Left You Dead

45

At 3 p.m., Jon Exton and Norman Potting returned to the Brighton custody centre to carry out their third interview with Niall Paternoster, in the presence of his solicitor.

Seated across the table in the interview room, after completing the formalities, Exton asked, ‘Can you tell us about your movements each day last week, Niall?’

Niall ran his tongue around the inside of his mouth, thinking. ‘Yeah, Eden was at work all week and I did some taxi-driving. Early in the week I had a few airport runs from Heathrow and Gatwick, and in between those I tried to get out on my bike as much as possible and enjoy the weather. The second part of the week was quieter for me, mostly local pickups off the ranks.’

Exton continued, ‘Did you work every evening?’

‘Yes, except Thursday — such a glorious evening, we had a barbecue in the garden.’

Exton said, ‘Was the barbecue a success?’

Niall glanced at his solicitor, who frowned back. Then replied, ‘I’m not sure what you mean by a success?’

‘Simple,’ Exton replied. ‘Did you both enjoy it, have a nice, happy evening?’

‘Is this relevant?’ Rattigan asked.

‘It is, yes,’ Exton responded.

Niall replied, ‘Yes, it was a success, I think, we both enjoyed it — although we did have a minor disagreement over the smoke that was coming from the meat.’

‘A minor disagreement? Can you tell us about that?’ Exton asked.

Niall smiled, a little nervously. ‘Eden is a perfectionist and was giving me tips on how to cook the steaks. She was moaning that there was too much smoke. Although we had a few words it was good-natured, nothing nasty.’

‘OK,’ Exton said. ‘So the barbecue went well. How much had you both had to drink?’

‘Eden was pretty sober, she doesn’t drink much — she thinks I drink enough for the both of us. I certainly had a few and when we went to bed I was out like a light. I didn’t wake up until the next morning when she’d already left for work. A colleague was picking her up.’

‘So what did you do Friday?’ Exton asked.

‘Cleared up the barbecue and hung around the house most of the day. I biked down to the beach and had a swim, then I went to the gym. Eden got back at the usual time from work and we had a quiet evening. The rest of the weekend is what I have told you we did already, a number of times — nothing changes.’

Norman Potting took over. ‘Thanks for that, Niall. Let’s go back to your finances, shall we?’

Paternoster gave him a sardonic smile. ‘That’s easy. I’ve got no money, my business went bust. Eden is the one with the cash. She’s paying the mortgage and, so far, the bank haven’t come calling. I know she has her own bank account with money in that she had before we met. I’ve never asked too much about that, but I know she’s not short of a bob or two.’

‘So if anything happened to her, what would happen to her money?’ Potting continued.

‘I imagine it would come to me. We did make wills after we married and left things to each other. And I—’

Suddenly he faltered, his voice cracking. Tears trickled down his face. ‘You don’t want to believe me, do you? You think I’ve done something to Eden and I’m covering it up. I’m telling you the truth. I don’t know what’s happened or where she is. You must believe me. I’m completely lost.’

He buried his face in his hands.

Potting and Exton sat still. Then Exton asked the solicitor, ‘Would your client like a short break?’

Paternoster shook his head. ‘No, I’m fine, let’s get this over with.’

Potting, his tone a little gentler, said, ‘Niall, we want to find out what has happened to Eden as well, that’s why we are asking all these questions. You’re telling us that apart from the occasional husband-and-wife disagreement your relationship was good. We have a number of detectives working on trying to find Eden and it’s important you tell us the truth and hold nothing back. Everything you’ve told us about what the two of you were doing last week is correct?’

‘Yes, it is.’

After several more minutes of questioning, during which Niall Paternoster continued to maintain that he was completely baffled by Eden’s disappearance, Potting fell silent for a moment. ‘All right, Niall, we will be speaking to our colleagues to ascertain what they have found out from their enquiries and we will then conduct a further interview with you later today.’

‘Third interview with Niall Paternoster terminated at 3.37 p.m.,’ Exton announced.

As Niall Paternoster was returned to his cell, Potting and Exton joined DC Butler for a debrief. All three of them agreed they believed strongly Paternoster was lying to them, and he was hiding the truth of what had really happened.