"Did she ever mention going independent, or any unhappiness with the Jones’s Estate Agency?"
There was another pause. "I don't know why you're asking me these questions. I wouldn't want to get anybody in trouble. Is Jade in some kind of trouble?"
Jade's death hadn’t been publicized yet and Scarlett didn't want to be the one to break it to her clients, so she knew she had to speak with some delicacy.
"Nothing you could tell me would hurt her standing with the business, I assure you,” said Scarlett keeping her tone professional and friendly. “We’re just reviewing the work she’s been doing for the agency."
"Well, I like her. I hope she doesn't leave. I'm thinking of putting an offer on one of the houses she showed me."
"If she were to leave Jones’s agency, you could still work with her."
"No, I don't think that would be right," Emily said. "And besides, Ronnie is the best in the business. Everybody says so. I met him myself when I first came in, and he was very nice. He introduced me to Jade and said that I could come to him if I had any questions, but he had every confidence in Jade, and he was sure that Jade could find me the perfect place that fit my needs and financial situation. I suppose if she left to start on her own, I would be sad to see her go, but Jones’s has all the best listings. And I'm sure there are other agents at his office who could help me. Is that what you wanted to know?"
"Yes, thank you."
Scarlett heard a loud buzzer in the background.
"Oh, that's the dryer,” said Emily. “I have to go now."
"Thank you, Mrs. Branch,” replied Scarlett. “You’ve been very helpful."
Scarlett hung up, and worked her way down the list. Business was slow in the shop this afternoon, so she was able to make good progress. By four o'clock she had called every number. For most, she had left messages. She was able to reach eight of Jade's clients, and all of them had a similar story to tell. They liked working with Jade, but if she were to leave the business and strike out on her own, they would all stay with Ronnie. Many of them had known Ronnie for ages, and two of them had bought homes from him years ago. None of them felt any need to work with someone else.
One gentleman put it quite succinctly. "That's not how I do business."
+++
The White Hart Pub, Bicester, England
After work, Scarlett went to The White Hart to meet with Tim for a quick catch up before her date with Cliff.
She found Tim working at a table in one of the booths, with his laptop open and his head bent over the keyboard, typing. He seemed very intent on whatever it was he was working on.
Scarlett walked up to the table. "Is this seat taken?"
Tim looked up and smiled. "It is now."
Scarlett set her purse down, then took off her jumper and set it on the seat beside her. She settled into the booth opposite him.
"Just off work?" he asked.
"Just now." She took out the list of clients. "I spoke with Ronnie this afternoon.”
“Oh?”
“Amanda was there, too. She didn't look happy.”
“Why’s that?”
“She thought I was accusing Ronnie.”
“Were you?”
“I was questioning him. Testing him,” she said. “But now I think Ronnie is telling the truth. He said it wasn't blackmail.”
“Of course.”
“According to Ronnie, Jade wasn't threatening to leave him, and wasn't accusing him of anything. But there was some tension between them.”
“What kind of tension?”
“They were negotiating her compensation. She felt she was underpaid, and Ronnie was trying to keep her in the fold without paying her too much.”
“So it was about money,” said Tim.
Scarlett nodded. “I asked him if Jade was planning to leave, and he said he didn't think so. I thought maybe he wanted to stop her from taking his clients, so I got him to give me a list of all of Jade’s clients so I could call them and check out his story."
“Wow. And he gave it to you?”
“He wants to clear his name,” she said. “And he trusts me.”
Tim seemed vaguely interested. "So you made some calls?”
“I did.”
“And did his story check out?"
"I wasn't able to reach most of the clients. I mostly left voicemail messages."
"Sign of the times," Tim said. "I almost never answer my phone anymore, unless I’m sure I know who's calling. And even then, I’d rather let it go to voicemail."
Scarlett knew exactly what he meant, and thought most people had a similar incoming call policy.
She went on with her report. "But I did talk to a few clients.”
“That’s good. And what’s the verdict?”
“None of them were thinking of leaving to work with another agency.”
“Not one?”
“Not one. Not even if Jade did decide to strike out on her own.”
“You posed the hypothetical?”
“To every client I talked to. They’re all loyal to Ronnie.”
“I wonder why.”
“They say he’s the best.”
Tim nodded. “That’s what I was told. That’s why I was in his office, checking out flats.”
“Still thinking of moving into town?”
“After what happened, maybe I should reconsider,” he chuffed.
“The murder rate does seem to be going up,” she added, raising her eyebrows humorously.
To her surprise, Tim laughed. Up until this point she’d been wondering if he was capable of feeling joy at all.
“I think Ronnie's telling the truth,” Scarlett continued. “Jade didn't have much to hold over him. She could have left if she wanted to, and the truth is that it would probably have hurt Ronnie’s business in the short term, but mostly it would just mean more work for Ronnie until he found a decent replacement. A pain in the ass, but not the end of the world."
"Hardly a motivation for killing someone,” Tim said.
