by Adam Croft
Barrington nodded. ‘I see. Got herself a new chap, did she?’
‘Who?’ Caroline asked, trying to sound as clueless and innocent as possible.
‘Christ, I can’t remember her name. Murray, was it?’
‘Amie Murray?’
‘That’s the one. Speakman’s girlfriend. One of, anyway.’
‘Yes. She’s married now.’
‘To your new stiff, I presume?’
‘No. No, that’s the thing. There’s some suggestion that the victim was interested in her, but she claims it wasn’t reciprocated. By all accounts, she wasn’t particularly keen on him.’
Barrington raised an eyebrow. ‘I see. Well I probably shouldn’t be asking you the questions. Old habits, and all that. It’s probably best I tell you what I recall, and you can see what’s of interest.’
‘Okay.’
Barrington shuffled in his chair, as if it would help bring memories to the forefront. ‘So, call comes in. There’s a body. Likely accidental, but assistance required. If I remember rightly it was called in by Speakman’s mum. Uniform attend, and one of them gets the sense something isn’t right. This is a young man, sober, who’s somehow fallen backwards down the stairs and died. Extremely uncommon, to say the least. So I get the call. And I’ve got to say, I’m in agreement. It seems odd. We ask around, pull a few strings and find out more about Speakman. He’s a bit of a dosser, bit of a lad, but never been in any trouble. Closest he gets is shagging about a bit, but that’s hardly uncommon. But the girlfriend’s name comes up. Murray.’
‘Amie Murray.’
‘That’s it. Neighbours heard them having an almighty row the day before and she stormed out. Said it wasn’t a particularly rare occurrence, and that she wasn’t the only woman he had coming and going. Now, that raised alarm bells, see. Are we talking about a jealous lover here? I think possibly so. So we look into it a bit further. Speak to people. She’s got anger issues. So we bring her in for questioning. Trouble is, we’ve got nothing we can pin on her. Her DNA’s obviously all over his house because she’s his girlfriend. One of them, anyway. There’s a strong suspicion Speakman didn’t just fall and was pushed, but it’s not strong enough to prove it, and definitely not strong enough to prove who did it. In any case, she’s got an alibi. She went straight from Speakman’s to a friend’s house, and they went out for a walk, got some food and various other bits that evening, then she stayed the night. Pathologist reckoned Speakman had died later on, probably in the evening, so he was alive when she left his. That’s what stopped it dead, so to speak. At the time Speakman died, she had an alibi, and a pretty bloody solid one at that, as far as we were concerned.’
Caroline nodded. ‘But your suspicions remained?’
‘Yep. Not much you can do with suspicions, though, when you’re struggling for evidence. And you think she might be connected with this new murder? The Murray girl, I mean.’
‘Amie? Yes. She’s Amie Tanner now, though.’
Barrington’s face turned grey in front of her. ‘Sorry, did you say Tanner?’
‘That’s her married name, yes.’
‘Jesus Christ. What’s the husband’s name? Gary, isn’t it?’
‘Gavin. Do you know him?’
‘Christ, do I. He was her alibi when Speakman died, did you know that?’
‘Yeah. We did. That’s what makes me wonder if there’s a connection somewhere.’
Barrington let out a noise that sounded like a football hitting a bush. ‘You can say that again. Gavin Tanner’s “connections” are exactly what scuppered our investigation last time.’
Caroline cocked her head slightly. ‘How do you mean?’
Barrington looked at her. ‘Christ. You really don’t know, do you?’
Caroline felt her heart starting to beat more heavily in her chest. ‘Know what?’
‘Gavin Tanner’s dad was Alf Tanner. Chief Constable Alf Tanner as he was then. We had pressure from above to close the investigation and write it off as an accidental death. Said there was no benefit to be had from spending time on it. The thing is, we didn’t think for one moment Amie had gone back to Speakman’s house to kill him. We were pretty certain it was Gavin Tanner.’
