Shame the Devil, page 8
‘The crime scene people seem to think that isn’t how it happened, Trudi,’ Denning said. ‘They reckon it was quick and neat. Someone knew what they were doing… killed Susan Elliot and then were straight out of there.’
He gestured at the whiteboard. There were the usual victim photos framed by general pictures of the crime scene, plus a plan of the ground floor of the Elliots’ house.
‘So, what have we got?’ Dave Kinsella asked.
‘The post-mortem will give us a clearer indication, but it looks like a single stab wound to the stomach, puncturing the abdominal aorta resulting in significant blood loss,’ Denning said.
‘Same as Kieran Judd,’ Kinsella said.
‘And just like Kieran, our killer was either very lucky or knew what he was doing,’ Denning added.
‘Yet we’re still treating these two murders as unconnected?’ Molly said.
‘Until we can find an obvious link,’ Denning said, ‘then yes.’
‘But we can’t ignore the obvious similarities,’ Kinsella said. ‘At least we’d be pretty stupid if we did.’
‘What does her husband say?’ Molly asked.
‘He claims his wife hadn’t been threatened by anyone recently and, to his knowledge, had never been in any kind of trouble. So we have to ask ourselves why someone would want to kill her.’ He looked at his team, hoping to find some answers, but he suspected they were as much in the dark as he was.
‘We’re certain she let the killer into the property?’ Trudi Bell asked. ‘There’s definitely no sign of a break-in?’
‘The CSIs have been over the house… back door locked, windows shut and the cleaning lady has confirmed that the front door was locked when she arrived at work that morning.’
‘So we’re assuming the killer was let into the house, then locked the door when they left?’ Kinsella asked.
‘The front door’s on a latch, Dave,’ Denning said. ‘It would have locked automatically when they shut it.’
‘Did the killer know her husband wasn’t at home?’ Molly asked. ‘If so, perhaps she was deliberately targeted? An attempted sexual assault. She fights back, he kills her?’
‘Possible, but the crime scene manager couldn’t see any signs of sexual assault. Obviously if the post-mortem says otherwise, then we look at that possibility.’
‘I take it there’s the usual lack of witnesses,’ Kinsella said.
‘Despite the fact the time of death suggests the murder happened early on, when people would have been leaving to go to work. There would have been people around. But, so far, door-to-door enquiries haven’t come up with anything. Obviously we’ll keep going, but so far our killer seems to have been very lucky.’
‘Especially with their timing,’ Molly said. ‘They were in and out before the cleaner called round.’
‘They must have been watching the place,’ Trudi said. ‘They knew there was a window between her leaving for work and the cleaning lady calling round.’
‘Then there’s the big question we’re all thinking,’ Kinsella said. ‘Does this tie in with Kieran Judd, and if so, how?’
Denning turned to the two whiteboards: one was laid out with the details of Kieran Judd’s murder, the other, which had been hastily assembled that morning, was devoted to Susan Elliot. Photos of her home and her blood-stained body. He looked at the two boards and the two victims: what, if anything, linked them? A middle-aged woman and a man in his twenties? Then there was Susan Elliot and Tony Hallam: certainly, they were closer in age, if that was relevant. Poles apart socially, but that was probably even less relevant than how old they were. But his gut was still saying this was where the link was. It had to be…
‘I think we should be looking for something that connects Tony Hallam with Susan Elliot,’ he said. ‘Or Susan Elliot with Declan Meech.’
‘What about Kieran Judd?’ Molly asked. ‘We still haven’t confirmed that he wasn’t the intended target.’
Denning thought about this. Everything told him this wasn’t an avenue worth pursuing, but a nagging voice in the back of his head said they weren’t yet in a position to conclusively rule it out.
‘OK,’ he said reluctantly. ‘As you’re already on the case, Molly, see if there’s anything that connects Susan Elliot and Kieran Judd.’
Though in his heart he hoped there was nothing that linked them.
Chapter Seventeen
Laurence Elliot was a mild-mannered man in his mid-fifties. He had neatly trimmed brown hair and a pale complexion, and was dressed in a navy jacket and open-necked pale shirt with a motif on the lapel. He’d told Molly he was staying with a friend in Twickenham until Forensics had finished in his house, so he agreed to meet her in the lounge bar of The St Margaret’s Hotel, halfway between Twickenham and Richmond.
