Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"OK, so if we take Daisy's version of events, Dr Robins is coincidental in the whole matter but we now have two young women living in the house, Annie Oxley and her little sister Harriet Reid." Steve summarised as he opened the pizza boxes. Susan and Mark nodded, "so really the baby could have belonged to either of them, which still leaves us a long way from a motive, cause of death, evidence, y'know the usual stuff that comes in handy in an investigation."

"If Daisy had known that Annie was pregnant do you think she'd have told us?" Susan asked Mark.

He thought for a moment "she wasn't happy on us asking too many personal questions regarding Annie, said it wasn't her place to divulge somebody else's past. But she never hinted about a baby, only said Annie was heading up to Canada, not "they" or anything like that."

"There was nothing about maternity leave in Annie's personnel file" Jesse added, helping himself to a slice of 'mega-meat-extra' from the box.

Amanda shook her head "I doubt such a thing existed then. It was probably more common for a woman to simply give up work when she became pregnant."

Mark nodded in agreement "but" he said "there would still be cases where a woman needed to continue working, it's possible Annie could have stayed on at the hospital on light duties or even in an administrative capacity. She could have worked until the baby was almost due" he hypothesised.

"If the baby were hers" Steve pointed out "Was Daisy any more specific about this tearaway sister, Harriet?"

"Not really" Susan shook her head "we said we were there about tracing Annie, when we switched to Dr Robins she wasn't happy, I got the feeling she wouldn't have been any different if we'd started asking for information on Harriet. You have to remember Daisy's an old lady, it's not fair to pressure somebody like that."

"But she's reliable right?" Steve asked.

Mark sighed "Yes she's reliable, but as Susan said you can't expect us to go around press-ganging the elderly into recounting gossip from half a century ago."

"OK, OK" Steve held his hands up in defence. "So now I've got two sisters to trace, what was I saying the other day about narrowing things down?" he shook his head. "I know it's too early to get pessimistic but considering I've had no luck so far with Annie, I'm not exactly brimming with confidence right now."

"I called the hospital in Vancouver" Amanda began, hoping to cheer Steve's mood. Her words grabbed his attention and he looked expectantly towards her. She was only sorry her news couldn't be more positive; "Annie had been accepted for a position there on the basis the reference Jesse found addressed to them, but there is no record of her ever taking up the position, personnel drew a total blank." Steve sighed again. "Sorry" Amanda added apologetically.

"Well either she didn't make it up there or decided against the job" Jesse reasoned.

"If she just decided against it why not tell them, leaving them hanging on sounds out of character for her, professionally speaking" Mark retorted.

Steve munched lazily on a slice of pizza, "what's next?" Jesse asked impatiently, Steve shrugged.

"Trace Annie Oxley and Harriet Reid would be a good start. The trouble is the chances are neither of the old dears have a criminal record, if they did my life would be a lot easier. And if Annie did move out of the area, even if it wasn't as far as Canada, it makes the search net all the greater. I'll see if I can turn anything in the area up on Harriet in the morning."

"What about Donald?" Mark asked.

"Same as Annie, I did a general phone book search for them both in the Vancouver area, only one Mrs A Oxley but three Mr D Oxleys. Two of the guys are still on the list, one was a Mr David Oxley, 27 year old mechanic. He's from Michigan originally but confirmed that Mrs 'A' of Fawdon Place was an old aunt. Unfortunately not old enough for us, she's 58, not to mention she's named Angelica and as far as David knew she'd never even been to California."

"He didn't know Donald?" Jesse asked.

"No, said he never came across many other people with the surname and he certainly didn't remember any Donalds in the family. Aunt Angelica's been a widow for 4 years, only moved to Canada herself 9 years ago. But he promised to ask his parents about the name when he calls them at the weekend, just in case."

Susan and Amanda reached for the last slice of pizza at the same moment, then both politely backed off, inviting the other to take it. Jesse took advantage of the situation, swiftly lifting it to his mouth and taking a huge bite. He was lucky not to choke as Amanda and Susan both slapped him on the arm.

