Page 75 of Murder in the Family

There were just over thirty thousand MGBs listed as still being on the road in October 2003. If you refine that down just to red models then obviously it reduces fairly drastically, but you’re still looking at several thousand. Youcouldthen refine it geographically, but we clearly have no way of knowing where this man was actually living—

MITCHELL CLARKE

Surely it’s a reasonable assumption he was in London?

LAILA FURNESS

I’d agree with that.

ALAN CANNING

—which is exactly what I was about to say, if you’d allowed me to finish. I agree that someone Caroline was seeing regularly would probably have been living fairly close by. In London, at least, or maybe the Home Counties.

If you apply that filter to the DVLA list on top of the paint colour you end up with just under a hundred vehicles. Eighty-six, to be precise.

LAILA FURNESS

That’s not too bad. Actually fewer than I’d have expected.

ALAN CANNING

If you then apply an age and gender filter on top of that and look only at male owners over 25, it comes down a bit more – to forty-two.

He goes to the pinboard and puts up a map of Greater London with a scatter of red dots across it.

And this is where those forty-two were.

BILL SERAFINI

That’s still a big task. And the data’s twenty years old. Half those guys could be dead by now.

LAILA FURNESS

(agreeing)

Or have moved away.

ALAN CANNING

(turning to face them)

Which is exactly what I’m finding. I started with those living closest to Dorney Place, on the assumption that Caroline’s lover, if he did exist, was probably of a similar socio-economic class. And yes, I do know that may be a false assumption—

LAILA FURNESS

(in an undertone)

Then again, I can’t see Caroline going for a Hackney plumber—

ALAN CANNING

(raising his voice slightly)

As at now I’ve spoken to sixteen people who owned a red MGB at that time, and lived in the same general area of London as Dorney Place. But thus far, there are no obvious hits.

BILL SERAFINI

I guess it always was a bit of a Hail Mary.