Read Tangled Web for Free Online Page B

people are doing their stuff and the pathologist will do the PM this evening. She was in a bit of a mess, badly decomposed if you know what I mean.’
    Gordon looked at him questioningly, ‘She couldn’t have been in the ground for more than three days,’ he said.
    ‘Maybe something to do with the weather or the soil conditions,’ ventured Walters.
    Gordon thought the very opposite should apply in the cold conditions they’d been having but didn’t pursue the matter; he didn’t have the heart. ‘Where’s Lucy?’ he asked.
    ‘Mrs Palmer collapsed when they found the baby: she’s staying with her married sister over in Bangor for the time being.’
    ‘Can I see John?’
    ‘I’m afraid not, he’s still undergoing interrogation at the moment with Chief Inspector Davies.’
    Gordon accepted this with a nod.
    ‘We would value your opinion on John Palmer’s state of mind over the past few weeks if you feel able to help us,’ said Walters. ‘As his GP you’re probably the best person to judge that – if you’d seen him at all of course.’
    ‘His state of mind?’ repeated Gordon.
    ‘Was he under a lot of stress? Did he appear worried, morose, sleeping badly, that sort of thing?’
    Gordon shook his head slowly. ‘I have seen him on more than one occasion over the last fortnight, as it happens, but socially not professionally. The answer to your question is no, no he didn’t,’ said Gordon. ‘And I still find it impossible to believe that he did what you’re saying he did.’
    ‘It’s not me saying it sir. It’s him.’
    ‘They both doted on that child, if anything John more than Lucy.’
    The two men looked at each other for a moment before Walters asked the question that now hung in the air. ‘Do you think he might have confessed to protect his wife?’
    ‘I don’t think I know anything any more,’ Gordon confided in subdued tones. ‘I’m sorry to keep saying it but I just can’t believe that either of them could have done this.’
    ‘Maybe their child’s deformity had a greater effect on them than you imagined,’ suggested Walters. ‘I mean it must have been awful for them. That sort of thing could really get to anyone, make you believe the entire world was against you.’
    ‘Anne-Marie was badly disabled; there’s no getting away from that,’ agreed Gordon, ‘but John and Lucy loved their daughter. They weren’t pretending. You can’t fake something like that.’
    ‘You’re quite sure about both of them?’
    ‘Yes,’ said Gordon after a moment’s thought.
    Walters noticed the pause. ‘You don’t seem … absolutely sure?’ he said.
    ‘I’m sure.’
    ‘Do they know why the baby was born the way she was?’ asked Walters.
    ‘Just one of these things. Nobody’s fault.’
    ‘Seems like a twist of fate too far if you ask me,’ said Walters.
    What d’you mean?’
    ‘Them trying for a baby so hard then having that happen to them. It just doesn’t seem right; surely they deserved a bit of a break after all they’d been through.’
    Gordon swallowed any cliché about life and agreed with a nod. ‘They bloody did.’
    ‘I don’t suppose it was connected in any way, was it? I mean their difficulties in conceiving and the abnormality in the baby?’
    Gordon shook his head. ‘No, not as far as I know.’
    ‘Would you say the outlook for the child was bleak?’
    ‘What d’you mean?’
    ‘You know, in terms of future prospects, education, job and that, quality of life, I think the term is.’
    ‘No, I wouldn’t,’ said Gordon firmly. ‘She didn’t have legs so it would have meant life in a wheelchair of course, but many people have happy productive lives despite that.’
    ‘They’re the ones you hear about,’ said Walters.
    Gordon looked at him.
    ‘A friend of mine from schooldays ended up in a chair after an accident playing rugby; athletic bloke he was, good at all kinds of sport, first class sprinter and all that, ended up topping himself, couldn’t take