by David Blake
Realising she’d just given the same description of the bar manager from the Bittern pub as Burgess had when they’d been speaking to DCI Barrington, Tanner asked, ‘Do you know his name, by any chance?’
‘I can look it up for you.’ Returning to her screen, a moment later she said, ‘Mr Stephen Perry. He took the adjacent room, number 16, but our cleaner said it was hardly used.’
As she said that, he pulled out his phone, and after thanking the receptionist, stepped away from the desk and put a call through to Jenny.
The moment the call was answered, he said, ‘Jenny, it’s Tanner. How’s everything going?’
‘Nothing much has happened really,’ she replied. ‘Burgess has been in and out a couple of times with the suspect, but he doesn’t seem to be getting anywhere. And DS Cooper called in to say that he didn’t find anything that he thought could have been used as a murder weapon, but forensics have taken away Richardson’s clothes and shoes. The only person who’s had any luck is Vicky.’
‘Vicky?’ asked Tanner, unfamiliar with the name.
‘Sorry – DS Gilbert. She was finally given a warrant to access Jane Richardson’s financial accounts, and it would appear she’s worth a considerable sum.’
‘How much?’
‘We don’t know, exactly, but her trust fund matured when she was twenty-five, and that was worth over five million, most of which is tied up in stocks and shares. On top of that, she owns a twenty-five percent share in her dad’s company, and has over £120,000 cash in her bank account, which makes you wonder why she was bothering to work at the pub.’
‘Probably learning the ropes, with a view to taking over the business,’ replied Tanner. ‘Anyway, can you do me a favour?’
‘No problem.’
‘Can you go into the system and see if Burgess has left a note on there saying what the bar manager’s name is – the one at the Bittern?’
‘OK, hold on.’
About a minute later, she asked, ‘Do you mean Stephen Perry?’
‘Yes, him! We’re going to have to have a word.’
‘With the Bittern’s bar manager?’ she repeated, sounding confused.
‘Stephen Perry, yes! I’ve discovered that our Simon Richardson is correct in saying that he was staying at The Manor Resort hotel, but he wasn’t there alone.’
‘He was there with the bar manager from the Bittern?’
‘Uh-huh,’ confirmed Tanner. ‘They had adjacent rooms, one of which was hardly used. I’d therefore have to say that there’s a very real possibility that the two of them planned it together, especially now we know how much Jane was worth.’
There was a pause from the other end of the line, before Jenny said, ‘There’s also another possibility that’s probably worth considering.’
‘What’s that?’
‘That Stephen Perry planned it on his own. If he’d found out how much his boyfriend’s wife was worth, and that Richardson was going to inherit her estate, then he’d certainly have a motive. All he’d have to do would be to marry his boyfriend, and he’d be set for life. And without wanting to sound crude, he’d have had access to Richardson’s semen as well.’
‘Thanks for that, Jenny.’
‘But it’s true though, isn’t it?’
‘No doubt it is, but why would he want to inject his boyfriend’s semen into his dead wife?’
‘Maybe it wasn’t about the money,’ mused Jenny. ‘Maybe Richardson had just told him that his wife was pregnant, and that he wanted to make a fresh start with her?’
‘Meaning that they were going to have to stop seeing each other.’
‘So Perry decided to frame him for his wife’s murder.’
‘And with Stephen Perry being the only person who’d be able to corroborate his alibi,’ added Tanner, ‘all he’d have to do would be to confirm that Richardson had been with him, but that he just happened to pop out on Saturday night.’
There was a momentary pause, before Jenny asked, ‘What d’you want me to do?’
‘I suggest you relay this conversation to Burgess. Then I think we need to ask Barrington if it’s OK to bring Stephen Perry in for questioning. Actually, no. I’d better ask him. But there’s no doubt that we need to find out what he knows.’
‘No probs,’ agreed Jenny.
