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Chapter 13



"We apologise," said Sylvia.

"And do it properly," added Flo. Cecil drank some of his mild, looking pensive.

"You're probably right. I've made a right hash of this haven't I? If the material wasn't his then it is either a strange coincidence or somebody planted it on the victim. Do we even know if it matches his outfit or did we just jump to a conclusion, because it was what we wanted to see?"

"That guy's a menace," shouted Brian. "If it wasn't him then he probably will do something similar so we'll have to bring him in sooner or later."

"Will we? It's not our job anymore. We're just interested bystanders now. What happens is for the Mayor to decide." All eyes turned to the Mayor who was sitting quietly.

"Well yes, I suppose it is isn't it. Hmm." The discussion went on with little progress. Two rounds later, it was still labouring but had started to become a little more embroiled. Brian thought that they should go back and take him by surprise, Cecil thought that they should go back to the beginning and start again, the Mayor didn't have a clue and the other dancers were getting little bit fed up. Eventually, the voice of reason did not come from the dancers, nor the Mayor, but the barmaid.

"Listen to yourselves!" she said over the noise. All eyes turned to see who was speaking. She was getting on in age, she wore a baggy white blouse and her straw hair could have done with a good wash. "You're supposed to be the pride of Britain, our greatest achievement. People sneered at that Sharp bloke when he tried bringing you lot together but you showed us all how wrong we was. You did great things and the people loved you for it. Now look at you. You've been sat in the pub for nearly two hours arguing about what to do about that Lord fella. Not one of you has thought about what you already know. Not one of you has thought about what else you could find out, and not one of you has bought any crisps! If I were you, I'd do what you used to do and sort it out. Blimey. What is the world coming to?"

The dancers were shamed into silence. "You're right. Thank you," said Cecil. "I'll have a bag of Scampi Fries please."

They thought about it some more and, with the blessing of the Mayor who was happy to deputise them, set about reviewing the situation. Flo was to analyse the attacks, to see whether there was anything more they could learn. Sylvia was to look into any links, no matter how obscure, between the victims. Dennis was to review the locations to consider whether there was a geographical angle. Brian was to review the training schedule considering how easily they had been defeated by the Lord of the Dance, and Cecil was to speak to the lady who found the body at the pub to see whether anything further could be learnt.

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