A Question of Guilt by Janet Tanner Read Free Book Online

olives, bread and dipping oil on the table, and I was enjoying a big glass of red wine. Rachel ordered a spritzer, we debated the relative merits of the huge selection of pizza toppings, and then settled back on the leather banquette.
    â€˜So, what have you been up to since I saw you last?’ Rachel asked, a good deal calmer now. ‘No – don’t tell me . . . you’ve been bored silly.’
    â€˜Actually no,’ I said. ‘I’ve got myself a project.’
    â€˜A project. Oh – not a calf! You haven’t got a baby at home to bottle feed, have you? Because if you have you can send him over to me.’
    I laughed. ‘I’d have thought you had quite enough to do already! But no, it’s not a calf. It’s work . . . sort of. A story I’m following up on.’
    â€˜Tell me more,’ Rachel said. ‘I thought you said nothing ever happens in Stoke Compton that’s worth writing about.’
    â€˜It did, though, didn’t it – five years ago. The big fire in the High Street.’
    â€˜Well, yes, but surely that’s old news?’ Rachel sipped her spritzer. ‘The weirdo that did it was caught and convicted. He’s in prison, isn’t he?’
    â€˜But his sister is convinced he’s innocent and I thought . . . oh, I might be flogging a dead horse, of course, but miscarriages of justice do happen. Wouldn’t it be fantastic if I could find something out that meant the whole case had to be reopened?’
    Rachel looked doubtful.
    â€˜I don’t know how you’ll manage that. Surely if there’d been anything to find out the police would have been on to it?’
    â€˜They had Brian Jennings, didn’t they? An easy target. Just the sort of person everyone would like to believe was responsible, and not really bright enough to be able to defend himself, from what I gather. Once he was in the frame I bet they didn’t look any further. A good result for their crime statistics.’
    â€˜He was obsessed with Dawn Burridge,’ Rachel argued. ‘They found dozens of photographs of her in his flat. And there was the evidence about the petrol, too, wasn’t there?’
    â€˜Traces in his pocket, yes. But he said he’d bought petrol for his sister’s lawn mower and she backed him up. It’s all circumstantial, Rachel.’
    â€˜Hmm.’ Rachel looked unconvinced. She dipped a chunk of ciabatta into the aromatic oil.
    â€˜So, Miss Marple, how are you going to beat the police at their own game?’
    â€˜Well, to begin with, I’m going to talk to everyone concerned. Brian Jennings’ sister, maybe Brian himself . . .’
    â€˜You’re going to visit him in prison?’
    â€˜If I can.’
    â€˜Rather you than me!’
    â€˜But first I want to talk to Lisa Curry and Dawn Burridge – see if there was anyone they’d upset who might have wished them harm.’
    â€˜Surely they’d have told the police at the time if they’d suspected anything like that?’ Rachel said.
    â€˜Maybe they did. But Brian Jennings was an easier target. Or maybe they were too shocked to think straight. Then, when Jennings was arrested, they assumed, like everyone else, that it must have been him.’ I speared an olive and popped it into my mouth, chewing on it thoughtfully. ‘Do you know them at all?’
    â€˜Lisa and Dawn?’ Rachel shook her head. ‘No, not really. I think Lisa went to our school, but . . .’
    â€˜Did she?’ I said, surprised. ‘I don’t remember anyone of that name.’
    â€˜Well, you wouldn’t, would you? She’d have been several years below us, and you don’t notice the ones who are younger than you. I don’t remember her either. But when she and Dawn were in the news, Becky – my sister – said Lisa was in her year.’
    â€˜Really?’ I sat forward, interested.
    â€˜They