Free The Happier Dead by Ivo Stourton

Margaret’s.”
    “I’ll talk to him about it. Have you found the victim’s next of kin?”
    “As far as we can tell, there isn’t one. No family, no wife, no girlfriend. We sent someone round to see his boss.”
    “So we can release his name,” Oates said, thinking of Grape.
    “Well there’s one thing you should see, guv. It’s a bit weird, see he used to have a brother but he’s dead. Well, he was declared dead last year. He went missing about six years ago.”
    “Okay. So we don’t need to inform him.”
    “Yeah, only this is the weird thing, when we started checking up on our systems, a whole load of red flags appeared. Apparently Prudence Egwu made all these complaints about our handling of the original case, even tried to sue us. We have to inform internal investigations that we’ve become involved with him again.”
    “Well he’s not likely to try and sue us again now is he?”
    “No, I suppose not,” Bhupinder said, as if seriously weighing the risk that the murdered man would take legal action, “but still…”
    “He wasn’t still looking for his brother if he’s had him declared dead.”
    Bhupinder shook his head, “That was his old job had him declared. Nottingham Biosciences.”
    Oates felt suddenly wary.
    “Prudence Egwu’s brother used to work for Nottingham?”
    “Yeah. And some of the complaints the victim made were against them.”
    “What kind of complaints?”
    “I don’t know. I’ve only got one pair of hands you know.”
    “What else did you find?”
    Bhupinder clicked his tongue.
    “Who was the investigating officer on the original case?”
    “Felix Minor.”
    “Oh, brilliant. Perfect.”
    The problem with Bhupinder was that he looked depressed and terrified even when everything was going smoothly. As a result, when a genuine problem arose, Oates found himself less prepared with Bhupinder than with any of his other men, as his attitude created in Oates a perverse sense of confidence; however bad things were, they could not be as bad as the Sergeant’s collapsed expression implied.
    This time however, Oates had to concede the situation looked suspicious. The victim’s brother being a missing person, his employment by Avalon’s parent company, the complaints and the involvement of Minor, any one of those facts alone would not have been enough to divert the course of the investigation away from his interrogation of Ali. Together however, they had an ominous look.
    Oates filled Bhupinder in on the status of their suspect. No one was to be allowed to speak to Ali, and Bhupinder was to continue the investigations in St Margaret’s until Oates’s return. Before he left, he promised to have a word with the management, to get to the bottom of the missing guests.
    Oates just wanted the case solved as fast as possible so he could get back to his family. Still, if there had to be delays, he couldn’t think of two people more deserving of inconvenience than Charles and Miranda. He was quietly pleased at the idea of telling them that his men would be muddying their carpets for a few days yet. It suited his mood, to poke his stick in their spokes.
     
     
    T HE SCHOOL’S WORKING day had already begun, and he found Miranda among a group of spectators watching tennis practice on the sunny grass courts on the other side of the river. She was surrounded by various staff members, and the comic, slightly sinister effect of their old fashioned clothes was greatly multiplied by seeing them gathered together. The dew still lay on the grass, and students’ trainers squeaked as they ran. The morning had imparted some of its freshness to the spectators. One young teacher in a nylon shirt was running up and down beside the net, shouting encouragement. Only Miranda was unaffected, and watched the game with cool attention. When she saw Oates coming, she waved a greeting, and came away from the group to speak with him.
    “Have you come to say goodbye, Detective Chief Inspector?”
    “I