by Lee Weeks
Tucker was sitting in the back seat. He was thinking and staring out of the window at the moors. ‘And . . . correct me if I’m wrong, but she’s a woman’s woman and a little bit more. She took a shine to Ebony here,’ he said.
‘She was motherly . . . I think.’ Willis turned to look at him.
‘No, Tucker is right,’ said Carter. ‘She was intrigued by you. She couldn’t take her eyes off you.’
‘In my opinion –’ Tucker leant forward to talk to them between the front seats – ‘she will want revenge. She’s more angry than hurt. But she’s become a representative for all of the women and all of their grievances with Ellerman.’
‘What about Ellerman?’ said Carter. ‘What do we do about him now?’
‘We have the women shutting us out and we have Ellerman with enough alibis to sink a ship. They want to deal with this themselves.’
‘Even though we’ve told them he could be a murderer.’
‘Yes. They don’t seem to get it. They don’t think he’s capable.’
‘Because he’s not, maybe?’ Willis looked across at Carter. ‘Because one of them or more than one of them knows more than we think about the murders?’
‘They didn’t know about one another till the letter came?’ said Tucker.
‘Perhaps. We only have their words for that,’ answered Carter.
‘We need someone on the inside,’ said Tucker.
‘Harding.’ Willis looked across at Carter. ‘Could we ask Harding?’
‘Ring her now and tell her we need her help.’
‘Harding? She’s one of the names on the list?’ Tucker got out the list to look her up. ‘Dr Jo Harding?’
‘Yes. She’s the pathologist attached to Archway. She’s already agreed to help.’
‘Were they close?’
‘No. Harding’s never close to anyone,’ answered Carter. ‘But they were having a sexual relationship at one time, briefly. Harding also knew Olivia Grantham in the same way. All three had sex.’
Willis phoned her. ‘Dr Harding, we need you to talk to some of the women on the list. We’re not getting anywhere with them.’
‘Okay. Which one first?’
‘Megan Penarth.’
‘What’s the line you want me to take?’
‘Tell her you didn’t invest any money but that you’re angry and upset. We need her to trust you. But you’d better ring once and hang up. We don’t want her thinking we put you up to it – we’ve only just left her place. Then, when you do get through, ask her for help to deal with it.’
‘Okay, I’ll do it. I’ll let you know when it’s done,’ Harding said and hung up.
‘Now, Eb, tell me to mind my own business, but I would feel better if you phone and find out about your mother. It might affect what we do today.’ Carter waited to start the engine.
Willis picked up her phone, opened the door and got out of the car.
Carter watched her talking. She had become as thin as a reed. She lost weight so quickly. Her olive-coloured skin normally gave her a healthy-looking glow but not at the moment. She turned her face from the breeze that had sprung up. She was clutching the phone tight to her head, sheltering the mouthpiece with her hand.
‘Is she okay?’ asked Tucker.
Carter sighed. ‘It’s always difficult to tell with Willis. In all the time we’ve been partners, she’s never really opened up to me about all parts of her life.’
‘Her mother, you mean?’
‘Yes, her mother, Bella. I know the facts but I don’t know the feelings. I think she feels that if anyone really found those out she would enter a world full of chaos and unpredictability and she can’t bear to be out of control.’
‘She’s a good detective.’
‘She’s brilliant at some things. But she also has large gaps in her knowledge. She cannot get behind it when it involves crimes of passion, matters of love. She doesn’t really see it. It’s still black and white to her. She’s had no parental love.’
‘What about boyfriends? Men in her life?’
‘You’ll have to ask her all that. She would hate me telling you anything about personal stuff. Talking about her mother is okay – she is in the public domain. But Ebony’s sanctity would be a terrible thing to break into. I’m not sure how she’d recover. It’s taken me over a year to gain her trust and friendship.’
They watched her put her phone away and walk back to the car. She had a look of sadness on her face. She was staring at the ground as she got in and put on her seat belt.
‘Okay, Eb?’
Willis didn’t look at Carter. She stared straight ahead. He started the engine.
‘Yes, I don’t have to go to the hospital. There’s nothing I can do. She’s earned herself an indefinite stay in Rampton.’ Willis closed her eyes and laid her head back onto the headrest. ‘She attacked a pregnant woman, cut out her baby.’ Tucker reached forward and put his hand on her shoulder.
Carter put the car into gear and pulled out of the lay-by. ‘We’ll head to Exeter and drop off Tucker and then we’ll hit the motorway home.’
A text came through from Harding. Willis read it:
We’re in. I have an invite to meet her and a couple of the others.
After they’d dropped Tucker back in Exeter, Carter and Willis started the drive back to London.
‘We’d better make sure Harding follows a brief,’ Carter said, as they took the motorway north to Bristol. There were frozen fields either side of them as after the floods of autumn had come the cold of midwinter. The day was already dark with layers of deepening grey.
‘Is she dead, the woman your mother attacked?’
‘Yes. So is her baby.’
‘Christ – she’s a monster.’
‘Yes. I warned them when I was there. I could see it building in her. The business about finding my father – I should have handled that differently. That tipped her over the edge. She knew I wouldn’t want him to see her. I couldn’t risk his life being ruined. She knew I’d think that in the end.’
