this peace quiet very clear to everyone in the archive, Hall returned the file and the three of them left.
‘Fancy grabbing a bite in the canteen?’ asked Dixon. ‘They used to do a mean sausage, egg and chips here.’
‘Chips are off, Ray. Hadn’t you heard? New Chief’s orders. Far too many porky coppers about for his liking. Tell you what, there’s a pub near Eamont Bridge, let’s stop off there. We can probably grab a table in the garden and talk. They do very good home-made pies, if I remember rightly.’
When everyone had eaten, and Grace was asleep again under the shade of her white hat and the awning on the buggy, the two men started to compare notes.
‘I have to be honest, Andy. I’ve seen nowt so far to suggest that Burke didn’t do it, not a bloody thing.’
‘Me neither. But have you seen anything new to suggest that he did?’
‘No, no I have not. But that’s not really the point. Lee’s story stayed consistent at every interview, give or take, although the investigating officers did go pretty easy on him, didn’t they? And as to some unknown third party having been involved? Well, it’s always possible, I suppose, but I don’t really see it.’
‘Why not?’
‘Well, take the affair she’s supposed to have been having. There’s just nothing solid, is there? If the husband hadn’t as good as confirmed it the prosecution wouldn’t have been able to establish any kind of motive at all. He shot himself in the foot there, did Adam Burke. He should have just kept his mouth shut about his suspicions.’
‘Suggesting what?’
‘That he was just being honest in everything else he said to our lads? Aye, maybe. Or perhaps he’s just a bit thick, and didn’t see that he was giving the prosecution something that they’d be able to turn against him, no problem at all.’
Hall got up, and checked on Grace. When he sat down again he flicked through his notebook. ‘So what do you make of Burke as a person, and Lee too, come to that?’
‘Well, Burke seems like a funny one, Andy, he really does. I know we don’t have the tapes, and written transcripts do lose some of the information, but Burke just seems so composed the whole time. Almost like he doesn’t know what’s coming. It’s odd, is that. In his situation I’d be absolutely shitting myself, and I was a copper for over thirty years.’
‘Agreed. And what about Lee? Anything strike you about him?’
‘Aye, one thing. And it’s about the only thing that they pressed him on, during the interviews. He claimed that Burke had only told him that he’d killed his wife the day before Lee came forward to us, but he doesn’t offer any reason as to why Burke would wait so long before he blabbed, like.’
‘He didn’t have to though, did he? The investigating officer was inviting him to speculate, and Lee’s brief shut that line of questioning down pretty fast. So they never put the real point to him; namely that if Lee had done it rather than the husband, maybe a few days after Sharon Burke had gone missing, then it made sense for him to wait a good while before grassing up his supposed best mate. Because if Lee did it, but had expected Burke to have been nicked long before, that could be a credible reason for the delay.’
‘Aye, I see where you’re going, and it’s obvious from the transcripts that the investigating officers were thinking much the same. But, like you say, they never really got after Lee at all. And three months in water was plenty long enough to get rid of any trace DNA, back then, anyway.’ He paused. ‘The pictures of the body were pretty hard to take, weren’t they?’
But Dixon was smiling as he said it, because he knew that Hall wouldn’t have looked. Not a chance in a million. He never had, back in the day, not unless he absolutely had to.
Friday 10th August
Flimby
‘It’s just up here, Andy,’ said Dixon, looking at the sat-nav as Hall drove. ‘That’ll do.’
Hall
‘Fancy grabbing a bite in the canteen?’ asked Dixon. ‘They used to do a mean sausage, egg and chips here.’
‘Chips are off, Ray. Hadn’t you heard? New Chief’s orders. Far too many porky coppers about for his liking. Tell you what, there’s a pub near Eamont Bridge, let’s stop off there. We can probably grab a table in the garden and talk. They do very good home-made pies, if I remember rightly.’
When everyone had eaten, and Grace was asleep again under the shade of her white hat and the awning on the buggy, the two men started to compare notes.
‘I have to be honest, Andy. I’ve seen nowt so far to suggest that Burke didn’t do it, not a bloody thing.’
‘Me neither. But have you seen anything new to suggest that he did?’
‘No, no I have not. But that’s not really the point. Lee’s story stayed consistent at every interview, give or take, although the investigating officers did go pretty easy on him, didn’t they? And as to some unknown third party having been involved? Well, it’s always possible, I suppose, but I don’t really see it.’
‘Why not?’
‘Well, take the affair she’s supposed to have been having. There’s just nothing solid, is there? If the husband hadn’t as good as confirmed it the prosecution wouldn’t have been able to establish any kind of motive at all. He shot himself in the foot there, did Adam Burke. He should have just kept his mouth shut about his suspicions.’
‘Suggesting what?’
‘That he was just being honest in everything else he said to our lads? Aye, maybe. Or perhaps he’s just a bit thick, and didn’t see that he was giving the prosecution something that they’d be able to turn against him, no problem at all.’
Hall got up, and checked on Grace. When he sat down again he flicked through his notebook. ‘So what do you make of Burke as a person, and Lee too, come to that?’
‘Well, Burke seems like a funny one, Andy, he really does. I know we don’t have the tapes, and written transcripts do lose some of the information, but Burke just seems so composed the whole time. Almost like he doesn’t know what’s coming. It’s odd, is that. In his situation I’d be absolutely shitting myself, and I was a copper for over thirty years.’
‘Agreed. And what about Lee? Anything strike you about him?’
‘Aye, one thing. And it’s about the only thing that they pressed him on, during the interviews. He claimed that Burke had only told him that he’d killed his wife the day before Lee came forward to us, but he doesn’t offer any reason as to why Burke would wait so long before he blabbed, like.’
‘He didn’t have to though, did he? The investigating officer was inviting him to speculate, and Lee’s brief shut that line of questioning down pretty fast. So they never put the real point to him; namely that if Lee had done it rather than the husband, maybe a few days after Sharon Burke had gone missing, then it made sense for him to wait a good while before grassing up his supposed best mate. Because if Lee did it, but had expected Burke to have been nicked long before, that could be a credible reason for the delay.’
‘Aye, I see where you’re going, and it’s obvious from the transcripts that the investigating officers were thinking much the same. But, like you say, they never really got after Lee at all. And three months in water was plenty long enough to get rid of any trace DNA, back then, anyway.’ He paused. ‘The pictures of the body were pretty hard to take, weren’t they?’
But Dixon was smiling as he said it, because he knew that Hall wouldn’t have looked. Not a chance in a million. He never had, back in the day, not unless he absolutely had to.
Friday 10th August
Flimby
‘It’s just up here, Andy,’ said Dixon, looking at the sat-nav as Hall drove. ‘That’ll do.’
Hall
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