BooksBarbecue
Back Dancing With the Virgins
Chapters (44)
  1. Dedication
  2. 1
  3. 2
  4. 3
  5. 4
  6. 5
  7. 6
  8. 7
  9. 8
  10. 9
  11. 10
  12. 11
  13. 12
  14. 13
  15. 14
  16. 15
  17. 16
  18. 17
  19. 18
  20. 19
  21. 20
  22. 21
  23. 22
  24. 23
  25. 24
  26. 25
  27. 26
  28. 27
  29. 28
  30. 29
  31. 30
  32. 31
  33. 32
  34. 33
  35. 34
  36. 35
  37. 36
  38. 37
  39. 38
  40. Acknowledgements
  41. Author’s Note
  42. About the Author
  43. Also by Stephen Booth
  44. About the Publisher

Cooper produced the photographs of the three women. ‘Did you ever see any of these three near the farm?’

Gary pointed immediately at the picture of Maggie Crew. ‘That’s the one Yvonne Leach found, isn’t it? Warren went on and on about that for days. I saw her picture in the paper.’

‘Were you there when Mrs Leach found this woman?’

‘No.’

‘Did you see her around the farm at all?’

‘Not around the farm, no.’

‘All right, Gary. What about the other two?’

He tipped his head on one side. ‘I’m not sure,’ he said. ‘But that one, I think I saw her.’

‘Yes?’

‘She looked different from that picture, but I reckon it could have been her on the moor. Bird on a bike, is that right?’

‘Gary,’ said Cooper carefully, ‘what day was this?’

‘The day I walked out on Warren Leach. I wasn’t hanging around to hear him ranting at me any more, so I walked out. Usually he gave me a lift home when I finished work, but I didn’t wait for that. I walked back over the moor. I live at Pilhough, just the other side.’

‘What day, Gary? Please be exact.’

‘It was a Sunday,’ said Gary. ‘But not last Sunday.’

‘The one before?’

‘Yes, it must have been.’

‘And on your way back over Ringham Moor, you saw this woman?’

‘On a bike – it was her, all right. She gave me the evil eye, she did. She didn’t want someone like me hanging around. There was no one else up there that day – no one else at all, except her and the other woman.’

‘The other woman?’

‘The one that was waiting for her.’ Gary noticed the sudden silence and read the expression on Cooper’s face for the first time. ‘Well, she was going up there to meet someone, wasn’t she?’

‘Why do you say that, Gary?’

‘She had that look about her. Like she was expecting to see someone, only it wasn’t me. Do you know what I mean? In any case, I saw the other one a bit earlier. Up near the tower, she was.’

‘The other one? Gary? Which other one?’

‘That one, the one that Yvonne Leach found. I never saw her near the farm, but she was up near the tower that day. And you could see she was waiting. She was smoking cigarettes like there was no tomorrow.’