Irrefutable Evidence: A Crime Thriller

by David George Clarke

  Jennifer carefully adjusted her position in the armchair again while hoping that Languid wouldn’t do the same.

  “So, she must be, what, in her late thirties?”

  “Yes, she was born in 1974, late, so she’s coming up forty. Gosh, I must remember to send her a card.”

  “You have an address for her in Australia?”

  “Yes, dear, of course.”

  “Is she married? Children?”

  “No, dear. She’s always been something of a lone wolf. I don’t remember her ever having a boyfriend. She certainly never talked about anyone or brought anybody home. And when she was younger, still at school, if any of the young hopefuls from around here came calling, they were given short shrift. She sent them all packing.”

  Jennifer smiled her encouragement again. “She sounds like an interesting person. Almost like a daughter to you. Do you have a photo of her?”

  “Yes, dear, I do. There’s one in my bedroom. I’ll fetch it. Why don’t you help yourself to some more tea?”

  Jennifer took the opportunity to liberate her tortured thighs from Languid’s caresses. Having carefully extricated his claws, she lifted him gently back onto the sofa, stroking him so he relaxed before she turned to pour herself some more tea.

  When Grace came back into the room, Jennifer smiled up at her, her cup and saucer balanced on her knee as a barrier in case Languid was considering another sortie.

  “Here we are,” said Grace as she sat down in the other armchair — Languid was now once again completely occupying the sofa. “This is a nice one taken in the garden. Martin, my odd job man was here and he took it. Well, it’s nice of Diana, not of me.”

  She laughed self-deprecatingly. “I don’t make much of a subject, especially these days.”

  She handed the photo to Jennifer who glanced at it and nearly knocked the cup and saucer from her lap in surprise. She hurriedly put the porcelain back on the tray and sat up to examine the photo, gripping it tightly in disbelief, her heart suddenly pounding. It showed two women. Amelia Taverner, or Grace, as she was now thinking of her, smiling sweetly at the camera, and a woman in her late thirties who was anything but smiling. As far as Jennifer knew, she almost never smiled. Staring back at Jennifer with that critical, accusing eye that she knew so well was her ex-boss, Olivia Freneton.

  C hapter 25

  As Jennifer stared at the face in the photograph gripped in her hand, the world around her seemed to grind into slow motion, everything apart from that face blurring, distorting. She struggled to comprehend what her eyes were telling her. Olivia Freneton was a serial killer? How could that be possible?

  She looked up at Grace Taverner, who was now registering Jennifer’s reaction and beginning to worry. Had she told her visitor too much?

  “Are you … are you sure this is a photograph of Diana, Mrs Taverner?” stuttered Jennifer as she fought to control her breathing.

  “Of course, dear. I may be old but I haven’t completely lost my marbles.”

  She hesitated and then held out her hand. “But let me have another look, just to be sure.”

  Jennifer handed her the photo and waited.

  “Yes, that’s her all right,” said the old lady after a few seconds. “So serious. I wish she’d lighten up, as people say these days. She has a lovely smile when she chooses to show it.”

  “Do you … do you have any other photos of her?”

  “Yes, I do. I can fetch them if you like.”

  As she stood and walked off to her bedroom across the hallway, Jennifer quickly pulled her phone from her bag and copied the photo.

  By the time Grace Taverner returned a few minutes later, all she saw was Jennifer still staring at the picture of the two women.

  “There are only three,” she said, handing more photos to Jennifer. One was a well-taken portrait that showed more detail, enough to leave absolutely no doubt about who the subject was, even if the Olivia Freneton it showed was several years younger. The other two were similar to the first one she had produced, but less clearly defined.

  “Mrs Taverner,” said Jennifer once she finished examining all the photos. “Does Diana have a sister? Oh no, you said she was an only child. Does she have another name? Another first name, I mean. And, of course, what’s her surname?”

  The old lady was suddenly suspicious. “Why are you so interested, dear? You’re not thinking of getting her into trouble with the bank, are you? Or me, for that matter? After all, I don’t think we’re doing any harm with our little arrangement.”

