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took the phone from her outstretched hand across his desk.
    ‘ Hello, sir. Just a little bit of info for you regarding our man from the canal.’
    ‘Yes? ’ Dylan asked, shrugging out of his coat.
    ‘ The search of the immediate area has revealed a large bath towel that’s in relatively new condition, stuffed in the middle of bushes on Watergate Road. We think there may be a connection.’
    ‘ Sounds positive,’ said Dylan, dubiously.
    ‘ That’s not all. Further along the road there is what appears to be an attempt to conceal a mountain bike in the same type of hedging.’
    ‘ So, we’re thinking he might have cycled to the canal?’
    ‘ Possibly, sir.’
    ‘ That doesn’t really fit with the clothing left on the banking though does it? Wouldn’t you expect him to be wearing training shoes if he was riding a bike?’
    ‘ There is that but... but I’ve saved the best till last. We’ve found a post code stamped on the underside of the bicycle frame which relates to an area about three miles up the canal towards Tandam Bridge. And before you ask, we are looking into that enquiry as a priority.’
    ‘ The body that’s missing from the mortuary is going to take precedence this morning. But good work. Keep me posted.’
    ***
    Dylan sat quietly reading over what information they had in relation to Kirsty Gallagher, which wasn’t as much as he would have liked at this stage. What had caused her death? Avril Summerfield-Preston appeared before him. So quietly had she arrived at his desk that it was as if she had passed through the wall. Her manner was quite the opposite. ‘Jen was supposed to be here,’ she said abruptly.
    ‘ She had to take Max to the vet. I’m sure she will be in as soon as she can.’
    ‘ Better be before nine forty-five,’ she said nodding at the clock, ‘otherwise she will be out of her core time and might as well go home until lunchtime,’ she said raising her eyebrows. ‘On her first day back too, tut tut.’
    ‘ Oh, you’re all heart, Avril... Is that it?’
    ‘ I don’t make the rules, Dylan. But I abide by them and will not lose sleep over enforcing them. I’m running a busy office and if Jen can’t hack it then maybe she shouldn’t be coming back to work at all,’ she said stiffly before turning on her oversized heels. Wobbling she fell into Lisa who was carrying a cup of coffee into the office for Dylan. Vicky followed Lisa in and the coffee splashed over the carpet and all over the papers that Vicky had in her hand. Avril steadied herself by way of grabbing hold of the filing cabinet and without looking back walked out of the door.
    ‘Knob, ’ Vicky said. ‘Sorry would’ve been nice.’
    ‘ She been drinking, do you think?’ asked Lisa. ‘I’m sure I got a whiff of something.’
    ‘ What you doing rattling her cage?’ Vicky asked, watching Dylan’s dark facial expression with interest.
    ‘ I didn’t. She wanted to know where Jen was,’ he said flatly. ‘And don’t you two go starting any rumours.’
    ‘ I just bumped into Jen clocking in. She said Beaky would be on the warpath. Don’t worry, she made it, albeit by the skin of her teeth. Bless her, she was as white as a sheet,’ said Lisa.
    ‘I ’m sure that Avril is a bloody witch. A drunken one at that. Her friends ought to tell her that putrid perfume she wears doesn’t hide the smell of last night’s booze,’ Vicky said throwing her blonde mane in the direction Avril had walked. ‘Oh, yes, I forgot she doesn’t have any friends, does she Lisa?’
    ‘She ’s a proverbial thorn in my bloody side, I know that,’ said Dylan.
    ‘ Then you should be thankful to her,’ said Lisa.
    Vicky gave a short laugh that sounded like a pig grunting. ‘How do you work that one out?’
    ‘ A thorn in your side will drive you to find someone or thing to remove it. Without her, you wouldn't have travelled as far in your life to find peace and happiness. It’s a quote from someone. I can’t remember