Where There's A Will

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Grey rang the doorbell and stepped back to wait, wondering as he did so if they were wasting their time, as they had been at the other two houses they had visited. Their whole afternoon had been wasted in Grey's opinion; they had tracked down what details they could on the kidnapping case involving Gabby Johnson and Rowan Manning, and then confirmed Manning's alibi. After that they had moved on to confirming the whereabouts of the three former employees of Griffin Games who hadn't yet been checked out.

The first two former Griffin Games employees they had visited had solid alibis for the entirety of the previous day. Not only did they have alibis, they lacked motives for kidnapping Alice Keating; both had been hired for projects which had ended successfully, left with good references, and now had well-paid jobs with other companies. They were left with just Lewis Rice to check out – he had a possible motive, given how his employment with Griffin Games had ended, but what information they had on the man suggested it was unlikely that he would be involved in Alice Keating's kidnapping; Lewis Rice was, according to what they had been told by his former colleagues, a very intelligent, but meek and retiring, person who wouldn't say boo to a goose, and wouldn't dream of taking the initiative in anything more daring than getting a round of drinks. The mismatch made it necessary for them to look further into the man and his background.

When there was no response to his knock after a minute, Grey knocked again, he then moved away from the front door. Stepping off the path, he moved to the living room window so he could peer in, in case there was someone at home who either wasn't willing or wasn't able to answer the door. He couldn't see anything or anyone, and after another minute he reluctantly accepted that there was no-one home, just as there hadn't been when the uniformed officers tried to find Lewis Rice.

"Let's try the neighbours," Reid suggested. "One of them might know where he is."

Grey nodded. "His car's here, maybe he just went to the shops or something." There was a small group of shops a couple of streets away, and he supposed it was possible the man they were looking for had walked there rather than driving.

Together, they walked back down the path and made their way around to the house next door. They went to their right first, for no reason they could have articulated. This time they were in luck, their knocked was answered almost immediately.

"Hello," the cautious greeting was offered by an elderly gentleman, who opened the door just far enough to look out and held onto it, ready to close it at the first sign of trouble.

"Good afternoon, sir," Reid said at his most polite. "I'm Detective Constable Reid, and this is Detective Constable Grey." They both held out their warrant cards so they could be examined. "Do you mind if we ask you a few questions, Mr...?"

"Penfold," the old man answered once he had finished scrutinising the warrants cards, and was satisfied that the two men before him were indeed detectives. He relaxed a little, but his hand remained on the door as his eyes moved constantly between Grey and Reid. "What do you want to know?" he asked.

"We're interested in your neighbour, Mr Rice, Mr Penfold," Reid said. "Do you mind if we come in?" He didn't imagine they were going to be there long, but he didn't think it a good idea for them to ask their questions on the doorstep; if Lewis Rice was one of the people they were looking for, he didn't want him to see them, get spooked, and disappear, should he come home.

"Sure, sure, come on in." Penfold stepped back from the door, gesturing for them to enter as he did so. "The living room's just through there." He pointed to a doorway down the passage from him with his stick. "Go right in and make yourself comfortable; if Buster makes a nuisance of himself, or tries to get up on the sofa, just push him away. He likes to be made a fuss of, and loves it when we have visitors, even if he doesn't know who they are." As he continued to speak the old man shuffled forward so he could close the front door.