‘Anyway,’ continued Tanner, ‘I’m heading back now, so I should be there in about an hour or so.’
CHAPTER THIRTY THREE
AS SOON AS he finished speaking with Jenny, Tanner put a call through to DCI Barrington, during which it was agreed that Stephen Perry should be brought in for questioning. Even if he was able to corroborate Richardson’s alibi, the hotel was only an hour’s drive from Wroxham, and it wouldn’t have been difficult for either one of them, or even both, to have left the hotel unnoticed.
It was agreed that DS Cooper should take Jenny down to the Bittern, along with a couple of uniformed police constables, to find Perry and bring him in. Burgess was to remain at the station, keeping the pressure firmly on Richardson. That way, by the time Tanner returned from the Manor Resort hotel, Stephen Perry would hopefully be ready for Burgess and Tanner to begin the interview process.
Arriving back at base, Tanner was just in time to see a police car pull into the carpark, immediately followed by a dark blue Audi A5.
He paused to watch, as amidst a storm of flash photography, a tall tanned young man with a long fringe, wearing skinny-fit black jeans and a black military style jacket, was helped out of the back of the police car and escorted inside the station, smiling and nodding over at the journalists.
Seeing Jenny emerge from the Audi along with DS Cooper, ignoring the journalists’ shouted questions, Tanner headed over to join them.
‘So that’s the barman from the Bittern?’
‘Uh-huh,’ she replied. ‘And he didn’t exactly come quietly either. He refused to co-operate, so we had no choice but to arrest him, only for him to begin accusing us of police brutality, gay-bashing and unlawful arrest.’
‘He doesn’t seem to be too upset now, though,’ observed Tanner.
They looked over at him.
He was clearly doing everything possible to court the attention of the journalists, and had begun shouting, ‘This is how Norfolk Police treats gay people! By arresting them!’
‘Let’s hope he’s as vocal when being questioned,’ said Tanner, as he followed Jenny inside.
Once in the reception area, Perry was handed over to the duty sergeant for formal processing, during which time he was advised to take legal counsel, and that if he didn’t have a solicitor, one could be provided free of charge. But he declined, saying that he’d nothing to hide.
Eventually he was led into the station’s second interview room, where he was soon joined by Burgess and Tanner.
With the digital recorder on, and the legal formalities complete, Burgess began the interview.
‘You do know you’re allowed to have a solicitor present, don’t you?’
‘As I told the other guy,’ Perry said, flicking his fringe out of his eyes, ‘I’ve got nothing to hide.’
‘As long as you understand your rights, that’s fine by me. So, where shall we start?’
‘How about by explaining to me what I’m doing here, other than you’ve got a thing against gay men, of course?’
Ignoring the question, Burgess asked, ‘Where were you on Saturday night, between the hours of ten and eleven?’
‘I was in bed with Simon Richardson.’
‘I see. And where was that?’
‘At the Manor Resort hotel.’
Burgess paused for a moment, before asking, ‘Where did you two first meet?’
‘At the Bittern. He’d come in occasionally at lunchtime, when Jane first started working there. He’d tell everyone that he’d come to see her, but he told me later that he only showed up to see me.’
‘How long ago was that?’
‘About a year, give or take.’
‘And when
did you start seeing each other?’
‘It was a few months later, I suppose. He was making it very obvious that he fancied me, so I asked him out, and it went from there.’
Burgess paused, thought for a moment, and then asked, ‘How often did you go off together for the weekend?’
‘Only about once a month. We would have gone away more, but he said that he was too busy; that, and his wife would become suspicious.’
Stopping to refer to his notes, Burgess deliberately allowed the room to fall into silence. After about a minute or so, he looked up and said, ‘When we first spoke, you said you knew that Jane Richardson’s father owned the pub. Did you also know that he was the founder and CEO of the Lambert Oak pub chain?’
‘We all did. He came in and told us, when Jane started working there.’
‘So you know John Lambert then?’