33
As soon as Caroline had left Bob Barrington’s house, she called Chief Superintendent Derek Arnold and told him she needed to see him urgently. He was in meetings, but would be free a little later, he replied. Keen to find out more about former Chief Constable Alf Tanner, she arranged to meet Arnold in his office later that day.
In the meantime, she decided to head back to Oakham via Seaton, so she could drop in on Sandra Forbes. A specialist Family Liaison Officer had been appointed to keep the family abreast of developments and ensure they were being cared for, but it wasn’t too unusual for the Senior Investigating Officer to make further direct contact. In Caroline’s experience, it was common — once the initial shock had subsided — for some more organised and logical thoughts to start to come to the fore. Occasionally, memories would start to make sense and those close to the victim would have information that could be useful to the investigation.
She parked up outside Sandra Forbes’s house and knocked on the door. Sandra opened it a few moments later, a look on her face that bordered hopeful and fearful.
‘We don’t have any major news at the moment,’ Caroline said, keen not to get Sandra’s hopes up too much that her husband’s death had been solved. ‘I was just passing by and thought I’d pop in and see how you were doing, give you a bit of an update.’
They sat down in Sandra’s kitchen, which Caroline noticed was still immaculately clean. She supposed scrubbing the house from top to bottom was a relatively effective distraction from the thoughts that must have been plaguing Sandra’s every waking minute.
‘How’re things going with the business?’ Caroline asked, keen to get Sandra talking.
‘Alright, I think. I’ve not had a chance to sit down and look at everything. It can run itself for a bit. People understand.’
‘It looks like he built a good team there.’
‘Mostly, yes. I tried not to get too involved.’
‘Have you been in touch with any of the staff at all?’
Sandra shook her head. ‘Not yet. I’m just trying to distract myself, you know? I need to stop my brain from thinking about… Thinking about it.’
‘I understand.’
At that moment, Caroline’s phone rang. ‘Sorry,’ she said. ‘Do you mind if I take this?’
‘No, of course.’
She stood up and walked out into the hallway, answering her phone. ‘DI Hills.’
‘Ah. Hi. It’s Tom Mackintosh from Allure Design. The IT guy.’
‘Hi Tom. What’s up?’
‘Uh, well, it’s a bit delicate actually. I don’t really want to discuss it on the phone, but I was hoping I might be able to meet up with you.’
Caroline looked at her watch. ‘Where are you? At work?’
‘Yeah.’
‘Alright. I’m not too far away. I can be there in five or ten. Everything okay?’
‘Honestly? I’m not sure. I think it’s probably best you come and see this for yourself.’
34
A few minutes later, Caroline arrived outside the offices of Allure Design in Uppingham. She texted Tom to say she was there, and he met her at the front door. She figured it was preferable to listening to Monique reciting passages from Virgil as she signed her in.
A few moments later, they sat down in Martin Forbes’s office.
‘Okay,’ Tom said, releasing a deep breath as he sat. ‘I know your guys have got backups and mirrors and all sorts of things, but I was sorting out Martin’s laptop earlier. I was hoping I could recondition it and re-use it in the company somewhere, or maybe give it to Sandra if she needs it. And I… Look, I hope I haven’t broken any laws here, but you know how it is. I was there, I had access to look, and… Well…’
‘You went snooping.’
‘No. Not like
that. Nothing illegal or anything. I mean, it’s my job to handle the IT systems.’
Caroline smiled. ‘Tom, it’s okay. I’m joking with you. If you’ve found something useful, I’m all ears.’
Tom seemed to calm a little. ‘Okay. Well, it’s a MacBook, see? The browser saves passwords and logins so you don’t need to keep remembering them and typing them in every time. Anyway, I opened the browser, and his Gmail inbox came up. It was already logged in. I mean, my first thought was to close it down and log him out, but then something caught my eye.’
‘Go on.’
Tom lifted the lid of the laptop, brought it to life then pointed at the screen. ‘There are emails from Gavin Tanner. Amie’s husband. Sent to Martin’s personal email address.’
