Frozen Grave

Chapter 34

‘Who are the women on his list and what kind of women are they, Pam?’ Harding had returned to the Whittington, and Carter and Willis were now in Robbo’s office.

‘Here’s one of his ladies: Lisa Tompkins, she runs a gym in Brighton,’ Pam answered Carter. ‘Here’s another: Emily Porter,’ Pam read from her notes. Willis and Carter came round to her desk, to look at her screen. ‘She’s a schoolteacher in a private school in Taunton.’ Pam brought up the cover photo from the school’s brochure and pointed to a photo of a tall, slim, smiling woman in a tracksuit, standing erect, hands at her sides; she was flanked either side by a class of teenage girls with archery bows. ‘That’s her.’

‘Have you managed to get hold of her?’ asked Robbo.

‘I’ve left a message on her phone for her to call me but I’ll try again this evening.’

‘We mustn’t panic these women. Keep it casual in your questions when you ring.’

Pam brought up a photo on her PC of a hair salon from an article in a newspaper about the owner and her staff.

‘I traced a number to this salon, True Colours, and the hairdresser, called Paula Seymour. I think that’s her, third from the left. She met him on the site Sugar Daddies. The photo’s from the local paper from when they opened True Colours three years ago.’

‘Pretty-looking woman,’ said Robbo, looking at Pam’s screen.

‘She wasn’t in today,’ said Pam, ‘and I tried her home number. I didn’t leave a message. I’ll keep trying her. I did get through to a woman in the West Country. She’s quite a well-known artist who lives on Dartmoor. Her name is Megan Penarth. She paints atmospheric landscapes.’ Pam read from her notes: ‘It says on the letter that she met him through a wine-lovers’ dating site.’

‘You know…’ Carter spoke his thoughts out loud. ‘That’s one thing you can’t accuse Ellerman of – being lazy in this. He hunts women. I wonder what his end goal is? Is it just financial?’

‘Must be. If he is actually looking for a relationship with women, why does he stay in his marriage at all? answered Pam as she typed in the name of the company the next woman on the list, Gillian Forth, worked for: Dreamcars.

‘Maybe he doesn’t leave his wife because he thinks she’ll take what he has left,’ said Willis.

‘Does the wife have money?’ asked Robbo.

‘I’ve looked into her,’ Pam replied. ‘She was a hairdresser when they married. It looks like she worked the first few years but then she gave up when Ellerman started to make big money.’

‘How’s Toffee doing?’ asked Robbo suddenly, as they stood around Pam’s screen, waiting for the information to load.

‘Zoe is keeping us up to date,’ replied Willis. ‘She said that Simon Smith has been around a lot. She’s talking to him, trying to get him to tell us more about Toffee’s friends. We’re still looking for Mahmet Balik, who seems to have gone to ground.’

Pam brought up a photo from the Dreamcars website.

‘This was taken when the London Olympics were on,’ she said as she zoomed in on the image.

‘Nice car,’ said Robbo. A woman was posing with two men in front of a red Ferrari.

Pam read the details: ‘It’s a photo of clients with the sales manager Gillian Forth. I’ll see what else I can find on her.’

Pam Googled the name Gillian Forth and read out from the screen: ‘Gillian Forth was named as the woman who died in an arson attack on her home in Exeter last week.’