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check out Andrew’s alibi, but it was all locked up, he’d have to return later. He looked at his watch it was just gone one, he wondered if Avril was due a lunch break. She worked at ‘Angels’ a recruitment company specialising in temporary staff and it was just around the corner from where he was standing. He decided that meeting her at work might offer more neutral territory.
    Matt walked into the open plan office and looked across at the desk in the far left hand corner. A young man was sat there head down at the computer monitor. Confused, he glanced around the room at the other desks, they were all occupied but not by Avril.
    ‘Take a seat, I’ll be with you in a minute…’ a young smartly dressed girl said to him.
    ‘I’m looking for Avril Edwards.’ He replied declining her invitation to sit or to wait. The girl glanced up at him with a slightly annoyed frown that quickly changed to surprise when he flashed his warrant card at her.
    ‘I’m sorry but she’s not here.’
    ‘I can see that, when will she be back?’
    Curiosity alight in her eyes she back stared at him. ‘Sorry, but she doesn’t work here anymore.’
    ‘Of course she does.’
    ‘No, she left last month.’
    ‘Left?’
    ‘Well, sacked really, she was always late and sometimes smelt of alcohol…’ she leaned closer, ‘even thought she might be stoned a couple of times…’
    ‘Avril Edwards?’ he couldn’t actually believe the young girl was talking about his wife. How could she have been sacked and him not know? Where was she every day?
    ‘What’s she done? Is she in trouble? I never liked her; she was always a bit of a bitch to me…’
    Matt walked away, he paused at the door. ‘Don’t suppose you know where she’s working now?’
    The girl shook her head.
    Another woman from the desk beside her looked across at him. ‘I saw her in the estate agents at the bottom of the high street last week.’
    ‘Working there?’
    ‘Don’t know, she had a suit on and was chatting to someone. You know, the agents I mean? Can’t think what it’s called…’
    He knew exactly which agency she meant and who it was owned by. Matt walked out of the building. He felt a bit like a rabbit caught in headlights, frozen by confusion. What he’d just heard seemed incomprehensible. He half hoped that she was working at the estate agents even though he didn’t want her to have any dealing with the owner, there was surely only one other reason that she would be in the offices. He didn’t fancy getting home one day to find it had been sold behind his back. He was thinking nonsense of course but after what he’d just been told he wasn’t sure of anything.
    He considered going to the estate agents in search of answers but he no longer felt ready for the questions and confrontation that would follow, instead he returned to his car.

    Matt parked outside James house, the street was empty. Until that moment he hadn’t even realised that he was hoping to see Liz, but the police and the Socos had finished with the crime scene. Matt hoped that maybe they would get lucky with this one and the killer would have left a nice juicy clue for them.
    He was getting pressure from above and the press were chasing for information. His boss was making noises about getting some profiler in to help. That was the last thing Matt wanted. Luckily he knew his boss well enough to know that procrastination and budget trimming were his favourite past-times.
    James was in much the same state as he had been the previous night. He hadn’t changed or shaved. Matt guessed he hadn’t washed or showered either. The man was wrecked.
    ‘You changed the lock?’ Matt said, as he followed James into the kitchen.
    James nodded his head.
    ‘Good.’
    ‘Coffee?’
    ‘No, I’m OK thanks.’ Matt replied.
    James switched the kettle off and pulled a bottle of whisky from a cupboard. He held it up, Matt reluctantly shook his head. James poured himself a large glass and drank it