Caroline’s heart rate quickened. ‘Okay. Have you read them?’
‘There’s only a couple. The first one is here, look.’
Caroline read the screen in front of her.
Gavin Tanner
to me
* * *
I think you and I need to have a little chat.
‘Okay,’ Caroline said. ‘Interesting. Did Martin reply?’
‘No. He’d read it, but didn’t send anything back. Then Gavin emails again two days later.’
Gavin Tanner
to me
* * *
You’ve got two options. You can either meet me for a little chat or I’ll tell your wife, your family and everybody else what’s been going on.
‘I was a bit surprised he put all that in writing, to be honest,’ Tom said. ‘I don’t know what it means, but it doesn’t look good.’
‘No, I’m inclined to agree,’ Caroline replied. ‘Did Martin say anything back?’
‘Yep, he replied to that one. Here you go.’
Martin Forbes
to Gavin
* * *
Not at mine, and not at work. Meet me this evening. I’ll be out running anyway. Seven o’clock, just outside Seaton. Here:
Underneath the text was an image that looked as if it’d been grabbed from Google Maps. On it, Martin had marked an area near the B672, where he wanted Gavin Tanner to meet him. Caroline recognised it immediately. It was the exact spot where they’d found Martin’s body.
35
Despite the crisp day and bright blue sky, it felt like a dark cloud was starting to envelope Caroline as she left Uppingham and headed back towards Oakham. She’d already called Dexter to update him on what she’d discovered, and had put out a call for Gavin Tanner’s arrest. Although they were going to need far more to charge him, Tanner would soon realise the net was closing in and he would then pose a significant flight risk. With substantial evidence as to his involvement, accessing his car tracker was now very much on the cards too.
She arrived back at the station around fifteen minutes later, having had yet another close call with an oncoming car deciding to overtake three others on the A6003 just outside Manton. It was a stretch of road which always made her nervous, especially as she knew how many incidents uniformed officers regularly had to deal with round there.
She’d spent the whole drive trying to figure out how would be best to approach the situation with Chief Superintendent Arnold, but she couldn’t find the words. She supposed the only real way forward was to start from the beginning. But there was a nagging thought at the back of her mind; a worry that if a former Chief Constable had potentially sabotaged an investigation to save his own son’s skin, it was entirely possible other officers might have been involved.
Caroline knew Arnold had been working for the force when Alf Tanner was Chief Constable, and was hoping her superior officer might be able to shed some light on the man, but it wasn’t the first time she’d thought twice about Arnold’s motives. There was something about him she’d never quite been able to put her finger on. However much she thought about that, though, she had no doubt that Arnold’s motives were always sound.
She knocked on his door and waited to be called in, then sat down across the desk from him.
‘How’re things going?’ Arnold asked, seeming genuinely interested.
‘Alright, I think. We’re making good progress on Operation Cruickshank. I should have some more definitive news on that in the next few hours.’
‘Good. I’ve been trying to give you plenty of breathing space on that one. I hope you noticed.’
‘I did indeed. It’s much appreciated. Thank you.’
Arnold nodded. ‘And how’s the... the health thing?’
‘Fine. I feel much better, thanks for asking.’
‘You sure?’ Arnold asked. ‘Only I know what you’re like for pushing through and pretending everything’s fine. If there are issues, you will need to let me know. I’ve got a responsibility for your welfare at work. You know that.’
‘If anything changes, you’ll be the first to know,’ Caroline said, forcing a smile.
‘Good. Now, I’m guessing this isn’t a social visit?’
‘No. It’s a bit of an odd one, though. You’ve been knocking about a while, haven’t you, sir?’
Arnold straightened up in his chair. ‘Alright. No need to get personal.’
‘I mean, you were here when Alf Tanner was Chief Constable, weren’t you?’
Arnold visibly bristled at the mention of Tanner’s name. ‘I was, yes.’
‘What was he like? Did you get along?’
