Frozen Grave (16 page)

‘If he makes money from it, he must advertise it somewhere.’

‘You’d think so,’ said Robbo. ‘Everything’s online these days.’

‘Unless he’s doing one bespoke project at a time,’ said Hector. ‘I saw something like that on one of those building TV programmes. This one was for a wealthy Brit and it
cost a million. If you were in charge of that project, you could expect a fair whack.’

‘So – we think he’s got two high-profile businesses going on? Restoring expensive Spanish homes and selling just as expensive yachts?’

‘The yachts haven’t been doing well for a while,’ said Pam as she looked at the screen over her glasses. They were glam ones – leopard-print with winged sides.

Carter turned to Hector.

‘Did you ask him where he was on Sunday afternoon and evening?’

‘At home.’

‘When was the last time he had contact with Olivia?’

‘They texted one another a lot, said Hector. ‘Last time looks like a week ago. They sent a text to one another first and then there were a few phone calls between them. The last one
we have is one from Olivia to him saying: “Great to chat, looking forward to putting plan into action. Very exciting!!!”’

‘She seemed to like him,’ said Carter.

‘Yeah, there are a lot of calls between them, long ones, sometimes lasting more than an hour,’ Hector replied, looking at the lists of phone records. ‘There is also a six-month
period a year ago when Ellerman was texting her every day; looks like a basic, round-robin text – he says the same thing every time: “Hello, gorgeous, how’s things? I’m so
hot for you right now. Miss you, love you . . .” That kind of thing. They must have felt a connection—’

‘I’ll interview him myself when we bring him in,’ said Carter.

‘Won’t he recognize your voice from the call about Naughties?’ asked Robbo, who was opening another pack of Haribo. He was trying to get down to one a day. He took out five
sweets and folded over the packet top, jammed it under the stapler.

‘I’ll let Willis do most of the talking. I’ll sit in on it – I don’t think he’ll remember my voice – he was too busy panicking at the time.’

‘Where is she?’

‘Personal stuff. She should be back by now.’ He checked his phone and rang her number.

‘I’ll be there in two minutes, guv. I’m just parking the car.’

‘Go straight to the Whittington – I’ll see you there.’

Hector began tapping on his keyboard frantically. ‘I’m into Olivia’s profile now.’

‘You got past her password?’ asked Carter.

‘Wasn’t so hard in the end – she put it in the reminder section on her phone.’

They crowded round to have a look at Hector’s screen.

‘This is not strictly legal,’ Robbo said as he scrolled down the images of the men she had messaged. ‘But well done.’

‘Good job,’ said Carter.

‘I can only look at the past thirty messages on this and that just takes us back a month. We’ll need to get permission to look further. It will mean bringing in the companies’
computers. It’s not going to be easy. It looks like she surfed the net most evenings. Some people have noticed her absence. There are a few “where are you?” messages.’

‘We have to wait to get permission to use the information from the website. It’s an infringement of these men’s human rights,’ said Robbo.

Carter opened the file on the desk and looked at Ellerman’s photos. He was posing by yachts, his company logo and emblem emblazoned all over his T-shirt: blue sky and a golden mermaid
figure in the middle.
Miranda
was written in the circle around the mermaid. Carter stood and took his coat from the hanger behind the door.

‘Has Ellerman tried to get in touch with Olivia?’

‘Yes,’ answered Hector.

‘Smug git,’ Carter said as he turned to leave.

Carter drove down to the Whittington and parked in one of the spaces allotted to the mortuary.

‘You okay? How did it go?’ he asked Willis as she joined him, carrying her coat. Carter thought she looked slightly different. She’d worn a colourful blouse to see her mother.
It looked too big for her. He wondered if she’d borrowed it from Tina. Still the same black work trousers though; but she had made an effort – she couldn’t help herself. She
nodded.

‘Fine. But have you seen Dr Harding’s car?’ Carter shook his head. ‘I just parked up next to it. You want to see it – it’s a mess.’

‘Jesus Christ,’ said Carter as he examined the damage. ‘The driver’s window is smashed.’ He walked around the car. ‘Also looks like there were several
attempts at smashing the passenger window too. The tear in the roof alone will cost a fortune. She must have seriously pissed someone off. This is going to cost five hundred quid to put
right.’

