Excerpt from the book called The Frisby Waterless Murders
“Vince is still alive though and if he’s out there then he’s not harmed in any way, so what could the Major have done to upset Daisy?”
“Stopped Vince getting promotion, perhaps, or had him sent out to Afghanistan again when he didn’t want to go?”
“Let’s ask Daisy shall we – Linda do you want to ask her?”
“I will do that, Inspector, I should be heading off. I will go home first before heading out to the fishing club, so I’ll probably contact Daisy tomorrow.”
“That should be fine, Linda, don’t let those anglers lure you away from the point of your questions.”
“Don’t worry, sir, I won’t – I will cast my net wide in the search for the truth.”
“Glad to hear it PC Smythe,” said Knowles smiling at her humour.
Barnes gave Smythe a mock salute as she left the room.
“There’s one other person who has a connection with the military and that’s John Davis – his uncle was in the forces for around twelve years during the 1980s and early 1990s before being invalided out because of a roadside bomb in Iraq. It’s entirely possible that the uncle was there at the same time as the Major.”
“Right, I will go and interview Mr Davis and ask him whether he holds a grudge or rather held a grudge against the Major. Maybe he’s one of the three people who believe they have successfully killed off their victim?”
“Perhaps he is, Inspector, so you should tell him he’s been unsuccessful in his attempts to commit murder.”
“I will break it to him gently, don’t worry about that Barnesy.”
“Don’t want to hurt his feelings at all, do you?”
“I will mention it to him, in a roundabaout way.”
“Sir, you do think that the Major was the intended victim – there’s no way that Maudie Trimble was meant to be the victim?”
“Yes, you’ve hit on a good point, which I hadn’t considered – I don’t think that Maudie was meant to be killed, but someone did know where she was sitting and that the Major was likely to be offered that seat if she didn’t turn up. Someone knew the Major would want to move if at all possible due to his leg.”
“And that someone knew he’d be easier to murder in Maudie Trimble’s seat because everyone would walk past him at some point. If he’d stayed where he was originally seated then anyone who wanted to get near him would have been seen by up to three people.”
Julian Worker Fiction Writing 