by Sally Rigby
‘Does anyone have anything else to tell us about Harvey and Tyler?’ Whitney asked.
The kids all shook their heads and muttered ‘no.’
‘Thank you for your help. If any of you think of something that might help us, Dr Johnson has my card, and she’ll contact me. You can all go, except Phoebe and Isobel. We’d like to talk to you alone.’
Whitney went to the door and opened it so they could leave. Dr Johnson was standing by the secretary’s desk, and she headed over to them.
‘Come with me, boys. We’ll go to the hall, and you can sit for a while before returning to class.’ Dr Johnson gave a slight nod in Whitney’s direction.
Whitney returned to the head’s office. Phoebe’s knuckles were white as she held onto her skirt and Isobel stared blankly ahead.
‘It’s all right. You’re not in any trouble. There are a few things we’d like to go over with you in private without the boys being here,’ Whitney said, to reassure them.
Both girls visibly relaxed a little.
‘Okay,’ Phoebe said, while Isobel nodded.
‘We’ve been informed that several months ago, Keira was upset about something, and she was seen crying at school. Can you tell me what that was about?’
The girls exchanged a glance, uncertainty in their eyes.
‘Um …’ Phoebe said, biting down on her bottom lip.
‘You’re not going to get into any trouble, and it might help us catch the person who did this awful thing if you tell us whatever you know.’
Whitney waited. Again they looked at each other. Isobel gave a nod, and Phoebe did the same. Good. It appeared that they were going to tell her.
‘Keira found out something about her dad,’ Phoebe said.
Whitney went on full alert. A lead? Or was she just repeating what Corey had told her, even though she didn’t admit to him that she believed it?
‘What was it exactly?’
‘Her dad was having an affair.’
Nothing new there.
‘How did she find out?’
‘Corey, who she was seeing at the time, told her.’
Whitney’s shoulders sagged. It was the same as Corey had told them. Not that it wasn’t a lead, because it appeared most likely true. But Whitney had been hoping for more.
‘And she believed him?’
Whitney didn’t want to let on that they already had this information.
‘Not at first. She thought Corey had got it wrong. She said her dad would never do anything like that.’
‘What happened to change her mind?’
‘Even though she didn’t believe Corey, she couldn’t stop thinking about it. She talked about it all the time. We decided she should get hold of her dad’s phone when he was asleep. He always kept it downstairs at night so he wouldn’t get disturbed.’
‘Wasn’t it locked?’
‘She guessed that his pin was the same as the one he used for his credit card. It’s what all old people do.’
Whitney shifted in her seat. It was exactly what she did, too.
‘I’m assuming she found something on his phone.’
‘Yes, he’d been texting a woman.’
‘Did you see these texts?’
‘No. Keira told us about them.’
‘Did she tell you the woman’s name?’
‘No. She just called her the bitch,’ Isobel said.
‘Did she mention knowing her? Could it have been a family friend or a colleague?’
‘I don’t think she knew her,’ Phoebe said.
‘Did Keira say anything to her mum or dad about what she knew?’
‘No. She didn’t want to in case it caused her parents to split up.’
‘So, the only people who knew what she’d found were the two of you,’ Whitney confirmed.
‘Yes. And we swore to keep it a secret.’
‘Why didn’t she tell Corey that he was right about what he’d heard?’
‘She was thinking about ending it with him by then and didn’t trust him not to tell anyone. He could be very possessive and difficult.’
‘Did she think he might threaten to tell her mum and force her to stay with him?’ Whitney asked, not wanting to assume, but that seemed to be it.
‘Yeah,’ Phoebe said.
‘Was there anything else going on with Keira that we should know about? Her relationship with Zak, for example?’
‘That wasn’t serious. She liked him and enjoyed having fun. After Corey that’s all she wanted. She was upset about her dad but had decided to stop thinking about it because nothing at home had changed.’
‘We appreciate your honesty. You can go now. Remember to contact me through Dr Johnson if there’s anything else you want to discuss.’
They left, along with Mrs Allen, and Brian turned to her. ‘Now we’re getting somewhere.’
‘We need to get hold of David Barker’s phone. Let’s call into Gillian Barker’s work, and then we’ll go back to the station.’
Chapter 17
‘Lenchester Physio’s on Compton Street. Do you know where that is?’ Whitney asked Brian when they returned to his car.
‘No, but my satnav does.’ He keyed in the address.
The clinic was a twenty-minute drive and was situated in a modern, white, single-storey building with a car park behind it. They entered through the door at the rear and followed the signs along the wide corridor to the reception.
Whitney held out her warrant card, so the woman behind the desk could see it. ‘I’m DCI Walker from Lenchester CID and this is DS Chapman. We’d like to speak to the person in charge, please.’
‘Is this about Gillian?’ the woman asked, her voice breaking.
‘Yes, it is.’
Tears filled her eyes. ‘What happened to them is so awful. I can’t stop thinking about it. Why would someone do that to such a lovely family?’
‘That’s what we’re investigating. Who’s in charge here?’ Whitney repeated, gently.
