Free Fatal Connection by Malcolm Rose

hair.’
    Troy groaned. ‘We’re back in the starting blocks.’
    ‘Not quite. We know we want to speak to a northern outer with mercury-coloured hair and probably brown eyes. Okay,’ Lexi said, ‘it’s not superprecise, but it’s something.’
    ‘True.’ He wasn’t in the mood for arguing or ribbing her about forensic science, spreadsheets or anything else.
    ‘All we need is a way forward,’ said Lexi.
    Troy wasn’t really in the mood for working out a way forward either, but he did his best. ‘The squirrels are still leading the pack, so we should email Alyssa Bending’s, Miley Quist’s and Richard Featherstone’s families. Did they like squirrel pie – or something elsewith squirrel in it? Keaton Hathaway’s more of an unknown quantity. Let’s find out where he shopped. Did he buy squirrel meat? If that gives us four positives, it could be our connection.’
    ‘I’ll do it,’ Lexi volunteered. ‘The next best link is Jon Drago Five and Mercury Splash. We know Alyssa went to the band’s home territory – she could have bumped into him – and we know the band went to Miley’s and Keaton’s towns.’
    ‘We need to figure out if Richard’s done anything to give us the complete set.’
    ‘Then there’s the Tight End area. The north. Alyssa went to the fish breeding centre and the Doom Merchant in Tight End. And we know someone from the same area – not Jon Drago Five – handled Keaton’s diary.’
    ‘So, have Miley and Richard got a link to the north?’
    ‘Good questions,’ Lexi said. ‘How do we find the answers?’
    ‘I don’t know about Miley,’ Troy replied. ‘She’s tricky. But Richard went to art and craft fairs. If there’s someone who organizes them up north, I guess we want to speak to him or her.’
    ‘I’ll see what I can do.’

SCENE 20
    Sunday 11th May, Afternoon
    The responses to Lexi’s messages about squirrel meat soon arrived. Richard Featherstone’s wife was first. It was Richard’s favourite food. Or so he told me. Next, Miley’s father replied. Miley ate anything – usually in a hurry. Squirrel disappeared as quick as any other meal put in front of her. Mr Bending also sent a message. Alyssa was keen on squirrel stew.
    Half an hour later, a police officer in Pickling answered Lexi’s request for information on Keaton Hathaway’s shopping habits. She read the report and then said to Troy, ‘We’ve got records from asupermarket about what Keaton bought and, yes, it includes two lots of squirrel meat in the last three weeks.’
    ‘That’s a full house, then,’ Troy replied.
    ‘Yes. My spreadsheet’s flashing squirrel meat at me. It thinks that’s the fatal connection. But we can’t put squirrels on trial.’
    ‘Corporate manslaughter, isn’t it?’
    ‘By squirrels?’ Lexi said with a grin.
    ‘No. By corporations.’
    ‘Switcher or the squirrel farm?’
    ‘Possibly both. They’ve been north of untidy.’
    ‘Huh. We’ve got no proof they’re responsible for the deaths – and no way of getting it, as far as I can see. Even if we found out all four victims ate squirrel from the Pickling farm, the poisoned meat’s long since gone.’
    Troy nodded and sighed. ‘The defence would say it’s a coincidence and we’ve got nothing definite to pin on them.’
    ‘That’s that, then.’
    Troy was not the sort to give in, but he felt inclined to agree. Right now, he didn’t have the grit to put up a fight.
    ‘These art and craft fairs up north,’ Lexi said. ‘Most of them are organized by an arts group. I’ve contactedthe secretary and he’s given me a number for the man who runs a monthly fair in Loose End. Horatio Vines. You might want to speak to him.’
    ‘Yes,’ Troy replied, without his normal enthusiasm.
    They soon set up a video call and, after introducing himself, Troy asked, ‘When was the last art and craft show in Loose End?’
    ‘Now that’s simple,’ Horatio answered in a pompous accent. ‘On the morning of Sunday the