He rang the bell and spoke into the intercom:

‘It’s Detective Inspector Carter and DC Willis. Is Dr Harding free? We need a word.’

They found Harding in her office. Mark was sitting at the other desk. He got up to leave as they came in.

Harding indicated for Carter to pull up the chair Mark had just vacated. Willis perched on the side of Mark’s desk.

‘First things first – what happened to your car?’ asked Carter.

Harding looked a little ‘caught out’.

‘Just parked it in the wrong place, that’s all.’

‘What, and someone did that?’

‘Obviously.’

‘Did you report it?’

‘No. I didn’t see what happened.’

‘There could be CCTV in the area. Are you claiming on the insurance?’

‘No. It’s not as bad as it looks.’

‘Seriously? You want to get a crime number, that’s a few hundred quids’ worth of damage. Thank God you weren’t in it at the time – they were obviously trying to get
in. Where did it happen?’

‘I don’t remember exactly. I was visiting a friend.’

‘Where?’

‘In the East End. Look, I don’t really want to discuss it, if you don’t mind. I can’t remember exactly where and when my car got damaged. It’s just one of those
things.’

Carter looked at Willis and raised an eyebrow as Harding turned back to her desk and clicked on an image of Olivia Grantham’s post-mortem test results.

‘Drugs tests came back negative. She was clean and sober when she walked into that place. I presume that’s what you want to see me about?’

‘Yes, and I wanted to ask if the bite cast worked out.’

‘Seems so. They didn’t come back to me to say that they couldn’t make an impression. I’ll chase it.’ She looked up her notes. ‘And I’ll let you know
when I do. Stomach contents show she hadn’t eaten in the last five hours.’

‘This wasn’t a dinner date then. This was definitely for the sex. Here’s a few more names we’ve lifted from Olivia’s contacts for you to have a look at. We start
interviewing them tomorrow.’ He handed Harding the list of names. She looked them over. ‘Recognize any of them?’

‘No, sorry.’

‘Please keep this list and check if any of the phone numbers on it match contacts you have. Someone could be under a different name.’

‘Yes. Okay.’

‘When are you performing the post-mortem on the homeless woman, Lorraine Chance?’

‘As soon as I have a slot free. I’ll let you know what I find.’

Outside, Carter and Willis walked back across to Harding’s car to take another look.

‘Guv? I didn’t know we had a new case? Lorraine Chance?’

‘Known as Lolly. She was found in the lorry park at Shadwell. She works that area. She’s well known to the patrols. It looked to me as if she’d accidentally overdosed.
Coroner’s ordered an enquiry into how she died.’

‘She’s the woman from the Faith and Light hostel?’

‘Yes. I presume so.’

He shone his torch on the damage. There were large deep punctures on the driver’s door.

‘She didn’t seem to think this was anything, did she? Why didn’t she want to do anything about it? This is serious damage to property.’

‘She seemed a little shaken up by it. Most of the damage is on the driver’s side.’

‘Unless she knows who did it and she doesn’t want to say. She didn’t make a comment when you said thank God she wasn’t in the car when it happened, did she?’ said
Willis.

‘You think she was?’ Carter asked as he took photos of Harding’s car with his phone.

‘To me, it looks like someone’s tried to get at her through the window. She said she was visiting a friend; could be she doesn’t want their name mentioned?’

‘But, this is too bad to just ignore it. If this was my car, would you tell me to ignore it? No. Exactly!’ said Carter. Willis didn’t answer. Carter looked at her expression
and shrugged. ‘You’re right – it’s none of my business, I suppose. Come on – I’ll buy you a drink at the tavern.’

They drove down Holloway Road and parked outside the Shamrock Pub.

Willis ordered a Coke. Carter had a bottle of lager. They sat in a booth. Cricket from the other side of the world was on a screen at the other end of the pub.

‘What do you think about Harding?’ Carter asked.

‘There’s an honesty in her admitting about the sex sites but I’m still surprised she does it. I never thought she had trouble with getting one-night stands.’

‘It’s a case of the more the better, I think. Plus, she obviously likes the anonymity of it all. And she could be useful to us. She could talk to some of the men from the Naughties
site that we’re interested in; we’re not looking for anyone new to the site. If the killer was in touch with Olivia, it’s very likely he’s tried his luck with Harding at one
time.’

