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‘The story’s above the fold,’ Stahl said.
‘What’s that mean?’
‘Physical newspapers are folded and displayed so only the top half of the front page is visible. Anything above the fold is therefore the most important story. Which is strange.’
‘Why?’ Poe asked.
‘If you read through the flashy headlines and the filler, there isn’t a story here. A man visits his friend in prison on his day off. So what? That isn’t front-page news, not even on a local rag like this.’
‘You saying … actually, what are you saying?’ Poe said.
‘I don’t know. It just seems odd. There’s no story so there’s no reason it should be on the front. It might mean they have a bigger story, but don’t have the legal cover to run it. Local papers sometimes put something on the front page hoping one of the nationals will pick it up and pay them for the extra information. And if it’s something salacious, it won’t have come from a police officer. Too easy to check.’
‘You think there’s more?’
‘That’s what it looks like to me.’
‘But there isn’t anything.’
‘You sure, Poe?’ Flynn asked.
‘Positive. And, now I think about it, I have a problem with Chief Inspector Lee being responsible.’
‘Why?’
‘We caught a mistake she made. She wouldn’t have gone to the press in case I returned the favour and ruined her career.’
He told them about Estelle’s flat tyre and how it hadn’t been taken into consideration when explaining the discrepancy in the journey length.
‘Poe said she did it on purpose to influence a charging decision,’ Bradshaw explained. ‘He pretended to be cross so she’d let us have a look at Elcid Doyle’s study.’
‘You’ve seen the crime scene?’ Flynn asked.
‘Yes, DI Flynn. Poe tried to pick the padlock first, but he gave up when he realised he didn’t know how to do it. He was then going to climb over the gate but Detective Chief Inspector Tai-young Lee had been spying on us and she caught him. She threatened to arrest Poe and then Poe threatened to arrest her. She said what for, and then I showed her the evidence she’d missed as it was on my iPad. After she read it she let us into Estelle Doyle’s ancestral home.’
Flynn stared in astonishment.
‘Unfortunately, that’s exactly what happened,’ Poe said.
‘You tried to pick a lock?’ Flynn said. ‘At a crime scene?’
‘It was the outside gate. I wasn’t going to break into the house.’
‘And you wonder why Detective Chief Inspector Lee thinks you’re interfering …’
Poe noticed Stahl scribbling in his notebook. ‘And what the hell are you doing?’
‘You said if I secretly recorded Tilly’ – he flipped back a few pages and read from his notes – ‘you would “pull my fucking ears off and stick them up my arse”. I assumed this was hyperbole, but I understood the general point. I am therefore dusting off my shorthand skills and writing down all your conversations.’
‘No, you bloody aren’t,’ Poe said.
