It was the same almost every morning, Jack would arrive only a matter of minutes after his boss and one time protégé, Sandra Pullman. Today the blonde Superintendant was heading up the white board ready to crack on with the latest investigation.
"Dervla Spencer, one of the greatest female golfers the United Kingdom and in fact the world has ever seen, before her Women's Open days she played for Richmond Park Golf club and had an official handicap of 3. At the time she was the youngest high flying female golfer the country has ever seen." Jack said eyeing up the brunette's portrait, which sat at a tilted angle on the board.
"You sure know your onions Jack." Sandra said smiling as she clocked eyes on the man who was once her mentor and now full time father figure.
"Well what can I say, I love anything and everything to do with Golf, but Dervla was something else, she was special, the cream of the crop. You know after her untimely death the golfing world was never the same."
"Oh really, I don't pay much attention to golf but I am aware of who she was, Dervla Spencer was without a doubt a great source of achievement for woman around the globe."
Their conversation was interrupted by the loud bang of the double doors swinging aggressively into the cream walls, followed by the repetitive clicking rhythm of a rather worn bicycle chain.
"Ah Dervla Spencer, female Grand Slam champion in 2000 and 2003, and also won the Women's Open consecutively from 2001- through to 2004. It is thought that she would have won it again in 2005 had she not died three days before the competition."
"Thank you Brian perhaps just once I will be able to introduce the case for a change." Sandra sighed, rolling her eyes in frustration.
"Sorry Sandra" Brian said retreating to his seat and unclipping his safety helmet.
Once Gerry, who was 10 minutes late on account of his car being clamped, (he was getting better by the day at arriving on time) Sandra began explaining the case in full.
"Right, professional golfer Dervla Spencer, aged 27 died on the 16th July 2005 just three days before she was due to compete in the Open Championship."
"Cause of death?" Gerry inquired.
"Overdose, she had been treated a couple of months previously for anxiety by a Doctor Jessop, the media claimed that the pressure of being the golfing number one had gotten to her. She had been prescribed benzodiazepines tablets but the treatment had run its course. Yet the post-mortem showed high quantities of the drug in her stomach." The Governor explained.
"She was found by her ex husband at the clubhouse on her private golf course which runs onto the back of her property." Sandra concluded.
"Well they do say golf ends on the nineteenth hole" Gerry interjected.
"When did you know so much about golf?" Brian asked bemused.
"It's not the golf it's the booze ain't it, the bar helps make up the final hole" Gerry tried to explain to the unimpressed northerner.
"What were the conclusions of the original investigation?" Jack asked, attempting to get back to the task in hand.
"Inconclusive, the pathologist, a Doctor Donald Morag, was suspended for unprofessional behaviour just a week after the post mortem was published so in light of the investigation and the Doctor's behaviour the coroner quashed the ruling."
"Ah" Gerry said sucking the air through his prematurely yellowing teeth brought on by a lifetime of smoking cigarettes.
"What else did the original investigation unearth?" Brian inquired.
"Not a great deal by all accounts, there were a few leads that didn't get anywhere; Ms Spencer had recently split up from her husband of five years, Jeremy Crawford and their custody battle over their three-year-old daughter, Rita. This drew the attention of the world's media. He was dropping Rita off when he discovered Dervla's body. This was about 7.30pm; time of death has been put down at between four and half past six. There were also signs that she hadn't been alone in the clubhouse but there was no sign of a break in or any altercations, the club house had no CCTV and forensics didn't find anything to point towards the death being suspicious. " Sandra replied.
"Yes I remember, their divorce was brought to the public eye no matter how hard they tried to deal with it behind closed doors, he claimed that he couldn't cope with her fame and there was rumours that he had several affairs, none of which were ever confirmed" Jack recalled.
"Didn't she have a boyfriend at this point?"
"She did Brian, the original investigation paid close attention to Peter Rose as neighbours reported 'threat and scenes of violence at all hours of the morning- he hated her being famous and felt powerless compared to her. Mr Rose was a selfish, domineering power freak who would have preferred Ms Spencer to stay at home and cook and clean for him'" Sandra read from the case files.
"So why has this case been given to us?" Gerry said sinking back into the sofa.
"Well a journalist Annie McCormack is writing a book on how Miranda Jordan, Spencer's golfing rival should have been the champion and the time. During her research she came across Miss Jordan's MySpace page and just days before Dervla Spencer's death Miranda Jordan posted this." Sandra handed each of the older men a piece of paper with a print screen image of the evidence.
"Dervla Spencer has won enough awards in this sport, it is time to ensure that other hard working woman golfer's get the recognition that they deserve and this year will be my year. One way or another something bad will happen to Spencer to ensure she doesn't win." Jack read aloud, his rounded glasses perched on the tip of his nose, completing the inspecting look.
"Where do you want us to start then Gov'nor?" Gerry asked sounding rather enthusiastic for a change.
"Gerry do you want to try the ex husband, there is an address for him in the file. Jack see if you and Brian can track down Peter Rose, I will try and find this doctor who prescribed Dervla with benzodiazepine. Make sure you are all back here for no later than half past one, Strickland has arranged for us to speak with Miranda Jordan at half past two." Sandra delegated.
"Righto Guv" Gerry saluted before he put on his coat and went off on his quest to speak to Jeremy Crawford.