Frozen Grave

Chapter 43

The next morning, Willis parked up in the car park at Fletcher House and, instead of taking the lift up to the third floor and MIT 17, she walked across to the staff entrance of Archway Police Station. She found Carter waiting for her outside an interview room on the ground floor.

‘Everything okay?’ He asked, watching her walk towards him along the corridor. She nodded.

‘Good. Right then, let’s go.’

Carter opened the door to the interview suite. JJ Ellerman was sitting next to his lawyer Petron, deep in conversation. They stopped talking and waited whilst Carter and Willis sat opposite. Carter switched on the recorder and introduced himself and everyone in the room.

‘This is Detective Inspector Carter showing exhibit number 312, a typewritten letter three pages in length. Have you seen this, Mr Ellerman?’ Carter asked.

Ellerman glanced at it. His eyes flitted around the room. Panic registered on his face as his eyelids fluttered, his breathing quickened.

‘Yes, I’ve seen it. Where did you get it?’ Petron glanced his client’s way. Ellerman didn’t react to him.

Carter watched Ellerman play-act at being Mr In Control of the Situation, on top of his game. But Ellerman had a bloom of perspiration on his blanched face. He didn’t look well, thought Carter. There were bags under his eyes. Life was catching up with him. Carter could see Ellerman’s mind turning over. He would be working through the list of women, to figure out how Carter could have got the letter. He might come to Harding. That was a risk they knew they would have to take.

‘Did you receive it in the post?’ Carter asked, keeping his voice soft, taking his time, watching Ellerman all the time.

‘No. Someone showed it to me. I don’t understand what business it is of yours? This is a purely private matter.’

Carter tapped his forefinger on the letter. ‘It’s not private when two of the women on this list have been murdered.’

‘May I?’ Petron picked up the letter and looked it over. ‘I need a copy of this. This should have been shown to me first. I want to register my complaint.’

‘Registered,’ said Carter.

‘Where did you get this?’ asked Petron.

‘We are not prepared to disclose that information at this time. Does it matter where we got it?’

‘Yes, because you are confronting me with a document that I can’t defend against or advise my client about.’

Carter turned back to Ellerman ‘Two women are dead, Mr Ellerman. Olivia Grantham and Gillian Forth. Now would you like to comment on that?’

‘It’s a terrible tragedy.’

‘And so surprising that they both were in a relationship with you.’

‘I was not in a relationship with either woman.’

‘But you did know them both. You had had sexual relations with them both?’

‘Yes.’

‘When I first asked you about Gillian Forth, you denied knowing her. Why was that?’

‘I wasn’t sure who you meant at first.’

‘Why did you feel it necessary to lie about it?’

Ellerman stared coldly at Carter and sat back in his chair, tight-lipped, then said, ‘I didn’t lie – I just told you.’

‘And when you realized you were mistaken – you still didn’t contact me to say that you did actually know Gillian?’

‘I thought I was being adversely judged by my choice of lifestyle.’

‘Your choice of lifestyle is what? What does that mean?’

‘I am referring to my relationship status.’

‘Your relationship status with these women listed in the three pages of this letter, you mean?’

‘I am not having a relationship with any of these women. This letter was written by a malicious individual who I would certainly sue for slander if I knew who she was.’

‘Do you have any idea?’

‘No, I don’t.’

‘One of the women on this list, you think?’

‘Yes, I would think so. It stands to reason.’ Ellerman looked curiously at Carter, as if it had set him thinking.

‘Do you recognize all the names on this list?’ Carter asked, watching Ellerman, who was scanning the list of names as if looking to see who might be missing.

Petron answered first: ‘I think my client needs time to look through this list thoroughly. He can’t be expected to make a snap decision.’

‘Sure. Okay. He can do that. For now, let’s go back to Gillian Forth, the woman you said you didn’t know, but then changed your mind. The woman you say you weren’t in a relationship with.’ Carter tapped his finger on the third page of the letter. ‘It says here that you were seeing her for eighteen months and you met on a dating site called Love Uniform Dating. Is that correct?’

