Witchmoor Edge Read Online Free Page B

and the fire. What
the hell had Simon Hunter and the two youths been doing?
     
    Detective Constables Goss and Hammond went
next to see Mrs. Delia Evans, who had reported the fire. Number 47
was the end house and the garden reached virtually to the canal.
Tommy strolled to the end of the street, where a low wall was
broken by a few steps leading down to the towpath beside the canal.
He peered down, mostly to get his bearings and size up the lie of
the land before listening to Mrs. Evans.
    There was somewhat more cloud than there had
been on Sunday, but the view was still pleasant and the scene calm.
A slight smell of old ashes hung on the air, drifting across from
the ruin on the other side of the canal, and a barge chugged its
leisurely way along the canal, rippling the glassy quality of the
water. A little to the left was a road bridge over the water. Was
it possible that the bodies had been dumped from a vehicle?
Probably too far he thought.
    Tommy turned and walked back to number 47 and
Gary Goss rang the bell.
    A sudden yapping indicated what Mrs. Evans
might have been doing so late on a Saturday night and she opened
the door. She was elderly - late sixties or older, rather plump and
rather jolly.
    She told the two detectives that she had been
out at her daughter's all Saturday evening and chatted amiably as
she led them into a small and crowded lounge.
    "You live here alone, Mrs. Evans?" Hammond
asked.
    "That's right," she explained. "My husband
died of cancer two years ago."
    "And you had been out for the day?"
    "At my daughter's, yes."
    "What time did you get back?"
    "My daughter Jane drove me home just after
midnight," she said. "I'm not usually that late, but we had been
watching a DVD and didn't notice the time."
    "And you saw the fire as you arrived back?"
Tommy asked, thinking there was quite a gap between arriving home
and making the call.
    "We could smell burning then, but I didn't
notice anything. I let Rusty out for a wee and run about quarter
past and I could smell it even stronger. I could see flames too. I
thought I'd better ring in case it hadn't been reported, so I
phoned."
    "Was anyone else about?" Tommy asked.
    "Not then," she said. "But earlier, just
after Jane left as a matter of fact, there was someone. I saw a
youth climbing from the canal, dripping wet. He went up the street,
probably going home to change. It wasn't a cold night, of course,
but he'd been right in the water, I think."
    "You didn't report this?"
    "No." Mrs. Evans hesitated. After a pause,
which was a prolonged hesitation, she added, "It doesn't pay to see
too much where young toughs are concerned. They'd be round here
throwing bricks through the window and bothering Rusty, if they
thought I'd told the police. Anyway, he might have just fallen in
or something."
    "Did you think the youth was connected with
the fire?" Tommy asked.
    "When I saw the fire later and reported it, I
thought then he might have started in on purpose, but the building
was all boarded up and they were going to demolish it anyway.
Besides it wasn't my business."
    Tommy thought it had been very much her
business, but he was tactful enough to realise that this elderly
lady had to live alone in her community and said nothing.
    "Did you recognise him?" Tommy asked.
    "It was too dark."
    The answer came so quickly this time that
Tommy was sure she had a very good idea who was involved. They
could probably get a name from the dead boy's family, so he didn't
pursue the matter. Not yet, anyway.
    "Would it be possible for you sign a
statement about this?" Tommy asked. "DC Goss will type up what
you've said to us and you can sign to say that it's what you told
us."
    The old lady nodded. "When shall I come in to
the station?"
    Tommy thought about. "We won't be back before
5 or 5.30 at the earliest," he said. "If you ring this number any
time tomorrow morning we'll fix a time." He handed her a card with
the number of the direct line to the CID divisional office.
    "Down by the