Free Animal Instinct by James R. Vance Page B

“You'd have to ask the contract cleaning company.”
    “Don't stray far, Mr. Kimberley. We may need to question you again.”
    The detective, convinced that the boutique manager was not a suspect, walked towards the exit as a couple of teenagers made their entrance. In a less buoyant mood, Massey headed for his office, hoping that other officers had achieved better results.
    *****
    After an Easter weekend of unusually mild weather, a depression had settled over the north west of England. The sun had disappeared beyond the clouds and the first spots of rain marred his windscreen as Massey pulled into the rear yard of Winsford police headquarters. He grabbed the sandwich and the Eccles cake, which he had purchased for his working lunch, before meeting up with some of the team to discuss their morning's endeavours.
    Roker reported that Andrew Davenport had indeed been in Spain at the time of the murder. Turner and Jones furnished a list of business premises of a more industrial type that Lara may have passed on that fateful morning and, as there was no new information from forensics or from the other team members, they decided that their only option was to focus on any suspect buildings where her journey may have been curtailed.
    As most of the team were still involved with house-to-house enquiries, Massey decided to split the visits to the selected businesses between Roker, Turner, Jones and himself. In addition to four public houses, there was a cycle shop, a dry cleaning shop, a hairdressing salon, a garage and a small engineering unit. They considered that these were premises that could possibly use some type of chemical substance.
    He spelled out some guidelines. “Initially, ascertain their recollections of Thursday morning, their individual movements and the names of any staff who were working during that period. Focus on what would have been their normal work routines for that particular day. For example, most licensees appear to work to some weekly pattern, governed by opening hours and special events. Remember, however, that this was the day prior to Good Friday, so changes and abnormal adjustments may have been made to their usual working practices. Don't forget to ask each one of them about their procedures for rubbish collection.”
    “I thought we were planning to hold a reconstruction,” said Turner.
    “D.C.I. Wainwright's organising that. He's currently in touch with someone about contacting Crimewatch.”
    “What if we don't get a result from these visits?” asked Roker. “Where do we go from there? The forensics team has yielded zilch, apart from the fact that there was possibly a connection with some caustic substance and that she was pregnant.”
    “There was little else to report,” replied Massey. “Maybe her pregnancy was an issue. The boyfriend is not in the frame, as he was in Spain. Maybe he was not the father. Did she have someone else in tow…not according to Fiona Wilson? If the commercial premises are a dead end, perhaps we need to delve more deeply into the life of Lara Crawford. In the meantime, let's keep our fingers crossed and hope that the visits bear fruit.”
    The two teams set off on their allotted assignments. Because of the Easter weekend three of the four pubs, the George and Dragon, the Gateway and the Barleycorn had received deliveries on the morning that Lara disappeared as opposed to their normal delivery day, which was Friday. Of the four licensees whom they interviewed, only one, the publican at the George and Dragon, had commented that he had briefly observed a young woman resembling Lara, walking away from the nearby bus stop.
    Massey thought it might be useful to contact the brewery, which had serviced the three outlets that day. Maybe the draymen had also witnessed the girl. Roker and Turner also drew blanks from the sports shop and the hairdressing salon, which they had visited. They found the dry cleaners closed for the whole week. A follow-up was required at the