Twisted

Chapter 17

By four o’clock Reid was back at the Richmond house and found a patrol car with a female officer in it waiting as he drove up. Asking her to stay put as he would be back with Marcus Fulford’s DNA in a few minutes, he rang the doorbell, and Agnes led him into the kitchen. Burrows looked tired, still sitting beside the phone, and had compiled an even longer list of names. Agnes reported that Mrs Fulford was in her office upstairs and Mr Fulford in the sitting room.

Reid went straight to the sitting room, where Marcus was lying on the sofa fast asleep. He woke with a start when Reid closed the door and, rather disorientated, sat up, ruffling his hair.

‘Sorry, I’ve had hardly any sleep since Amy’s been gone.’

‘I need to take a DNA swab from you, Mr Fulford.’

Marcus stood up, shocked. ‘Dear God, have you found her?’

‘Not as yet, but the forensic scientists need it for elimination purposes.’

‘I don’t understand – eliminating me from what exactly?’

‘As you are aware, we have taken numerous items from your flat in Green Street, and it is necessary to identify samples that have been recovered, specifically from female underwear and from bed linen.’

Having just woken, Marcus stretched his arms and shoulders, and didn’t at first grasp Reid’s obvious implication, but it dawned on him after a few seconds.

‘Jesus Christ, are you seriously suggesting I was having some kind of sexual relationship with my daughter?’

‘A DNA sample is the only way we can eliminate you from DNA found in Amy’s bedroom and possibly find who may have been having a sexual relationship with her. She may even have run away with that person.’

Marcus eventually complied and allowed Reid to take a DNA swab from his mouth; Reid then took it out to the waiting officer to take it to the lab.

Marcus had poured himself a brandy, shaken not by the process, which was very simple, but by the implications. As Reid re-entered the room Marcus gestured to the drinks cabinet but the detective declined his offer. He kept the conversation relaxed, thanking Marcus for his cooperation, admitting it was never easy or pleasant to have to request DNA but it was necessary to move the investigation forward. Sitting opposite Marcus, he took out his notebook and patted his pocket for his pen while asking after Mrs Fulford. Marcus said she was sorting out all her business calls and compiling a list of names of those she felt should be interviewed. Lena had been very distressed, and he felt it was good for her to be occupied. He leaned forward, adding there was something he thought DI Reid should be made aware of.

‘Lena suffers from depression; she has been diagnosed as bipolar and is on medication. Sometimes she becomes very lethargic and incapable of getting out of her bed, other times she is over-active, and hyper. She has been suicidal in the past, but until Amy’s disappearance she had been exceptionally well and clearly more than capable of running her businesses. In truth her disorder has in many ways been more of an enabling factor rather than an illness.’

Reid sat back, needing a moment to take all this in. ‘Did she react badly to your separation?’

‘Obviously, but to be honest I don’t know why I’m spilling all this out to you, and I don’t mean it to be in any way detrimental to Lena. I am probably trying to make myself appear less of a jerk because I instigated the separation, but neither of us ever allowed our marital problems to affect Amy. Lena is a wonderful mother and she is very protective of her, but eventually I think she saw that it was better for all of us.’

‘Were you having extramarital relationships before you separated?’

Marcus nodded, and then draining his glass he held it loosely in his hands. ‘I’m not proud of it, far from it, but yes, I was unfaithful; nothing that ever lasted and I was always discreet and I think part of my promiscuity was Lena’s fault as much as my own. You’ve no idea what all this is doing to me, especially the insinuation that there was more than a father-daughter relationship between Amy and me. You think I’m stupid? Wanting my DNA, as you so blithely said for elimination purposes. I have done nothing wrong, and I am as shocked as you are to discover that stuff in her bedroom.’

‘But you must understand my position,’ Reid said calmly. ‘I am merely trying to find out if there is a viable reason why your daughter might have run away.’

Marcus refilled his glass. ‘I honestly have been a good father. Every time Amy stayed with me I kept the weekend free, and I swear to you that it would only have been on the odd occasion she met my girlfriends, and as far as I can recall Simon Boatly never even visited his flat while she was there.’

