“Where does your cousin live?”
She eyed them suspiciously. “Am I in trouble? Why is it so important to know this? What am I supposed to have done?”
“Please answer the question.”
She sat back, stunned, and crossed her arms. “I was dropping an envelope off at my cousin’s flat. You can ask her if you like. She did receive it.” She rose and went to the kitchen and returned with a Biro and small sticky note paper. “Here’s her address and phone number. She will tell you I was there.”
Theo nodded at her. The address matched Sharon Yoder’s block of flats. Dorie’s cousin lived in the same building as Sharon. Could it be a coincidence? This wasn’t turning out the way he expected and the next subject would only make things worse. “What is your cousin’s name?”
“Lynn. Lynn Standford. Why? I don’t like this line of questioning.”
“We need to ask these questions. Also, I would also like to ask you about your sister Charlotta.”
Dorie sucked in her breath. Theo didn’t think she meant it to be as audible as it was.
“Recently,” Theo continued, “I discovered your sister went missing. Can you tell me about this?”
“I—I don’t understand. Why are you doing this? Why have you brought this up?”
“Is it true that your sister went missing in 1985?”
“Yes. When I was fifteen.”
“What happened?”
“Don’t you have that information in her file? She was on her way home from work and never made it.”
“Did she live here?”
“Yes. It destroyed our family, you know. My mum was never the same since. All we’ve ever wanted to know was what happened to her. We never found out. Never.”
“I’m really sorry.”
“Are you going to look into her case? Are you going to find out what happened to her? Do you have leads?”
Theo shook his head. He did have a lead, but he couldn’t mention it without getting her hopes up or her guard up, and right now, it wasn’t worth it. He needed more information first. Theo knew what he had to do next. He needed to speak to Dorie’s cousin to confirm that Dorie did meet her at the flats, and he needed to talk to Sophia.
1
The last wasn’t difficult to accomplish. Sophia answered on the second ring.
“I’m sorry if I’m interrupting your busy day, but could I see you after work?”
“No worries, I needed to think about something else. Did you look into the case? What did you find? Did you talk to Dorie Armes? What did she say?”
Theo smiled as she spouted off all the questions at him. He couldn’t decide if she was nervous or impatient.
“Well, yes,” he replied, not sure which of the questions he answered. He explained what he had found out and his interview with Dorie.
“Perhaps the other pieces of Tipring’s art holds the key.”
In the meantime, Theo wanted to watch the footage more carefully. He found another instance of Dorie arriving at the flats, and she did have an envelope with her. When she arrived, her hair was up and she wore dark trousers under a dark rain coat. She held a handbag over her shoulder that could have contained a knife, but any woman, including his wife, had a handbag that could conceal a weapon or two. The only difference between Dorie when she arrived and when she left was that her hair had come down. But Theo often knew his wife’s hair came down by the end of a visit to a friend. It looked like her alibi would check out. What was wrong with him? Why couldn’t he solve what seemed like a simple murder?
Dorland entered his office and slumped down in a chair across from him.
“Have you found anything?” Theo asked.
“If our Dorie didn’t commit the murder, it’s going to be impossible to narrow down who did from the footage alone. I hope forensics can come up with something. Anything.”
“I’ve been re-watching the tapes and it does look like she came with the envelope like she claimed, but it doesn’t mean she didn’t commit the murder. She could have done that as well.”
“Why do you suspect her of committing the murder? We haven’t found any connection between her and the victim, Sharon Yoder. Coincidences do happen.”
“Yeah, I know,” said Theo. “But right now, it’s all we have. Besides, there are just too many coincidences in this case. Remember, we also have the coincidence of Sharon Yoder and Marjorie Peters dying on the same day.”
“Oh, that’s true. But perhaps we’re overlooking a suspect or two. Maybe Sharon’s parents killed their daughter. To rid the world of their demon child,” Dorland said sarcastically. “They don’t have an alibi. Praying at home doesn’t count. I doubt God’s going to vouch for them. Besides, we haven’t seen any dark clouds entering and exiting the building—only humans.”
The two laughed.
Theo leaned forward seriously and said, “It’s mind numbing that a previous suspect from a prior murder is at the crime scene and the actual suspect, the one who would have the greatest motive—Walter Peter’s wife—dies on the same day.”
“It is,” replied Dorland. “And Mrs. Chu did re-confirm Ms. Armes’ alibi. I’m sorry, sir.”
Theo’s mobile beeped and he retrieved an email from Sophia. Attached was a photo of one of Tipring’s artworks.
I found another of Maddock’s tiled art. This time it was in one of the meeting rooms here at MI5 . Apparently, Maddock sent it to his uncle. I decoded it and the poem reads:
Can you find them
I think not
Buried forever
There they rot
I believe he created this one before the others. Bloody hell, he’s been taunting us for years. How he must have laughed at us and our stupidity. No wonder Earnest started a file on his nephew. I never suspected this to be a code, and even though I seem to look for codes in everything and I know it wasn’t my fault, I feel guilty. Guilty. I hope we can find the missing bodies.
Theo messaged her back, What do you think we should do next?
She replied, I think we should visit Mandy Ford.
Who is Mandy Ford?
Not a who, a where. It’s a small town. It’s near where Maddock Tipring grew up.
What’s there?
More tiled art.
What? Why did he send one there?
Apparently charity?
Charity, my arse.
Chapter Fifty-Three
Sophia drove around the roundabout on High Street six times before she spotted the old brick town hall in Mandy Ford. It sat nestled between an office of solicitors and a gent’s hairdressing shop. By then, all three of them were feeling ill.
Parking was another matter. Although there was a designated car park of three small spaces, they were all occupied. Sophia let Theo and Dorland out and found a space for her car two streets over.
Theo and Dorland stood at reception. Dorland tapped the little silver bell. No one came forward from any of the rooms behind closed doors.
“Does anyone even work here? Perhaps it’s a show-yourself-around sort of place,” said Dorland.
“It’s not that sort of place,” said Theo.
A woman finally came out from a back room, turning her skirt around her hips as she walked. She pushed a bobby pin back into the loose bun atop her head.
“My name is Olivia. How can I help you?”
The men held up their warrant cards. She glanced at them briefly then walked behind the reception counter and hid the bell in a drawer of the desk.