Gerry pulled his treasured old Stag in front of prestige town house. He had to get out of his car and reach up high to press the intercom on the vicious iron gates, that did exactly what they were designed to do- keep out unwelcome visitors. The sharp spikes running off the top of the metallic frame made even the most high security prison look inviting.

Gerry shuddered as he clocked his eyes on the ugly stone gargoyles that were unrecognisable of any animal, vegetable or mineral. Gerry chose to see them as ugly devil dragons with the warts of toads on their faces. They reminded him of Sandra when she was in one of her foul moods.

"Who is it?" A voice belonging to a man who sounded like he had swallowed several plums, crackled through the intercom.

"Gerry Standing, I'm from the Met's Unsolved Crime and Open Case Squad, I would like to speak to a Mr. Jeremy Crawford, we are re investigating the death of Dervla Spencer."

"Hold your ID badge to the camera, it's above the intercom speaker" the same irritating accent ordered.

Gerry did what the voice told him and jumped back into his classic car, quickly reversing as the gates aggressively swung open. He crawled along the drive taking in every detail of the property, from the size of the house, to the excessive water feature taking up one side of the front part of the ground.

Gerry parked his car a little way from the lavish entrance of the building which was propped up by the marble pillars. Before he had even made his way to the front door and down the stony drive the tall man who Gerry had already identified as Jeremy Crawford from the picture on the board in the office, was stood their ready the greet him.

"Good morning Mr Standing, so sorry for all the orders, one has to be so cautious these days." The gentleman with the piercing green eyes said pleasantly, as if his demeanour changed when interacting with people face-to-face.

"It is quite alright" Gerry said smiling a little.

"I have my daughter Rita to think about" he explained, inviting the retired copper inside with a gesture of arm which was dressed in a designer shirt.

"Oh I understand, I have four and they are always the priority, even now they have flown the nest" Gerry smiled. He had a feeling he may have misjudged Crawford.

Gerry was invited into the reception room which was just as plush as the exterior of the house. He smiled as he scanned the room; it was obvious that despite the divorce and her death Jeremy still held an ever inflamed torch for Dervla.

"I can't tell you how pleased I am to hear that you are reopening the case, I never believed Dervla could have killed herself. She had so much going for her, her never ending sporting success, her friends and not to mention her family."

"I understand at the time leading up to her death the pair of you had disagreements over your daughter's custody, is that correct?"

"Well... umm... yes it was" Jeremy hesitated. "You have to understand I still loved Dervla with all my heart even now I love her unconditionally, just like I did when she died." His face looked pained and forlorn as he spoke trying desperately to shake off the regretful tone caught in the back of his throat.

"If you still loved her then why did your marriage end the way it did?"

"I couldn't handle the endless attention the media kept giving us, they were hounding us for pictures of Rita, and it really upset me how Dervla and I could not have any quality time together what with the Piers Morgans and the fact that she thought she had to keep getting better and better at golf. By the end I hardly saw her. We were living separate lives. Even Rita couldn't keep us together. All those rumours about me sleeping around were nothing more than that- gossip."

"How would you describe Dervla's behaviour towards you during these months?"

"Oh you know, it was difficult and very strained, we both had clear visions of what we thought was best for our little girl but we couldn't agree."

"It is difficult mate; I should know I have four daughters and three ex wives."

"Blimey."

"You're telling me. Why do you think you both disagreed so strongly when it came to Rita?"

"We both agreed that the media would ruin her childhood but the way I phrased it, made it sound like I was accusing Derv of being a bad mum and that she favoured golf and fame over Rita." Jeremy said bowing his head down in shame.

"Did your decision to apply for custody have anything to do with Peter Rose, her new fella?"

Mr Crawford hesitated before answering. "Not really they had only been seeing each other a short while but I did think he was a little aggressive towards Derv-"

"In what way?" Gerry inquired cutting the mad off, midsentence.

"He didn't like it when she stood up to him. You see I got the impression he thought women should be seen and not heard and Dervla wasn't that sort of woman. He used to talk to her like she wasn't good for anything other than housework. To tell you the truth I think he was jealous of her success."

"Can you remember if Derva had any plans for the day she died; when you picked up Rita did she give you any indication as to what she was going to do?"

The man shook his head in an apologetic way after racking his brains for a short while. "Sorry no, she may have planned a day with Peter but as she was found... as she was in the bar when we got back I expect she was practising for the Open."

"Mr Crawford, can you remember if there was any signs to suggest Dervla had company in the bar?" Gerry asked carefully, he could see in the man's eyes that this was still torturing him, it was clear that his love for Dervla Spencer had never evaporated.

"To be honest I didn't really take in all that much, I just saw Derv lying on the ground, she must have fallen off the stool as that and her glass were on the floor next to her, she was stone cold and I had to phone the emergency services and I didn't want Rita to see what was going on." The repercussions of that tragic day had caused Jeremy's eyes to cloud over and swell on the outside as he tried to conceal the fact he was about to cry.

"I understand how difficult this must be but if there is anything at all you can remember it may be vital in leading us somewhere, please take your time."

"Thank you" A long silence hung over the two of them like the black cloud of grief that was so obviously hanging over Jeremy Crawford's head.

"Come to think of it there was a bottle of rose wine on the table, which I thought was odd as Derv never drank wine by herself, it was her social drink as she called it. The funny thing was that there was no other glass on display."

"Thank you very much Mr Crawford that is most helpful, I don't suppose she used a mobile, maybe she had used it to arrange to meet someone?" Gerry tried.

"She did, her parents Bernice and Clive took most of her things, they are going to keep them all in trust until she is old enough to understand, you could try them" he smiled.

"Thank you, and thank you for your time, it has been most helpful, if you think of anything else please get in touch" he smiled extracting a card with the office's contact details.

"No thank you for investing this, I never thought she killed herself and I hope we can restore some dignity for her. Oh and Mr Standing, you will promise not to inform the media of the re investigation I don't want Rita getting upset over this."

"Of course not Mr Crawford, UCOS doesn't work like that. Bye for now."