Witchmoor Edge by Mike Crowson Read Free Book Online Page B

find out what Koswinski, Musworth and Sansom were up to
and anyone else associated with them. Follow up the question of
what time they left and where they went, but report back after
lunch. Look for anything that will help DC Hammond. This afternoon
you can work with him in trying scare Koswinski."
    "Lucy, I want you to look into the background
of Ellen Barnes and the alibi. Take one of the uniformed women with
you and go easy at first. The story may be entirely true, but I
want it checked out. "
    "Right-O. You'll have your answers."
    "Sergeant Gibbs. Tony. I'd like you to spend
an hour or so making sure everything's in place in the incident
room. After that I want you to go and snoop around the hospital.
See if you can find out how tightly they control access to morphine
and anything you can about the personal affairs and background of
Shirley Hunter, but be discreet. I want to avoid word getting back
and putting her on her guard if I can. She may be an innocent
victim or she may have been provoked into murder. Get me anything
to will help me make up my mind. DC Bright, you familiarise
yourself with the story so far, then keep DS Gibbs company this
morning. This afternoon I want you to go door to door around the
Hunter's house and see if any neighbours saw anything to support
the story."
    Gibbs and Bright just nodded.
    "This morning, Tommy Hammond and I will visit
Hunter's place of work and try to find out something more about
him," Millicent added.
     
    As they walked out to the car park, Millicent
said to Tommy, "According to Mrs. Hunter. Simon Hunter worked for
an Investment company in which he's a partner. The senior partner
is her brother, Bernard Knowles. I need somebody to bounce
impressions off."
    "Whereabouts?"
    "Bradford. Just up from Foster Square
Station. Why?"
    "Nothing really, but we might be best off
with a marked patrol car, since we might have trouble parking."
Tommy grinned.
    "Good idea," Millicent agreed.
    Cowper Street was a dead end street which
should have led off Cheapside, except that it had been closed off.
Tommy drove into the bottom end of Westgate and turned left and
left, to enter it from the other end.
    KHS Investments occupied only one floor of
number 16 Cowper Street - a five-story building - but they were
pleasant enough offices and it was a good location with a
prestigious sounding address.
    Shirley's brother was senior partner, of
course, and Millicent asked for him by name, but he was clearly
expecting them. Millicent was not surprised: Shirley Hunter would
naturally have phoned her brother the previous night to pass on the
news.
    The receptionist stood up from her desk and
showed them into a roomy office and Bernard Knowles rose to greet
them. He was older than his sister, slightly built and greying. He
was in shirt sleeves and tie and the trousers from a dark suit, the
jacket of which hung over the back of his chair.
    "Sit down," he said. "I usually have a coffee
mid morning, so I assumed you'd want a coffee yourselves and asked
Mrs. Waite to bring three."
    He sat down again. "I'm aware of what you've
come about. On Monday, when Simon wasn't here, I rang Shirley and
heard he was missing. She phoned last night to tell me he’d been
found murdered."
    "Then I'll come straight to the point. Who,
apart from Shirley, might have wanted Simon Hunter dead?" Millicent
asked.
    Bernard Knowles sighed and put his hands
together. "I should think there would be a long, long queue."
    Millicent was interested and intrigued. "Go
on," she said. "Explain!"
    "Quite apart from his treatment of Shirley,
the man was an obnoxious scoundrel who was involved in some schemes
of doubtful morality A few things he did were, I suspect, outright
illegal. He was a liar and a cheat and he wanted to take over this
perfectly respectable little firm as a front for his fraudulent
activities."
    "You sound as if you'd be in the queue
yourself," the inspector observed.
    "Oh yes," Knowles said. "I didn't kill him,
but I easily