Episode 66

Yaxley Farcett was staring intently at the computer screen in Reg Dixon's study, trying to find an e-mail sent to Anne Worthington the previous November. He had an inkling that it might mark the start of an illicit relationship the pair were rumoured to have had. Quite where this all fitted in with opium and speech synthesisers he couldn't tell, but anything was worth a try in this most singular of cases. After a minute of searching the historic files, Yaxley came upon a mailing that was sent on the 4th of November, the same evening as Anne Worthington's initial request for help.

 

TO: Anne Worthington Date: 04/11/97
FROM: Reginald Dixon
Cc:
Subject: Re: HELP !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mrs.Worthington, I'm extremely pleased to hear that you are keeping up to date with my 'World of Dixon' articles on Mr.Trent's web Site. You never mentioned it when we met at the Harvest Festival Service in the church, so I was surprised to receive your mail. Any knowledge I have of computing has been learnt by trial and error but I'm willing to give you a demo on what I've grasped over the past couple of years. See you Thursday ! Will 9.30 be Ok ? Reg Dixon

 

Yaxley was not surprised at the prim tone of these letters. With Anne Worthington being about fifty years old and married to a repected farmer in the village, she wasn't going to get too heavy on an e-mail. Dixon also struck him as being rather 'quaint' from his style of writing and the fact that he was a batchelor at thirty five. If Anne was giving off any love signals, he wondered if Dixon was the right man to decode them. A quick look through Anne's letters to Dixon revealed no more. There were many requests for help and the odd mention of books she had read and thought Dixon might enjoy. One consistent theme though was the line....'Could you pop around on Thursday ?' If there was anything going on thought Yaxley, it was all very subtle and Catherine Cookson style eyelid fluttering and heaving breasts. Until that is, he came to one dated the 31st January 1998..........

 

FROM: Anne Worthington DATE: 31/01/98
TO: Reginald Dixon
Cc:
Subject: REGGIE !!!!!!! ('Reggie' thought Yaxley. Things are moving apace now !)

Reggie, I need to see you. I was at the council offices today doing some research into the history of the pubs of Barnham and discovered something that will interest and shock you. Can you meet me at the library in Ealham on Wednesday at about 2pm....See you there.   Anne

 

'This is it' thought Yaxley. Something of substance. He checked in Dixon's outgoing mails for something from the same day. He felt sure that a message of this type would have been responded to as quickly as possible. He moved the cursor up and down as the dates and times flickered before his straining eyes. The next outgoing mail that he could see was on the 5th of February. Surely he would have responded quicker than that ? He was obviously a man who checked his mail regularly.

Ignoring the computer for a moment, Farcett stood up and stretched. It had been a hell of a morning and he was shocked to discover after looking at his watch that it was still only ten past twelve. As he stood there, his eyes met the diaries, standing to attention on the heaving shelf. He reached quickly for the newest book and opened it to the end of January. It wasn't difficult for him to discover what he was looking for. Reg Dixon obviously wasn't too concerned about security. The page was full of the encounter he had had that day with Anne Worthington in the library. Far from being a romantic assignation, it contained information which went to the very heart of the Dixon murder..........

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