Free A Well-deserved Murder (Trevor Joseph Detective series) by Katherine John Page B

any idea how they could have got there?’ Peter pressed.
    ‘No … no, wait a minute. You remember that pub lunch we had yesterday? I told you then that the Howells had put an axe in front of my car that morning. I had to move it before I could drive off. You said, “Why didn’t you run over it?” …’
    ‘And you answered “because I didn’t want to damage my tyres”. Or words to that effect.’
    Trevor pulled his chair forward. ‘Is that right?’
    ‘It is,’ Peter and Alan confirmed in unison.
    ‘So what did you do with the axe?’ Trevor looked intently at Alan.
    ‘I moved it.’
    ‘To where?’
    Alan thought for a moment. ‘I left it on their side of our communal drive. They leave all kinds of rubbish in front of my car. Usually I pick it up and leave it on their wall. But I remember thinking that I didn’t want the axe to fall and hurt a child and the Howells’ kids are always roaming the street.’
    ‘What kind of rubbish?’ Peter asked.
    ‘Anything they don’t want. Garden rubbish, cuttings, grass, dead leaves. If their bin bags overflow and burst they leave their tins and bottles lying in our communal drive.’
    ‘How did you pick up the axe?’ Trevor asked.
    ‘How … like you pick up an axe,’ Alan answered.
    ‘By the handle or the blade.’
    ‘Not the blade, that’s for sure, it looked sharp.’
    ‘Think, Alan. How did you handle the axe? It could be important,’ Peter stressed.
    ‘I can’t remember,’ Alan snapped impatiently. ‘I saw the axe, it annoyed me, I picked it up and set it aside. I thought out of harm’s way.’
    ‘We need an axe.’ Trevor switched off the recorder. ‘Go and see if there’s one in the station.’
    ‘Under your desk?’ Peter lifted his eyebrows.
    ‘Try lost property,’ Trevor replied.
    Peter returned less than five minutes later with an axe. ‘This is smaller than the one that killed Kacy Howells but I thought it might do to illustrate a point.’
    Trevor looked at it in amusement. ‘Where did you find it?’
    ‘I’d rather not say.’
    Trevor continued to stare at him.
    ‘The canteen cook had it in the boot of his car.’
    ‘Why?’
    ‘Perhaps he uses it to chop up road kill. I’ve often wondered about the quality of the meat he serves.’
    Trevor set the axe on the table in front of Alan and switched the tape back on.
    Alan looked at it for a moment, then picked it up by the handle, and the top of the blade.
    ‘Alan Piper has picked up axe,’ Trevor said for the benefit of the recording. ‘That is how you picked it up from the road?’
    ‘Possibly. I didn’t realise at the time that it was going to have any significance.’ Alan set the axe down again.’
    Trevor nodded to Peter. ‘Proceed with the interview, Sergeant Collins.’
    ‘Do you know your neighbour, Mrs Walsh, Mr Piper?’
    ‘Every bugger in the street knows Mary Walsh.’
    Peter knew the answer to his question but mindful of the tape recorder he still asked it. ‘Why?’
    ‘Because she monitors the comings and goings of everyone in the street.’
    ‘Including yours with the divorcee who lives opposite her?’
    ‘Judy Mason.’
    ‘Is that her name?’
    ‘It is. She was a friend of Joy’s. She visited us every day when Joy was dying. She helped out with practical things like washing, cleaning and cooking. Now we share an occasional meal. Sometimes I provide the steaks, sometimes she does. I always provide the wine. She’s the only woman I can talk to about Joy. But my relationship with Judy Mason is based on friendship and nothing whatsoever to do with Mary Walsh or the Howells,’ Alan said firmly.
    ‘Does Judy Mason know about the problems you had with the Howells?’
    ‘She’s one of the few neighbours who do. I tried carrying Joy out on to the woodland patio a couple of times when she was dying. Judy helped me. Kacy Howells always made it her business to sit on her platform and stare at us. It made Joy uncomfortable so I erected a screen near our back