"That's what I'm thinking. So it seems that whatever she’d told Frank about going out on her own was probably more wishful thinking than an actual plan." She noticed his glass was nearly empty. "I'm gonna get something. Want another? I'm buying."
"Sure, thank you."
When she returned with two pints of London Pride, she set down one for him and sipped hers.
"I showed you mine,” she said. “Now you have to show me yours. What have you found?"
Tim glanced at his laptop to review his notes. "I’ve done some more background research on the husband, Frank.”
“You looked into his finances?”
“His insurance, to be specific.”
“And?”
“He increased his life insurance policy last month."
"For himself, or for his wife?"
"Both."
"Interesting,” she said.
“Very.”
“How much?"
Tim took a sip of his beer before quoting a figure. "He bumped up their policies by 50%."
Scarlett whistled with amazement.
“Yeah,” he said.
"Well, that is suspicious."
"Very," Tim said. "But by itself it doesn't mean much."
"The timing is interesting though."
"Agreed."
"So what's next?" Scarlett asked.
"The proof of the crime will be the poison. Without that, there’s no solid case. We need to find traces of the poison in their house."
Scarlett nodded. "Do we know yet what it was that killed her?"
"Not yet,” Tim said. “I'll be getting the toxicology report soon. But we don't have to wait for that. We can look for poison in his house, his car, anywhere that he might have access to. Then if it matches the report, it could prove that it was the husband who poisoned her."
Scarlett took another swig of her beer and checked her watch. Then she pushed the rest of her beer over to Tim and stood up.
&nbs
p; “Ok, let me know when you get the tox results back, yeah?”
He looked up at her bewildered. “You’re leaving?”
She nodded. “Yeah, something I’ve got to do. And I’m on a time crunch.”
He nodded at the beer, acknowledging that now he had almost another pint to drink. She grabbed her bag and coat and turned to leave. “I’ll catch you later,” she smiled, enjoying the look on his face.
And then she strode out of the pub.
Always leave them wanting more, she reminded herself. She may even have wiggled her hips a little as she make her dramatic exit.
Besides, she had to head home and shower for her date with Cliff there later. But there was one more thing she needed to do first… if she wasn’t too late to catch him, that was.
+++
Police Station, Police House, Queens Ave, Bicester
Scarlett arrived at the police station and made a beeline for the front desk. "I'd like to speak with Detective Inspector Rogerson."
The woman at the reception desk took down her name and pointed to the waiting area. "If you'll just have a seat over there, I'll see if I can get him for you."
"Thank you." Scarlett found a seat and waited. She assumed that he must still be working, given that she wasn’t turned away. She wasn’t quite sure how their shifts worked, but if he only started in the afternoon, he might still be there, despite it being early evening.
The waiting area was small, with two benches and two rows of individual seats. There was a man on a bench who appeared to be sleeping. He wore a business suit that looked dirty and rumpled. The only other person in the waiting area was a young woman with a child. Her boy looked to be four or five years old. He was running back and forth in between the chairs, kicking a little red ball around the room. The mother made no attempt to keep her boy in line, and when Scarlett looked at her face, she saw that the mother had been crying. She was about to ask the woman what was wrong when the door opened, and the detective inspector called out to her.
"Miss Slater, if you'll come this way please."
He took her into a little meeting room. Scarlett sat down in a chair next to a table, while the detective remained standing by the door.
"How can I help you, Miss Slater?" he asked.
"I think I might be able to help you."
"I'm guessing this is about the death of Jade Hogarth?"
"Yes, exactly."
"Do you want to change your statement? Did you remember anything else?" He took a small notepad and pen from his pocket, ready to take notes.
Scarlett took a deep breath. "I found out some things about Jade's husband."
Rogerson’s face remained stoic as ever. "If it has any bearing on the case, I'm interested."
"I think he may have poisoned his wife."
"Why would you say that?"
"Because he increased the amount of her life insurance."
The inspector looked down his nose at her a long time before speaking. "I didn't know that," he said. "And I'm wondering how you know that."
Scarlett didn't want to reveal Tim's involvement, so she decided to reveal as little as possible. "I got the information from a friend. It's reliable. It means he had a motive to kill her."
"I understand what it means," the inspector said. "Of course, I'll have to verify that."
"That's why I'm telling you about it," Scarlett said. "I'm not expecting you to take my word for it. I'm just suggesting that you should look into it, and I think you'll find that it leads you to the killer."
"Anything else?"
"Jade was probably poisoned. That means you should check his house for any poisons."
The inspector crossed his arms and scowled. "I can't tell you how much I appreciate your coming down to the station to tell me how to do my job."
Scarlett ignored his sarcasm. "I’m just trying to help, and be a good citizen."
"We've already talked to the husband. He seemed very upset to learn that his wife died."
"That doesn't mean he's not the killer. I talked to him myself. It could be an act, or he could just feel bad about killing her."
"Unfortunately, Miss Slater, he wasn't in the room when she died. He wasn't the one who gave her a cup of water moments before she keeled over and spasmed to death. According to my notes, that person was you."
