Chapter 28
Dominic
Alex Chapman was the picture of politeness. He moved around his large kitchen making drinks. There was a huge square island in the middle of the room with a line of white leather bar stools along one side. It was here Dominic and Hayley sat. The surface of the island polished to such an extent that it reflected their faces back to them. Dominic was perturbed by this and placed his hands on the granite.
‘You say this is about my ex-wife, Maddy?’ Alex placed cups and saucers in front of the officers. ‘I’m not sure how I can help. I haven’t seen her for a while. Our son is old enough that I contact him directly to sort our plans.’ He paused as he collected his own drink and his eyebrows furrowed. ‘What is this about exactly?’ He stood opposite them.
‘Shall we go and sit somewhere we can talk?’ Dominic asked. He didn’t like the dynamic of Chapman standing over them while they had this conversation.
Alex Chapman smiled. ‘Of course.’ He headed towards the door. ‘This way.’
Dominic and Hayley climbed down from their stools and with some clinking, collected their drinks, and followed the ex-husband through to the equally large living room. He wasn’t doing badly for himself. Divorce obviously hadn’t hurt him.
‘You haven’t seen the news?’ Dominic asked when they were all seated.
Chapman frowned. ‘This doesn’t sound good. Should I have? Again, I ask, what’s this about?’ The polite façade slipped as frustration niggled at the edges of the question.
Dominic was reminded of Gwen Grady’s comments that Alex Chapman was not a good man and had made Maddy feel less than human. He was also suspicious the man wasn’t already aware of why they were here. The press briefing had been done and had gone out on the local news channel. He’d expected to be walking into a torrent of abuse about not being informed. Not that he needed to be. He was the ex-husband now. But Alex was claiming to have no idea why they were there.
Dominic looked to Hayley who gave a barely perceptible shrug, then he turned back to Chapman. ‘Madeleine Chapman was found dead yesterday.’
The cup in the saucer Chapman was holding quivered and the porcelain tinkled. His eyes shot down to look at his hands and he leant forward, placing the cup and saucer down on the low-slung oak coffee table in front of him. ‘Maddy’s dead?’
‘I’m sorry to have to inform you, but she was murdered.’ Dominic watched Chapman carefully.
His eyes misted up. ‘Our boy . . .’
‘Gwen is taking care of him.’
Chapman rose. ‘He’s my son. He belongs here.’
‘He’s sixteen, you’ll need to speak with him and Gwen.’
Chapman’s voice rose a level. ‘No. He’s mine. I want him here.’
Of course he would be concerned for his child, it was only natural, but he’d barely passed thought on his ex-wife. Dominic didn’t like the way this felt. ‘We’re not going to get involved when the child in question is sixteen. Talk to your son and if you feel it’s necessary then talk to a solicitor. Social Care will also be informed of Madelaine’s murder and will be in contact.’
Chapman glared down at Dominic.
Dominic wasn’t taking this aggression from anyone. ‘Please have a seat, Mr Chapman. We need to ask you some questions in relation to your ex-wife.’
Chapman opened his mouth as though he was about to speak, but then closed it, paused, looked to consider his options, then retook his vacant seat.
Dominic inclined his head. ‘Thank you.’
‘I don’t know what you want from me. Like I said, I don’t have anything to do with Maddy.’
Hayley took out her notepad and pen.
‘That’s really necessary?’ Chapman asked of her.
‘It’s so we remember the main points of the conversation and don’t repeat the questions,’ Hayley said.
Chapman lifted his head and looked down his nose at her.
Dominic bristled and quickly brought him back to the interview. ‘When did you last see Maddy?’
The man didn’t even try to hide his frustration. He let out a huge sigh.
Dominic waited him out. It didn’t look like Chapman was going to respond, so Dominic prompted him. ‘Mr Chapman?’
He sighed again. ‘I don’t even know. I’ve told you we don’t engage with each other because I contact my son directly. Maybe at the beginning of the year when it was his birthday? I wanted to take him out but his mother had already made arrangements. We had words.’
‘And that was the last time you saw her?’
