tolerant and did not get involved too much. I hadn't
heard the smoking rumour for quite a long time. I
think it resurfaced sometime this year, after
September anyway. Like a lot of things in a College
like this rumours start and spread like wildfire and
it's difficult to pin them down. If I had to guess I'd
say the original source was Paul, especially as he was
keen to use it as a place to meet Mr Miller. In any
case .. I .."

Bobby hesitated but Mike smiled encouragingly and the
teenager continued,

"I found a much better and safer place to go for sex
and I was about to take Paul to see it when..."

Again, Bobby's voice trailed away so Mike placed a
comforting arm around the student and said,

"It's OK, Bobby, don't upset yourself. What you've
told me is very useful and I'm sure the other
investigators will agree with me."

Mike looked at Peter who was standing a few feet away
and looking equally upset but the younger teen seemed
anxious to say something and the Sergeant smiled
encouragingly at him,

"I know I'm only a junior here, but I heard the rumour
about smoking on this year, too. Last year the tower
was just a building that was never used, was out of
bounds and dangerous. The rumour went round our dorm,
which again might suggest that it came from Paul."

"Yes it does seem plausible, but Bobby you're in
College House and was the rumour going round there
too?"

Bobby had recovered his composure and nodded and then
said,

"Oh yes, I heard it from several people in my dorm
too. It doesn't mean it started with us but it was
circulating around this year. It could have come from
anywhere because we all have lessons together. I can't
remember anyone telling it to me directly as a piece
of information and certainly Paul never said it
directly to me. Even so, it must have come from
somewhere and I know Paul wanted to re-use the tower
for a meeting of guys interested in having sexual fun.
I was keen to restart the group as well but having
found this new location I would have preferred that
one. I didn't really give much thought to how I would
stop people snooping. Paul was always much clever at
those things than I was."

Mark and Martin had overheard the last few remarks as
they walked towards the small group that were talking
together. The two senior officers smiled encouragingly
at the teenagers and stood listening in silence until
they had finished speaking to Mike. After it was
obvious that the two youngsters had nothing more to
say, Martin listened while Mike thanked the two boys
for their help. Then Martin stepped in and reminded
Bobby and Peter that he did not want them to talk
about the subject to anyone else, stressing that he
meant by that neither staff nor students. When the
teenagers had left, Martin also said that he would
like the three of them to return to the incident room
and consider whether they had learnt anything of
value. The Superintendent also wanted the three of
them to review the growing number of statements from
the students who had been present when Paul Ferris had
been murdered. As a result of the additional manpower
that had been made available to the investigation, the
collection of statements was almost complete.

At the same time that the three policemen were sitting
in the incident room reading through the reports, a
police car was making its way towards the house where
David Graham, the Greymount College cricket coach. The
patrol car had been delayed in making this call
because of a more urgent request to attend a road
traffic accident but now they had finally made it and
were about to ring the doorbell. The two Police
Constables waited for a few moments but there was no
response to their ringing of the bell. Unsure what to
do next, the two PCs decided that they would have a
look around the back of the house just to check that
all was well. There was no sign of life in the garden
and no response to their knock on the back door.
However, the curtains in the downstairs rooms were
open and so the policemen could peer into the house.
After looking in several windows there was no sign of
life in any part of the house that could be easily
seen but equally there were no signs of foul play.
Having checked the garage and found that it was empty,
the two Constables decided that there was nothing else
they could do and decided to return to their car and
report what they had found to their headquarters.

The phone rang in the incident room and Mark answered
it at once,

"Chief Inspector Jamieson."

"Hello, Mark, Superintendent Wilson here. We've had a
report from the house you asked us to go to in order
to find that Mr Graham. Well, according to the two
Constables that went there, the place appears to be
deserted with no sign of anyone in the house or garden
and no car in the garage. However, there is no
evidence of foul play. Do you want them to try to
force an entry?"

"Hold on, sir, I'll check with Superintendent
Roberts."

