Murder Takes the Stage by Amy Myers Page B

don’t see that either.’
    Only the printer remained on Ken’s desk, and helped by Cath, Georgia began to tidy up the mess on the floor, though with little chance of finding anything of interest. The papers seemed to be all tax and bill related, not work notes.
    â€˜Were any other rooms raided?’ she asked Christine.
    â€˜The bedrooms. Look at them if you like.’
    They too presented a depressing scene. It persuaded Georgia, however, that it was Ken’s work the thief was after, not valuables. Drawers had been emptied, and yet a gold watch had been ignored.
    â€˜The photos,’ Georgia remembered. ‘Ken showed a box of them – have they gone too?’
    Christine’s face lit up. ‘I know the one you mean. I didn’t check. He kept it in the living room, not his office – don’t know why, except that there were family photos in it.’
    Georgia followed Christine downstairs, hardly daring to hope.
    â€˜They were kept in here.’ Christine opened up a box chest that doubled as a stool and could therefore have escaped the intruder’s notice. Inside was the box Georgia recognized, and she was conscious that Cath was peering over her shoulder and equally excited. Christine looked from one to the other and managed a grin. ‘Let’s take these back to my home. You can fight over them in comfort. Besides, I need to get out of here.’
    â€˜This should stir something up.’ As Georgia arrived on Friday morning, Peter was scanning the Broadstairs Chronicle , which she had asked the Haden Shaw newsagent to order for them. ‘Well done. You come over as quite an authority on Tom Watson.’
    The newspaper had not only devoted its front page to the murder but also included a double-page feature on Ken written by Cath. Another whole page was devoted to his obituary, and facing that was Christine’s tribute, plus an article focusing on the interest still felt in the Watson murder, together with her own contribution.
    â€˜Georgia Marsh,’ she read, ‘of the Marsh & Daughter partnership, well known for its true-crime studies, spoke to our reporter Cath Dillon: “The trial of Tom Watson for murdering his wife, which ended in his acquittal, is an interesting one. I am sure there are still avenues to be explored. According to Ken Winton, there are unanswered questions, and that always attracts Marsh & Daughter. Tom Watson’s ghost is popularly thought to haunt his former residence – could it be that he too thinks that justice has not yet been done? After all, the true murderer of Joan Watson was never found.”’
    â€˜That might bring a few creepy-crawlies out of the woodwork,’ Peter said with satisfaction.
    â€˜Perhaps too many.’ Georgia was uneasily aware that now the die was cast. Marsh & Daughter had firmly nailed their colours to the Tom Watson mast and now needed to set sail in earnest. Ken had not sent them any photos by email, as Peter had asked, but she had now had time to look far more carefully at the box of photos than Ken’s rushed overview had provided. It had convinced her that Marsh & Daughter could not abandon ship on this case, which now included not only Tom but possibly Ken.
    Some of the photos of the groups of young men and women in the fifties had been identified on the back, but many were not. There were a lot of family photos, of a smiling Micky, wife and son. Some of these had been taken much later than the fifties, judging by the use of colour and the clothes. Christine had looked equally at a loss when asked to identify the fifties photos. But then Georgia had discovered the white envelope she had noticed while the box was open in Ken’s garden. These photos were a mixture, and one in particular had struck her. It was of Tom and Cherry together, taken on the pier, and just seeing their obvious happiness had convinced Georgia that the fingerprints at Gary’s Fish Bar had not