Strange Blood by Lindsay Jayne Ashford Read Free Book Online

behind her. As she made her way out of the building she couldn’t help picturing Jessop sitting in her desk. She was just going to have to fight her corner, the way she’d fought for everything she’d achieved in her career so far. And she was damned if she was going to let him or anyone else take it away from her.
    *   *   *
    â€˜We had quite a few calls last night,’ Steve Foy said as he unlocked the door of the Ledburys’ house. ‘The usual nutters, of course, but one or two useful ones as well.’
    â€˜What did they they say?’ Megan followed him along the hall, glancing at the photographs of babies and children lining the walls.
    â€˜Well, we’ve got a better idea of Tessa’s movements on the morning she died.’ He walked into the kitchen, pulling out a chair for Megan before sitting down himself. ‘She went straight to Pendleton shopping precinct after she’d dropped the kids at school. The receptionist at the medical centre remembers her calling for a prescription. After that she went to the chemist’s and then to a newsagent to buy a birthday card. She can’t have been back home much before ten o’clock.’
    â€˜What was the prescription for?’
    â€˜Contraceptive pills. She’d been taking them since the youngest child was born.’
    â€˜And is that what she got at the chemist’s?’
    Foy nodded.
    â€˜How old is the youngest child?’
    â€˜Three and a half. Why do you ask?’
    â€˜Is he or she at full-time school or nursery?’
    â€˜It’s a he. Henry. He’s in the nursery class of the primary school.’
    â€˜Right,’ Megan nodded, ‘So he’s not there all day?’
    â€˜No. She used to pick him up at 11.30.’ Foy folded his arms across his chest ‘She was due to pick him up the day she was murdered – that’s how the alarm was raised.’
    Megan traced the pattern of the wood grain on the table with her finger. ‘Was the child looked after by anyone else?’
    â€˜No.’ Foy had a puzzled look on his face. ‘D’you think that’s significant?’
    â€˜Well, I suppose it explains why she had such a limited social life,’ Megan replied. ‘After dropping them off at school she’d have, what, just over two hours to herself before having to pick up the little one again?’
    Foy nodded.
    â€˜No wonder she didn’t have time for much else apart from the church, then. You said her only close friends were from St Paul’s?’
    â€˜Yes.’ Foy sniffed. ‘Even so, you’d expect her to be close to some of the other mums from the school, wouldn’t you? Or a neighbour?’
    â€˜But she wasn’t.’ Megan frowned. ‘Bit of a loner, really, then?’
    Foy shrugged.
    â€˜What about a computer? Was she one of those people who spend a lot of time in chatrooms?’
    â€˜I doubt it,’ Foy said. ‘There was no computer in the house and her husband said it had been taken away for repair a few weeks back.’
    â€˜So –’ Megan looked at her notes. ‘On the morning she died she picked up her packets of pills from the chemists. Anything else?’
    He shook his head.
    â€˜What about the birthday card you mentioned?’ Megan asked. ‘Any idea who it was for?’
    â€˜Her eldest daughter. She was eight on Saturday.’
    â€˜God, those poor kids!’ Megan glanced around the kitchen. One wall was covered with bright paintings and collages, obviously brought home from school. She looked away. This was going to be even more harrowing than she had imagined. She was going to have to do a better job of detaching her emotions if she was to be of any help at all in this inquiry.
    â€˜Can I start with the garden?’ The chair scraped loudly as she stood up. ‘I want to see how he might have got in.’
    Foy led her out through the