‘I think it’s dangerous to use her in that way. Plus, it’d be embarrassing for her if it comes out. I don’t know how we can promise her anonymity.’

‘We can’t.’

‘But you did.’

‘And she knows I was lying. She just wanted me to say it; she didn’t expect me to mean it. In reality, she doesn’t give a toss.’

‘Maybe. It’s hard to know with her.’

‘If we find out anything through her then “confidential sources” will have to do.’

He paused, looking at Willis. He thought how tired she looked. She hadn’t been right since the case that ended just before Christmas. He made a mental note to go and see Tina in the
canteen. She was Willis’s housemate and she might tell him if he was missing something. He was so busy worrying about his own father, who had throat cancer. The love he had for his dad was a
million miles away from Willis’s feelings for her mother.

‘So how was Mommie Dearest?’ Carter took a drink, rubbed his hands together as the cold from the bottle hit them. He searched Willis’s face.

‘She hasn’t changed.’

‘What’s she after? She knows that trying to commit suicide means messing up any chance she might have of transferring to a jail.’

‘She’s bored and she wanted my attention.’

‘You think that’s it?’

‘Yes. She managed to find herself a man in the hospital, a male nurse, and I’m not convinced he’s the only one – they shouldn’t put men anywhere near her. She got
tired of him so she self-harmed. My mother is a bright woman. She knew exactly where to cut. If she wanted to hit an artery – she would have. But she didn’t. She just made a nasty mess
of her arms. She wanted attention. She wanted me to rush to her bedside.’ Willis sighed. ‘She wants to have a say in my life.’

‘How can she hope to have that from where she is?’

Willis shook her head.

‘She says if I visit her she’ll tell me about my father.’ Willis looked up from her lap. ‘She has photos.’

‘Don’t you know anything about him?’

She shrugged. ‘I know he was from Jamaica . . . and I know he was much younger than her – a young athlete over in the UK for some sponsorship promotions. They met in a bar. He never
knew about me. They lasted a few weeks and then he went home. She didn’t put him on the birth certificate and she never contacted him again.’

‘If she gives you a name then he should be easy to trace.’

‘I know – that’s what I was thinking.’

It was the most animated Carter had seen her for a while. There was an enthusiasm in her now, a spark of excitement. She saw Carter studying her.

‘I know it shouldn’t mean a lot to me, but it does. I would love to know him. He would be in his forties now.’

‘I understand – we’d all feel the same way. But you must be prepared for the fact that this could just be a lie.’

She nodded.

‘I know, but equally the lie could have been told at the very beginning. Maybe he always knew about me, always wondered. Maybe they had something more than a few weeks together. I want to
see the photos.’

Carter nodded. He understood that the risk was worth taking for Willis. He also understood that her mother had played a clever hand.

Zoe Blackman called as they were coming out of the pub.

‘How’s it going?’ asked Carter as he took her call. ‘How’s Toffee?’

‘He looks worse to me but they say it’s natural for his face to swell up. I’ve left guard duty now but I’m going to call in for an update once a day.’

‘Make sure no one gets in there.’

‘Yes, sir. Someone is guarding him twenty-four hours a day. He’s safe.’

‘Has Smith been around? Are you getting anywhere with him?’

‘He has been in. He’s opening up a little but he cherry-picks the parts he tells you. He used to be in a mess and his parents bought him the hostel to run. Doesn’t make perfect
sense to me. Can’t see how running the hostel is going to provide a good career move for an ex-junkie – I think it’s asking for trouble.’

‘I’ll get Pam to look into the family backgrouind. They must be über-wealthy if they are using the hostel as a tax write-off.’

‘I’m not sure you’d see the whole picture unless you’re inside that hostel. I’m trying to work my way in there somehow, or at least get my mum in there.’

‘If she succeeds – we need her to get on best terms with the volunteers and find out the relationship between Smith and Toffee.’

‘If she succeeds she’ll do what comes naturally and find out all that and more.

‘There was a young woman asking for Toffee. She called herself Martine, said she knew him from the Faith and Light hostel. I tried to talk to her but all she really wanted to do was see
Toffee and she wasn’t allowed. She scarpered before I could grab her.’