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Gardener rose to leave. “Thank you for your time, Mr Hunter, at least you’ve given us something positive to work with.”
Chapter Fifteen
Two days later Gardener was more than pleased to hear from Winter, especially when he said they’d had a breakthrough, and Shona Pearson was on her way round. The second phone call he’d taken was from the caretaker of Michael Foreman’s apartment block. Gardener asked if the man would check his apartment and when he returned to the phone, he confirmed it was totally empty, aside from mail.
Gardener had rallied his team to the incident room when Shona walked through the door with a Manila folder in her right hand.
Gardener offered her a drink. She accepted. Reilly brought it. She placed the folder on the table and took the coffee. “God, I need this,” she said, taking a sip.
“Tough day?” Gardener asked.
“Tough night. In fact, they all roll into one now. Can’t remember the last time I saw my home.”
“We’ve pulled a few of them in our time,” said Reilly, with most of the team nodding in agreement.
Gardener hoped it would all be worth it. “Your boss sounded excited.”
Shona Pearson put the coffee cup on the table, grabbed the Manila folder and opened it up. She produced four A4 photographs, spreading them out in front of Gardener.
“Are these who I think?”
“We’re pretty certain,” replied Pearson. She pointed to each photo in turn and supplied a name. “Anthony Palmer, James Henshaw, Zoe Harrison and Michael Foreman.”
Gardener thought they were all young, but then most people who specialised in IT were. It was what they had grown up with.
“How recent?”
“Not that recent, sometime around the university years.”
“Which university did they go to?” Longstaff asked, as she and the other members of the team gathered around the table.
“Leeds.”
“All of them?” asked Gardener.
“Yes, all of them. We managed to track down one of their tutors, which wasn’t too hard; he’s still there. His name is Dave Walsh.”
“Did he remember them?” Reilly asked.
“Said he’d never forget them. Walsh spent a lot of time with them because they were brilliant. Perhaps the brightest students he’d ever taught.”
“Christ,” said Reilly, “that’s all we need.”
“According to Walsh,” continued Pearson, “prior to their death, Anthony Palmer’s parents had encouraged him to continue with his education once he’d left school. Eventually he realised they were right and respected their wishes. He enrolled himself into Leeds and settled into an IT degree.
“Here’s where it gets interesting. Toward the end of the course, Palmer found himself competing for the top place with three other students, who had all started the same week; four students in total, with no idea the others existed when they started, and what effect they were all going to have on each other’s life.”
“I think I know where this is going,” said Colin Sharp, chomping on a Scottish shortbread.
“You’re probably right,” said Pearson. “The tutors agreed that all four were exceptional. It would be hard to separate them when it came to the final exams. Palmer came second to a girl called Zoe Harrison.”
“Who came third and fourth?” asked Gates.
“Not sure.”
“Did they know each other at university?” Gardener asked.
“According to Walsh, and one or two of the other tutors, no, they didn’t. I suspect they were aware of each other.”
