Free Fire in the Blood (Scott Cullen Mysteries) by Ed James Page A

year and then went down the West coast through the Lake District and Wales, hillwalking and drinking in small country pubs." He flicked over a page then screwed his eyes up, trying to read something. "They got to the festival a few days before it started, according to Fraser. We've got some of the ticket stubs in evidence somewhere - they were stamped with the dates. After the festival, they stayed on partying with some crowd they'd hooked up with. Fraser returned home on the second of July to make a start on the barrels for the next batch. His brother stayed on at the festival." He blew on his tea and took a sip. "Iain was reported missing a week after Fraser had returned, on the ninth. And that's when I started investigating. Though the case had initially been logged in Haddington, much of my investigation was carried out down south. I was based out of Glastonbury for a few days, working with cops from the Avon and Somerset force. That's a weird town, I can tell you. We didn't manage to get much, in all honesty."
    Cullen listened carefully, but all he heard was the same information that was in the statement they'd collected from Alec Crombie. He suddenly realised that the reasoning for Iain's staying on was wooly and vague, and that Alec hadn't elaborated or told them much. "Any idea why Iain stayed on?" he asked.
    "He had met a girl," said Stanhope.
    Cullen raised his eyebrows. This was the first they'd heard of it - surely it should have come out earlier? "Did you ever find the girl?" he asked.
    "No," replied Stanhope. He looked in a second notebook. "We had a description from Fraser, she sounded like a real pretty sort, the kind you would stay behind for." He chuckled. "We had posters up all throughout the West country. At one point, we had it nationwide - I remember being on holiday in London for the weekend and seeing a poster in King's Cross, with Iain's photo and the artist's impression of this girl."
    "And you got nothing?" asked Cullen. "No sightings?"
    Stanhope went through another notebook. "If memory serves," he said, "a few months after, there was a flurry of sightings in Yorkshire. It was mostly the Avon and Somerset boys that led it at that point, though. I think I spoke to some guys in the Yorkshire Constabulary who did most of the shoe leather work, but the sightings just seemed very tenuous, I'm afraid. They never found the girl, so I guess we'll never know."
    "What was Fraser's side of this?" asked Cullen.
    "As far as I recall, Fraser last saw Iain at Glastonbury," said Stanhope. "First of July. Just after the festival - as I said, they'd stayed on partying. Fraser came home that night, got an overnight coach up from Bristol to Edinburgh."
    "Did you have any clear suspects at the time?" asked Cullen.
    "Afraid not," said Stanhope. "We were split across two jurisdictions and pretty much just had posters and press releases to rely on. At the time, it was a missing persons case, not a murder. We didn't have a body." He laughed again. "In some ways, you're lucky - you've got the body, and it's eighteen years on. The advances in forensics in that time. In some ways I envy you."
    "If you knew my DI, you wouldn't," said Cullen.
    Stanhope snorted with laughter.
    "Besides," said Cullen, "at the moment, we don't know who the body is. We're just checking out possibilities and it turns out that we've got two."
    "I understand that," said Stanhope. "But I hope to goodness that you find out what happened to Iain Crombie."
    Caldwell had been quiet throughout, but her expression was getting darker as Stanhope ploughed on. Cullen decided to give her the opportunity, and motioned for her to take over.
    "Was Fraser Crombie the last person to see him?" asked Caldwell.
    "That we know of," said Stanhope.
    "What about before that?"
    "Before that," said Stanhope. He broke off and stroked his chin for a few moments. He picked up the original notebook and casually flicked through it. "Before that, it would be their father who saw