Frozen Grave (26 page)

They reached the car and Carter rested his cup on the roof as he found the keys. He looked across at her. He could see she was mulling it over. She always got that sad expression that he
understood was just a look that meant she was in thinking mode. Carter unlocked the car, picked up his coffee.

‘He’s one of the good guys,’ he said as he got inside and opened the cup holder, placed his coffee in it to cool down.

‘He told me how you helped him.’ Willis looked across at him.

‘Yeah – I tried, maybe not enough.’

‘He thinks he was a scapegoat. Is that true?’

‘Yeah, definitely. We worked for a year solid on it. We were really getting somewhere. That was the trouble. We came across so many “no-go” areas that we were shut
down.’

‘It sounds bad.’

‘It was. We weren’t allowed to investigate some avenues so we could do our job. We came out with more questions than we went in with.’

‘He said people incriminated went right to the top.’

‘Yes, they did. We weren’t allowed to haul them in – national security and all that bullshit. The top brass pulled rank over us and that was that.’

‘Were some senior policemen involved?’

‘Yes. Sometimes not directly, but they were best buddies with ones who were. They included politicians and judges. We couldn’t touch them so the whole thing became a mockery. Nobody
came out of it satisfied but most people accepted that. I didn’t and neither did Scott. Difference was that I was Scott’s boss and a sergeant. I would have stuck with him through it all
but he decided to take what they offered in the end – get out or go away. He went back to Devon. I don’t blame him.’

‘No. Neither do I.’

‘You risked your own career to help him, even though it didn’t work out?’

He nodded. ‘I did it willingly. It held me back, of course, let’s be honest. I was labelled as a trouble-maker, a maverick – definitely not a team player. I was posted out as a
woody to the other end of Hertfordshire for a few years and I had to fight to work my way back. It’s worth it. You have to be in the system to change it. You know, Eb, my dad taught me the
ethics of hard work and doing right by people. He has respect for folks. He listens to people in his cab and he knows about humanity. He taught me some invaluable lessons. But maybe the biggest
lesson I learnt was not one he ever meant to teach me – never settle for less than you set your dreams on. Never let life grind you down, there’s no such thing as bad luck – even
when you’re dealt a shit hand, come back smiling. That’s what Scott did in the end – he just has to practise the smile a bit more.’

‘I’m not sure he should have stayed in the police force,’ said Willis. ‘He’s never going to get promoted.’

Carter glanced over at her. ‘Is that all it’s about for you, Eb?’

‘No, of course it’s not, but my career is massive to me and I expect that in someone . . . in someone . . . I think is worthy of more.’

‘Someone you fancy? Say it!’ he teased. ‘Say that you might like to have his babies.’

‘Don’t be ridiculous.’ They finished their coffee and Carter began driving.

‘What’s ridiculous?’ He laughed as they drove past the petrol station and rejoined the motorway. ‘Cabrina said it would happen one day and so did Jeanie. I didn’t
believe it until I saw you with Scott – perfect match.’ He glanced over and smiled as he accelerated into the fast lane.

‘No, we’re not,’ she said indignantly.

‘In what way aren’t you?’

‘In every way – I will never leave the Met. I know where I belong and it’s not in Devon and he doesn’t belong anywhere else.’

‘One of those long-distance relationships then,’ Carter teased.

‘No, because in the end, one of us would have to give up something really important and it would have to be me because he’s never coming back to London and he’s never making it
higher than a DS.’

‘For someone who’s adamant she doesn’t fancy Scott, you’ve really thought this through.’

She didn’t answer; she looked out of the window and watched the scenery change. Carter rang Robbo.

‘Can you also run a check on all the owners of Aston Martins in the UK, Robbo? One was seen regularly outside Gillian Forth’s house,’ Carter said.

‘Okay, will get on it. Did she definitely die in the fire? She wasn’t killed first?’

‘No. She had no chance of escape. She was in an attic room when the fire started. It went straight from the front door up the stairs – chimney effect. She fried,
basically.’

Carter came off the phone to Robbo.

‘Eb – ring Ellerman for me. I want to talk to him.’

He could hear rock music in the background as Ellerman answered the call.

