“One last question, Mr Jeffries,” Ryo said briskly. “Can you tell us where you were last Saturday afternoon between one and four?”

“Of course. I was supposed to have the day off, I don’t generally work weekends, but I got called in to a board meeting, so I was there most of the afternoon. Didn’t get home until after five.”

“You work for Orien Finance, is that right?”

“Yes, detective.”

“I’m assuming someone there can corroborate your presence at this meeting?”

“Quite a few people, yes. All heads of department were there.”

“That’s fine then. Thank you for your time.” Ryo and Dee stood to leave.

“Let me show you out.” Richard Jeffries showed the detectives to the door, and once outside, spoke hurriedly. “Don’t bother calling my work, there wasn’t a meeting that day, that’s just what I told my wife and if she finds out the truth, she’ll kill me. Seriously!”

Dee frowned. “Are you sayin’ you don’t have an alibi for last Saturday?”

“No, of course not. I just wasn’t where my wife thinks I was. Look, I love her, and there’s pretty much nothing I wouldn’t do for her, but last Saturday her pregnant sister was throwing a gender reveal party, and I hate those things. I’d rather have my eyeballs removed with a spoon than spend several hours listening to a bunch of people making a big deal of announcing what… uh… reproductive organs their kid has.”

“Can’t blame ya for that,” Dee agreed. “One of our work colleagues got dragged along to one, told me it put him off ever havin’ kids.”

“So, if you weren’t at work, where were you?” Ryo got things back on track.

“With three of my buddies at the Marine Park Golf Course. It was a great afternoon, I finished the course four strokes under par, best I’ve ever done.” Jeffries’ eyes lit up at the memory. “My wife hates golf though. If she knew I skipped her sister’s party to go play eighteen holes, I’d never hear the end of it.”

“So your golfing buddies are your alibis?”

“Yes, them and our caddies, and a few other folks saw us. Even chatted to another couple who were ahead of us. The husband landed in a sand trap.” Jeffries thrust a folded piece of paper at Dee in the guise of a handshake. “That’s the names, addresses, and phone numbers of my buds, plus our tee time and the number for the golf course. Call them, they’ll all tell you I was there, just please don’t let my wife find out!”

“Long as your alibi pans out, you’ve got nothin’ to worry about,” Dee assured him. “We won’t need to talk to ya again. But if you think of anyone who might have had a grudge against your former co-worker, anyone who might have wanted him dead, you’ll let us know, right?”

“Of course, detective. I mean, I didn’t like Gus Lockwood, truth is I don’t think anyone did, he wasn’t a likeable guy and when he got himself fired, everyone was pretty happy about it, but I can’t think of anyone who would have wanted to kill him. That’s pretty extreme, even for a guy like Gus. I hope you catch his killer.”

Ryo nodded. “We’ll do our best. Good day, Mr Jeffries.”

As they got into their car, Dee passed the slip of paper to his partner. “Guess we’ve got another alibi to check out.”

“All part of the job.”


The End