‘I didn’t see her then. Yes, we had words, but it was by phone. I think the last time I saw her was at Christmas last year when I picked our son up from the house. She came out to wish me a happy Christmas. We’re not on the best of terms and that was unusual for her. She’s a flighty woman.’ Another sigh.
‘What do you mean by flighty?’
Hayley was taking notes as the two men spoke. Chapman glared at her as her pen moved across the page.
Then he waved his hands around in the air as though he was trying to grab the words he was searching for. ‘You know, she was emotional. Irresponsible. She’d always give our boy his own way when he needed a firmer hand. Rules make the man. She wanted to mollycoddle him. Made the excuse he needed love.’ He curled his lip. ‘He had everything he could ever need. How was he supposed to grow into a decent man if he didn’t know the rules of adulthood, I ask you? You would have less people to deal with in your job if more people taught their kids the rules of life and adulting.’ He puffed out his chest.
Dominic had an unreasonable urge to cross the room and punch the guy. He’d just been told his ex-wife had been murdered and here he was slagging her off and telling them what a bad parent she was because she wanted to show her son what love was. ‘Do you mind telling us where you were seven days ago?’
Chapman barked out a laugh. ‘Do you want to be more specific than that?’
Dominic stared at him.
Chapman stared back.
Dominic really did not like this man. ‘Seven days, Mr Chapman.’
‘You’re being serious?’
‘I’ve never been more serious.’
Chapman looked at his watch.
‘Are we holding you up from something?’
‘I just want to contact my son.’
That was not unreasonable. He might not care that his ex-wife was dead, murdered in fact, but, Dominic realised, he probably did care how his son was dealing with it. ‘Answer our questions and we’ll be out of your hair.’
Chapman looked up at the ceiling and rubbed at the back of his neck, then straightened. ‘I work and I come home. I haven’t been anywhere unusual. I haven’t seen my ex-wife.’
‘And what is it you do for a living?’ The house was beautiful. The man made a decent living whatever it was he did.
‘I work in banking.’
It explained a lot.
‘And your colleagues will be able to vouch for your movements on the day in question?’
‘Of course. But do you really need to bother them with this?’
Dominic ignored the question. ‘And what about the evening?’
Chapman sighed again. ‘I work late but then I come home and as you can see, I live alone. Though sometimes I do have female company.’ He smiled at them.
Dominic cringed. He could imagine how that comment made Hayley feel. It wasn’t so much the comment but the way he’d said it. ‘And what about that night?’
Chapman thought back then shook his head. ‘No, not that night. I was alone.’
‘Okay. Thank you.’
‘I can call my son now?’
As much as Dominic wanted to make Chapman’s life difficult, he didn’t want to harm his son. He agreed they were leaving and contact could be made.
However, he was more than eager to inconvenience the man and follow up with his colleagues to see where Chapman had been when his wife had been murdered. He hadn’t liked his manner at
all when they’d informed him of her death. Dominic looked forward to turning Chapman’s life upside down.
Chapter 29
Dominic
The first report to appear was, of course, online. Dominic slid into bed beside a sleeping Ruth and checked the news website before he went to sleep for what was left of the night. It was as bad as they had feared. The police were being trounced. Because of them another woman had lost her life. This wouldn’t help Madeleine’s mum. He would have to speak to the FLO in the morning and update him before he turned up for his shift at the house. He needed to be aware what he was walking into. Dominic hoped they had reassured Gwen enough when they visited her. But victim relatives could have erratic emotions and reading reports like this would do them no good whatsoever. It certainly didn’t breed cooperation between families and police when it was needed the most.
He lay his head down and tried to switch off. There was a gentle snoring coming from beside him. Ruth was adamant she didn’t snore, but she was asleep so how would she know. It wasn’t loud and bullish, it was a mellow snuffle as she breathed in and only happened if she lay on her back. He stuck his elbow into her as the sound pierced his brain and irritated his tired head. She rolled onto her side and he closed his eyes. It had been a tough day and his mind was buzzing but he needed to switch off so he’d be prepared for the day ahead in the morning.
