Shoestring's Finest Hour

Using a special branch detective constable for information, Eddie discovers that a horse
was shot dead at Buttercups some years earlier, and several legally held weapons were
found at the health farm. Whilst investigating the farm under an alias, Eddie meets
Calderes once more. She tells him she is now going to marry Chris,the father of her child.

Some time later Eddie is told by Don Satchley that his radio show is going to be 'rested.'
He is then taken by the police to a forest, where he is shown the body of Maria Calderes,
who has been strangled. The police inform Eddie that he is a suspect in the investigation.
Eddie decides to find out who murdered the girl, but also uses the case as a chance to
keep his show on the air - listeners will flock to the show to hear the case unfold with each
passing week, as he struggles to clear his name and find the killer.

Eddie travels to London and makes enquiries at Whitehall, who tell him that Maria never
disclosed that she had a child. The Whitehall clerk tells Eddie that Maria used to work in a
Bath hotel named the Royal Fountain, along with another immigrant named Jean Cole, who
allegedly moved to live with the father of her child. Whilst visiting the Royal Fountain, Eddie
meets Damien Carew-Prendergast, whom he nicknames 'the mantis'. The mantis worked
briefly at Buttercups, and had spoken to Eddie there just after his visit to see Maria. He tells
Eddie that he is writing a book about Buttercups.

Jean Cole tells Eddie that her son is named Johnny; she has not seen the boy's father in
five years, and plans to marry an American who has proposed to her. Eddie's passport is
confiscated by the police and Erica grudgingly agrees to go to the Philippines in his place
to search for information relating to Maria's child.

The police contact Eddie, revealing that they have found a witness who saw a van
speeding through a field where Maria's body was found the next morning; shortly after, the
mantis contacts Eddie and asks him to meet him at Bristol bus station. He reveals that his
life is in danger. Eddie agrees to meet him, but the Mantis is knocked down by an orange
Mini as they cross the street to greet each other.

At the police station, Eddie spots the name Christopher Dixon on the back of an image of
one of the Buttercups suspects. Linking this with Maria's use of the name "Chris", he visits
a London firm named 'Dixon and Purdue, Fine Art'. Dixon is shocked to hear of Maria's
death and confesses that he once seduced her; some time after their affair, she had asked
him to marry her in an effort to enable her child to enter the country legally.

Whilst talking to Erica via the telephone, Eddie comes to a conclusion - he rushes off to
see Jean Cole, but encounters her American fiancé instead. The fiancé agrees to help
Eddie and they arrange a meeting with Jean. Eddie travels to Buttercups to interview
Cranston, the owner of the health farm, who says he knows nothing of the attack on the
Mantis. Leaving Buttercups, Eddie intercepts a package that is being delivered to
Cranston. The package contains the mantis's book, which contains nothing of use as
evidence. However, Eddie reasons, Cranston is as yet oblivious of that fact.

In a Radio West broadcast, Eddie announces that he has the book, and then returns to his
flat. Cranston's men are waiting, but Eddie has tipped the police off, and they enter just
after the hired thugs set to work.

Erica's investigations in the Philippines reveal that Maria's child is dead; Eddie, though, is
not convinced. Jean Cole confesses that she had a child she did not want; Maria convinced
her to keep it, marry the father, and give it British nationality. Later, she would travel to the
Philippines and swap babies. The plan worked until Jean decided to move to the USA with
her fiancé.

Erica tells Eddie that a local performance of Othello is being staged - some nine years
earlier, the company was touring in the Philippines, and one of the actors is called
Christopher Simmons. Simmons confesses to having an affair with Maria, but denies
meeting her since leaving the Philippines.

Whilst studying Simmons' photograph, Eddie notices the similarity between his
appearance and that of Dixon. Dixon confesses that he killed her after Eddie puts this to
him. Maria never knew the surname of her lover - he was simply "Chris", and the similarity
between the two men in terms of their appearance was enough to convince Maria that
Christopher Dixon was the father of her child.

Dixon worked as a killer for the criminal clients at Buttercups, but took no pleasure from
murdering Maria; he did it to silence her, in London, then drove near to Buttercups in the
van, where he dumped her body. Eddie keeps Dixon talking until the police arrive; he later
hears that Dixon has committed suicide in prison, whilst Simmons has decided not to
become a monk but to remain in the theatre.

Turning his back on all the reporters who are baying for his thoughts on the case, Eddie
goes back with Erica to her flat.