“I will contact Idris but if you didn’t know, in Wales it is renowned for gossip and if Idris has been asking around locally it won’t take long for the word to get out”.

 “We are here now, you can probably tell from the area”

“Yes” he said, “Grim, very grim”.

They left the car and approached the first house, that of Bob Friday but as they did so the door opened next-door causing Doris to say.

 “That is Rachel Friday, she is waving us inside, I will hazard a guess they are both in there, a moral support thing”.

“I suspect you are correct, we will try it together after all they are not suspects”.

“Hello Mrs Friday you remember me?”

“I do indeed, Inspector Ling”

“Ah well yes”, replied Doris not making an issue of the fact she had forgotten the Scott bit.

“Please come in”.

They both went inside, Doris said, “Mrs Friday and you Rachel may I introduce to you Mr Jack Richards a retired Detective Superintendent from New Scotland Yard who has been asked by the powers to be to look a little further into the death of both your lads and several others similar”.

There was a surprise, for Wendy was holding a new borne babe, she said, “Welcome, I always thought it was murder”

“Well now” said Jack, “may we take a seat?”

“Oh of course please do” said Rachel, “I am so sorry not to have asked you, it’s the stress of it all, you being from Scotland Yard and that”.

Jack and Doris sat down and she said, “How old is the Baby?”

“Its only four weeks old, Wendy, I called him Reg after his Granddad”.

“Very nice too, I hadn’t realised when I came before, you were expecting”, replied Doris.

“Well no I wasn’t showing you see at that time”

“Right” said Jack; “I have checked the police records of both officers so I don’t have many questions.  Can either of you recall anything that might give you rise to believe that someone had it in for either of the men, in particular anything to do with any sort of drug or family weakness”.

“Well” said, Rachel “I know for certain there is some heart problems in our family. Bob’s father died aged only 50 years of age from a heart attack”.

“Well there is nothing as far as I know in Sid’s family for I have been in touch with them, you know to safe guard the baby and there is nothing”.

“Mrs Friday” asked Jack, “there seems a gap for several years of what Bob was doing before he joined the police, can you shed any light on that”.

“Well not really you see he had a spell shall I say he was disillusioned, he left home for a year or two when he came back he never would say what he had been up to.  When he came back he went straight into the police and they gave him this house”

“I see” said Jack, “What about you Mrs Upton same thing it seems there is a gap in what Sid was up to before joining the Police”

“I am sorry”.  “We only met after he was in the Police I met him a few weeks before we were married. We met believe it or not in Chester when I was in this religious group; I play the guitar you know.  We had some hassle from some yobs one Saturday morning and my dear Sid came to the rescue”.

“So there is nothing at all nothing suspicious, no doubts or anything”, he asked, feeling despondent, he could almost feel the egg running off his face.

“No not really, only that woman you remember Wendy, that woman came knocking wanting to see Bob, you thought at first he had been having it off”.

“Oh yes, I recall it now”

“Tell me more,” said Jack.

“There is not much to tell”, replied Wendy, “we were sitting here one day when a knock came on the door, Sid got up and answered it. The next moment I saw him on the path speaking with this very nice looking woman.  The next moment Bob came from next door and joined the conversation.  After a few minutes, the woman left and I saw the two lads speaking with each other and shaking their heads. I assumed it was some woman who either Sid or Bob or both might have been having an affair with, she was really nice looking”.

“When Sid came inside he looked a bit pale, put on his coat and left together with Bob. I asked both of them about it later but they just said it was a police thing and the woman had come to the house pestering them. They went down to the nick and it was all resolved. I never heard from her or saw her again and the blokes never spoke of it. To tell you the truth round here people often visit police houses to speak with officers, that is the way it is.

“What did the woman look like?” Asked, Jack.

 “I didn’t see her,” said Rachel Friday “I only know what you said Wendy”

Wendy thought, and then replied, “Well I can’t really recall except she was in her early thirties, very beautiful had a very tanned skin, not black, not white just nicely tanned. She had very long black hair”.

“If you saw her again do you think you might recognise her”? Asked Jack”.

Wendy hesitated then replied, “Yes, I think I would”.

“Thank you” said Jack

“Well ladies is there anything else anything at all suspicious you can bring to mind that might give me a clue in which direction to look to find any cause other than natural causes as it appears at the moment?”

They both shook their heads, Doris and Jack rose and were about to leave when Jack stopped and asked

“Does the name Sid, other than your husband I mean, or Morgan, Roy, Royston or Cedric mean anything.

There was silence then they both simultaneous said “Morgan that rings a bell”, they looked at each other.

 Wendy said, “It was Morgan, Rachel that chap from the hospital in Wrexham. He came round here after the lads who stopped him found some drugs on him, they warned him and took the drugs off him”.

“That is right,” said Rachel, “he came round shouting the odds, then burst into tears saying he had the drugs in connection with his work, he accidentally had them in his pocket and was searched when they caught him speeding and he didn’t want the lads contacting the hospital in case he got the sack. Some bloody traffic Warden in town gave him the lads’ addresses.

“Yes that is it Mr Richards”, said Wendy, “it was all resolved, they said they would give him the drugs back to take to work and he would hear no more of it”.

“Thank you for this ladies” said Jack.  “It is vital that you speak to no one of our visit or of anything that has been said here today”.

“You do understand that, both of you?” Said Doris.

They both nodded their heads; Doris and Jack shook hands, stating someone would be in touch if there were any developments.

They left the house and on arriving at the car a voice said, “Are you the cops?”

“Yes”-replied Doris

It was a lady very obese, aged around fifty years of age smoking, wearing bedroom slippers and a very dirty brown jumper, and what had been a red pair of trousers, which were now mottled in many colours and stained with of every possible item of food.

It seemed the previous ladies were correct; people did visit police houses in this area.

“Can I help?” Asked Doris

“You can get some bugger up here to sort these druggies out”.

“What is your name and address?” Asked Doris

“My name and address where the hell do you come from, do you think I am going to give you my name and address, not from the fire brigade as well are you?”

“What do you mean?” Was Doris next reply.

Jack knew what was coming but said nothing.

“If I give you my name and address the bloody house will be burned down by morning, just do your job, you get paid don’t you, get it sorted”.

The lady turned and walked off

Jack and Doris finally were on their way.

“Where to next Mr Richards?”  Said Doris

“Manchester Police Headquarters” was the reply.

After some moments Doris spoke. “What did you make of that?”

The mystery woman and the drugs. I will check the records, when I get back,” she said confidently.