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Mark had just convinced Steve to clear the table when the ringing of his mobile phone saved him from the chore. He grinned and flipped the phone open "Sloan, oh yeah, I'll accept the charges" he swept a clearing on the table, pulled forward his file and picked up a pen. The others strained to hear the voice at the other end of the phone, but were forced instead to fill in the gaps in the one sided conversation.

"Mr Oxley, Detective Sloan LAPD, thanks for calling back…

No sir, I'm trying to get in touch with a Mrs Annie Oxley, was wondering if you could help me…."

He gave Mark the thumbs up sign

"Oh, Ex-wife I see, do you know where I could get hold of her now…."

"Ah-ha, and when was the last time you were in contact…."

"Oh" the disappointment in his voice was apparent, and whatever news he'd received threw him for a moment. He rubbed his forehead and continued.

"OK so there's been absolutely nothing since, no Christmas cards or phone calls…."

"I see, and at that time she was living with her sister is that correct…"

"What can you tell me about her sister, Harriet wasn't it…"

There was a long pause as the man on the other end of the phone continued to speak and Steve scribbled furiously on the cover of the file. Jesse craned his neck to try any read as Steve wrote. Steve continued to talk into the mouthpiece again

"Do you have a name for him…"

"Ah-ha, an address, place of work, something like that…"

"No it's nothing to do with him really, really it's Annie and Harriet I'd like to talk to…."

"No, of course not, nothing for you to worry about" he lied.

There was a long silence again before Steve replied "Oh I see, no you've been very helpful, thank you…."

Another pause followed and Steve stopped writing. A smile slowly crept across his face.

"I'm sure I can do that for you sir" he replied,

"Can I ask you a personal question…"

"Yes that's correct…" he smiled

"I see, I'm sorry to hear that…"

"Well I'm happy for you, thanks again for your help sir, goodnight".

Steve billowed his cheeks and blew, then smiled slightly "That was interesting."

"Well?" Amanda demanded.

"The last Donald Oxley heard from Annie was in January '46, they'd been married almost five years but separated for six months previous. He was 24, she was 23, he'd moved up to Canada, and Annie had stayed behind here with Harriet. This is the interesting part, he and Annie were both desperate for a child but were having trouble conceiving, it was putting pressure on the marriage. The separation was Annie's idea, apparently she ran hot and cold on him, telling him she couldn't make him any promises then saying it would work out in the long run, she just had to take care of her little sister first. Harriet was just 17, mixing with the wrong crowd and Annie wanted to straighten her out. Eventually she called Donald on the 27th January, he was very specific with the dates involved, she told him she was heading up to Canada to meet him straight away and it would all be perfect from there on in."

"No fairytale ending?" Amanda guessed

"He never heard from her again, figured she'd changed her mind again. When he tried to contact Annie down here he found she and Harriet had vanished without a trace. He had the marriage annulled 3 years later and re-married. He's got four kids and eleven grandchildren." Steve smiled, unsure whether to divulge the next piece of information or not. "Donald said when we find Annie to tell her, despite everything, she's still his first love" he grinned.

Jesse got the benefit of Amanda and Susan's 'Aahh's in stereo.

Mark grinned then asked "whose this?" pointing to one of the names Steve had scrawled on the folder.

"Charles Farrah, Harriet's boyfriend and apparent bad influence. Donald Oxley says he did time for assault, nasty piece of work. He didn't know him personally, that's just what Annie told him. I guess I can look him up while I'm still chasing Harriet and Annie. Donald had an address but it's not likely to be of much use now. If he really was trouble he may have a recent record, well recent as far as this case goes" he explained.

"What do you want us to do next?" Susan asked.

"You'll be as bad as he is before long" Steve pointed to Jesse. "Thanks but I'm OK for now, I'll try and work on this lot tomorrow".

Jesse and Susan slumped back disappointedly in their chairs "Two of a kind" Mark chuckled.