Frozen Grave

Chapter 44

Carter and Willis returned to the Dark Side after the interview was over. Carter was bristling.

‘What did you think? Was he telling the truth?’ They talked as they walked back down the corridor and caught the lift back up to the third floor.

‘No, guv. He was as shifty as it’s possible to be. He is arrogant enough to think he can get away with anything. You could see his mind churning, trying to decide what to admit to and what not to. It’s a good job we didn’t tell him we had the letter before the interview.’

‘Yeah. The letter was a surprise and a half. We are going to get some flak for that. Petron will lodge a complaint. He’s a difficult lawyer to work with. He knows how we think; he likes to try and be a step ahead.’

‘Do you think we should make it a priority to find out who sent it, guv? If Ellerman is a killer then he’ll go after them. Harding could be at risk.’

‘Warn her to be vigilant. But I think he’d have to be very sure first and we know it’s not Harding. Plus, she hasn’t invested any money in his company.’

‘Do we know it wasn’t Harding who wrote the letter, guv?’

He looked at her and shook his head incredulously. ‘Willis – you have to start trusting someone. You can’t live your whole life thinking that everyone is a liar. What happened when you went back to see your mum?’

‘I have my dad’s name and his picture. I know a bit about him but not a lot.’

‘Enough to trace him though, I expect.’

‘Maybe.’

‘What, you haven’t started yet?’

‘No. I’m thinking about it. Plus, it’s a busy time here at work.’

‘It’s always a busy time. And you know – you should think about taking that holiday. Make it to the Caribbean and go and find him.’

‘He may be over here.’

‘Exactly. Start looking.’

‘I’m not sure I want to feed my mother the hope that she’s looking for.’

‘She has a plan?’

‘Oh, yes, and she must be getting careless because she told me it. She thinks that if she wanted, if she really wanted it, then she could get out of there. My father is just to feed her ego. Give her hope, as she calls it. She hopes to use him, the same way as she uses everyone. It’s still all about her. She shows no remorse for anything she’s done.’

They walked into Robbo’s office.

‘Robbo? I got your message; what’s up?’

‘Has Harding had a reply from the message she sent the Dogger?’

‘No, not yet.’

‘We checked the messages she’s exchanged over the last year. The ones where the words “I’ll be waiting” were used is basically the Dogger and one other. We’re still tracing that one other. By the way – Toffee’s friends and protégés? We found Spike – dead in a doorway. Martine was seen at the railway station but she’s not been seen again. Mason still hasn’t been seen since his encounter with Willis in the garage. And Lolly, we know, is dead.’

‘What happened to Spike?’

‘Stabbed.’

‘Any witnesses?’

‘None. What do you want to do about the letter and the list of women? My feeling is that we might be getting sidetracked, concentrating too much on them?’

‘I don’t believe we are,’ replied Carter. ‘Harding was attacked; she’s on the list.’

‘But Gillian Forth was also murdered in a completely different manner and she lives over a hundred miles from the hostel.’

‘But, Ellerman connects them all,’ said Carter. ‘We need to check out his alibis more thoroughly now. We still need to talk to the core of women he sees regularly.’

Carter turned back to Willis, who was signing in to a spare PC on Hector’s desk. ‘Ring Scott, Willis, and get him to go and see Megan Penarth – that’s his neck of the woods – and we’ll go and see Lisa Tompkins, the gym manager in Brighton.’