Page 68 of Murder in the Family

So, to update everyone, it’s been two weeks since we last met and a lot of water under the bridge in that time. One or two of us have had a haircut, for a start—

Several of the team smile, Bill rubs his hand over the back of his head.

—and yes, that does include me.

Anyway, we’re back together now, to debrief. To recap, we’ve been pursuing three lines of enquiry.

(gestures towards the whiteboard)

One, the man Caroline Howard Ryder may have been seeing at the time of the killing.

Two, Luke’s own past.

And three, whether Rupert Howard, Caroline’s stepson, had any motive – or opportunity – to kill Luke.

So, who wants to go first?

JJ NORTON

Happy to do that, Bill.

Bill takes his seat and JJ replaces him at the whiteboard.

I was looking into Rupert Howard, and any reason he might have had to kill Luke. So let’s do this the old-fashioned way.

He picks up the marker pen and starts writing; some of the others exchange smiles: JJ does love his lists.

MEANS:That’s the easy one. Anyone who got access to that garden could have picked up a rock or a slab of paving from the flowerbeds.Allour potential perpetrators had the means.

He puts a tick against Means; the board wobbles a little and he moves it around until it’s more stable.

OPPORTUNITY:Rupert is fairly unique among the suspect cohort in that he didn’t need anyone to let him in: he had his own key. So in that respect he’s right up there. The question, however, is whether he was actually in the vicinity at the time.

He moves over to the pinboard and gestures at a map of England and Wales. London and Cambridge are both marked.

Rupert has always claimed that he was at his old college for a dinner that night. And as you can see from the map, we’re talking about a distance of 60-odd miles. At least a couple of hours by car, not much less by train, if you factor in the time it would take to travel across London to Dorney Place as well. And that’s just the time to get there – it’d be another two hours getting back.

So given the murder took place between around 9.30 and 10.20, Rupert would have had to leave Cambridge at eight at the absolutelatest, which would have been right in the middle of the dinner.And he wouldn’t have got back to Cambridge till well after midnight.

(turning to face the team)

So was Rupert really in Cambridge that night, and if he was, was he there all night? The only way I was going to get answers to either of those questions was by talking to someone who was there.

Thankfully the college keeps pretty good records, and they put me on to Malcolm Severn, who was a friend and contemporary of Rupert’s. And now – conveniently – a professor at the same college.

CUT TO: JJ and a middle-aged man sitting in a Cambridge college hall. Panelled walls, period portraits, long tables with silver candlesticks. Severn is heavily built, with thick white hair and a florid complexion.

JJ NORTON

Thank you for meeting me, Professor Severn.

MALCOLM SEVERN

No problem at all.

JJ NORTON

So, do you remember the dinner on October third, 2003?