  “Absolutely none at all. Mrs Taverner. It’s … well … Diana reminds me of someone I once knew. It’s uncanny how alike she is, but it can’t be her, of course, because the person I’m thinking of is married and lives in America. She hasn’t been back to England for years. It was rather startling, that’s all.”

  “What’s your friend’s name?” Grace’s question sounded like a challenge, making Jennifer think the old lady didn’t believe her.

  “Deborah,” she replied, thinking of one of the girls in the typing pool at the SCF. “Deborah Thyme. Like the herb,” she added, hoping the addition of a surname would add some authenticity to her spur-of-the-moment story.

  Apparently it did since Grace Taverner nodded absently. “What an unusual name. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of it before.”

  She paused as she leaned forward to stroke Languid’s head.

  “Diana’s name is unusual too,” she said. “Now that I think of it, I’ve never heard of anyone else with her name either.”

  Jennifer waited but Grace just continued to stroke her cat. Come on, Mrs T, she thought, I want the name.

  Finally, Grace looked up. “Interesting, dear, don’t you think?”

  Jennifer smiled at her. “I don’t know, you haven’t told me her name.”

  Grace put her hand to her mouth. “Oh dear, I get so easily distracted these days. Her surname is Freneton. What do you think?”

  “Think?”

  “About her name. Have you heard it before? I think it’s very unusual.”

  “I couldn’t agree more, Mrs Taverner. It is. And does Diana have a middle name?”

  “Yes, dear, she does. Olivia. She’s Diana Olivia Freneton.”

  Jennifer was having a hard time controlling her reactions.

  “Does she … I mean, are you … have you seen her recently?”

  “No, dear, I told you, she lives in Australia. I haven’t seen her for, let me see, almost two years.”

  Jennifer was still confused. “So, she’s back in Australia?”

  Grace nodded. “That’s where she said she was going, yes.”

  “You don’t have a phone number as well as an address, do you?”

  “I do, dear, yes. But it doesn’t seem to work. I tried to call her last Christmas. I thought it would be nice; I was quite excited about it. But the call didn’t connect.”

  She sighed, reliving the disappointment. Then shrugging, she added, “But I imagine she’ll be back sometime next year to collect her card when it’s issued.”

  Jennifer glanced at her notebook where she had scribbled some points that morning. She was desperate to leave, to sit in her car somewhere and process the bombshell that Grace Taverner had delivered, but first there was something else she needed to know.

  “Mrs Taverner. I’m really grateful to you for being so helpful. As I said at the beginning, the bank is committed to improving its services and I think what you’ve told me today will be extremely valuable in helping us achieve our goal. Before I leave you to your wonderful garden, may I ask you one more question?”

  “Of course, dear, I’m only too pleased to help, although I really can’t see how anything I’ve said is of much use to the bank.”

  Jennifer smiled. “I was wondering if you know a lady called Catherine Doughthey. She’s another customer in Pateley Bridge I’m hoping to visit who has been with the bank for many years and, as I have with you, I want to reach out to her.”

 
Grace chuckled softly. “I hope you’ve got a long reach, dear. She died two months ago. If you want to reach out, it will rather depend on what you do or don’t believe in.”

  “She’s dead?”

  “Yes, I’m surprised you weren’t informed. Her son is normally so diligent about these matters.”

  “How strange,” said Jennifer, making a pretence of flicking through the bank papers. “Did you know her well?”

  “Yes, we were good friends. We’d pop along to each other’s houses all the time. Her house is only about half a mile farther along the road.”

  “Was she living here in Pateley Bridge when Diana lived here?”

  Grace nodded. “Lived here all her life. She and Diana got on extremely well.”

  “Really?”

  “Yes, Catherine had a couple of operations when Diana was at university. Hip and knee replacements, so she was laid up for a while. They coincided with Diana’s summer holiday and she used to go round every day to help her. Rose wasn’t really capable of helping, you see.”

  “Rose?”

