Free The Shadow Collector by Kate Ellis Page A

to see you.’
    This was too much for Gerry. ‘This is a murder enquiry, love. He’ll either see us here or down at the station.’
    Wesley liked Gerry’s use of the traditional northern endearment and he resisted the temptation to smile at the startled look
     on the woman’s face.
    ‘Nice place,’ he said after she’d hurried from the room, leaving them alone.
    Before Gerry could reply the door opened to reveal a middle-aged man. His jet-black hair fell in curls around his shoulders
     and his body was tanned and athletic. Only the lines on his neck betrayed the fact that he wasn’t in the first flush of youth.
     He looked a good deal younger than thephotograph on his dust jacket. Wesley suspected that he had undergone surgery at some point and his hair was almost certainly
     dyed.
    He held out his hand. ‘Shane Gulliver. I suppose this is about that business at the farm next door. The wife’s just told me
     …’
    ‘We’re hoping you can help us.’
    ‘I don’t see how. But go ahead – ask anything you want.’ He tilted his head to one side and assumed a co-operative expression.
     Wesley had seen similar expressions before, usually on the innocent … but sometimes on the guilty.
    ‘You were out yesterday when my officers called.’
    ‘I was up in London all day – doing research for my new novel. Didn’t get back till the evening. Gwen, the missus, picked
     me up from the station.’
    ‘You’ve made several complaints about the filming at the farm next door.’
    ‘There was some pop star there and his fans reckoned they had the right to come in our garden and get through the hedge. The
     TV company had people guarding the gate while he was here, you see, so they tried to get in another way. They made a bloody
     racket … screaming this bloke’s name. Jack something.’
    ‘Jackie Piper,’ said Gerry. ‘He was voted off about ten days ago.’
    ‘Well, there’s still all the bloody traffic and the disturbance. I need peace and quiet while I’m working. No distractions.’
    Gerry stopped him before he warmed to his theme. ‘So apart from the goings-on next door, have you seen or heard anything unusual
     over the past few days?’
    Gulliver looked at Gerry as though he was being particularly dense. ‘If I had I would have mentioned it.’
    ‘The dead woman was blonde, late twenties, wearing a red coat. Have you seen her around at all?’
    Gulliver shook his head, his eyes lowered.
    ‘Your wife wasn’t here yesterday afternoon?’
    ‘She was shopping in Plymouth.’
    ‘So she said. Was anybody else here, a cleaner or a gardener maybe? Have you any children?’
    ‘We’ve got a son … or rather Gwen has from a previous relationship. He usually gets a lift home from school with a friend
     – gets in around half four. I’m sure he wouldn’t have seen anything. He’s only fifteen and …’
    ‘I suppose he took an interest in Jackie Piper?’ said Wesley.
    ‘Alex is a Goth – don’t think Piper was his cup of tea. As I said, he’ll be back around four-thirty so if you want to come
     back and speak to him then …’
    ‘We’ll see,’ said Gerry, leaving the threat hanging in the air.
    Wesley asked Gulliver about Lilith Benley and got the same reply his wife had given. Surprise that she’d been released and
     horror that she was living in such close proximity. Standard stuff.
    Gerry thanked Gulliver and made for the door. They weren’t going to learn anything here. Mrs Gulliver had been in Plymouth,
     her son had been at school and Shane Gulliver had been in London. Nobody was aware of anything out of the ordinary over the
     past few days, apart from the filming at Jessop’s Farm. Certainly not a knife-wielding murderer fleeing across their garden.
    If the killer had made his escape through the front gate he would have been spotted by the film crew, all of whom had been
     interviewed and had seen nothing. And as therectory route seemed unlikely, that left Devil’s Tree Cottage