Free Death of an Innocent by Sally Spencer

anythin’ like twenty sets. Yet we’re a fairly sociable family. So how did a lonely old farmer livin’ out on the moors end up with so many visitors? What possible reason could twenty people have
had
for goin’ to Dugdale’s Farm?’
    Paniatowski grinned. ‘I’ve only been without you for a day, and I’m missing you already,’ she said.
    Woodend felt a surge of relief run through him, but was well aware that he could not afford to relax yet.
    â€˜So who are all these people?’ he asked. ‘Does Wilfred Dugdale have a large family?’
    â€˜Not as far as we’ve been able to establish. He was an only child. His parents are long dead, and he doesn’t seem to have any cousins in the area.’
    â€˜Friends, then? Did he belong to any particular organization? The Lions or the Rotary, for example?’
    â€˜No. He seems to have kept pretty much to himself. Apart from the occasional shopping expedition into Whitebridge, he hardly ever left the farm.’
    â€˜An’ yet nearly two dozen people came to visit him. He had a lot of visitors – an’ now he’s vanished into thin air. What do you make of that, Sergeant?’
    â€˜If he’s not lying under a couple of feet of snow somewhere, maybe one of those visitors is hiding him?’ Paniatowski suggested.
    â€˜Who would
you
hide?’
    â€˜How do you mean?’
    â€˜What would it take for you to agree to hide someone the police were looking for? Who would you run the risk of goin’ to jail for?’
    Paniatowski thought about it for a second. ‘Close family. Close friends,’ she said finally.
    â€˜But we’ve already established that Dugdale had neither close friends nor family. So where does that leave us?’
    â€˜Completely mystified?’
    â€˜Aye, it does that,’ Woodend agreed. ‘So what else has DI Harris been up to?’
    â€˜Well, he’s working on identifying the victims.’
    â€˜An’ how’s he going about it?’
    â€˜He’s trying to trace the shops where the girl’s clothes were purchased.’
    â€˜But not the man’s?’
    â€˜There wouldn’t be much point in that. His clothes were all bought from Marks and Spencer’s or C & A, and they’re from the bottom of the range. They must have sold thousands of suits just like the one he was wearing.’
    â€˜But the girl’s clothes are different?’
    â€˜Oh yes. You noticed that yourself, at the time. She was wearing some very pricy labels. I don’t think you could even have found half the stuff she had on in Whitebridge.’
    â€˜So you’re sayin’ that they must have been bought in a big city?’
    â€˜That’s the thinking at the moment.’
    â€˜Bennett – that reporter from BBC Manchester – said whoever phoned him early on Sunday mornin’ had a Manchester accent. Maybe that’s where the girl’s from.’
    â€˜Or Liverpool,’ Paniatowski countered. ‘Or London, Birmingham, Glasgow or Leeds.’
    True, Woodend thought. Assuming that she came from Manchester was clutching at a straw – and he wasn’t
quite
ready to go in for any straw-clutching yet.
    â€˜Has there been an autopsy?’ he asked.
    â€˜Doc Pierson put both the victims under the knife early yesterday afternoon.’ Paniatowski smiled slightly. ‘Which means that he must have been over his hangover by then, don’t you think?’
    â€˜I imagine so,’ Woodend agreed. ‘An’ has the Doc been able to tell you anythin’ useful?’
    â€˜Nothing we hadn’t deduced for ourselves, just from looking at the bodies. The male victim was in his early forties. The female was somewhere between thirteen and fifteen. Cause of death in both cases was shotgun pellets – him to the chest, her to the face. Approximate time of death: eight o’clock yesterday morning –