The World's Greatest Mysteries [antikvár]

CRIME INTRIGUE Suzy Lamplugh On Monday 28 July 1986, Suzy Lamplugh made an entry in her business diary. It read: '12.45. Mr Kipper, 37 Shorrolds Road, O/S'. For 25-year-old Suzy, the summons to get out of doors and meet a perfect stranger must have been a welcome opportimity to have a break from her busy office routine at Sturgis Estate Agents in Fulham Road, west London, where she had worked for 16 months. The diary note was a simple shorthand reminder to herself. Suzy, a young, ambitious and hard-working estate agent negotiator, was due to meet a client outside that address at the appointed time. The property — a furnished three-storey terraced house - had come on to the books a few days before. The asking price was ^(^128,000 and a successful sale would have meant a tidy commission bonus for the eager young estate agent. Suzy had spent a wasteful and frustrating morning taking phone calls from potential clients who just wanted to compare house prices with those of rival estate agents, making her own calls to friends, trying to locate her pocket diary and a postcard she had lost before the previous weekend, and notifying her bank manager about her cheque book which had been misplaced at the same time. But nothing distracted her from her meeting with Mr Kipper. That appointment seemed like a real sales prospect. Mr Kipper could be a serious potential purchaser. Just before her limch break she strode over to the desk of Mark Gurdon, the office manager, and collected the keys to the house in Shorrolds Road. The Ford Fiesta car supphed by her employers was parked just outside the office. It would take only three or four minutes for Suzy to drive to her appointment. The office manager expected Suzy would be gone just long enough to show her potential customer around the property before heading back to the office. She would probably bring back a sandwich to eat at her desk, because she was always keen to be there, ready to answer any calls that might lead to more sales and more commission bonuses. Suzy took only her purse with her, leaving her handbag behind. Then she left the office and drove away to become the subject of the biggest and most puzzhng missing persons mystery which has ever baffled the experts at New Scotland Yard. 8