‘Our head physiotherapist, Kate Simons. I’ll ask her to come out to see you, she’s in her office.’ She picked up the phone. ‘The police are here to see you about Gill.’ She replaced her phone. ‘She’s on her way.’
A short while later, a door to the left opened and a tall woman wearing navy cargo trousers and a matching tunic top headed towards them.
‘I’m Kate Simons. You must be from the police.’
‘Yes,’ Whitney said, showing her ID and then returning it to her pocket.
‘If you’d like to come with me, we can talk in my treatment room which is out of the way.’
They followed her into a square room that had a chrome bed covered with a paper sheet along one of the walls, a skeleton in one corner, some bands, balls, and weights in the other corner, and a large mirror on the wall. There was an office desk under the window with three chairs beside it.
‘I was stunned when the news about Gill and the rest of the family was announced on the TV,’ Kate said, as they all sat.
‘Did you inform the rest of the staff?’
‘Yes, I phoned them all individually. I didn’t want to leave it to any of the more junior staff. Most of them already knew when I called.’
‘We’d like to ask you a few questions about Gillian, if we may.’
‘Yes, of course. Whatever I can do to help, although I’m not sure that I know anything.’
‘You’ll be able to assist us in putting together a complete picture of the family. How long did Gillian work for you?’ Whitney held a pen in her hand, poised to write.
‘She joined us part-time three years ago. Her hours were flexible, depending on the children.’
‘Did she apply for an advertised position, or did you already know her?’ Brian asked.
Whitney shot a glance in his direction. He knew that she liked to ask all the questions. Then again, she had been letting him do more in interviews. Unlike her previous sergeant, Matt, Brian was intent on advancing his career, and took every opportunity he c
ould to push himself forward.
‘We advertised for a part-time physio and she applied. It helped that I’d trained with the woman she used for her referee.’
‘Did Gillian tell you anything about her home life?’ Whitney asked.
‘We spoke generally, but not in any great depth. I know that David was often away on business and that did put pressure on her because she had full responsibility for the family. She didn’t let that interfere with her work here, though.’
‘What do you know about her relationship with David?’
‘I didn’t ever hear her complain about him, so I assumed it was fine.’
‘Did Gillian have regular clients?’
‘A few, but most of the time we see people for a while until their issue is solved. Some of them will come back, but not a high percentage.’
‘Did she have any clients who caused her problems, or that she was concerned about?’
Kate shook her head. ‘None that she reported to me. We had regular one-on-one supervision meetings to discuss her work, and I’m sure she would have said then if there were any issues. Gillian was very good at her job, and recently we’d been discussing her doing more hours now the children were less dependent on her.’
‘Was Gillian friends with anyone in particular at work? Anyone she might have confided in regarding personal matters?’
‘If there was to be anyone, it would be me. We’d sometimes go out for lunch together. I never got the impression that she was having problems. There are only six of us here. Five physios and Zoe on reception, and we all get on well together.’
‘Do you socialise out of work?’
‘Occasionally we’ll all go out for a meal or a drink, but not often. We have families to get back to.’
‘Did you ever see Gillian and David together socially?’
‘At the office Christmas party. That’s when we all brought our partners.’
‘When they were together, did you detect any tension between them?’
‘None. Do you think something happened between them and it resulted in all their deaths?’ Kate asked, her brow furrowed.
‘We don’t know but have to look into every aspect of their lives. Do you know Gillian and David’s history? How they met?’
‘They met at university when Gill was training to be a physio. I’m not sure what David was studying.’
‘Did you notice whether Gillian appeared distracted at all recently?’ Whitney pushed. They were getting nowhere fast here.
‘Gill was always on an even keel, and I’d have noticed if that changed. But it didn’t. She was the same as always right up to … when it happened. I’m sorry I can’t be of more use. I wish I did know something to help you catch the person who did this. Do you think it was directed at her or one of the family? Or were the killings random?’
‘This is what we’re investigating. Can you tell me what you were doing on Saturday night between the hours of ten and midnight? We ask this of everyone we interview, to exclude them from our enquiries,’ Whitney added, pre-empting the woman asking why.
‘I went to London for the weekend with my partner to go shopping and catch a show. We stayed overnight and came back on Sunday afternoon. My partner can vouch for me if you’d like his number.’
‘What show did you see?’
‘Pretty Woman. It was excellent.’
There were a host of shows Whitney wanted to see, that being one of them. She’d mentioned to Martin about booking tickets for something, but they hadn’t got around to it. There was no chance of a weekend away, now. Not until the murders were solved.
‘Please will you write down your partner’s contact details,’ Whitney said, handing over her notebook.
‘You can reach him on this number for most of the day. Is there anything else you need me for? My next client is due any minute now.’ Kate passed back the notebook.
‘That’s all for now. Thank you for your time,’ Whitney said.
‘I’m sorry I couldn’t be of more help.’
‘You’ve given us more information to work with. Like I said, we want to get as full a picture as possible of the family. Please contact me if anything else comes to mind.’ Whitney gave her a card.