‘It could be. I can’t remember exactly. I haven’t seen her in a while. I told you.’

‘When was the last time you saw her?’

‘I think it was about six months ago, last summer. I called in when I was working in the area.’

‘So, you haven’t seen her in six months? You’re sure about that?’

‘To the best of my knowledge. I might be slightly out. It’s been a while anyway.’

‘Did you keep in touch in any way? Did you phone or email her?’

‘No.’

‘So when I look at Gillian’s phone records, I won’t find any recent activity between the two of you?’

‘We phone each other sometimes. We text “hello”. We exchange the odd message, that’s all.’

‘What kind of messages were sent between you?’

He shrugged. ‘The usual.’

‘And that is?’

‘Sometimes just a hello, how are you? Other times a bit more racy.’

‘Racy? What kind of thing would you say in your message?’

‘I don’t know, for God’s sake! Things like: “I’m feeling horny, would love to be shagging you right now.” That kind of thing. The type of sex messaging that everyone sends these days.’

‘Do they? I don’t. Do you, DC Willis?’

‘No, sir,’ she answered.

‘Okay, well, I’m sorry your lives are so dull.’ Ellerman kept his eyes on Willis as he answered, sitting back in his chair and smiling sarcastically. ‘But other people besides Met officers then.’

‘Would you send sexually explicit messages to women you had never had sex with?’

‘Probably not.’

‘Yes or no?’

‘I would if I anticipated having sex with them but I wouldn’t just message a stranger with something explicit.’

‘So you knew Gillian Forth in a sexual way, an intimate way.’

‘I told you I did.’

‘No, you said it wasn’t intimate.’

‘It was physically intimate, not emotionally. I’ve already told you – it wasn’t a serious relationship. I am a married man who enjoys the company of women besides my wife. It isn’t a crime.’

‘It was serious enough for you to text her every day.’

‘I didn’t text her every day. I told you, it was a casual relationship. She knew it was never going to go anywhere.’

‘Not according to her friends; she felt she was in a relationship that would definitely lead somewhere.’ Ellerman shook his head. He didn’t answer. ‘What can you tell me about Gillian, Mr Ellerman?’

‘She was just a normal sort. Not a lot more I can tell you really.’

‘A normal sort? Normal for you? Did she typify the women you go for?’ Ellerman didn’t answer. He shrugged.

‘She was professional, hard-working, career-minded. She was a strong character just like Olivia Grantham. Is that your type?’

‘I don’t have a type.’

‘Yes, you do – they have to be willing to part with a lot of money.’

‘I resent that accusation. I am always truthful.’

Carter could see that the lawyer was about to step in and stop the interview. Carter smiled and offered Ellerman something to drink.

‘How often did you see Gillian, do you think?’ Carter resumed his questioning.

‘Sometimes once a week, sometimes not for a fortnight. Whenever I had business down her way.’

‘Eighteen months is a long time to maintain a relationship.’

‘It is easier when you don’t see someone often. It was a casual relationship, as I said.’

‘And you think she viewed it that way?’

‘Yes, I think she did.’

‘Can I just stress, Mr Ellerman, we have ordered Gillian Forth’s phone records and we will see the truth.’

‘I have nothing to hide.’

‘So you told her all about the other women?’

‘No. That is my business.’

‘She didn’t know about the other women?’

‘No, not as far as I know.’

‘None of these women knew about each other until they got this letter, is that right?’

‘I can’t answer that.’

‘But they weren’t supposed to know about one another?’

‘No, obviously not.’

‘So that’s the kind of truth that you were talking about, is it? That’s your interpretation of the truth? Must be difficult for you to know which one wrote the letter? One of them has obviously done her homework.’

‘Illegally gained access to private information.’

‘You say your relationship was a casual one with Gillian Forth, but was it also a financial one?’

‘What do you mean?’

