Left You Dead

83

Addressing his team, Roy Grace said, ‘I want to run a parallel line of enquiry, looking at the possibility Eden Paternoster is not dead and has set this whole thing up — and if so, why?’

‘Could she have done this to get her husband locked up on a murder charge, boss?’ Glenn Branson said.

‘On the face of it, that would seem the most likely,’ Grace agreed. ‘Maybe she planted the blood-spotted T-shirt, hid her rings in a place they would be found, took items of clothing to the forest? Far-fetched? Maybe, but an angry, hurt partner in a relationship is capable of going to any lengths to hit back.’ He continued, ‘But we should consider this might only be a smokescreen and there’s another motive behind it. I want to stress these are only hypotheses and I don’t want to deflect our complete focus away from the current lines of enquiry. So I’m going to divide our resources.’

‘You mean like punting each way on a horse race, chief?’ Norman Potting interrupted. ‘Hedging your bet?’

‘That’s a rather crude way of putting it, Norman, and I’m not so much a betting man these days, I prefer to follow the evidence, but point taken. I’m giving you and Velvet the action of establishing whether Eden Paternoster is still alive.’ He looked at both officers.

Velvet Wilde nodded. Potting pursed his lips. ‘Five to two on the husband being the killer, ten to one his wife’s still alive.’

Frustrated now, Grace snapped, ‘This is not a game, Norman. These are people’s lives.’

Immediately he realized his nerves were frayed and he was exhausted. And he felt guilty for snapping at Norman, who was going through his own particular hell right now. Maybe he should have stayed home and not come in.

Looking suitably crestfallen, Potting said, ‘Sorry, chief.’

Moving on, Grace continued, ‘What if when Eden left their BMW in the Tesco car park she went round the back of the store and got into another car? One of the actions you need to start with is to check all local car hire companies and see if her name pops up. Recheck the CCTV cameras around the outside of the store and see if you can spot anything that might support this theory. Perhaps she had a disguise planned. A wig, different clothing. Maybe she had an accomplice — a lover or friend waiting in the car park?’

‘What about checking all ANPR cameras around the roads out of the store, sir?’ Emma-Jane Boutwood asked.

‘I’ve been thinking about that, EJ. But that’s a big ask — the exit leads onto a main road going in two different directions, and we don’t even know what vehicle we’re looking for. If any. If Niall Paternoster is telling the truth — and it’s still a big if — then Eden might well have left the Tesco car park in a vehicle. If we could identify that vehicle, then yes, definitely.’

‘What about a number-plate match to any vehicles on Nevill Road in the window of time before he could have got back there, boss?’ Jack Alexander suggested.

Grace nodded thoughtfully. ‘OK, you’re suggesting, depending on where the cameras are located — if any are in either location — that we see what vehicles left Tesco and then drove along Nevill Road? It’s a big task, but something we should consider if there is a camera there.’

DS Stratford interrupted them. ‘Sir, there is one ANPR camera a quarter mile to the east of the store. The other is just over a mile to the west. But there are none covering any part of Nevill Road.’

‘Shame,’ Grace said, and looked back at Alexander. ‘It was a good idea.’

DS Stratford focused back on his screen. Grace turned to the Financial Investigator. ‘We need a thorough breakdown of Eden Paternoster’s finances, Emily. Drill into her background, look at her maiden name, Townsend, and any other family names she might possibly have used as an alias.’

‘Yes, sir, already on it. I should have an update tomorrow.’

‘Excellent. Glenn, any update from your press conference?’

‘Unfortunately no sightings of Eden or useful information from the public to date; it’s drawn a blank, boss. Two crank calls and that’s it.’

Roy Grace looked again at his team. ‘One piece of evidence from Digital Forensics that’s been driving our investigation towards Niall Paternoster so far is the examination of his computer. It’s shown that he’d been searching for ways to commit murder and dispose of human bodies. Norman and Velvet, I need you to ask Aiden Gilbert at Digital Forensics for a log of all the times when Niall Paternoster was supposedly looking at murder and body-disposal methods. Then you need to speak to the taxi owner, Mark Tuckwell — he must have a record of the times that Paternoster was using his taxi.’

‘To see if it could have been Niall Paternoster online at those times, sir?’ Velvet Wilde asked in her rich Belfast accent. ‘If he was out driving the taxi that would indicate maybe his wife was accessing his computer, perhaps?’

‘Exactly,’ Grace said. He hesitated for a moment, before continuing. ‘I’m not saying this is what I believe happened but we need to eliminate that as a possibility — or not.’ He looked around. ‘What I am saying, at this moment, is that I don’t bloody know. Right now we have a woman who has disappeared and her husband having an affair with his wife’s boss. There is evidence her husband murdered her — but we have no body. I also have grounds for suspecting Eden could have set this up.’

Chris Gee raised his arm. Grace nodded at him.

‘I’m wondering if I was Niall Paternoster and innocent, how would I be reacting right now, sir? Would I be taking this calmly or protesting my innocence loudly? Which has he been doing?’ the Crime Scene Manager asked.

‘Good question, Chris,’ Grace responded. ‘From all I’ve seen so far, Niall Paternoster is hard to read.’ He turned to Potting and Exton. ‘You’ve been conducting the interviews — what are your views?’

Jon Exton replied, ‘When we arrested him, boss, his first concern was for their cat.’

Several of the team giggled.

‘Bless!’ EJ Boutwood said. ‘He loves animals, he’s clearly innocent.’

‘Hitler loved animals, too,’ Potting mumbled.

‘For most of the interviews we conducted he alternated between being belligerent and going “no comment”,’ Exton said. ‘I found him hard to read.’ He looked at Potting.

‘Same here, chief.’

‘OK,’ Grace said. ‘We need to talk to this Rebecca Watkins urgently. Have we found any more about her?’ He looked at DS Stratford.

‘Yes, I’ve been doing a search on her family, sir.’ He leaned over his shoulder and pointed at the association chart on one of the whiteboards behind him. ‘Her husband, Ned, runs a successful advertising agency based in Brighton. They’ve been married five years, no children.’

Grace thanked him, then looked at Polly. ‘I’m very curious about this lady, I’d like to meet her myself. I think we’ll pay her a visit straight after this briefing — then you and I can bring her in for a formal interview.’

‘Might that not risk potential issues with her marriage, sir?’ Polly asked.

‘And your point is?’

‘Just saying, sir.’

‘Polly,’ Grace retorted, ‘Rebecca Watkins is Eden Paternoster’s boss. Eden has gone missing. That’s why we’re going to talk to her. I’m not about to tell her hubby that his wife is having an affair — are you?’

‘No — sir,’ Polly responded assertively.