Mark told Martin what had been reported in and the
Superintendent in charge of the investigation
indicated that he did not want anything done
immediately and then said,

"I don't think that it's necessary to break into the
house at this stage. As his car is nowhere to be seen
he might be on his way in to College or just gone out
for a few minutes. Ask them to wait there for as long
as possible while we wait to see if he turns up. If
he's not back in an hour then I think I would like to
have a look inside his house."

"I expect you heard all that, sir," said Mark to his
own Superintendent at the other end of the phone.

"Yes, Mark. I'll hold the two men at David Graham's
house for as long as possible. Let me know what if he
turns up at the College and I'll stand them down."

Yes, sir, thank you."

Mark put the telephone down and resumed his place but
again the reading of the statements was interrupted.
This time someone knocking on the door caused the
interruption and Mike stood up and walked to the door
and found Bobby Marsh standing there.

"May I come in, please?"

"Of course, Bobby. What's the matter?"

"Well I wanted to ask if you knew where Mr Graham is?
I know that the cricket team is devastated by Paul's
death but we thought that the best tribute to him
would be to go on playing. We are supposed to have net
practice this afternoon and Mr Graham never misses it
but he hasn't appeared today. Is he OK?"

Martin had overheard the conversation and intervened
at this point,

"Thanks for reporting your concern us that, Bobby.
We've been keen to find Mr Graham ourselves but we
haven't been able to locate him. As far as we can tell
he's not at home but we're still checking and we half
hoped that he might turn up here. We'll step up our
search and we'll let you know as soon as possible and,
if by any chance he turns up here, ask him to come to
see us at once, will you?"

"Yes, sir. I will."

Martin looked at mike and said,

"I think it would be a good idea if you went over to
the nets and looked after the team. They know and
trust you and your ability will enable you to offer
effective advice. Don't worry, we won't let you lose
touch with developments but I think you will
contribute best by looking after the team at this
point."

Mike looked both pleased and disappointed but did not
hesitate to agree to his Superintendent's request. As
the Sergeant left the room he heard Martin saying to
Mark,

"Get onto the guys at Mr Graham's house, tell them if
he doesn't return in the next fifteen minutes they are
to force an entry and check through the house. How
long would it take us to get there?"

"Too long I'm afraid, sir, but do you want to start
out before they get into the house or prefer to wait?"

"Let's leave now and get there as quickly as
possible."

Martin and Mark went to the Chief Inspector's car and,
once they were on the main road, Mark set the siren
blaring as they sped off in the direction of David
Graham's house.

At David Graham's house the two PCs sat waiting in
their car and then after a quarter of an hour they
decided it was time to make a forced entry and did so,
having checked with Mark Jamieson first. The two PCs
forced their way into the back door and found nothing
disturbed on the ground floor and no sign of life
upstairs either. What they did find, however, was
evidence that someone had decided to leave the house
in a hurry. They reported this back to their
headquarters and on to Mark and this spurred the two
senior officers who were driving towards the house as
fast as they could to get to the house as quickly as
possible. As they drove towards the village where
David Graham lived, Mark looked at Martin and said,

"You don't think anything had happened to David
Graham, do you, sir?"

"I don't know for sure, Mark. I can't think of any
reason why he should be, at least not based on what we
know at the moment. Either he has run away or has been
scared off for some reason. What we need to find out
is which of these alternatives have caused him to
leave."

"You don't seriously believe that he could be the
killer, do you?"

"I doubt it, Mark, but it's possible. I doubt it
because I can't believe he would kill his best
player."

"Unless he did it out of jealousy."

"I doubt that too. There's no evidence he is gay and
why would he be jealous of a young and very talented
cricketer? But I concede his disappearance is a great
concern and we need to find out where he is as a
matter of urgency."

Mark radioed back to his headquarters and asked them
to trace the index number of David Graham's car and
then asked for it to be circulated to every Police
Force in the country. Martin listened as he did so and
when he had finished the conversation with the
operations room, Mark turned to his older friend and
said,

"Well, if he's in his car that should enable us to
find him fairly quickly."