They left the room and headed back outside.
‘Do you want to speak to anyone else who works here, guv?’ Brian asked.
‘Not at the moment. We’ve got enough to work with.’
‘Back to the station?’
‘Yes.’
Chapter 18
‘Guv,’ Ellie called out as Whitney and Brian walked into the incident room.
Whitney stopped in her tracks and turned to face her.
‘What is it?’
‘We’ve got a break in the case,’ the officer said, a smile playing at the corners of her mouth.
‘That’s fantastic.’
Whitney took several steps in her direction. A break? That was the best news possible. Was it going to add to what she’d found out about David Barker?
‘It’s more than fantastic,’ Doug said.
He was sitting next to Ellie, and since Matt had left, they’d struck up a good relationship. For all of Ellie’s exceptional research skills, she still lacked in confidence sometimes, despite there being no reason for it.
‘Why does he know and I don’t?’ Frank asked.
‘Ellie didn’t want you getting in first and taking the credit for all her hard work,’ Doug said.
‘Don’t be stupid, the guv knows—’
‘That you’re not clever enough?’ Doug interrupted.
‘You two will be the death of me. Go ahead, Ellie. Ignore these Neanderthals.’
‘You sure know how to hurt,’ Doug said, pulling a face. Whitney glared at him. ‘Sorry, guv,’ he said, holding up both hands in mock surrender.
‘Ellie?’ Whitney asked, desperate to know what the officer had discovered.
‘Corey Hudson was right about David Barker being with another woman.’
Whitney’s heart dipped. They already had confirmation of that.
‘That’s great,’ she said, not wanting to dampen the officer’s enthusiasm. ‘Keira’s friends told us about it, too. It turns out Keira had discovered incriminating texts on her dad’s phone, and she was very upset by it, and—’
‘Guv, give Ellie a chance. There’s a lot more than that,’ Doug said, interrupting her.
She glanced at Ellie, who was still smiling.
‘Sorry, you go ahead.’
‘David Barker wasn’t just having an affair. He had a whole other life with a woman who lives in Coventry called Tracy Osman. They have a young child together, aged four.’
Whoa. Now that really was a lead.
‘And he kept it secret this whole time,’ Whitney muttered.
‘His job took him away from home, so he probably made out he was away more often than he needed to be,’ Brian said.
‘This really is excellent. What else did you discover, Ellie?’ Whitney asked, sensing that there would be more.
‘They’ve got a joint bank account, and he puts money in there each month.’
‘Where does the money come from? You said there was nothing out of the ordinary coming from the account he shared with his wife which is the account his monthly salary was paid into.’
‘I discovered he had another one, in his own name, into which his bimonthly commission was paid. It was from here that he made monthly payments into the joint account he had with Tracy Osman.’
‘The crafty bastard,’ Frank said.
‘Do they rent a place together?”
‘No. They live in a house that she inherited from her parents who died five years ago.’
‘So, no rent or mortgage to pay. Does she work?’
‘If she does, it’s on the side because there’s no record of her being employed, or any wages going into the account. David Barker was the only one to put money in there. She withdrew from it regularly using her debit card.’
‘Go
od work. You’re a genius. We need to pay this woman a visit. Would you like to come with me, Ellie? We’ll leave straight away.’
Whitney asking was a spur-of-the-moment decision. She was determined to push the officer forward.
‘Me?’ Ellie asked, her eyes wide.
‘Yes, you. Do you want to? It’s about time we got you away from your desk. I know you love the research, but it’s good to do something else now and again.’
‘Cool. Thanks, guv.’
‘Before we go, has Mac got back to you about Corey Hudson’s laptop?’
‘Not yet. I’m hoping he will by first thing tomorrow. He knows it’s urgent. They’ve got a lot of work on.’
‘I don’t suppose he mentioned all the devices belonging to the family.’
‘No, guv.’
‘I want them to send back David Barker’s mobile so you can put it through the self-service kiosk tomorrow now we’ve got this latest information from Keira’s friends. Brian, can you do that for me, while we’re out this afternoon?’
‘Yes, guv. I’ll do it straight away before I meet Gillian Barker’s sister.’
‘Thanks. Ellie, grab your things and we’ll go. What car do you drive?’
‘I came by bus this morning.’ The DC took her handbag from the back of her chair and slung it over her shoulder.
‘It looks like we’ll go in mine then.’
They stopped at the station canteen for a quick sandwich and coffee, because Whitney was both hungry and in need of a caffeine fix, and then went into the car park and over to Whitney’s old Ford Focus. One day she’d get around to buying something newer and more comfortable. At the moment, she’d rather spend her money on Tiffany and the baby. She’d been planning on putting a conservatory on the back of her house which would be a lot more useful than a new car.
‘Now we’re on our own, tell me your plans for the future in the force,’ Whitney said, once she’d begun driving.
‘I don’t know,’ Ellie said, biting down on her bottom lip.
That wasn’t what she’d expected. The young woman was hiding something, Whitney thought, channelling her inner George.
‘Are you going to take the sergeant exam?’