That was interesting. ‘Do you think Albert Johnson could have brought it down from the loft on his own?’
‘Possibly. I wouldn’t like to say for sure. It would have been some effort if he did. There are some marks on the side of the hatch, so it looks like the case was dragged out of the loft. We’ll have the full results soon, and you’ll get a copy of the report.’
‘Thanks, Darren. I appreciate the heads-up.’
After ending the call, she mulled things over. It was possible that Albert had just found the suitcase in his loft . . . That would be enough to give anyone a heart attack, but the officers at the scene said he hadn’t wanted them to go upstairs. If he’d innocently stumbled across the body, he would have wanted the police to help.
Besides, the idea that someone else had placed Oliver Fox’s body in Albert Johnson’s loft wasn’t feasible. Albert had owned the property for fifty years, which meant a previous owner couldn’t have hidden the body.
She made a note on the right side of the pad and drew a box around her comment.
The simplest explanation was often the right one, which meant Albert Johnson had killed Oliver Fox, put him in a suitcase and hidden the body. But why? There had to be a link between the two men.
Karen opened up another screen on her computer and looked up news reports, searching for Oliver Fox and Skellingthorpe. One of the top hits from the search was from a local paper called the Skellingthorpe Advertiser. Old copies had been scanned and uploaded on to a website, but the printed version of the newspaper was now defunct. The old articles were freely available on the internet.
Unfortunately, the article was very brief.
She clicked to enlarge the scanned page. It said Oliver Fox, forty-five, of Lincoln Road, Skellingthorpe had now been missing for three days. His family, friends and colleagues at Greenhill Secondary School were asking for anyone with information to contact the local police.
Well, there it was, Karen thought, leaning back in her chair, smiling. Oliver Fox had been a teacher at the same school as Albert Johnson.
There was a relationship between the two men. They had a link. Now all Karen had to do was connect the dots.
CHAPTER SEVEN
When Sophie got back with the records, she entered the office, staggering under the weight of all the files. She was carrying two boxes, one perched on top of the other.
As soon as Karen spotted her, she rushed over to take the top box from under Sophie’s chin. ‘You should have told me you were back. I would have come down to help you.’
Sophie gave a half-hearted shrug in response and carried the other box to her desk.
Karen noticed the shallow crease between the other woman’s eyebrows. Sophie looked thoroughly fed up as she flopped into her chair with a sigh.
‘How did your appointment go?’ Karen asked, pulling out one of the files from the box she’d taken from Sophie.
‘Not great,’ Sophie said. ‘But I don’t really want to talk about it.’
‘Fair enough. Thanks for picking up the files. I’ve just found an article online about an Oliver Fox who is a similar age to our victim. He went missing in Skellingthorpe in 1988. The newspaper article says he lived on Lincoln Road.’
Sophie seemed to perk up at this news. ‘Do you think his family could still live in Skellingthorpe? They could be at the same address.’
Karen nodded as she flicked through the missing persons report. ‘Well, there’s only one way to find out.’
Sophie smiled, and Karen was pleased to see she looked a little bit more excited about the case.
‘Can I be the one who talks to the family? Find out what they know?’
Karen picked out another file and agreed to Sophie’s request. She found the young officer’s eagerness endearing, but a little too much at times. ‘I don’t see a problem with that. We’ll have to wait until DI Morgan gets back from talking to the superintendent before we plan a visit to the family, though. Right now, we don’t have much information to give them, and they’re going to want some answers. We need to go in there with a plan, and we need to deal with this matter as sensitively as we can.’ Karen put the file back in the box and selected another. ‘Oliver Fox went missing decades ago, but to his family this is still going to be incredibly painful.’
Sophie let out a little huff. ‘I know that.’ She turned away from Karen and began flipping through another of the files.
Karen had no idea what had happened at Sophie’s appointment, but it definitely hadn’t gone well. She’d said she didn’t want to talk about it, though, so Karen carried a selection of files back to her own desk and started to make her way through them.
When DI Morgan came back to the office, he announced that the superintendent was pleased with their progress so far, but still very keen to keep the case out of the press.
‘Sophie picked up the files from the original investigation into Oliver Fox’s disappearance.’ Karen handed DI Morgan the missing persons report. ‘I found a newspaper article that says Oliver Fox was a teacher at the same school as Albert Johnson. I’m sure the original report must mention his employment history.’
DI Morgan looked up sharply. ‘That’s our link, then. The two men knew each other.’
Karen nodded. ‘Sophie’s only just got back with the files, so we’ve not had a chance to look through them properly, but after we’ve done that perhaps we should think about talking to the family. Sophie was keen to be involved.’
DI Morgan was too focused on flipping through the report to look up and notice Sophie’s eager expression. ‘I don’t think that’s a good idea. I should be the one to talk to the family, and you should come with me, Karen.’
‘But it would be really good experience for me,’ Sophie said.
‘Not this time.’ DI Morgan didn’t notice how downhearted she looked in response.
‘Why don’t you go to the computer lab and talk to Harinder?’ Karen suggested to Sophie. ‘He could be close to getting the address or driver number, and then we can contact the DVLA to double-check the details.’
Sophie got to her feet with a sigh. ‘Okay.’
Karen watched her go. Usually, Sophie jumped at the chance to speak to Harinder.
When Sophie left them, DI Morgan asked, ‘Have you heard of DI Goodfield? He was the SIO on this missing persons case.’
Karen shook her head. ‘No, but I imagine he’s retired by now.’
She focused on the computer, typing in Oliver Fox’s old address and smiling at the result of the search. ‘Fox’s widow, Elizabeth, still lives at the same address, according to the electoral roll.’
‘Good. I think we have enough to approach the family. We’ll have to tread carefully, but I suggest we tell them we’ve found a body that could be Oliver Fox.’
‘You don’t think we need to wait for dental records?’
DI Morgan shook his head. ‘We might not be able to tell the family much, especially not where we discovered the body, but they’ve been waiting for answers for thirty years. All this time, they must have been wondering if he was still alive. Not knowing must have been torture for them.’
He took one of the files with him to his office. Karen watched him through the glass pane as he picked up the phone to call Oliver Fox’s widow.