Jump . . . Jump for your love . . .

‘Mr Ellerman? Detective Inspector Carter here.’

‘Yes?’

The music disappeared.

‘Sorry if this is a difficult time to call. You seem to be always working away somewhere.’

‘What can I help you with, Inspector?’

‘Have you heard of the name Gillian Forth?’

‘Who? Sorry?’

‘Gillian Forth?’

‘No . . . I don’t think so. Should I?’

‘You might have seen something about her on the news. She lived in Exeter. She was killed in an arson attack on her home a week last Tuesday.’

‘No, I didn’t see it, sorry. How awful.’

‘She worked for a company called Dreamcars – you’re one of its clients.’

‘Oh, really? Never heard of them. I can’t help you then, sorry. I have no idea who she was.’

‘You sound distracted.’

‘I’m driving, that’s all.’

‘Hands-free phone?’

‘Yes. Of course.’

‘You seem strangely connected to the death of two women. I need to know where you were on that Tuesday evening.’

‘I was with a friend.’

‘I need the friend’s address and I need to talk to her or
him
to confirm it . . . and, Mr Ellerman . . . just to let you know – we will be applying for Gillian
Forth’s phone records and we will be analysing all her computer data. If I find that your name crops up, I’m going to request
your
phone records and I am going to go through
your life with a fine-tooth comb.’ Carter hung up. ‘Slippery fuck – that’s what he’s been called and that’s what he is.

‘I need to write up my report on today, guv,’ Willis said as they drove past the road to Fletcher House.

‘Yeah, but it’s ten o’clock and I want to make sure we get in early tomorrow for a meeting at eight.’

‘I’ll be there, no problem.’

‘I know, but I need you to come in two hours before that. We’ll check things through then and write up today.’

‘Okay,’ she said reluctantly.

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

‘I think she needs reining in. She’ll be surfing all the dating sites and she’ll have joined half a dozen looking for Ellerman to hook in further. Dr Harding strikes me as
unpredictable in her emotional affairs.’

‘Bunny boiler, you mean?’

‘Yeah, I do. She’s tough on men even in the workplace. Let alone ones that cross her in bedroom affairs.’

‘I know, but she already knows Ellerman and she knew Olivia Grantham. She seems to have something that Ellerman wanted –
still wants
.’

‘Not the sex then,’ said Willis. ‘Is it all about the money now for him – the money for his investments?’

‘We’ll pay a visit to his wife tomorrow. I want to talk to her on her own. We need to decide if she’s complicit in any of this – after all, she stays with him for a
reason.’

Carter dropped Willis off outside her house.

Willis opened her front door and picked up her post from the shelf just inside and carried it up to her room on the top floor. She stopped to listen at Tina’s door, heard nothing so went
on up to her room.

The room temperature was only just above freezing. She flicked on the halogen fire, got undressed in front of it and into pyjamas and her onesie that Tina had given her for Christmas. She
checked her mail and discarded it and then tapped her password into her laptop. She had a friend request from Skype. She looked at the name

Scott Tucker
wanted her to add him. He was online.

She logged on to Skype and added him. She saw his face appear. She squinted at the screen to try to make out what was around him. It wasn’t the station she could see, it looked like a
lounge. He seemed to be sitting on a dark-coloured sofa. Behind him was a wall with a large black-and-white poster of a wooden pier. She heard the sound of a television.

‘Hang on a minute,’ he said and the TV sound stopped. ‘That’s better – can’t hear myself think.’

Willis smiled. ‘What were you watching?’

‘Um, not sure really – some thriller from some place that looked even colder than here. Wait a mo – I can’t see you.’

‘My camera is disabled.’

‘I don’t know – you politically correct gurus . . . only in London could you buy one of those.’

She smiled again. She also wondered if he’d had a glass or two. ‘Any more luck with neighbours seeing the Aston Martin or any other unusual car activity?’

‘Yes, two more sets of neighbours have seen it sometimes, in the week, parked overnight. There have been some other sightings of cars that may not be common on this street – a Range
Rover has also been seen a few times but it’s possible that belongs to a relative of someone on the street.’

‘Any CCTV to look at for the Tuesday evening when she died?’