The alarm was going off before he’d even had the chance to realise he was asleep. He was dazed, his head fuzzy, cloudy and heavy, and he struggled to find his phone to switch it off. Eventually it was quiet.
Dominic lay back and relaxed. Ruth was still asleep. She had another hour before her alarm was due to ring. He was getting an early start. He stared at her sleeping form, irrationally annoyed she could still sleep on. He wanted to prod her, wake her, make it so that it wasn’t just him who was awake and this tired.
He made a mug of tea and placed it with a clatter on her bedside table. She stirred, opened her eyes and looked at him.
‘You’re home,’ she said sleepily.
Frustration fizzed through his body as she stretched lazily under the quilt. ‘Yeah, I’m heading back into work now.’
‘Have a good day.’ She turned and saw the drink. Made just so he could wake her. She rubbed her eyes. ‘Thanks for the tea.’
He gritted his teeth. He needed to get out of the house and get to work. It was no good taking his exhaustion out on Ruth. He walked to the door. ‘I’ll see you later.’
‘Hey.’
He turned.
‘No kiss?’
He ground his teeth, the tension running up to his tired head and building up behind his eyes, then strode down the stairs and out the door. The day was already bright and the sky clear.
In the station Dominic found he was one of the first in. He fired up his computer. He was relaxed once he was back in the station.
Staff trickled in and the noise level in the incident room increased. Hayley was the next person from their team to arrive.
‘Sleep well, Dom?’ she asked wrapping a cardigan around the back of her chair.
‘Surprisingly, yes,’ he lied. Could he call what had happened in his bed last night sleep? ‘What about you? Getting enough rest?’
She smiled. ‘I have no trouble sleeping. What mood do you think the boss is going to be in this morning?’
Dominic rubbed his chin. ‘I have no idea. Depends on who he’s spoken with this morning and how much grief he’s been given about last night’s press conference.’
Hayley pulled out her chair and sat behind her desk. ‘It didn’t go quite as planned, did it?’
‘You could say that.’
‘Were you in bother?’ Paul had crept up behind them.
‘Not really. Nothing anyone could have done about it. Though I’m not sure that’s how the brass will see it.’
‘Yeah, they like to have control and blame.’ Paul had a mug in his hand and took a slurp.
‘Hey, where’s mine?’ Hayley moaned pinning him to the spot with a look.
‘I didn’t know who was in yet, did I?’
‘Well you do now, so get back and make more tea. I’m gasping.’
Paul saluted her, placed his mug on his desk and spun on the spot, heading out the incident room back to the kitchen.
‘You’ve got him well trained.’ Dom leaned back in his chair as Paul stalked out of the room.
Hayley laughed. ‘You’ve got to be tough on this team if you want anything doing.’
‘Is that right? Am I doing this leadership thing all wrong? Do I need to be tougher on all of you?’
She laughed some more. ‘I think you’re doing fine. But if I’m not tough with them they’ll think they can walk all over me.’
Dominic was silent as he considered what she’d said. More people walked into the incident room. Krish came up to his desk and greeted them with a good morning. They both responded with the same.
Dominic looked at Hayley. ‘You think it’s because you’re female?’
‘Oh, what’ve I walked into?’ Krish was wide eyed.
Hayley laughed yet again, this time at Krish. ‘You’re fine. Nothing. I’ve sent Paul to make me a cuppa as he had one himself and not one for me.’
Understanding dawned on Krish’s face. ‘Nothing to do with being a woman, Dom. If you don’t tell Paul what to do he’ll forget or not have a clue.’
Dominic wasn’t having any of it. ‘You said you had to be tough, Hayley.’
She sighed. ‘Yeah, we’re in the police, you know, not some touchy-feely place, the stuff we have to deal with, we’re automatically hardened. We can give and take some ribbing . . .’
‘Or,’ Krish pointed out, ‘in Paul’s case, direct orders. He needs them, Dom. I’m sure you know that. We don’t see Hayley as any different to the rest of us. She makes the tea and she tells us to make the tea. It’s swings and roundabouts.’
