Murder Takes the Stage Read Online Free

it.’
    â€˜Most people can be awfully wrong.’
    â€˜We should do more work on it,’ Peter objected, ‘before we talk to this journalist.’
    She knew he was right. Background research was usually the first essential in order not to plant possibly biased viewpoints in their minds by speaking prematurely to interested parties. Marsh & Daughter not only investigated such cold cases, but they also wrote books about them afterwards, which meant they had to be full of fact, not fingerprints. Moreover, these books were published by Frost & Co, the owner of which, Luke Frost, was now her husband, and he was a stickler for fact being sacred: facts, all the facts and nothing but the facts, was his dictum, as well as an insistence on a good writing style.
    Nevertheless, a decision about Marsh & Daughter’s next book subject was overdue. Georgia’s honeymoon, which had delayed the decision, was over, however – and a good one it had been. Rome, Venice, Tuscany in spring had been a marvellous antidote to work, but when she and Luke had returned they had found Peter champing at the bit with impatience, longing to share the news of the answer to his advertisement about Rick.
    Now the danger was that the harder they threw themselves into the hunt for Rick, the greater the disappointment if it failed. Surely Peter could see that the sooner they started on a case such as Tom Watson’s the better? It seemed as if for the survivors it carried all the same sense of wasted life and anguish at lack of resolution as Rick’s disappearance did. What she and Peter might not be able to do for themselves, they might achieve for Cherry. Why could Peter not see that?
    â€˜We’re right here on his doorstep,’ she said firmly, ‘and we have the relevant facts already. Tom Watson disappeared – and one person at least believes him to be innocent. No body has ever been found. Basic questions: did he flee because he was unable to take the pressure of most people believing him to be guilty? Did he commit suicide? Or was he guilty all along? How does Cherry feel about it?’
    â€˜Or felt about it,’ Peter amended. ‘We don’t know that Christine is right in saying that she still feels the same way.’
    â€˜But perhaps she does. That’s just what we’re doing with Rick. Let’s take a risk and visit Ken Winton right now. At least we’ll have made one positive move towards solving Tom Watson’s fingerprints, even if we never track down this elusive Miss Blondie of Rick’s. If we give up other work while we’re waiting, we could be shutting our eyes to helping other people solve their own problems – such as Cherry Harding.’
    Peter considered this for a moment and surrendered. ‘Agreed. We break our usual rules. Onward, Georgia, to number fifty-nine and Tom Watson.’
    Peter considered this for a moment and surrendered. ‘Agreed. We break our usual rules. Onward, Georgia, to number fifty-nine and Tom Watson.’

TWO
    K en Winton, to Georgia’s relief, was at home. She hadn’t fancied trying to communicate about relatively delicate matters in a pub. He appeared to be a casual sort of man – perhaps that was why Christine looked so worried about him – and seemed to think it quite natural that two people, one in a wheelchair, should turn up at his door asking for information about a murder case over fifty years old.
    In fact far from looking annoyed, he looked pleased. ‘Come in,’ he said.
    You could tell a lot from two words, Georgia thought: did Ken’s really mean ‘Go away, but I can’t say so with politeness’, or did they stem from loneliness or was it a straightforward ‘that rings a bell. I’ll see if I can help’? She thought the last of them in Ken’s case.
    â€˜On second thoughts, don’t come in,’ Ken promptly added. ‘We’ll make for the garden. Easier