Love You Dead

76 Tuesday 10 March

Grace dropped Cleo home, played with Noah for a few minutes, then headed into Brighton. He was glad of the time alone in his car to reflect on the past twenty-four hours.

Sandy had looked so fragile and vulnerable. When they were together she had always been strong and positive. She’d made the decision to walk out on him. Now, finally, his life was back together, and he was at a crucial point in his career, with a boss who would seize on any weakness he showed. He owed it to Cleo, to Noah and to himself to put the past behind him and focus on the present and the future.

But he was determined to get answers to all his questions out of Sandy.

Ten minutes later he pulled into the parking bay marked head of major crime in front of Sussex House, and hurried in, just in time for the 6.30 p.m. briefing of Operation Spider. He dashed into his office, grabbed his policy book and notes, prepared by his assistant Lesley, along with a copy of the Argus, which she had placed there with a Post-it note beside a photograph on page five of a woman in an evening dress and a man in a dinner jacket, then headed through into the Major Crime suite.

As he walked along the corridor towards the conference room, his phone rang and he answered without stopping. It was a very apologetic Kelly Nicholls, the financial investigator.

‘So sorry, sir, I’ve been in court all day. You asked me if I could find anything on a Jodie Bentley, also using other names.’

‘Yes, Kelly. What do you have?’ He leaned his notebook against a wall and pulled out his pen.

‘Well, it’s taken a while, and as you can understand it’s a huge process. DS Billin and I wanted to be sure, and we are now. We’ve found credit cards in three names: Jodie Bentley, Jemma Smith and Judith Forshaw. We’ve obtained copies of all the original credit card application forms and there are a number of similarities, which we are now investigating further. She is currently using cards in all three names, with the balance paid off in full, monthly, via direct debit.’

‘Good work, Kelly,’ Grace said.

‘Thank you, sir. There’s more. The credit card companies all use sophisticated software now that can sift through not just the original applications for similarities but also the subsequent spending patterns.’

‘On these spending patterns, did you find the same shops being used repeatedly, Kelly?’ he asked.

‘Yes, sir, there was recent expenditure in France and New York and in and around Brighton, Sussex. The same shops and the same merchandise on the cards that were used. The same brands of hair and beauty products, as well as tampons. Similar wine and food items. Cat food. And rather curiously, perhaps, repeat purchases from a reptile food specialist supplier.’

‘Reptile?’ He felt a beat of excitement. ‘Can you email me over the details of that, urgently?’

‘Right away, sir. And it might be interesting for you to know that one place where her credit cards have been used regularly is at the Asda superstore in Brighton Marina. Also on one card there is expenditure in France for a coffin and a number of transatlantic and internal American flight tickets.’

‘Bloody hell!’ Grace said. ‘That’s very interesting. Brilliant work!’

‘Thank you, sir.’

‘What address has this woman put for these applications, Kelly?’

‘Well,’ she said, sounding doubtful, ‘that’s where the trail runs cold. The mail for each application address seems to have been forwarded to PO boxes at mailbox companies. The direct debit to pay them comes from a company with nominee directors based in Port Victoria, Mahé, Seychelles.’

‘How cooperative is the Seychelles, Kelly?’

‘Unfortunately she’s chosen well, sir. At the moment, all the financial links end up in the Seychelles. It’s a notoriously secretive country and any request for information would have to go via NCA — the National Crime Agency — which could take some considerable time.’

‘Good work. Have you any more information that might lead us to her?’

‘Not yet, sir.’

He thanked her again and was about to hang up when the financial investigator said, ‘The second thing, sir, may be a more tenuous link, but I have a feeling it could be significant. There’s a connection between these three cards and a fourth card being used in the name of Jodie Danforth in the Brighton area.’

‘Jodie Danforth? Shit! Can you spell it?’

She replied, ‘D-A-N-F-O-R-T-H.’

He was thinking hard. Jodie Danforth. The name that Michelle Websdale had given him of the Brighton widow whose husband had died on a cruise from a snake bite.

‘OK, Kelly, as a priority action find out all you can about Jodie Danforth and come back to me as soon as possible!’

He ended the call and immediately rang the Coroner’s Officer’s mobile.

‘Michelle,’ he said when she answered. ‘It’s Roy Grace. Listen, what’s the process from now with Rowley Carmichael’s body?’

‘It’s at Brighton and Hove City Mortuary until the Coroner agrees to release it for the funeral.’

‘I’ve got some significant new information. Can you ask the Coroner not to release it until I give you the OK?’

‘Sure, I’ll inform her.’

‘Thanks. It might be really important.’