Before Dominic had time to mull Krish’s point over, Kapoor entered the room closely followed by Rhys who had been out on enquiries. Kapoor brought the room to order.
‘Okay gang, we all know what a disaster last night’s press conference was. I’ve been summoned to see the chief this morning and I’m expecting to get my knuckles rapped for that. But as far as you’re concerned, we’re doing a great job and we have to continue. Connelly’s already hauled me over the coals before I came in here. It’s more about what was said rather than how they think we’re handling it. When faced with the realities of the investigation they can’t complain. But the press are not making it easy and more will be said today. So grit your teeth and get on with your jobs.’
Kapoor ran his hands through his hair. ‘How’s it going with the CCTV viewing?’ he asked.
The officer at the back of the room responsible for viewing the hours and hours of CCTV spoke up. He was logging multiple vehicles that were in the area at and around the relevant time, but his job had just doubled with the case from yesterday. He asked if he could have another staff member to join him.
Kapoor shoved his hands in his pockets. ‘I’m going to increase the size of the team by another fifteen officers. Expect them over the next week or so. I need to get them released from their commanding officers, but after seeing the chief later today I don’t see it being a problem.’
The incident room team was growing. They were a huge enquiry team and if this case got any bigger, as Dominic worried it might, then they would probably expand to the biggest murder team the force had seen for a long time.
Kapoor turned to Dominic. ‘How was your interview last night? With the ex-husband, wasn’t it?’
Dominic thought back to the man they’d spoken with. ‘I think we need to take a look at him. He’s an arrogant prick, but if I take my personal dislike of him out of the equation he doesn’t have an alibi for the time of death and he doesn’t seem to speak very highly of Maddy.’ He looked to Hayley. ‘Or of any women, I imagine. He could very well be a suspect.’
Kapoor turn
ed to Hayley. ‘You agree with this?’
Hayley looked down at her notes from the meeting. ‘Yes, boss. He’s very unlikeable. But as the sarge said, he can’t account for himself at the time Madeleine was killed.’
‘What about the other murder, Julie Carver?’ asked Rhys.
‘Could be that he wanted to hide Maddy’s murder and not have himself be the prime suspect,’ said Dominic. ‘It’s not unheard of.’
‘Anything solid on him other than your gut feeling?’ asked Kapoor.
‘Just the lack of anything that puts him in the clear. I definitely think he’s worth a look,’ said Dominic.
‘Okay,’ said Kapoor. ‘We have our first real suspect, let’s dig into him.’
Chapter 30
Dominic
By that afternoon they’d interrogated every police system at their disposal and nothing of concern had come up for Alex Chapman. He hadn’t ever been arrested or committed a traffic violation as far as the team could see. There was no intelligence on the system relating to him or anyone connected to him. Even his car insurance was up to date.
Dominic scribbled a note into his pad. ‘Okay, I’m going to his place of work. Check things out there.’
Hayley looked at him.
‘Yes, it’ll rattle him, but maybe that’s what we want? If he does have something to do with this we need him to make a mistake. Whoever is behind this hasn’t put a foot wrong so far. A rattled killer is a sloppy killer.’ Dominic grabbed his jacket. ‘Are you coming with me?’
Hayley rose. ‘Me?’
‘Yeah. You were with me yesterday. You may as well follow through, hadn’t you?’
She shoved her notebook into her bag. ‘Okay, let’s go do this.’
* * *
Dominic knew when Alex Chapman had stated he was in banking he didn’t mean he was a teller handing out ten-pound notes over the counter to the men and women of Sheffield.
The building they entered was a huge glass-fronted affair. In the centre was a beautiful atrium with a water fountain surrounded by plush sofas facing outwards. A couple of people were sitting there having conversations, disposable coffee cups in hand, expensive looking briefcases on the floor at their feet. The women in heels so high Dominic wondered how they could stand in them never mind walk in them. All the women he worked with wore sensible shoes they could stand in all day or chase an offender if needed.
BLOOD STAINED an unputdownable crime thriller with a breathtaking twist (Detective Claudia Nunn Book 1) Page 15