‘Susan and I have only been separated for a few months,’ he said. ‘It was a second marriage for both of us but, in hindsight, we probably rushed into it. I work away from home a lot, so we agreed Susan was to stay in the house until we could sell it.’ He gazed at Molly through a pair of horn-rimmed glasses, the sort she hadn’t seen anyone wear for over a decade.
A waiter hovered nearby and Molly ordered a pot of tea for them. ‘Had you been together long?’ she asked.
‘That’s the tragic thing,’ he said. ‘We’d only been married for about a year.’
‘Sometimes these things just don’t work out,’ she said, as much for something to say.
‘Susan was never really happy. At first I thought it might be me. My first wife always complained that she found me dull. I actually thought that was something in my favour with Susan.’ He smiled awkwardly. ‘Well, maybe not “dull”, but reassuring. Safe.’
The waiter arrived with their tea, placing the pot and two cups on the table. ‘Tell me about Susan?’ Molly asked.
‘I don’t really know what I can tell you. We met through mutual friends. We’d both been single for some time and were looking for company more than anything else. Initially we clicked, but then after a few months we realised we’d probably made a mistake. I had secretly been hoping we might agree to give things another go. That’s one of the reasons I wasn’t in any hurry to sell the house. Susan, however, was adamant it was over. She was already looking at buying a flat nearer to where she worked.’ He poured out two cups of tea, asking if Molly took milk and sugar.
‘Just milk,’ she said.
He handed her the cup and added milk and two lumps of sugar to his cup before stirring it.
‘She was a teacher?’ Molly asked.
‘Yes. A primary school in Finchley. She hadn’t been there for very long. A couple of years, I think. She was very conscientious. She was hoping to make deputy head soon.’
Molly sipped her tea. Earl Grey, she noted. ‘And she had no enemies that you knew of? There were no issues at work that concerned her?’ Molly asked, but couldn’t imagine the politics of a primary school were the sort that would result in murder.
‘No. She enjoyed working at the school. She got on with everyone: staff, pupils and parents. It’s a good school with a good reputation.’ He stared at his cup. ‘She did say something strange about a week ago… a couple of days before I left for Aberdeen.’
‘Go on,’ Molly prompted.
‘She said she thought someone had been following her. I asked her to be more specific, but she said she thought she was probably over-reacting.’
‘She didn’t report this to anyone?’
‘I don’t think so. I said that if she was worried to contact the police. She said she thought she was just being paranoid.’ He sighed and rubbed a hand over his face. ‘It feels very odd speaking about Susan in the past tense. I know we weren’t together anymore, but I still cared about her. It was horrible having to identify her body at the mortuary. I don’t think that’s something I’m ever going to get over in a hurry.’
Molly smiled sympathetically at him. There was something very likeable about Laurence Elliot, despite, or maybe because of, his self-professed dullness.
‘You said Susan had been married before. Do you know if her first husband is still around?’
‘I never knew much about him, to be honest. He died shortly after they split up. A heart attack, I believe.’ His forehead wrinkled. ‘You don’t think it’s got anything to with…’ He looked awkward as if he was struggling to say what he was thinking. ‘Relationships? Susan had had other relationships before she met me. Nothing serious, just casual flings. At least that’s what she told me.’
‘At this stage we’re keeping an open mind about Susan’s murder, Mr Elliot, but if you happen to have names or contact details of anyone Susan had been involved with, it would be very helpful. At the very least we’ll need to eliminate them from our investigation.’
‘Yes. Yes, of course.’ He paused and sipped his tea before placing the cup back in the saucer. ‘There were only a couple as far as I know. I don’t want to give you the impression Susan slept around. Far from it. I think she just wanted a bit of company. Nothing more than that.’
‘Of course. I’m not suggesting anything. It’s just we’ve got to look into every aspect of her life, especially if there’s no obvious motive for her murder. It’s entirely possible this could have been a random attack… an opportunist who was frightened off, or a casual thief. However, we think there’s a good chance Susan knew her killer and let them in to the house.’
‘It’s just…’ He took another sip of tea, finished it, then placed the empty cup and saucer on the table. He was clearly struggling to say something else. ‘I think Susan might have been seeing someone else, though I can’t be certain.’
Molly was suddenly paying more attention. ‘Recently, you mean?’
He looked embarrassed; uncomfortable at the thought of talking about a woman he clearly still had feelings for, even if those feelings hadn’t been reciprocated for a long time.
‘I can’t be certain. It’s just… little things, you know. Phone calls and she would tell the person on the other end of the line that she would call them back. Disappearing for weekends, supposedly staying with friends, but then being vague about where she’d been and who these friends were.’ He gave a diffident smile. ‘I could have been imagining it, of course, but sometimes you just get a feeling, don’t you?’