"I'm not denying that I was there. I'm just pointing out that her husband had a motive, and he could have been poisoning her all along, and it was just a coincidence that she died when I was there to witness it. If you think I'm a suspect, I suppose I could understand that, but you're wasting your time with me, when you could be talking to the husband."
"Like I said, we did interview him, and he's out of town right now on a business trip."
Scarlett was surprised by that. Frank hadn't mentioned going on a trip.
"Don't you think that's a little suspicious?"
"Not necessarily," the inspector said. "He had already booked his flight a few days before she died. The trip had been planned for a while."
"Oh, I'm sure it was very well planned. Very well indeed. That was his alibi, don't you see? Now it makes sense. He poisoned her, and didn't think that the poison would act that fast. He must've thought that she wouldn't die until he was out of town. It would have been the perfect alibi, if she’d died while he was away. This means you can search his house, right?"
"Not without a warrant, I can't."
"With the information I gave you, you should be able to get a warrant, based on the insurance. He stands to gain a lot of money. Maybe he was dosing her a little bit at a time to make her sick so that it would look like an illness. I would test the dishes and the countertops for any signs of unusual toxins."
The inspector changed the subject. "Let's talk about you and Jade."
He went methodically through his notes of their earlier conversation, and she repeated what she had told him before. Scarlett wondered why he needed to hear it over again, but she figured he was probably trying to catch her in a lie. She couldn't remember everything she told him, but she had told him the truth, as far as she was willing to go with it, so she answered his questions honestly if not completely openly.
"Aren't you going to request a warrant to search the house?" she asked him again.
"Possibly," he said. "Can I get you a cup of water?"
"Are we almost done?"
"Not quite."
"Then, yes. I'm getting kind of thirsty from all this talking."
The inspector stepped out of the room for a few minutes. Scarlett checked her emails and text messages on her phone while she waited.
When the inspector returned, he handed her a cup of water and sat down in the other chair. He had a file folder in his hand and put it on the table.
"Thank you," she said, taking the water. "What's that?"
"We got the toxicology report back." He opened the file and studied it. "The toxins from a plant. A plant that we also found in your allotment."
"My allotment?"
"Well, I suppose it’s technically your aunt’s. We got a warrant to test the plants and one of them came up positive, a perfect match for the poison that killed your friend Jade."
"Which means you consider me a suspect."
"Yes."
Scarlett heard a buzzing sound, and checked her phone. The inspector checked his.
"It's me," he said. He read his message. "Wait here."
The inspector stepped out of the room for a moment. Scarlett opened the folder on the table and looked at the photos inside. The plant was a blue flower. Using her phone, she snapped a picture of the photo for future reference. She glanced at the toxicology report and saw the word Aconitum. She took a photo of the report as well, and closed the folder moments before inspector stepped back in.
"I'm going to have to ask you not to leave town," the inspector said.
"So, you’re not arresting me?"
"It's not looking good for you."
"But I'm not under arrest?"
"Then I'd like to leave now," she said, standing.
The inspector nodded. "You're free to go."
Scarlett gathered her belongings quickly and walked out. She tried to mask her emotions from the inspector, but inside she was feeling indignant, and more than a little nervous right now.
At least she had another clue, though.
Chapter Eleven
Malaprop’s Bookstore, Bicester, England
In the bookstore, Cliff spoke with Karl, Tarquin, and Ronnie.
"She went to the police station," Cliff reported to them.
"That's bad news," Karl said. "I saw a forensic team inspecting her aunt’s allotment."
"She's probably talking to the police right now," said Ronnie.
Cliff felt anxious. He wasn't sure if it was the situation, or the lack of feeding, but he didn't feel like himself. He was tense, and wanted to lash out, but kept himself under control knowing rash behavior wouldn't help the situation.
"We have to help her," he said finally.
Karl shook his head. "I'm not sure that's advisable. There were no bite marks on the body. Nothing that could tie her to us. We don't have to get involved."
"But we are involved," Cliff insisted. "This is already tied to us. Jade died in Ronnie's office. And Scarlett is clearly the prime suspect now. The police are all over her, questioning her, snooping around Tabitha’s allotment. We can't say we’re not involved. Scarlett is one of us now. If Scarlett is under suspicion, we all are."
Tarquin rubbed his chin. "He’s right,” he admitted. “There is a danger here. Scarlett knows a lot of things that might be of interest to the police."
"Exactly," Cliff said. "If she's desperate enough, she might just use what she knows about us to get herself out of this."
"A get out of jail free card," Ronnie said.
Karl pursed his lips. "I really don’t think she’s like that… Can we rule out the idea that she did kill Jade?"
Cliff sneered. "Scarlett? Impossible!"
"Not impossible,” Karl countered. “We know she was there in the room. We know she gave Jade the cup of water."
"She has no motive," Cliff said. "She's not a killer."
"I know her better than any of you," Karl said. "She works for me. I know what she's capable of and not capable of. I don't think she's a killer, either. Not in any intentional sense. But she might have killed Jade unintentionally."
A Very British Witch Boxed Set Page 34