Shrine to Murder by Roger Silverwood Page B

been? You are beginning to show me how easy it is to manage without you.’
    Crisp looked closely into Angel’s face, trying to judge how upset he was. Crisp reckoned he was pretty angry. He had to think quickly.
    ‘ Sorry, sir. Been pretty well tied up. Mrs Krill didn ’ t go to see her daughter, you see. I have been trying to find out exactly where she did go.’
    ‘ What ?’ Angel yelled. ‘Why didn’t you answer your mobile?’
    ‘ Didn’t hear it, sir. Perhaps I was in a bad reception area. There are lots of tricky places like that in Sheffield.’
    Angel didn’t believe him but he did want to know about Kathleen Krill. ‘Where was she Saturday night through to Sunday morning?’
    ‘ The time of her father’s murder? I don’t know yet, sir.’
    Angel clenched his hands. ‘When you find out, let me know. And when you’re on duty keep that mobile switched on .’
    ‘ Oh yes, sir.’
    ‘ But before you get back to that, I have a little job for you.’ He told him about the murder of Ingrid Underwood, the day’s events and Ronnie Striker’s unusual story. ‘I simply want you to find the sandwich shop called The Lunch Box , it’s round the corner from 221 Bradford Road. Check out whether the lad is telling the truth, that’s all. Phone me on my mobile anytime tonight. I won’t be getting home for a little while. And I want to see you in the CID briefing room here tomorrow morning at 8.30 sharp.’
    ‘ Right, sir.’
    Crisp dashed off.
    Angel reached out for the phone. He wanted to speak to his opposite number in the uniformed division, Inspector Haydn Asquith before he finished his shift.
    ‘ Yes, Michael, what can I do for you?’
    ‘ I need high-profile, twenty-four-hour cover on a murdered woman’s house, Haydn. She was murdered in her shop this morning. I haven’t a lead or a motive yet. There’s possibly evidence in the house. SOCO will do a thorough search tomorrow. Understand she has family somewhere, but we haven’t had the opportunity to follow that up. I was going along there now to see for myself. The address is 22 Park Road.’
    ‘ Leave it with me, Michael,’ Asquith said. ‘If anybody’s been there or there’s anything untoward, I’ll get the lad to ring you on your mobile, if you like?’
    Angel thanked him. He closed the phone, put it in his pocket, then he shuffled together the files and correspondence on his desk and shoved them into the middle drawer. He stood up and made for the door. Somebody knocked on it as he pulled it open. It was pretty DS Carter. They were both surprised.
    ‘ Find anything out?’ Angel said.
    ‘ Nobody noticed anything, sir,’ she said, ‘except the man who has the bicycle shop right opposite, Carl Young.’
    Angel sighed. ‘I’ve already spoken to him at some length.’
    Carter said, ‘He said that Ronnie Striker was already sitting on the shop step when he arrived just before 8.30. He said that Ingrid arrived about a minute after he did.’
    ‘ He’s certainly very interested in Ingrid Underwood’s business.’
    ‘ I’d say he’s got the hots for her,’ she said with a smile.
    Angel didn’t smile. ‘Aye, but did he see any other activity around the shop?’
    ‘ No sir. He said he was busy with a customer just after that.’
    ‘ So he didn’t see Ronnie leave to fetch a sandwich, a man dressed like Jesus arrive, Ronnie return then run off, then the man dressed like Jesus leave and Miss Jubb, who found the body, arrive?’
    ‘ No, sir.’
    He sniffed. ‘Well, he missed a helluva lot, didn’t he?’
    ‘ He said that he saw the marked car arrive at about 8.50.’ 

    ‘ That was pretty observant of him. A blind man on a galloping horse can see a police car half a mile away.’
    Carter didn’t know what to say.
    ‘ You asked down the road, didn’t you?’ Angel said. ‘All the shops and offices and any place that had a direct line of sight of Ingrid Underwood’s shop door?’
    ‘ Absolutely every one of them,