by Anita Waller
She returned to her desk, and pulled Adam’s statement towards her. She reread it, and then once more. They drove away from Baslow in his car. Car. Tax, insurance, MOT. She opened her computer and went into the DVLA site. Two minutes of clicking showed her that Adam did still own a car, an eleven-year-old car, albeit under his new name of James Owen, and it was fully legal compliant. It would be; he couldn’t risk ever being stopped. The transfer of ownership had taken place two weeks after Adam had driven away. All his new life had been ready and waiting for him, new name and everything that went with it. Ethan King was a powerful friend to have. Powerful enough to arrange a murder?
Tessa drove for the first time in a few days, and they went to Connection. Luke and Doris had just returned from talking to Keeley; they said nothing to Kat and Mouse, just that it was sorted.
They all greeted each other and moved into Kat’s office. Two plates of biscuits were placed in the middle of the table, and Luke handed out drinks.
‘You’re feeling better, DI Marsden?’ he asked.
‘Much better, thanks, Luke. I’m starting to feel I might actually survive.’
‘You had a good result yesterday?’ Doris asked.
‘We certainly did. That’s one reason we’re here, to say thank you. I think we’ve almost ruled him out as a suspect, because if his CCTV is genuine, he was in Cromer on the night Nicola died. We’re checking it to really tighten up that alibi though, in view of that being his job. It seems he runs his business from home, does detailed drawings for security systems, and employs others to do the actual fitting. I’m not convinced he’s totally agoraphobic, but he’s pretty close. We got him to the police station without him collapsing in a heap, but he wasn’t happy. That’s another reason why he’s not a suspect. I don’t think he could have got to Baslow and out into Chatsworth. He could have had somebody drive him here, but he’s still not top of my list.’
‘Who is?’
‘At the moment, in the absence of any other bugger, I’m leaning towards Hannah.’
They all laughed, and Hannah said, ‘Thanks, boss. But I’ve got an alibi, I was in bed under the duvet praying that the snow wouldn’t be as bad as it looked as though it was going to be. Is that good enough?’
‘Maybe. I’ll think about it. Just a minute while I grab a chocolate biscuit, and I’ll fill you in on everything we know. I know you held back with your client, and I’m grateful. She could have cocked everything up with one wrong move.’
Tessa took off her coat and grabbed two biscuits. ‘Okay, here goes. We have a list.’
‘Do we?’ Hannah looked surprised.
‘We do. I do, anyway. I believe, quite firmly, that Nicola Armstrong was killed because of something that happened ten years ago. I don’t know whether it was the damage she caused to Adam and Danny, or simply the fact that she drove them away, or even that somebody believes she killed them. But whatever the reason, it’s somebody who knew her, was close to her, knew her routine. So, my list.’
She reached into her pocket and pulled out her notebook. Opening at a page tucked under the elastic, she put the small pad on the table. ‘Okay, this is my list. If anybody thinks anyone else qualifies to be on it, let me know. Debbie Carter, Simon Vicars, Harry Hardy, Neil Ireland, Paula Ireland.’
‘Who’s Harry Hardy?’ Mouse asked.
‘He’s an employee at Chatsworth, found both bodies. He’s not seriously on my list, but he lives alone so nobody to alibi him. He knows the estate better than he knows his own garden, so would know where to stash bodies, and he’s a brooding sort of chap. Doesn’t talk much, and from what I’ve gathered he doesn’t sleep much. He starts work at around six every morning, his own choice, and finishes in the evening. It seems he’s hardly ever away from Chatsworth. Having said all that, he actually comes fifth on a list of five, so don’t read too much into him being on it. Before I joked Hannah was my top suspect, I had actually decided Simon Vicars kind of qualified. He has no alibi; his partner is somewhere abroad so he’s in the house on his own. I shall be digging deeper into his background.’
34
‘I’ve known Simon for some time,’ Kat said. ‘He’s quite a gentle man, and while he doesn’t have an alibi, I’d be really shocked if he needed one. I just don’t see him hitting her over the head then strangling her. He’s no murderer.’
‘Somebody is, Kat. And I don’t think it’s a random drunk out for an evening walk. It’s a person known to Olivia, and I suspect known to Nicola because I believe that phone call to Neil Ireland was because she was scared. If he’d taken that call, we would have solved this the following day.’
‘So what’s next? Reinterviews?’
‘I think so. We’ll start with Simon. I have nothing that will place him at the scene, and according to him and Debbie, he had nothing to do with the initial disappearance of Adam, despite being what Simon considered his closest friend. It almost feels as if we’re going through the motions, and then something will erupt and put us on the right track.’
‘You don’t think you’ll get anything else out of Adam Armstrong?’
‘Not without using extreme torture, no. He’s a strange one. When I was interviewing him at the station, I was aware he was out of his comfort zone. It wasn’t that he didn’t co-operate, because he did. It was clearly that he wanted to be back home, but he was a major person of interest and I had to do everything by the book. As soon as he’d finished his statement, he stood up and looked towards the door. He asked if he could go home, so we took him back. His friend from the adjoining house was standing outside Adam’s, waiting for him. And if I wasn’t a bit brain dead at the moment I could even tell you his name.’ Tessa paused, trying to grasp at something to remind her.
