Predictably, Tailby was responding to Vernon's indignation by retreating into aloofness. They were like two well-groomed cats gradually throwing their veneer of civilization aside as they raised their fur and puffed their bodies up to make themselves look bigger than they really were.

‘Both Mr Sherratt and Mr Holmes have made statements' Mr Vernon. And naturally we are taking the information which has emerged from those statements into account in our enquiries.'

‘Who the hell is Mr Holmes?'

‘Simeon Holmes was Laura's boyfriend.’

Vernon began to splutter. 'Her what?'

‘Does it surprise you that Laura had a boyfriend?'

‘Surprise me? You're talking rubbish, man. Laura had no time for boyfriends. She spent her time studying during the week. She worked hard. At weekends she had her music lessons. She practised the piano for hours. On Sundays she would go riding — we kept her horse at the stables on Buxton Road. She was always either out hacking or we'd take her to a gymkhana somewhere. When she wasn't doing those' she was at the stables anyway. She was like a lot of fifteen-year-old girls' Chief Inspector — she was more interested in horses than boys. And thank God for that. Fifteen is too young to be having boyfriends.'

‘Nevertheless —'

‘Who is this Holmes' anyway? Someone she knew at school' I suppose. I would have preferred to send her to a single-sex school, but it would have meant her boarding somewhere. My wife wanted to have Laura living at home. A mistake' it seems now.’

Tailby ignored the turning down of Vernon's mouth' pressing on to prevent the man slipping into grief or self-pity.

According to Mr Holmes' Laura hated school. She used to play truant to meet him in Edendale. Or indeed to meet other young men' it would seem. Were you aware of that' sir?'

‘No' I was not.'

‘Perhaps your wife would know more about that side of your daughter's life' sir.'

‘I'd rather you didn't ask my wife questions like that,' said Vernon. 'She is just starting to come to terms with all this' Chief Inspector. Don't knock her back' please.'

‘Mrs Vernon seemed to cope very well in front of the television cameras this morning. I thought that went very well, sir.'

‘Clutching at straws.’

Ben Cooper stood in the background' watching Vernon carefully. The man had a square' heavy jaw and a face like an unfit boxer's. It suited his aggressive manner' but went oddly with the atmosphere of the study. It was a large' high-ceilinged room with heavy pieces of furniture and a vast oak desk. A Turkish rug was thrown over a fitted oatmeal Berber in front of an arched brick fireplace and a cast-iron log basket on the hearth.

‘I know nothing of any boyfriends. Where does this Holmes live? Is he a friend of Lee Sherratt's? Have you thought of that?'

‘I don't think that's very likely, Mr Vernon.'

‘Well' you'd better be sure' hadn't you, Chief Inspector?'

‘Lee Sherratt' of course'' said Tailby calmly, 'is telling a similar story to that of Mr Holmes. Except that he insists that he had no relationship with Laura.'

‘Lies and more lies. Something for you to sort out' eh? You'd be better employed proving which of them killed Laura instead of asking me these ludicrous questions. I've told you what sort of girl Laura was. She was my daughter. Don't you think I would know?'

‘You might know,' said Tailby, as if to himself. 'But would you tell me, I wonder?'

‘What do you mean?'

‘I mean that I have to doubt what you say to me in view of the things that your own son tells me. Things that suggest you have been lying to us' Mr Vernon.’

There was a silence in the study. Somewhere far away in the house, a vacuum cleaner started up. A telephone rang three times' then stopped. Tailby waited until Graham Vernon slumped and looked pained' as if an ulcer had suddenly flared in his stomach.

‘Daniel. What has he been telling you?’

Tailby smiled grimly and asked Ben Cooper to read his notes of the interview with Daniel. Cooper read them in as steady a voice as he could manage' trying to put no particular inflection on the sections where the young man had become angry or upset. Vernon listened in silence until he had finished. By the end, his head was bowed and he couldn't meet their eyes. When Tailby spoke' he sounded almost sorry for the man.

‘Now' Mr Vernon. Shall we start from the beginning? What would you like to tell me about Lee Sherratt?’

*

The mood in the briefing room was subdued. Though they had followed up all the available leads' many officers felt that they still didn't seem to be getting anywhere. It was the start of a feeling that the enquiry might be running out of steam. Cooper recognized it, and knew that Tailby would too. It was the DCI's job' as Senior Investigating Officer' to keep the troops motivated.

‘OK'' said Tailby. 'We have traced and interviewed both Lee Sherratt and the boyfriend, Simeon Holmes. But to eliminate one or both from the enquiry' we still need evidence, and that's what I'm not getting. Forensics have given us very little so far. I remain hopeful of the bite mark' but we're still waiting on the odontologist in Sheffield. We're told tomorrow for a preliminary report on the bite — but comparisons with the moulds that Sherratt and Holmes have provided will take longer.’

Ben Cooper looked around the incident room' but saw no sign of Diane Fry' or of DI Hitchens. He concluded that the party of hikers had been located' and that the two of them were already somewhere to the north' following a lead that he himself had reported from Moorhay.

‘Holmes's story of Laura Vernon being sexually experienced is backed up by the postmortem findings'' said Tailby. 'Also by her own brother's statement. So if Holmes is right about the victim's sexual inclinations' can Lee Sherratt be believed when he says he had nothing to do with her? As Holmes stated in his interview' "You don't say no' do you?"‘

Tailby shuffled his papers. There was a diminishing number of officers in the incident room tonight. It looked as though the enquiry was already starting to be scaled down. Most of the TIE actions had been completed. Many of the individuals peripherally involved had been discounted. Traced' Interviewed and Eliminated.

Now' though' the leads that were being followed up were more focused. A shortlist of individual subjects were being targeted. Mr Tailby had sifted his priorities and chosen his lines of enquiry. He had to feel fairly confident of the avenues that were worth pursuing. There was an underlying belief that the forensic scientists would produce the evidence that would seal the case.

‘We also have the rest of Daniel Vernon's story'' said Tailby’

‘which may be totally irrelevant. But if he is telling the truth' then it indicates that Sherratt is lying. · And we might ask ourselves — if Sherratt was willing to conduct an affair with the mother' why not with the daughter? We remain to be convinced on that. Until Holmes's alibi is satisfactorily checked out, we have to consider that either of these youths could have been the one seen talking to Laura earlier that evening. On the other hand' it could have been someone else entirely. So we're struggling without the physical evidence. There's a weapon out there somewhere' but there's also a second trainer belonging to Laura Vernon. Both are crucial, but the trainer is going to be easier to identify.’

The DCI paused and tried to look at each officer individually. Some of them met his eye' but others were busy reading notes or staring at the photographs and maps on the wall.

‘So here's what we do,' he said. 'We go round the houses in Moorhay again. With all the publicity and activity in the village, no one's going to want to hang on to evidence like that — and I'm reckoning it will have been disposed of in the area. So we check out streams' ponds' ditches. And we look for signs of recent digging or burning. That would be the most obvious way to dispose of something like a trainer. Burying or burning. Someone must have been doing that in the last few days.’