"I agree, Mark, but we also ought to notify all ports
and airports just in case he tries to leave the
country. I don't know much about David Graham or his
family or anything else about him. We need to start
digging to see if there is anything in his past that
might have turned him into a murderer."

"I don't know much about him either, sir, but I
believe that Mike Rickwood does. Do you want to turn
round and go back to the College or go on to the
house?"

"Let's go on to the house and contact Mike from there
and perhaps we could meet together later this evening.
I'll telephone Tom and see if he would mind getting
some food and wine in and we'll have a discussion
about this David Graham character then."

The car arrived at David Graham's house, which was
being secured by the local Police and they allowed
Martin and Mark to look around. A brief survey of the
house confirmed that the occupant had left
unexpectedly, as clothes were scattered around the
bedroom and various discarded suitcases lay open
around the room as well. What was very clear was that
if it was David Graham who had left and there was no
evidence that it was anyone else, then he had been in
a great rush to get away. The only question that
remained was why he had done so.

Martin intuitively felt that the answer to this
question was not likely to be found in the house but,
despite this, Mark asked for a complete and thorough
search to be undertaken by the PCs that were present.
He also ordered them to report anything they found
that might have a bearing on the case or David
Graham's disappearance, however trivial it might
appear, to him immediately. This was done in the hope
that some clues either to the cricket coach's
whereabouts or to what information he might have that
placed him in danger. It was equally possible that
evidence might be unearthed that would point to the
cricket coach as the killer. Finally, Mark made it
clear to the two Constables that if David Graham
returned to the house he was to be detained at the
local Police Station until such time as he could be
interviewed by Martin and himself.

At Greymount College, Sergeant Mike Rickwood was
conducting a rather sombre cricket practice, none of
the team seemed very enthusiastic but they cheered up
a little bit as the net and fielding practice went on.
Mike said that, although he was not in charge, he
presumed that the captaincy would now be taken over by
Bobby Marsh and the vice-captaincy by Tim Oakley. The
rest of the team agreed and welcomed the newest two
members of the squad from whom the team would
eventually be selected. Mike added that the final
decision would be left until the day of the next match
when, hopefully, the College's cricket coach would be
available to make the final choice. After about an
hour, Mike decided to call an end to the practice and,
as he did so, his telephone rang and he answered it.
The message was a summons from Mark and Martin to meet
them at the Superintendent's house as soon as
possible.

Mark explained to the cricketers that he needed to go
and asked them to put their equipment away and return
safely together to their dormitories. Bobby looked
slightly disappointed when he realised that Mike would
be leaving straight away. Noting this, Mike gave the
teenager his phone number and said that if he needed
anything the young student could telephone him at any
time. Bobby thanked the older man and walked slowly
back with the others to the pavilion. Mike turned away
and strode off to his car and prepared to drive back
towards London and the meeting at the Superintendent's
home.

As it turned out, Mike was the first to arrive at the
house and he was greeted by Tom and offered a drink.
The young children were both in bed, if not asleep and
Harry and Simon had ventured out to see if Martin had
arrived home yet. Seeing that he had not, the
youngsters retreated, but did not have long to wait
before Mark and Martin arrived. This time the boys
came out of the bedroom and excitedly greeted the two
adults but were ushered back to their bedroom by
Martin with a promise that he would read a short
bedtime story to them. While Martin was away with the
children, Tom completed the preparations of his light
snack and poured more wine for himself, the other two
guests and carried a glass through to his lover.

Ten minutes later, Martin rejoined the group and they
sat down to eat. As they were finishing their meal,
the Superintendent drew the four of them back to the
main reason for the meeting and said,

"Well, I've called us together because I want to have
a discussion about David Graham who seems to have
disappeared. His house is being searched and if
anything important is found, Mark's left instructions
for us to be informed immediately. What I need to know
is this, what do we know about this fellow and do any
of you have any clues as to where he might go if he
wanted to disappear?"