‘Trevor Coleman,’ Hannah said quietly.
‘That’s it! Trevor Coleman. He came straight over to our car, and didn’t even wait for Adam to get out before asking him if he was okay. Very protective, he was. He took Adam inside, after giving us such an evil glare I thought we might melt into the paving slabs, and we left. But thinking about it, I should have questioned him, he’s the one there before Adam arrived. In fact…’ Tessa was aware she was starting to ramble, but that was why she always ended up at Connection, ‘we need to go back to Norfolk and interview Mr Coleman first, then hopefully that will give us more questions for Adam.’
‘Tomorrow?’ Hannah asked. ‘Do we need to take anyone else with us?’
‘No, I don’t think we’ll be arresting anybody, but if we do I’ll handcuff them to you.’
‘Thanks, boss, you’re all heart.’
Tessa smiled at her DS, and reached across for another biscuit. ‘I know.’
‘So,’ Kat said, ‘is there anything you can tell us, now that we’ve finished with the lovey-dovey bit? We have a client, remember, who is currently itching to contact Adam, but at the moment is wary of stepping on your toes. She has Adam’s address, but that’s all. If we don’t throw her a titbit soon, she’ll head off to Norfolk.’
‘Would his phone number help?’
‘Massively. It’s probably the one thing that will stop her shooting off down there.’
‘I’ll text it to you, as soon as we get back to Chatsworth. Is there any more coffee?’
Chesterfield HQ rang Tessa less than a minute after they had left the Connection office. Tessa took the call, closing her eyes to the speed Hannah was taking the corners.
‘Two men? They have names?’
Hannah slowed down, in case it meant they had to turn around.
Tessa listened to the response. ‘Okay, many thanks. We’ll be there in about twenty minutes. And tell the one that doesn’t need to give his name because he’s only the driver, that if he hasn’t given his name by the time I get there, he won’t be driving back home again until he does. Can you put them in separate interview rooms, please?’
She disconnected. ‘Bloody men. I’ll show him who’s boss. Won’t leave his name, huh.’
‘Boss?’ Hann
ah was trying not to laugh. Whoever hadn’t left their name was clearly in some sort of trouble.
‘Hannah, pull into that lay-by, can you? I need to think.’
Hannah indicated and slowed down before bumping over the rough surface and coming to a stop. ‘Something wrong?’
‘Guess who’s at Chesterfield.’
‘No idea.’
‘If I said I won’t need to handcuff you to him, would that be a clue?’
Hannah widened her eyes. ‘No… Adam Armstrong?’
‘Spot on. It seems Trevor Coleman has driven him here, but has chosen not to give his name because he’s not here to be questioned, he’s just the driver. Oh boy, has he got a surprise coming. However, does this mean Adam has something else to tell us? I still don’t see him as the murderer though, do you? It would mean he stayed up here for a few nights, because the same person definitely killed both females. He’s not capable of having stayed in this area, away from his home in Cromer, even if he’s capable of murder. Okay, we’ll head off to Chatsworth, pick up anything we might need, then go to Chesterfield. I might have said twenty minutes, but they can both sweat for a bit.’
Trevor Coleman rose to his feet as they walked into the interview room. The PC moved towards him, and Tessa spoke.
‘Sit down, Mr Coleman. You really don’t want to cross swords with our young PC here, and you definitely don’t want to cross them with either of us two.’
They sat at the table, and slowly Trevor sank down onto his seat.
‘Why am I in here?’
‘Because you are a personal friend and next-door neighbour of a man wanted in connection with the death of his wife. He is a person of interest, Mr Coleman, and you’ve brought him to us. Now does it make sense?’
She logged them all into the room for the recorder, and opened the file she had carried in. ‘Okay, Mr Coleman. Tell me how you came to be living where you do.’
‘Why?’
‘Because I’m a DI, and I’m asking.’
His thought processes were clear; he’d done nothing wrong, so he didn’t really have a problem. And she was a DI and she was asking.
‘I rent the property from KingPress. I had an accident at work which meant I couldn’t do my job, so Mr King offered me a house on the coast, minimal rent. He’s taken care of me ever since.’
‘Whose fault was it?’
He laughed. ‘It was definitely mine. Don’t ever think it was his guilty conscience that made him offer me the house, far from it. He’s just a good bloke, and I’d been there at KingPress for twenty years or so when the accident happened. I got cocky, I suppose, didn’t turn a machine off when I should have done. It took half my arm off.’ He waved a prosthetic hand in the air, and Tessa nodded.
‘I’d been in the house about a year, learnt to manage with only one hand, and he rang me one day to say somebody was moving in next door with a little lad, and behind the fridge-freezer in my pantry was a door. He needed me to move the fridge-freezer and keep that door clear at all times. We had a long chat about helping this chap if he ever needed it, and to keep Mr King informed if things started to go wrong for either the chap or the little ’un.
