and something clearly happened to the Parr family of Camden, London. It made quite a media splash as you might well imagine.â
âYes.â Carmen Pharoah sensed the gentle scent of air freshener in the room. âI saw and read the newspaper cuttings which were attached to the missing person report. Quite a splash, as you say, local, regional and national newspapers all carried the story.â
âYes, I remember.â Adrian Clough glanced up at the ceiling of his living room. âAnd no one heard or saw anything. You know itâs that which I find the most difficult thing of all to comprehend about the whole case. The hotel the family were staying in initially reported the family as doing a runner, absconding without paying the bill, which was quite a large bill because they had been staying at the King Henry, no less.â
âSo . . . monied,â Carmen Pharoah commented, âthatâs not a cheap hotel. They were very comfortably off.â
âYes, they were no fly-by-nights.â Adrian Clough nodded briefly in agreement. âThen their car was found abandoned. It was a top of the range Mercedes Benz, which then scotched any notion that they had run off without paying the hotel bill and confirmed that something untoward had happened. I mean, parents and their two daughters with no known links or connection to York disappear in the night . . . as if abducted by aliens . . . sinister, passing sinister.â Again Adrian Clough took a deep breath which seemed to Carmen Pharoah to cause him great discomfort.
âAre you all right, Adrian?â Carmen Pharoah could not restrain her concern.
âNo, I am not.â Adrian Clough forced a smile. âBut all that can be done has been done. Itâs just pain relief now, this is my last lap. Comes to all of us and itâs come to me. Letâs just talk about the Parrs.â
âOf course.â
âYou have to put it into context. I lived to have my three score and ten plus a year or two on top. I reproduced . . .â He inclined his head towards his âroguesâ galleryâ. âThe two daughters of the Parrs were barely in their twenties when they died. I mean they had to have been killed, so sinister.â
âYes, sinister is just the word.â Carmen Pharoah spoke softly. âThis is something that you probably donât know, sir, but we will be making it public in the press release, and at the press conference, and that is that the grave in which the Parr family was found . . . it seems certain it will be them . . . there was also a fifth body buried with them.â
âOh . . .â Clough gasped, âthat is news to me . . . that really is news, a fifth body?â
âYes, Iâm sorry, I thought that it might come as a surprise.â Carmen Pharoah sat back in the armchair she occupied. âIt deepens the mystery somewhat.â
âIâll say.â Adrian Clough shook his head. âIâll say it deepens it. A male or female?â
âFemale, of the same age group as the daughters. The forensic pathologist has a very finely developed eye. At first she thought that she was dealing with a family of five with one daughter being significantly taller than the others because of a dormant gene carried in the family line, four of the skeletons being quite short in terms of stature. I was observing the post-mortem for the police, you see.â
âYes.â Adrian Clough adjusted his position in the chair. âYes, I remember the hotel staff remarking that they were a short family, I remember that quite well.â
âBut the fifth body, the tallest of the skeletons, was of average height and Dr DâAcre, that is the forensic pathologist I mentioned, she at first thought it was because of a dormant gene, which can happen apparently.â
âYouâre telling me.â Clough smiled. âYou should see the height of one of my grandsons. He is