‘Most people around here do, don’t they?’
‘And when did you find out how much Jane Richardson was worth? Was that before or after you asked her husband out on a date?’
‘Oh, I see what you’re getting at now. You think that because I’m gay, I therefore must be mentally ill. Consequently I wouldn’t think twice before murdering my boyfriend’s wife, just because her dad’s rich.’
‘I wasn’t talking about her dad, I was talking about Jane Richardson. Did you know she was worth over five million pounds?’
‘I do now!’
‘Did you before?’
‘Surprisingly, it didn’t come up in conversation, no.’
‘I see. So you’re honestly trying to tell me that of all the men living in the Broads, you just happened to fall for the one married to a woman who’s worth over five million pounds?’
‘Unfortunately, all the men who live in the Broads aren’t gay, which does narrow the field down. Most men who live here are homophobic retards, like you!’ With that, he gave Burgess a self-amused smirk.
‘So you’re not bothered who you go out with, as long as they’re gay?’
‘Well, it does help.’
‘And rich, of course, or in this instance, married to a woman who is, especially after you realised that were his wife to die, your boyfriend would get the lot. You’d then only have to marry him and you’d become an over-night multi-millionaire.’
‘I think you’ve been watching a little too much TV, detective.’
Burgess took a moment to collect his thoughts and review his notes. As he did, Tanner picked up a pen that was on the desk, and leaning over towards Burgess, he encircled a word he’d seen on the report.
Understanding what Tanner meant, without looking up, Burgess asked, almost casually, ‘Did you know Jane Richardson was pregnant?’
Perry froze, then looked first at Burgess, then at Tanner.
Glancing up from his notes, Burgess asked, ‘May I take that as a no?’
‘You’re lying,’ said Perry, as he studied Burgess’s face.
Looking down again, Burgess turned over a page before adding, ‘Between fourteen to twenty-seven weeks, according to the post-mortem report.’
‘I’m afraid I don’t believe you, detective. Simon would have told me if she was.’
‘But he did tell you, didn’t he?’
‘I just said that he didn’t!’
‘Just before he told you that he’d decided to make a fresh start with his wife.’
‘This is stupid!’
‘And therefore he wouldn’t be able to see you anymore.’
‘As I said, I didn’t know!’
‘And that’s when you realised two things; that if his wife was pregnant, Simon must have been screwing her behind your back, and secondly that you were about to lose not only him, but all his wife’s money as well. And that’s when you decided to take revenge by killing her and making it look like your boyfriend did it.’
‘And how would I make it look like Simon did it? I suppose I bashed her over the head with one of his stupid golf clubs?’
‘Actually no. We found traces of your boyfriend’s semen inside his wife. Apparently, it had been inserted there after she’d been killed. And as, according to your testimony at least, he was at the Manor Resort at the time of her death, it only stands to reason that it was you who got hold of a sample of his semen – how you did that I don’t wish to know – drugged him, drove back down to Wroxham, killed his wife, injected his sperm into her, and headed back to the hotel just in time to give him another blowjob!’
Perry sat back in his chair, and as he folded his arms, he grinned at Burgess and said, ‘This is great! I should’ve brought popcorn!’
‘So you’re denying it then?’
‘Well, I’d love to own up to it, of course; I mean, who wouldn’t? But the problem is, as I mentioned at the beginning, I was with Simon all night. And as he wasn’t drugged, but was wide awake at the time you’re referring to, he’ll be able to vouch for me.’
‘Ah, but will he though, especially when he’s given a choice of either owning up to having murdered his own wife, or saying that he mysteriously fell asleep at nine o’clock on the Saturday night, just after you’d sucked him off, and didn’t wake up till the following morning?’
‘But I didn’t do it!’
‘So it was your boyfriend then?’
‘It wasn’t him either!’