‘Although I don’t know if I’m right with this, about a month before this chap arrived, Mr King sent me to a place in Scotland to be fitted with a better prosthesis. I was away a week. When I got back he’d taken out the worktop size fridge, and a smaller freezer, and replaced them with an all-singing all-dancing model. I thought nothing of it, just thanked him, and said it was easier because the fridge was now at waist level. I knew nothing of the work that had been done to connect the two houses, because it was all hidden behind the fridge-freezer.’
He took a sip from the bottle of water Hannah handed to him, and then carried on. From vowing to not say a word, he had become quite voluble.
‘The day they arrived they had nothing. One suitcase between them, and a car. That was it. Over the months we said the odd hello, and I really took to the kid. My wife walked away with our little girl after the accident. She said I was no good to her if I couldn’t work. One day James showed me a newspaper cutting, and that’s when I found out he wasn’t James at all, he was Adam. He said Danny wasn’t taking to his new name at all, but that name was just for any legalities that might crop up in the future, like going to school, taking his driving test, that sort of thing. We agreed for the sake of the little lad that we would call him Danny. And that’s how we’ve lived, quietly, for nigh on ten years. I’ve watched Adam deteriorate, especially when Danny went, and I support him as much as I can. I do all his shopping, and he does things that don’t panic him like cutting the bit of grass we have out back, and…’
‘Putting out the bins,’ Tessa said with a smile. ‘Whose idea was it to come here today?’
‘His. He wants to try to get his life back, but it’s mostly about rebuilding his confidence, I reckon. He says he’s got things to tell you that he couldn’t tell you the other day, because he’s had to bury things for too many years. He’s not capable of driving all this way, but something else that he does to keep himself as sane as he can, is he keeps that car in immaculate condition. I take it to the test centre every year, and it’s never failed yet. He asked me last night if I would bring him to Chesterfield, and of course I said yes. I’ve told Mr King because this is more than just out of the ordinary, it’s totally off the planet.’
‘And you haven’t heard from Danny?’
‘Once. He rang me on my birthday. Said he was good, enjoying what he was doing. I think he said he was in Middlesbrough.’
‘We have people tracking down where the fair is, so maybe he’ll want to make amends with his dad, see him again. This is a big step Adam has taken, coming here. Is there anything else you can tell us, Mr Coleman?’
‘I don’t think so. I’ll be sorry if he moves back up here, we’ve been really close for ten years, but with the dragon dead, he has nothing to fear. I know he had half-share in the house, so presumably it’s all his. I tell you, DI Marsden, I’m glad she’s dead. He deserves some peace in his life, as does Danny. Being thrown down the stairs was imprinted in Danny’s mind, you know. At the beginning he used to tell me about it, over and over, but as he grew older he stopped talking about the past, and started to want to become involved in the future. It caused trouble between him and his dad. I’m sure that’s why he left. All he wanted was a bloody mobile phone.’
35
Hannah took Trevor a cup of tea. She and Tessa had warmed to him during the interview, and felt they understood Adam Armstrong’s years of exile better.
With Trevor’s signed statement under their belt, they moved on to Adam. They stood at the two-way mirror watching him, sitting quietly, making no fuss. His designated PC had nothing to do but stand and observe.
‘Nice-looking, isn’t he,’ Tessa said. ‘He’s forty, and starting to look more mature, but he’s not running to fat. When we’ve caught whoever killed his wife, he could be footloose and fancy free,’ she said with a smile, and nudged Hannah. ‘Wink wink, yes?’
‘Oh my god, you’re incorrigible, DI Marsden,’ Hannah said. ‘The poor man’s newly widowed, not buried his wife yet, and you’re trying to marry him off. So no, I’m not interested, for a variety of reasons.’
‘Really?’ Tessa took a sip of her coffee and turned to her DS. ‘What reasons?’
‘Shall we go in?’
‘No! What reasons? You met somebody?’
‘Maybe. Now come on, we’ll never get home tonight. Let’s go and have a chat with our handsome suspect.’
They approached the table, and Adam Armstrong held out his hand and shook theirs. ‘I’m sorry to cause all this bother, I couldn’t speak yesterday, couldn’t focus on anything that was happening. As you’ve probably realised because it was blatantly obvious, I have some mental issues.’
‘Let me log us on to the recording, Mr Armstrong, and then we can talk.’ She recited all their names, and then sat down facing him, Hannah
to her right.
‘Do you need a doctor, Mr Armstrong?’ Hannah asked.
He shook his head. ‘No, I have all my medication with me, thank you. What I really need is to stop feeling scared all the time. Part of that issue has been solved with the death of my wife.’
‘Then can we get you a cup of tea, water, fizzy pop?’
‘No, I’m fine. This young man,’ he waved towards the PC, ‘organised some water for me because I have to take midday medication, so I don’t need anything now, thank you, except to talk and to apologise for saying nothing of any value to you yesterday. I spoke at length with Trevor last night after you dropped me off, although he knows very little of the full story; he is fully aware of the events of the last ten years, but not of how my life was prior to that. He has only recently found out that the woman murdered in Chatsworth was my wife.’