Free On Laughton Moor by Lisa Hartley Page A

pile of papers in front of her, the emails open on her ancient beige monitor.
      ‘Anything?’ he asked, taking a chair from a nearby desk and dragging it over to sit by Bishop.
      ‘No, afraid not.’
    There didn’t seem much else to say. Bishop waited, he’d come to her after all. Knight chewed on the top of his thumb, staring across the room at nothing in particular.
      ‘I know I’ve asked you this before, and no doubt you’ve been through it over and over in your head, but are you absolutely sure there’s nothing you can think of that will help us? It might not even be related to the job, it could be someone you’ve met outside of work, a friend, an ex, a partner? Something in your past? I know,’ he said, as she sighed, ‘I know, but we’re missing something. We’ve nothing to go on, nothing to move things forward, nothing to tell Pollard’s family and nothing for DCI Kendrick or the Superintendent. Won’t be long until she wants some answers.’
    Bishop leaned back in her chair.
      ‘I know sir, and believe me I’ve been thinking about it all day, it’s been in the back of my mind all the time but I can’t think of anything and to be honest it’s driving me mad. Some detective I must be, I’m the clue and I’ve no idea what’s meant by it. I just can’t think of anything or anyone. I’ve never arrested Pollard, never questioned him, never had anything to do with him except hearing other people moaning about him for being a mouthy bastard who seems to get away with everything. There are no end of coppers in this town who would have loved to have seen him sent down for a while, teach him a lesson, but we’ve never been able to catch him doing anything serious enough to make it happen.’
    Knight glanced at her.
      ‘What are you thinking he might have been up to?’
    She shrugged.
      ‘Drug dealing? All those flash clothes must have come from somewhere and he seemed to know everyone and be in town every night, he had plenty of opportunity.’
      ‘But no one has suggested he was dealing have they? We’ve never found any on him and his brother said Craig had never touched drugs, seen too many mates ruined by them. Nothing in the post-mortem either.’
      ‘It’s just a suggestion. Then there’s the fancy Pollard seemed to have for teenage girls. I thought we might get something from that, pissed off dad or older brother but nothing’s turned up so far.’
    Knight nodded.
      ‘I thought we might find something there too. We still might, we’re going back to the colleges tomorrow, the heads of the secondary schools are talking to their students, but would you come forward, especially if you were underage?’
      ‘Maybe not, but we might get a friend of a friend that points us in the right direction. Pollard’s dead after all, someone might want to do the right thing and help us out. Even if the bloke was what most of us would call a complete arsehole, did he really deserve to have his head smashed in and to be left lying in his own blood in a stinking alley?’
    Knight stood.
      ‘Someone obviously thought so. By the way, you’re welcome to use my spare room again tonight. I’m not sure how you’re feeling about things . . .’
    Bishop followed him across the room.
      ‘Thanks sir. If you’re sure, that'd be great. It’s just that photo, it’s hard to get the thought out of my mind that he was there looking at me. It’s one thing dealing with someone when they’re standing in front of you, however big and ugly they are, but someone who sneaks around, that’s different.’
    They were in the corridor now, heading for the meeting room and DCI Kendrick.
      ‘From what forensics are saying we’re looking for the invisible man anyway,’ Knight said.
      ‘No trace at the scene, no evidence, nothing, at least not yet.’
    Bishop grimaced.
      ‘I know, sir. Things are really going our way.’
     

 
     
     
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    I need to move on to the second and at