Find Them Dead

74 Monday 20 May

Throughout his career, Roy Grace had always found it helpful to revisit crime scenes a week or two later and look at them with fresh eyes.

It was now nearly two weeks since Stuie Starr’s murder. As Norman Potting pulled up the car right in front of the house, the area seemed back to normal. A handful of vehicles were on the forecourt of the garage opposite, some refuelling with petrol or diesel and one that looked like it was plugged into a charger.

He climbed out and looked at the small, bland, red-brick house. It was a fine summer’s day, with a clear blue sky and the promise of fine weather to come. But, as always in this job, a cloud hung over him. This particular one was called Cassian Pewe. The murder of a Down’s Syndrome man had caused a wave of revulsion which had ripples well beyond just the county of Sussex. The pressure on him to solve it was even greater than ever.

But at this moment he had no bone to throw to his ACC.

As he looked again at the house, and then at the constant stream of passing traffic, he wondered how it was possible that the offenders had arrived, parked, done their horrible deed and left, without a single person noticing them.

Above him, high in the sky, he heard an engine. He looked up and saw a small aeroplane. And remembered something. Sandy, his now dead former wife, had loved cars. Several times, they’d been to the Goodwood Revival race meeting. The race circuit was around the perimeter of the Goodwood Aero Club, just a couple of miles from here. He turned to Potting.

‘Norman, I’ve an action for you. This is probably a total long-shot but have someone check out Goodwood Airport — and any flying or gliding clubs nearby. Just in case anyone flew over this area on the day Stuie Starr was killed — they might have seen something.’

Potting nodded. ‘Right away, chief!’