Tom smiled and was the first to reply,

"Well, Marty, for once I can be of help to you! David
Graham was a good County an England cricketer,
although he only played on one Test Match about ten or
more years ago. I don't fully remember the details but
he was injured quite badly and never played again."

At this point Mike Rickwood intervened,

"Yes that's right, it was about fourteen years ago, I
was in my early teens and I was a great fan of his and
I supported his county, Middlesex. I took time off
school and went to see him play in his only Test at
Lords. He made a lot of runs and saved England that
day against a good South African attack and I think
his innings even set up the England victory. Then,
after the Test was over, he was driving home and he
stopped to help some people who had had an accident.
As he was rescuing one of the occupants, who was
trapped in the vehicle, the car exploded and he was
badly burnt. He lost part of his right arm and,
although he recovered, he was never able to play
again. After that, I never heard much news of him
again although people did say that he became a drunk
and a drug addict. I don't know if it was true. Even
if it was he seemed to have fully rehabilitated
himself and I was surprised and delighted when I met
him at Greymount College and he told me he was the
cricket coach."

Martin thanked the two contributors for telling him
something of David Graham's history but then asked if
anyone knew anything about his private and family
life. This time Mark answered,

"Well I'm hoping the search of his house might reveal
something about that, but at the moment all I think we
can say is that he lived alone, and there does not
appear to be a partner of any sort. As for family,
I've got men digging around to try to find out about
parents or siblings."

"Good", said Martin, "Let's hope we turn something up
soon. I think we need to find this David Graham as
soon as we can. He either knows something that has put
his life in danger or he has run away because he fears
we are onto him. Whatever, he is now a prime target of
this investigation, unless, of course, one of you has
a different explanation?"

The others remained silent, which Martin deemed to
mean agreement with his line of reasoning. However,
Mike suddenly felt confident enough to intervene and
say,

"I'm not sure that David Graham could have killed Paul
Ferris. He was having tea in the tea tent when the
other members of the fielding side and I came off
after we finished the College team's innings. I can't
see how he could be there and murdering Paul at the
same time. It suggests to me that he was running away
because he was frightened of someone or saw something"

"OK, Mike, it's certainly a point in his favour. If
he'd been quick he might have been able to murder Paul
and still make it to the tea tent, but he'd have been
very wet and I don't suppose he could have done it in
the time. However, even if I accept your point as true
and we confirm it with other witnesses, we still need
to speak to him."

Mike indicated that he accepted that what the
Superintendent had said was true. Once it was clear
that none of the others had anything more to say,
Martin decided to bring the meeting to a close.
However this process was interrupted when Mark's
telephone rang. The Chief Inspector answered it
immediately and it was obvious from what the others
could glean from Mark's end of the conversation that
the search of David Graham's house had revealed
something of interest. When he had completed his call,
Mark wasted no time in telling the others exactly what
it was, Mark said, excitedly,

"One of the Constables has found a number of items
referring to someone called Margaret Gordon. Her name
seems to appear quite often in his personal
belongings. I think I should follow this up
immediately, don't you, sir?"

"Yes, Mark, do that and take Mike with you if he would
like to go. I think we need to find out who this
person is and whether she knows where David Graham has
gone to."

Mike nodded vigorously at the suggestion that he
should go along with the Chief Inspector and moments
later, after Mark had telephoned his wife, Ruth, to
say that he would be very late home that evening, the
two officers left to follow up the lead. Tom looked at
Martin and said,

"Well, I don't think there's much more we can do
tonight, do you Marty? So why don't we go to bed and
get some sleep? We can let the enthusiastic young
things go off and do all the hard work, I'm sure
they'll call us when they have something useful to
tell you."

Martin looked across at his partner and nodded and the
two lovers went quickly and quietly to bed. They did
not linger too long over the nightly embrace but went
almost straight to sleep, especially as neither of
them could be certain as to how much sleep they would
get that night.

If you have any comments email me
cutrose40@yahoo.co.uk