Page 94 of The Family Remains

53

June 2019

Samuel

Donal’s face appears framed within my doorway, his hand over the receiver of his phone. ‘Boss. I have a woman on the line. Claims she has something for you on the Birdie case?’

My gut fills with joy. This – I can feel it – this is it. This is not a case that has brought about the usual rash of crazies and fantasists and time-wasters. Cold cases don’t tend to attract these types. The crazies and the time-wasters like to dance in the burning flames of the moment, when things are fresh and hot and volatile, when every second counts. So this call will mean something, I just know it.

‘Put her through please.’

I clear my throat and pick up a pencil. ‘Good morning. This is Detective Inspector Samuel Owusu. How can I help you?’

‘Oh, good morning, my name is Cath Manwaring. I’m calling from near Cowbridge. In Wales. It’s about the body you found. The young woman from the pop band. Birdie …?’ I can hear paper rustling as she consults her notes.

‘Birdie Dunlop-Evers?’ I offer.

‘Yes. That’s the one. And it says in this article here in theGuardianthat she was last known to be living with her boyfriend, a Justin Redding?’

‘Yes.’

‘Well, I don’t know if this is helpful in any way, I could be totally barking up the wrong tree and about to make a complete fool of myself. But I’m pretty sure the guy who gardens for me is him. Except his surname isn’t Redding. It’s Ugley.’

‘I beg your pardon?’

‘The man who gardens for me, his surname is Ugley. With an “e”.’

‘Justin Ugley?’

‘Yes.’

I stifle an urge to say something flippant about how it is no wonder he chose to use a stage name and I clear my throat and say, ‘And how old is Mr Ugley, roughly?

‘I’d say, mid-fifties?’

I nod to myself. This would be correct.

‘And for how long has he been doing your garden?’

‘Oh, about a year or two.’

‘And what makes you think it is him?’

‘Well, his face, really. The photo on the article. Of the popgroup. I remember the pop group, but I really only remembered the face of the lead singer. I’d never really looked at the other members before but when I looked at him in that photo, I just had a jolt. You know? Caught my breath. It was him. It was Justin.’

‘And this Justin, do you know where he lives?’

‘Well, he’s something of an itinerant, I would say. I have a strong feeling he lives in a camper van. But I’ve also seen him leaving a cottage on occasion, in the village.’

‘And this camper van. Where would we find it?’

‘It’s in one of the fields up behind the business centre.’

‘Which business centre is that?’

‘Cowbridge Business Park. On the A4222. About a five-minute drive east from the village centre.’

‘And if I were to come now, would I be able to find him there, do you think?’