‘I know that you handled it better than most people. You did it with a calculated approach. I know if someone could read your mother’s mind they’d be in a very dark place, so don’t think you should have seen any more than you did already. You need to keep sane, Ebony. You know all those years of your mother’s neglect has left you much more stable than you deserve to be. Good job you were such a bright child that you could outsmart her.’
‘I never looked on it like that. I always saw it as just managing. She’s frighteningly clever.’
He reached over and gave her a jab on her arm.
‘Guess who asked me if you had a boyfriend? Well, not directly.’ She looked across at him, waiting for the answer. ‘Scott, of course!’
‘I hope you didn’t tell him anything.’
‘What like? She’s only into men with train sets?’
‘Stop being mean about Darren. You know it’s more about the preservation of the old engines.’
‘Huh! That’s what he told all the women.’
‘Anyway, we’re not dating any more and we haven’t been for six months, which is longer than it lasted altogether, so you can stop taking the piss now.’
Willis took a call from Zoe Blackman and put her phone in the speaker dock.
‘Toffee is showing signs of coming round. His brain scan is looking positive. His eyes are fluttering in response to simple questions, but he’s not talking yet.’
‘Have someone stay with him at all the time,’ Carter said. ‘The only real lead we have to solving any of the murders is Toffee. If he gives us a name then we can hope all the cases will fall into place.’
‘I will make sure he’s not left alone.’
‘What’s happening with Simon Smith? Has he any more information for us?’
‘I’m going to look for him now. He’s here, because I saw his jacket. He may have slipped off for a coffee.’
‘He could still have a lot more to tell us. If
he and Toffee are friends then he might have let something slip. Ask him if Toffee ever used his laptop, ask him if we can have it for a couple of days.’
‘I’ll ask.’ Willis ended Blackman’s call but kept the phone in her hand.
‘Shall I ring Robbo and see what’s happening up there? Feels like ages since we were there.’
‘Yeah – you and I are the same, Eb: too much green makes us feel uncomfortable. All this countryside makes me think I’ve dropped off the end of the earth.’
‘Did Mahmet turn up?’
‘Not yet.’
‘Keep officers patrolling the estate. This should bring him out. He’s got to go to his own granddad’s funeral. What happened to the dog?’
‘He even tried to bite the gun that shot him.’
‘Was he tagged in some way?’
‘You mean an identity chip?’
‘Yes.’
‘No chance.’
‘We must have Balik’s prints on file?’
‘Yes, we do, but they don’t match any prints from the crime scene. Someone was wearing gloves; guess that was probably Balik.’
‘I’ll ask Sandford if we can still get a print from that. Glove prints have been admissible before.’
‘Okay. How are you getting on with the PCs from the hostel of Faith and Light?’
‘Wading through them.’
‘Might be quicker to take Harding’s laptop and do it that way.’
‘I’ll ask again.’
‘Tell her she owes it to Lolly. It’s the only way we’re going to catch anyone for her murder.’
‘What’s the report from surveillance on Ellerman? Where is he right now?’ asked Carter.
‘He’s been at home. He’s decorating, we think. It’s noisy inside. He’s been sighted briefly in the garden, that’s about as interesting as it gets. His wife comes and goes. Yesterday, one of the team followed her when she left the house.’
‘What did they report?’
‘She was out all day. She sat in a café with WiFi and, as far as the officer could see, she was working on a website design.’
‘Did he see what it was?’
‘He said it was in Spanish.’
‘For Ellerman’s Hacienda Renovations company?’
‘I don’t know. He didn’t get a good look.’
‘What has he got her doing? Designing him a website to stop us prying into that? If so, why is she doing it outside the house?’
‘Ellerman must think the place is bugged.’
‘It is.’
‘Yeah, but we can’t see what she’s surfing in real time unless we put a Trojan on her laptop and that means getting our hands on it.’
‘We can think about that.’
‘Ellerman is playing clever with keeping the noise levels high in the house. We can’t hear their conversations.’
‘What else did she do?’
‘She met the gardener and they went for a coffee.’
‘Getting cosy with the hired help?’
‘Possibly. It looked like they just bumped into one another but it could have been arranged. They spent forty minutes talking over coffee then they went their separate ways.’
‘Is she the type to have an affair, do you think?’
‘I think no one would blame her. She may be trying to get even, in a small way.’
‘She’ll have a long way to go to achieve that.’
Dee Ellerman picked up her phone and dialled.
‘Hello, is that True Colours? Can I make an appointment with Paula, cut and colour? Yes, please, today if possible, the last appointment of the day. Two hours will be great. See you then. My name is Trisha.’
Paula looked at her watch: it was gone five. She was having a friend over for dinner tonight whilst her girls were staying with friends and having a sleepover there. She’d dropped them off this morning on her way to work. Paula was secretly annoyed that she had a client so late in the day – it was already five and all the other stylists, even the junior, had gone home. She went round and made the salon ready to lock up in case the client was a ‘no-show’.
The door opened and a petite woman with long dark hair in a plait walked in.
‘Trisha?’