‘We know that Olivia Grantham invested in your Hacienda Renovations company – did Gillian Forth also?’

He didn’t want to answer; he mumbled.

Petron looked at him. ‘You don’t have to answer.’

‘No. But I have nothing to hide. Yes, I believe Gillian did invest a sum of money in my company.’

‘That will be… in the company that…’ Carter picked up the page where Ellerman’s bogus company was exposed. ‘The company that it says in the letter doesn’t exist.’

‘It does exist.’

‘Well, we know it’s a registered company. It has accounts that show a non-profit. It’s worth a nominal amount of one hundred pounds. Where does all the money invested go?’

‘It goes into restoring Spanish properties. I have some accounts I can show you.’

‘I don’t need to see them. We are conducting our own searches. If necessary, we will send officers out to Spain to hunt down the truth. We won’t stop now, Mr Ellerman. We’re very grateful to whoever sent this letter. We intend contacting each of the women and asking them all about their relationship with you. You had better prepare your wife for some unpleasant surprises. One more question, Mr Ellerman – have you ever heard of a hostel for the homeless called Faith and Light?’

‘No, I haven’t.’

Ellerman drove home after the interview, but first, his lawyer took him for a drink. They had a lot to talk through.

‘Okay – well, thanks for going through the list of these women with me,’ said Petron. ‘I will hopefully not need to contact them. We have to see what the police come up with. I can tell that they are just fishing at the moment. They don’t have enough to charge you with anything. They’re hoping the Spanish company, the women’s investments, will lead them to something. They don’t want to spend money getting sidetracked with going to Spain unless they can connect it with the murders. Just sit tight and don’t answer any more questions. Do you have alibis for the nights the women were murdered?’

‘I was either on the road or I was with a woman. I can call on them if I have to but I’d rather not.’

‘How many of those women are you actually involved with?’

‘I probably see five women regularly, another eight when I can. I haven’t seen the rest of them on that list for over a year.’

‘Jesus… if you don’t mind me saying so, that’s a lot of work to maintain that many relationships at once.’

‘Normally, it works like clockwork. As long as you do the same things at the same time every day then you can keep control of it. Nothing can be left to chance.’

‘It doesn’t feel… difficult? You don’t feel like you’re being a bastard?’

‘I’m giving the women a part of me. I’m giving them what they want. I don’t go into it thinking that it won’t work out. All of the women have meant something to me.’

‘But you just can’t finish it, or what?’

‘I don’t want to finish it.’

‘Do you have any idea who could have written the letter?’

‘I think it must be one of the five that I see almost every week. Some of the women on the list I call in at for lunch, for the afternoon; they just wouldn’t have a chance to look at my phone. It has to be a woman who I spend the night with. Is someone trying to frame me for the murders?’

‘Perhaps.’

‘I didn’t do it.’

‘I don’t think they’re seriously thinking that you were anywhere near, but they obviously suspect you of having organized them. It’s about the money. It’s all about the women giving you money and ending up dead. I want you to go home and stay home. No more going around the country visiting women.’

‘I have work to do. I won’t give in to this bullshit. The women’s deaths have nothing to do with me. It’s up to the police to prove it.’

‘Well, believe me, they are going to try. These were completely innocent victims in all this, John. I won’t lie – you don’t come out of this smelling so good.’

‘I don’t know what you’re implying. I’ve done nothing wrong.’

‘Technically, maybe not. Morally? That’s a different question. I think most people would consider it wrong to go round the country using women as you go. You told me yourself that some of them are single parents, one of them has been with you for five years. I mean – I like the odd fling, but all these women, really? And the money that they’ve parted with – in good faith?’

‘Absolutely in good faith and I resent the implication that they’ve been conned out of money. They knew what they were getting into.’

‘Yeah, that’s the bit that I can see Detective Inspector Carter is not buying. The women must have been promised something in exchange for the money. What they obviously got is nothing. Added to that, two have ended up dead.’