The Chief Superintendent took a deep breath and straightened his tie. ‘Well, I wasn’t a Chief Super then. I think I was either a Sergeant or Inspector when he retired, so we didn’t really have many interactions.’
Caroline got a heavy sense there was something unspoken playing on Arnold’s mind. ‘Was he... was he alright?’ she asked.
Arnold seemed to think for a few moments before speaking, forming the right words in his head. ‘He was... He was old school. One of the last, really. Things were different then. But again, this is all hearsay. I never really knew the man.’
‘Just before he retired, there was a suspicious death. A man fell down the stairs at home, but the attending officers believed he was pushed. Pretty much everyone did, from what I can tell, but nothing ever came of it.’
‘Speakman,’ Arnold whispered, nodding.
‘You remember it?’
‘Yes. I wasn’t working on the case, but I heard about it. Everyone heard about it.’
‘Do you remember who the main suspect was?’
‘Of course I do. Why do you think I remember it? What’s this all about, Caroline?’
‘Alf Tanner’s son, Gavin.’
Arnold shook his head. ‘No. No, you’ve got that round your neck. His lad was the alibi for the girl they thought did it. Speakman’s girl.’
Caroline looked at him. ‘You really haven’t kept up to speed with Operation Cruickshank, have you?’
Arnold’s eyes narrowed. ‘What’s going on, Caroline? What’s this about?’
‘Do you remember her name? The suspect.’
‘Can’t say I do, no,’ Arnold answered with a long exhalation of breath.
‘Amie Murray, her name was. She’s now Amie Tanner.’
‘They married?’
‘Oh yes. She works at the company owned by Martin Forbes, the man whose body was found under the viaduct. She and Martin had a massive row a couple of days before he died. According to colleagues, there were suspicions that something had been going on. Gavin Tanner, previously her alibi and now her husband, provided yet another alibi for her. That was dodgy enough to start alarm bells ringing, but then we found these.’
Caroline passed her phone across the desk. She’d taken photos of the emails Gavin Tanner had sent to Martin Forbes. As he read them, Arnold’s face dropped.
‘This is definitely his email address?’ he asked.
‘Yes.’
‘Have you brought him in?’
‘In the process of.’
Arnold sat back in his chair and rubbed his head. ‘Christ. Why did those stupid old bugg
ers always think they knew best? “This is the way it’s always been done, lad. Never did us any harm.” Jesus Christ. Worked out fine for them, didn’t it? Course it did. Gave them an easy ride. But it’s not them who’s got to clear up their mess years later.’
‘I’ve got to say, sir, this could get worse. We could be opening up a whole can of worms, here. Who’s to say Alf Tanner wasn’t bent from the start? Who knows what else he’d been up to?’
‘Well I wouldn’t worry too much about that,’ Arnold said, his voice almost a whisper. ‘Alf Tanner’s been dead seven years.’
36
Gavin Tanner cut a steely figure as Caroline and Dexter sat opposite him in the interview room. In that moment, she could see where Amie had learnt her arrogance. They made quite the team. Always had, it seemed.
It was usually the case that bolshie suspects were reined in by their solicitors, if the solicitor wasn’t the bolshie one to begin with. In this case, though, Gavin Tanner’s brief looked like a man who’d just had his pants pulled down in front of the class.
‘Okay, are you happy to get started?’ Caroline asked them as a matter of courtesy, before initiating the recording.
‘Gavin, can you talk us through your movements on the night Martin Forbes died, please?’
Gavin looked up at the ceiling and sighed, his arms crossed over his chest. ‘We’ve been through this. Many times.’
‘This is your first interview, Gavin.’
‘But you haven’t stopped hassling my wife, have you? She’s told you every single time she was at home with me all evening, so where do you suppose I was?’
‘That’s what I’m asking you, Gavin.’
Gavin stared, almost glared, at Caroline. ‘I. Was. At. Home.’
‘All evening?’
‘Yes. All evening.’
‘Any witnesses other than your wife?’