‘Yes. Sorry I’m late.’
The two women looked at one another and it occurred to Paula that she knew Trisha.
‘Have you been here to True Colours before?’ she asked.
Trisha shook her head. Paula took her coat into the back room and returned with a gown. She slipped her arms into it, then she sat her down in front of the mirror. Paula took out Trisha’s plait and ruffled her hair, to free it and get a better look at it.
‘What would you like done?’
‘Cut it short and colour it blonde.’
‘Are you serious? You have beautiful hair. It’s wrong to cut it, let alone colour it. Have you thought it through?’
‘Yes. I’ve thought everything through.’
Two hours later and Paula had talked non-stop to Trisha about her girls, about her man troubles, about her love of Spain and her hopes to have a salon out there. She held up a mirror so Trisha could see her hair from the back.
‘Well, it’s a transformation. You said that’s what you wanted.’
Paula went into the back room to get Trisha’s coat and, as she reached the coat down from the peg, she heard the key turn in the lock and remembered that she’d put the key ready to lock up before Trisha had arrived. She walked over and tried the handle of the door.
‘Hello? Trisha, I seemed to be locked in. Hello? Trisha? Can you let me out, please?’ She listened and heard the faintest movement on the other side of the door.
‘Trisha?’
She heard the key turning in the lock again. When she opened it, Trisha was standing clutching a pair of scissors.
‘Trisha, are you okay?’ Paula took a step back.
‘I thought I was going to have to use them to open the door to get you out.’
Paula frowned. She held Trisha’s coat between them.
‘Not those scissors, they’re my hairdressing scissors; they cost a fortune.’ She smiled warily.
‘I used to be a hairdresser.’
‘Did you, Trisha?’
‘A long time ago, when I was young like you.’
‘You’re still young – now with that haircut, you look like a teenager.’
Trisha turned and looked at herself in the mirror.
‘Yes, you’re right. I don’t recognize myself,’ she said. ‘I could be anybody.’ She smiled.
‘Precisely.’ Paula took the scissors from her and put them down as she held up Trisha’s coat to help her put it on.
‘Now you can be anyone you choose.’
Chapter 55
Ellerman wiped the dust and dirt from his eyes as he scraped away at the wallpaper in Craig’s room. He’d been working on it all day, non-stop. He had moved everything he could out onto the landing and covered the rest with sheets. He could see the hurt in Dee’s eyes when he started, but it had to be done. He felt she knew it too. They couldn’t stay in the house any more and live in a tomb. She had set up her space in the corner of his office. She had homework to do from her classes. She went out more than he ever realized before. But then, the last time he spent three consecutive nights at home, Craig had been alive.
Ellerman stopped working – he had felt his phone buzz in the pocket of his overalls. He looked at the caller ID. It was Megan. He paused, thought about it and then answered it.
‘Hello, gorgeous, how are things in sunny Devon?’
‘They are fine. I’m working too hard. I’ve just finished a big commission piece; I could do with a little distraction. Are you coming down my way soon?’
‘Ahh. I’d love to. What did you have in mind?’
‘What about tomorrow?’
‘Thursday?’
‘Yes, I thought we could spend a couple of days together, head to the coast, walk on the beach. It’s cold but the forecas
t is for sunshine.’
‘You don’t know how marvellous that sounds. Can I ring you back later when I’ve juggled a few things?’
‘Of course, but say yes – I feel like spoiling you. Great wine, great food.’
‘Sold! What time do you want me down?’
‘Late afternoon would be great – sixish; that will give me time to finish up the last of my work.’
‘I’ll be there, gorgeous.’
Megan came off the phone to Ellerman and opened up her list of numbers to call. She called Harding first.
‘You have my address. Would you like to make an evening of it and come and stay?’
‘Yes, I could – I don’t have a lot on on Friday. That sounds delightful. What is the plan?’
‘I’m inviting a few of the women from the list down. I think we should stick by one another – after all, we have a lot in common. You never know, good things might come out of all this. We might hit it off really well.’
‘Sounds like fun.’
Megan phoned Paula and Emily next.
‘I’ll have to check I can leave the girls with my mum,’ said Paula.
‘You can sleep here, no problem. Have you heard from JJ?’
‘Nothing.’
‘Emily?’
‘Yes?’
‘Can you come down here tomorrow? Are you ready with the contract for us to look at?’
‘Yes, the first draft of it anyway. ‘Is it going to be too icy to drive home?’
‘Possibly.’
‘I’ve had car trouble recently. The steering went on me whilst I was driving on the lanes the other day. I could hire a car especially to come down or I could borrow one from the school.’
‘Do it; but don’t drive home anyway. I think you are going to want to stay.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘I’m hoping JJ might make an appearance.’
‘Oh. Okay. I’ll find that very strange, to see him with everyone else.’
‘We will all find it strange, Emily, but it’s the only way to sort it out. We need to confront him. I’m not telling everyone that he’s coming. I sense that you won’t be put off, but I think others will and I want us to end this on our terms, not his. We stand together and make him tell us what’s going on. We get the truth. I want to see him squirm.’
Megan phoned Dee. Dee was walking back from the station.