Free Blood in the Cotswolds by Rebecca Tope Page B

was ten or eleven. You know how keen boys get on stories about battles and betrayal and blood feuds when they’re that sort of age. Grandpa had this idea that we’re direct descendants of one of the Knights – which he managed to prove to general satisfaction. Giles was delighted to have the same blood running through his veins, and got quite boastful about it.’ Pritchett sighed. ‘I could never see what the fuss was about, for myself.’
    ‘Harmless enough,’ Hollis suggested. ‘After all, everybody wants to know who their ancestorswere, these days. Gives them roots, I imagine – that sort of thing.’
    Pritchett nodded. ‘Except it turned out the blood feuds had never really gone away. Your Miss Deacon comes into the story, too, silly old bat. You’ll have noticed her crazy collection of old magazines and so forth?’
    Hollis nodded.
    ‘Well, a lot of it has to do with the Templars through the ages. and she got our young Giles very much too interested for his own good.’
    Hollis thought of the stacks of Country Life magazines and other similar titles, and frowned. ‘I couldn’t see anything like that,’ he said. ‘Nothing going back further than about 1900.’
    ‘You didn’t look hard enough,’ Pritchett told him. ‘It’s all there, mark my words.’
    ‘But how does this lead to Giles going missing? Was that stuff about drugs just a smokescreen for Thea’s benefit?’ Phil frowned sternly. ‘If so, I should tell you off for wasting my time.’
    ‘The boy was eighteen,’ said Pritchett. ‘Of course he was taking drugs. But not enough to worry us. My wife was a child of the Sixties herself – rich and reckless, is how she describesherself as she was then.’ He heaved a deep sigh. ‘Not like that now, of course.’
    ‘I still don’t—’
    The man’s face reddened. ‘Look, Hollis – I can’t say much more. All I wanted was for you to find out whether that body was – is – Giles. If it is,’ he swallowed painfully, ‘then I’ll have to come clean. But if it isn’t, then I’d have said too much. Do you see? And, to be honest with you, I think it’s unlikely. I only came to set Trudy’s mind at rest. He takes after her, you know. What they used to call “highly strung”, both of them.’
    Phil shifted position, with agonising consequences. The radiating streaks of red hot fire occupied all his attention for half a minute. ‘Not really,’ he panted. ‘I don’t really see at all. But I’m not on duty, and I would much prefer not to be having this conversation.’
    ‘Sorry. I can see you’re suffering. I take it there’s no likelihood of a visual identification?’ He swallowed again.
    ‘No,’ Phil agreed. ‘It’ll have to be teeth. You might let us have the name of his dentist?’
    ‘Not DNA?’
    ‘Only as a last resort, I would think, althoughit won’t be my decision. DNA tests cost money. Besides, we’d have to have a sample of someone we think it could be, for comparison.’ Phil was still panting, holding himself rigid. It felt exactly the same as it had on Sunday night, and he was gripped by despair at the prospect of inactivity for several more days. Maybe that hospital medic had been wrong. Maybe he’d be like this for the rest of his life. And Thea would dump him – that was obvious. She didn’t love him enough to saddle herself with an invalid for the next thirty years. And who could blame her?
    Pritchett brought him back from his gloomy thoughts. ‘His dentist was in Stow. A private chap. I’ll write it down for you.’ He took out a small notebook, wrote in it and tore out the page. Phil had time to wonder at a man who carried such a thing in his inside pocket before Thea came back with a tray.
    ‘I made iced tea,’ she said. ‘Sorry I took so long.’ She looked probingly from face to face. ‘Back still bad?’ she asked Phil.
    He nodded and tried to smile.
    ‘I won’t stay, if you’ll excuse me,’ said Pritchett. ‘I think we’ve