‘We are looking at the motorway cameras but it’s not a small job. There is no CCTV in the immediate area around Station Road. I’m still waiting for Gillian Forth’s phone
records but – a traffic cop I know told me he met her recently on the dating site she used to meet Ellerman, according to the letter, called Love Uniform Dating. He met her once. I’ve
had a look at it. There are a lot of military types down here. That’s what she was after, he said. She told him she wanted someone high-ranking – who spent a lot of his time
away.’

‘I suppose that counts Ellerman out – he isn’t military.’

‘No . . . it doesn’t count him out of anything. Everyone tells a few lies on the dating sites. You know: he says, I’m six foot two and he turns out to be two foot six. Or
I’m a size twelve and she turns out to be a size twenty-two. Plus, he could say he was retired.’

‘Did you find him on there?’

‘No, but he could have hidden his profile till it all calms down. We’ll keep looking.’

She smiled to herself as she thought about what he said about the dating sites and the way people lied. Tina said she did it all the time. She said sometimes you turned up and the person looked
nothing like the man in the photos. But then, Tina also said she could speak several languages and Willis knew she was barely proficient in one.

‘You sound like you know a lot about it?’ Willis asked.

‘Me? I’ve only just come out of a long-term relationship so I don’t need any more trouble for a while. But it’s just one more way of hooking up, I guess.’

‘Okay . . .’ Willis didn’t know what to say. She was glad he couldn’t see her face. She felt awkward. Her heart missed a beat when he said he’d been in a
relationship. ‘Well, I’ll keep you informed if anything to do with Gillian Forth turns up this end. We are looking into all of Ellerman’s movements and I’ll let you know if
anything turns up there too.’

‘Okay – you off to bed now?’

‘Yes. Night.’ She went to switch off Skype but he leant into the camera.

‘So you’re not sitting in your pyjamas and that’s why you don’t want me to see you?’

She smiled. ‘Might be.’

‘Okay, Detective Willis. This is Detective Scott Tucker signing off for now. Night. You are the weakest link – goodbye!’

‘Night.’

Willis stared at the screen. Scott’s face loomed into the camera as she pressed the
end call
button and logged out. She could see he was still logged on to Skype after he’d
ended the call with her. She wondered if he’d be doing the rounds of friends now. He was lonely, just out of a relationship, he said. He hadn’t really had anything to say to her.
He’d just wanted some contact with the outside world. Willis didn’t really get that. Everything she wanted was inside the room. She didn’t want contact outside it.

Harding put the bag of takeaway containers into the bin and opened another bottle of wine as she settled down to surf the sites. She sat at her kitchen table but didn’t
open her laptop. She knew there was something she had to do, something she’d put off. She phoned Carter. He’d just got into bed beside Cabrina when his phone rattled on the bedside
cabinet. He slipped out of bed to take it.

‘Dr Harding?’

‘Sorry – I know it’s late but there is something else I need to tell you about Lorraine Chance. Are you having any luck with tracing the lorry drivers?’

‘No, not so far.’ Carter slipped out of the bedroom, wearing just his boxers. Cabrina sighed as she watched him go. He walked quickly down the stairs so as not to wake Archie. Once
inside the kitchen, he closed the door.

‘What’s on your mind?’

‘My car.’

‘The damage, you mean?’

‘Yes. It happened the same night as she was killed.’

‘Okay. That’s unfortunate. But is it connected?’ Carter was beginning to think that Harding was drinking and dialling.’

‘It happened in the adjacent car park to the lorry park. I was going to meet someone there. He didn’t show up, or I’ll never know if he did or not – the minute I circled
the car park I saw a light come on in a lorry’s cab and I thought that perhaps my date had made some other arrangement . . . I thought – as we were meeting for a dogging liaison –
it was just possible that the lorry driver was going to watch. But, I was just about to make my way towards the lorries when the car was surrounded by youths in hoodies. They just started attacking
it – well, you saw the damage.’

‘Substantial. You should have told me sooner. They tried to get in the car by the look of it.’

‘Yes, sorry, that was their intention. I don’t know what they would have done then but I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t have gone my way.’

‘Who was the person you were meeting?’