‘Well, it must have been one of you! Unfortunately, there’s no other way his semen could have ended up inside his wife after she’d been murdered unless one of you deliberately placed it there. And knowing that it would directly incriminate him if he’d been the one to do so, then it must have been you!’
‘Well, it wasn’t!’
‘So you planned it together then, so providing yourselves with the perfect alibi!’
‘Of course not, and I can prove it!’
‘You can prove it?’ repeated Burgess. ‘Excellent! Now I’m the one who should’ve brought popcorn.’
‘It’s on my phone. The one you took off me when you dragged me in here.’
‘And what’s on your phone that can prove your innocence?’
‘About a hundred-odd photos and videos. And they’ll all be date and time stamped. If you look at them, I think you’ll find they’ll prove that Simon and I were at the Manor Resort hotel on Saturday night, and that neither of us left!’
CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR
ABOUT HALF AN hour later, after Stephen Perry’s phone had been checked for the images and videos mentioned, Tanner and Burgess were standing in front of DCI Barrington’s desk again.
Having just explained to him that both their prime suspects had an alibi supported by material evidence, which would be virtually impossible to fabricate, and even more challenging to disprove in court, and that their only part in the whole thing had been that Simon Richardson was a closet homosexual, who’d been having a clandestine affair with the bar manager from the Bittern pub, they were bracing themselves for Barrington’s response.
At first, Barrington neither said nor did anything except to glare at them, as his face slowly filled up with blood. Eventually, with a calm but menacing voice, he said, ‘Is this some sort of a joke?’
Not daring to look at him directly, but staring at the back wall instead, Burgess said, ‘I’m afraid not, sir.’
‘You’re honestly standing there telling me that after all that, Richardson and that gay-boy friend of his are innocent?’
‘It does look that way, sir, yes.’
‘Both of them?’
‘Both of them,’ confirmed Burgess.
‘But…what about the semen?’
‘At this stage, we don’t know how that got there, sir, but Simon Richardson and Stephen Perry were definitely in bed together at the Manor Resort hotel at the time of her death, so we can only conclude that it must have been placed there by someone else.’
‘Do you have any idea how stupid this is going to make me look?’
‘I can only apologise, sir,’ said Burgess.
‘You can only apologise?’
repeated Barrington.
‘Er, yes, sir.’
‘So you’re not going to bother to find out who actually did it?’
‘I-I didn’t mean that, sir.’
‘Well, that’s what it sounded like!’
Burgess decided not to respond to that.
Barrington glared at Burgess for another moment or two, then pushed his chair away from his desk, stood up and marched over towards his window. There he peered out through half-closed blinds at the reporters beyond, who were still milling about on the pavement, just behind the carpark’s low red brick wall. None of them looked as if they were going anywhere.
‘So I suppose we’re going to have to let them go,’ he said, with obvious reluctance.
‘We are, sir, yes,’ replied Burgess.
‘OK, but I don’t want them walking out the front. I can’t afford to have them holding an impromptu press conference, telling the world that the only reason they were arrested is because they’re gay! They can be driven back to their homes from around the back. And use a police van - no squad cars! I don’t want that lot seeing them leave. Understood?’
‘Yes, sir,’ replied Burgess, ‘but they’re bound to talk to the press at some stage.’
Spinning around, Barrington said, ‘I’m fully aware of that, thank you, Burgess, but not immediately after they’ve been released, and not directly outside my police station, not when half the country’s press is assembled, ready to dote on their every word.’
‘Yes, sir.’
Resuming his seat, Barrington scowled at Burgess and Tanner. ‘So, what’s your next step? I suppose you’re going to arrest Mr and Mrs Lambert, only to find out that they were having a sleepover with the Royal Family at the time?’
Forced to ignore Barrington’s glib sarcasm, Burgess said, ‘To be honest, sir, we’re not sure.’
‘You’re not sure,’ repeated Barrington, with a look of disdain.
Shifting his weight from one foot to the other, Burgess said, ‘Er, not really, sir, no.’