The Troutbeck Testimony by Rebecca Tope Read Free Book Online Page B

only an hour or so ago,’ she realised. ‘I saw the police cars in that yard by Town End.’ The speed with which Moxon had caught up with her seemed almost supernatural. ‘What time did you find this dead man, then?’
    ‘Middle of the afternoon,’ he said briskly. ‘About two hours after I spoke to your father.’
    ‘And you’ve already checked out the red car, and got a name for the victim? That was quick!’
    ‘We checked the car as soon as your father gave us the number, as a matter of routine. And the person who found the body knew who he was. The names matched.’ He shook his head in wonderment. ‘It doesn’t often happen like that.’
    ‘And now you’ve got the car?’
    ‘Actually, no. There’s no sign of it.’
    Simmy sat back, reminding herself that she had no obligation to immerse herself in the details of a police investigation. But still her attention was irresistibly hooked. ‘Dognapping,’ she remembered, as she wrestled with the burgeoning strands of the story. ‘Is it an old man who died?’
    ‘Why?’
    ‘Isn’t that what the men at the pub said? Something about an old man?’
    ‘Actually, he’s in his thirties.’
    ‘Oh.’
    ‘And there weren’t any dogs at the farm. In fact, nobody actually lives there. They just keep sheep on the land. The original house was sold decades ago and it’s used as a holiday home now. It’s not really a farm at all any more.’
    ‘Oh.’ She blinked a few times. ‘Then why do you think it has anything to do with me and my father and what happened yesterday?’
    ‘It’s all in Troutbeck,’ he said simply. ‘And Troutbeck is a very small place.’
    ‘Oh,’ she said for the third time.
    After that things seemed to drift. Moxon asked for descriptions of the men in the red car, which Simmy failed to provide in any detail. ‘I’ve forgotten,’ she said. ‘It all felt like a game at the time. I guessed their ages, and Dad took me seriously. They were very ordinary. I’d say the boy was about twelve, maybe a bit more. Tim – I think he’s called Tim.’
    ‘Yes – your father mentioned that. But he says he didn’t see the people in the car at all. That seems a bit strange.’
    ‘It all happened very quickly. He was writing down theregistration number, or sorting out his dog, or something. Look – why does what we saw yesterday matter now? You’ve got a name for the man who’s died. You can find his son and ask him everything else you need to know. He can tell you who the other man was, and what they were planning to do.’ She wanted to force him to agree with her, to admit he had only shown up because he liked her and hadn’t seen her for ages. ‘I’m definitely not going to be a witness or anything. I can’t provide an alibi or give names of likely suspects. I refuse to get hurt again, either.’ She lifted her chin defiantly. ‘It feels as if you’re deliberately trying to drag me into something, with no good reason. And it really isn’t fair.’
    ‘All right,’ he nodded. ‘If that’s how you feel, I’ll do what I can to leave you alone from now on. The trouble is …’ he paused and took a deep breath, ‘I can’t make any promises. We have to follow the evidence wherever it leads us. And just at the moment, it’s leading very directly to the conversation your father heard yesterday. I know you don’t like people worrying about you, but there are inevitably some concerns …’ He gave a weak smile, as if expecting a rebuff.
    ‘But the boy? Why can’t you just ask him?’
    ‘We will. But he’s just lost his father, and his mother lives in Scotland. She’ll be coming down tonight to collect him, but all that’s still up in the air. We can’t bombard him with questions until she’s here to chaperone him. Surely you can see I had no choice but to come and ask how much you can contribute that might help us. I’m sure you’re aware that the more quickly we can understand the story, the more likely we are to make