  “Catherine’s daughter. She was about the same age as Diana, but she was — what do they call it these days? Special needs. Very. In my day she would just have been called simple. And to make matters worse, she was almost blind. It was about then that she went into a care home. She’s still there. It’s in Harrogate. I used to visit her with Catherine from time to time. Catherine’s son never did. Heartless, is Geoffrey. But Diana, gosh, it brought out another side of her. She couldn’t have been more helpful to Catherine.”

  I’ll bet she was, thought Jennifer. Persuasive too, enough for the woman to let her use a credit card in her name. The scale of Olivia Freneton’s long term planning was beginning to amaze her.

  “And did she continue her visits the times she came back from Australia to see you and collect her new card?”

  “She most certainly did, dear. As I said, they got on well.”

  She put a hand to her mouth as something occurred to her.

  “Oh dear, I’ll bet Diana doesn’t know about Catherine. As I told you, the last time Diana was here was nearly two years ago.”

  “You mentioned a son. Is he now living in Catherine’s house?”

  “No, he lives in Manchester. He was up here long enough to clear out Catherine’s things and prepare the cottage for sale, not a moment longer. He had no interest in it apart from what it was worth. But that reminds me, he did give me a box of photos that he said were of Catherine and me. Would you like to see them? There might be one of Diana; Catherine was always snapping away with her camera. The box is in my wardrobe; I’ll fetch it.”

  Ten minutes later, Jennifer was leafing through a pile of loose photos while Grace Taverner made some more tea. The photos were mainly of flowers from Catherine Doughthey’s garden, but in the box beneath them was an album. She opened it and struck gold. Two photos of Catherine Doughthey with Olivia Freneton — who was as unsmiling as ever — and a letter addressed to Catherine with the North Western Bank’s logo in the top left corner. The envelope was still sealed, but rather than open it, Jennifer slipped it into her bag. Grace was still fussing in the kitchen so Jennifer also had time to copy the two photos of Olivia onto her phone.

  Jennifer was now even keener to get on her way, but she managed to sit through another cup of tea and some local gossip before she left Grace Taverner to her beloved Languid.

  “I can’t tell you how helpful you have been, Mrs Taverner. Would you mind if I please leave my number and ask that you call me if you hear from Diana? I’d be only too pleased to help her make a less complex arrangement for using a UK-based credit card.”

  “Sally, hi, it’s Jennifer. I hope I haven’t caught you at a bad time.”

  “Of course not. I’m relieved to know that Mrs Taverner hasn’t tied you up so tightly that you can’t reach your phone. Where are you? How are you? Still in one piece?”

  Jennifer laughed. “I’m fine. I’m in a car park at Pateley Bridge. I’ve spent the last hour with Mrs Taverner and I couldn’t wait to call you. Would it be all right if I popped in? I’ve got to discuss what I’ve discovered with someone; the whole case has blown wide open.”

  “Really? So who is this Amelia Taverner?”

  “She’s a sweet eighty-four-year-old lady who grows roses and lives in a picture postcard cottage—”

  “Except when she’s prowling around the country killing prostitutes and framing innocent men,” interrupted Sally, and was relieved to hear a chuckle from Jennifer.

  “Hard to imagine,” said Jennifer. “But the credit card was hers, and she knows that someone else has been using it. In fact she agreed to that arrangement, even though she has no idea what it’s used for and when. But I now know who the someone is and how she got hold of it.”

  She paused as she realised the importance of what she was about to say.

  “Well,” she heard Sally say, “don’t keep me in suspense.”

  “Sally, you’re never going to believe this, but she’s my ex-boss, detective superintendent Olivia Freneton, aka the Ice Queen.”

  “Holy shit, Jennifer. Are you sure?”

  “Absolutely. There’s no doubt about it.”

  “So what happens now?”

  “That’s what I want to talk to you about.”

  C hapter 26

  “You’ve been notching up the miles lately, Ms Cotton,” called Sally as she walked down her drive, Claudia-Jane in her arms. “You must be knackered.”

