A Stranger Death (Ch 12)

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Chapter 12

As promised, Sarah met Darren at the farm as soon as she got off work. She couldn't wait to hear how he had got on in Exeter and what he had learned.

"It all went a lot easier than I expected it to," said Darren, neglecting to mention how nervous he had been all the time he was there. "They had to contact the owner of the two boxes before they would give me his name and address, but he agreed, and I walked out of there with his contact details in my pocket. They asked me to leave my details, but I gave them a false address. Apparently he is quite keen to get the two boxes back."

"I'll bet he is," said Sarah. "So would I be, knowing what they contain. So, who is he?"

"His name is Roger Spikes and he lives in a village just outside of Totnes. I drove past there on my way home. It's quite a large place, set in its own grounds. Our Mr Spikes is obviously a man of means, so he could certainly afford a decent reward for the return of the boxes."

"So, where do we go from here?" asked Sarah. "I suppose the next logical move is to return the boxes to him and collect any reward that he is prepared to offer and then forget the whole thing."

"Yes to the first half, but I'm not so sure about the second half. Certainly we need to return the boxes to him, but I think we still need to try and find out the story behind them. Can you get hold of one of the drawings that the police have circulated? We can ask Mr Spikes if he knows who he is. As the dead guy seems to have been digging for those boxes, I think Mr Spikes is bound to know something. Whether or not he'll tell us is another matter."

"Yes, the police left several copies of that drawing at the tea rooms. Pauline has put a couple of them up in the window, but I'm sure I can get hold of one of the others without arousing her suspicions."

"Great! This is beginning to sound like a plan," said Darren excitedly. "Can you get the afternoon off work tomorrow to take the boxes back?"

"Yes, that shouldn't be a problem. I can always say I've got an appointment at the dentist. I don't like lying to Pauline, but this is an exceptional case."

"OK then, here's what we'll do. We'll take the two boxes back to Mr Spikes, drop a few hints about a reward and then show him the drawing and see if he can tell us who it is. We can always contact the police anonymously to relay the identity on to them, and that should close the matter - as far as we're concerned in any case."

"Having made their decision Sarah returned home to face her mother's questions as to why she was late. She couldn't wait for tomorrow to come, safe in the knowledge that everything could be sorted out by then.

Sarah couldn't have been more wrong!
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