‘Why have you brought his name up?’

Marcus gritted his teeth. ‘Because Lena has got it into her head that he could have been there and abused Amy, but the only time he was with her, with both Lena and myself, was when we were on holiday in Antigua, more than two years ago, and he and Amy were never alone. He’s my best friend, for God’s sake. I know him and I don’t want any aspersions cast on him – he’s not even in the country.’

Reid chose his words carefully, explaining that forensic tests had revealed seminal fluid and different female DNA on the panties taken from Amy’s bedroom, and he would therefore require a list of everyone that used Simon Boatly’s flat. Although they had spoken to his girlfriend Justine, Reid said that specifically he was interested in any other women Marcus had recent intercourse with as they had found strands of hair that were not a match for his daughter’s.

Marcus bowed his head, sighing. ‘Justine was one regular visitor, but there was another woman.’

‘Who, Mr Fulford? Withholding evidence is a criminal offence, so I need to know right now.’

‘I have also been seeing one of the women that works for Lena; her name is Gail Summers. I really don’t want my wife told about Gail – she’s been very helpful to me regarding the divorce and if Lena did find out she’d fire her.’

Disgusted by Marcus’s attitude and behaviour, Reid decided that he’d spent enough time with him, and headed out of the room, suggesting that perhaps he put the stopper on the brandy bottle. He closed the door behind him and was making for the kitchen when Agnes approached him and asked if he felt it was all right for her to leave as it was just after five.

‘You’d better speak to Mrs Fulford,’ he said abruptly, and continued into the kitchen.

Burrows was still by the phones and was more than happy to go back to the station with him, even if it meant trawling through the list of names she’d accumulated during the day. Agnes returned, reporting that she had been told she could go home and that she was going over to the garage to tell Harry that he would not be required either.

‘What does he do over there? Sit in the car all day?’

‘Oh no, Mr Fulford had a gym above the garage – well, the equipment is still there but after he left Mrs Fulford made it a sort of sitting room. Harry has a TV and small kitchenette with a microwave. Your officers searched it when they were over there with the dog.’

Reid nodded, though he had not been aware that it existed, but hoped, as Agnes had said, that it had been searched properly. He made a note to check the search reports when he returned to the station. By now he was worn out, and yet he hesitated to leave without speaking to Mrs Fulford; as Burrows put on her coat he said he would just have a few words and trusted that was all it would be.

Lena, still at her computer, turned as Reid gave a light tap on the open door. There was always that moment of hopeful expectancy, which he quickly defused by saying there was no news. She looked very pale, and said she hoped he didn’t think badly of her but working took her mind off the constant anxiety.

‘Of course not. Whatever helps. Would you like me to arrange a family liaison officer to be here at the house overnight?’

‘I don’t think I’d like a stranger here right now, but thank you.’

He gave a small nod as she pushed back her chair and held out a neatly printed list of names, phone numbers and addresses. The phone on the desk rang yet again. Reaching for it, she gave him a small smile as she answered the call.

He walked out and then paused as he heard Lena talking on the phone. She sounded quite curt and said something about every box being labelled.

‘Gail, it’s very simple: if they wanted the table cloth plus napkins with the child’s name printed on them, then it’s necessary to have three days’ prior notice.’

The call continued as he made his way downstairs, realizing that the woman on the phone was the Gail that her husband had admitted to having an affair with. From what he had gathered, Marcus Fulford couldn’t keep his dick in his pants, but there was nothing to suggest that Lena, a very attractive woman, also had extramarital flings. Although he reckoned that Marcus was a handsome man, there was a weakness to him, but if his wife indeed had – as he had made a point of stating – bipolar disorder, then perhaps it had encouraged or exacerbated his womanizing. If Marcus was an open and blatant womanizer since his separation from Lena, Reid wondered if Amy knew about or witnessed his antics and what that might say about their relationship as father and daughter.