  Jennifer climbed out of her car and stretched, working her neck muscles back and forth to remove the stiffness of another long stint behind the wheel.

  “You can say that again,” she said. Then she grinned and held out her arms. “But I’m never too tired to have a cuddle with Claudia-Jane.”

  “Jen-fer,” squealed the two-year-old in delight.

  “Wow! Flavour of the month or what!” exclaimed Sally. “You should consider yourself very privileged.”

  “Soulmates,” said Jennifer, swinging Claudia-Jane around and skipping up the drive with her to giggles and gurgles of delight.

  “Seriously,” continued Sally as she closed the front door, “you can stay the night if you want.”

  “Thanks, Sally. Let’s see how it goes. I should really get back to Nottingham.”

  Sally pulled a face. “Not the best of roads through Macclesfield, and the rush hour traffic can get busy. Anyhow, it’s up to you. The offer’s there and I don’t see how you can pass up on an opportunity to bath Claudia-Jane, and of course enjoy some relaxing red stuff once she’s gone to bed.”

  Jennifer shook her head. “I can’t drink on my own; I’d feel guilty.”

  “You wouldn’t be,” laughed Sally. “I haven’t made Ced give up just because I can’t drink.”

  “What time does Ced get back?” said Jennifer as she put Claudia-Jane down on the sitting room carpet. “I’m warming to the idea already.”

  “He’s not been out, except to pound the tarmac; he’s upstairs in his office. He does much of his work from home.”

  “Of course he does. How brilliant.”

  “Tea? Coffee?” asked Sally.

  “Coffee would be lovely, thanks,” said Jennifer as she shifted several members of Claudia-Jane’s prehistoric menagerie from the sofa so she could sit. “I’m awash with tea after my visit to Mrs Taverner. I had to make two loo stops on the drive down here.”

  “I’ve been thinking through your investigation,” said Sally a few minutes later as she stirred her lemon and ginger tea. “It’s one of the great things about having a two-year-old: you can use about five per cent of your brain power on them and they think you’re giving everything, while quietly you can use the other ninety-five per cent thinking about other stuff, and junior doesn’t even notice.”

  “Ced must find that useful too,” said Jennifer, “with all the forensics floating around his brain.”

  “You must be joking,” spluttered Sally through her tea. “Multitas
king and man might begin with the same letter but that’s about as close as they get.”

  She put down her mug and leaned forward.

  “Anyway, what I was thinking is that while you’ve got some difficult-to-explain circumstantial stuff — difficult from your ex-boss’s point of view, I mean — it’s still only circumstantial. OK, you have five hotels over the years where she appears to have stayed under one of two assumed names on the nights when there were murders linked to someone staying in the same hotels, which is weird, sure. But if your boss is clever, and there’s every indication that she is—”

  “She’s clever,” agreed Jennifer.

  “Exactly. Well, she would have seen the risks and covered herself.”

  “How do you think she’d do that?”

  Sally shrugged. “One way would be to throw in a lot of white noise. What’s she like? Presumably she’s not a people person.”

  Jennifer’s derisory snort summed up her feelings. “That’s the understatement of all time. She’s positively antisocial. She almost never joins in anything with her squads — ok, she’s a detective superintendent and meant to keep a certain distance, but she’s also meant to give out pats on the back from time to time, roll up the sleeves and lead by example. She does almost none of that. And she’s a ruthless taskmaster. One slip and you’re mincemeat publicly; two or three and you’re on a transfer to nowhere.”

  “She sounds delightful,” said Sally, with a sneer. “Actually, she sounds insecure. But she’s not alone. I’ve met several senior officers, both in the police and the lab, who were like that. Far more common in the police though. With the police, most of the more difficult ones were in the funny-handshake brigade, which didn’t help since they always look after their own to the exclusion of others. It’s interesting; there are still a lot in the police. Obviously they don’t advertise their membership, but I get the impression that women aren’t over welcome. Not that most female police officers would want to be part of their weird rituals. So if she’s something of a loner anyway, she’s probably even more so amongst her peers.”