Bill had purchased the new neon light and assured everyone that it was the correct appliance. Gary flipped the switch while Kathy was still trying to fit the tube. There was a loud bang and a flash of light.
By the time Dryden’s pupils had returned to normal Kathy was standing in front of Bill’s desk She leant across it, presenting Bill with her cleavage, and put her face very close to his.
‘Bollock brain.’
Respect for superiors, that was what Dryden admired. The news desk phone rang and Bill grabbed it gratefully.
Kathy gave Dryden a smile and then disappeared behind her PC to tap out her feature on surviving the blizzard with the help of the WRVS. The smile was intercepted by Gary. He leered horribly at Dryden, revealing snippets of breakfast between tombstone teeth. Dryden sent him out to get coffees. Then he flicked on his screen, waited for the prompt to appear, and began, immediately, to knock out his story.
Murder squad detectives are close to making an arrest in the hunt for the killer of the man found butchered in the boot of a car dragged from the frozen River Lark late last week.
Police are closing in on the man last seen driving the Nissan Spectre in which the body was stashed. An accurate photofit will be issued later today while vital forensic evidence has also been recovered from the car.
Detectives have now also linked the murder to the bizarre discovery of a body on the roof of Ely Cathedral on Friday. Detectives think that body had lain undetected for more than thirty years.
It was found by a stonemason in the guttering of the cathedral’s south-west transept and has been identified as that of Mr Thomas Shepherd – who went missing in 1966 suspected of being involved in an armed robbery at the Crossways filling station.
The Ely coroner, Dr John Mitchell, recorded a verdict of death by misadventure at an inquest on Saturday. Police believe Shepherd fell to his death from the cathedral’s West Tower soon after the robbery.
The murder squad is now convinced that the man whose body was dragged from the River Lark was also at the Crossways. They were expected to make a positive identification late last night. (MONDAY).
While the police would not comment officially on suggestions that the Crossways robbery provided the motive for the killings, detectives are working on the theory the killer could be another member of the gang.
The robbery – timed by the gang to coincide with the World Cup Final of 1966 – is one of the most notorious unsolved crimes on the records of the Cambridgeshire force.
A woman was shot and received horrific head injuries during the raid.
Forensic experts are trying to formally identify the body recovered from the Lark with the help of dental and other medical records.
For The Crow, out on Friday, he would need to get interviews with the Camm family, and pictures once the identification had been made.
The editor poked his head round the newsroom door. Henry’s thin frame, like a vision in a fairground mirror, enabled him to project his head around corners without revealing any other part of his body.
‘Philip. A second.’ The rest of the newsroom went dead quiet. Dryden tried to suppress the irrational guilt always attendant on the use of his full first name. He followed Henry behind the frosted glass partition into his office.
The editor’s room smelt strongly of carbolic and fag ash. The last aroma was provided by Gladstone Roberts, proprietor of Cathedral Motors, who was sitting stiffly in one of the two comfy chairs. He didn’t get up. Dryden took the wooden window seat and let his feet hang a few inches above the carpet. It was a regular perch and he knew it annoyed Henry intensely. The editor sat and adopted his hanging-judge face.
Dryden decided, as always, that attack was the best form of defence. ‘Mr Roberts.’ He beamed. ‘While we’re here. Are you a member of the cathedral fund-raising committee set up by the Chamber of Trade?’
Roberts looked too surprised to object. ‘Why?’
‘So you would have heard about the emergency work on the south-west transept which is going to cost council-tax payers thirty thousand pounds?’
‘I…?’ Roberts looked to Henry for help.
‘Philip. If I might. Mr Roberts has a complaint, which I think we should deal with first.’
Dryden contrived to look overjoyed at this turn of events.
‘Mr Roberts says you gained access to his office under false pretences and accused him of several, er, serious offences. He wishes to know whether any such accusations are to appear in print and tells me that his lawyers are prepared to seek an injunction if that is the case. Now we will obviously discuss this in private but in view of the lack of time perhaps you could, er, put our minds at ease?’
‘I asked questions. I’m not sure what false pretences are in this case. I’ve met Mr Roberts before – he knows I’m a reporter for The Crow – what did he think I wanted to see him about, a new Datsun Cherry?