Molly nodded. He was right. When it came to relationships sometimes it was almost possible to second guess what your partner was thinking. She used to do it with Jon all the time. It was one of the reasons she knew the spark had gone out of their relationship for both of them.
‘You don’t know who it was?’ If she was seeing another man, then this was definitely something worth chasing up. ‘Someone from work, maybe? A neighbour?’
But Laurence Elliot didn’t seem to know. He looked like a man who had just lost the last few strands of hope that had kept him going. The faint possibility he and Susan might get back together – however slim – had been dashed for ever in the cruellest of ways. Combined with the knowledge there was a real chance his wife was already seeing another man. She couldn’t help feeling sorry for him.
‘I wish I could say I knew Susan well enough to answer that.’ He sighed. ‘Perhaps if I’d been a better husband, or if I hadn’t pressurised her into marriage, she might still be alive now.’ He looked at Molly. ‘You think she was murdered because she was having an affair?’
But Molly didn’t know that. The more she discovered about Susan Elliot, the less obvious the answers seemed.
‘It really is too early to say at this stage, Mr Elliot. But whatever the reason for your wife’s murder, I really don’t think you should go blaming yourself. There’s only one person to blame for her murder and that’s the person who killed her. And I can promise you we’ll do everything we can to find them.’ She took another sip of tea, enjoying the tangy taste. ‘What about Susan’s family, any friends? Perhaps they might be worth talking to?’
‘Most of her friends were through work. She wasn’t especially close to her family. Her parents are both dead and she was an only child. Perhaps that was her problem… she was looking for that sense of belonging.’
She smiled at him. ‘Thank you, Mr Elliot. I appreciate everything you’ve done. I’ll be in touch when I have some news.
He thanked her, promising to get in touch if he could think of anything else, adding that he would be staying in London for another couple of days and then heading back to Aberdeen at the end of the week.
Molly watched him head out of the hotel to the car park. She waited for a few minutes, trying to attract the attention of the waiter, who was busy chatting to an elderly couple who had just come in. She watched Laurence make his way across the car park and into a Jaguar before driving off. Safe but dull, she thought. A few years ago, she couldn’t have imagined anything worse than being saddled with a man who fitted that description, but right now that sounded exactly like what she wanted. Reassuring and dependable.
At least now she felt she had something positive to focus on. If Susan Elliot was having an affair, then Molly had to find whoever it was she’d been seeing and speak to them – just to eliminate them from their enquiries if nothing else. She would look into the claim that Susan Elliot thought someone was following her. It could be nothing, but it could somehow be linked to the man she may or may not have been seeing from the website.
However, like Kieran Judd, there didn’t seem, on the surface, to be anything about Susan Elliot’s life or her past that indicated she should be the victim of a crime. They couldn’t both have been killed in a case of mistaken identity…
She started to wonder about Kieran again: there was nothing about him that rang any bells, which was in itself strange. But maybe Denning was right and this was all really to do with Tony Hallam.
She finally got hold of the waiter and paid for the tea. Technically, she should ask for a receipt and claim it back on expenses, but was it really worth the hassle? Part of her had actually enjoyed sitting in a hotel lounge chatting to someone over a cup of Earl Grey. Sometimes there were some perks to the job. Then she sighed and thought about what Laurence had said about Susan being lonely. That was something she could – reluctantly – admit to feeling herself at the moment. Splitting up with Jon was more painful than she’d thought, but although she knew she’d done the right thing, she missed him.
Chapter Eighteen
Denning waited for Maria Hallam to answer her front door. She glanced either side of her, ensuring that her neighbours’ curtains weren’t twitching, then opened the door fully to let him in.
‘Declan called me,’ she said once they were settled on a couple of bar stools in the kitchen. ‘He said you’ve been asking questions about Tony.’ She said it like a statement rather than a question. Her eyes boring into his.
‘As part of an ongoing investigation into a recent murder, yes, we’ve spoken to your brother as well as your ex-husband.’
‘I told you there was no reason to speak to either of them. I haven’t seen Tony for months and Declan…’ She stared at her fingernails, painted a dark-ochre colour. ‘Declan doesn’t like to be bothered by things.’
Denning wondered what she meant by that, but sensed he was going to have to wait until she was more forthcoming.
‘We have good reason to believe your ex-husband’s life may be in danger,’ Denning said. ‘Therefore, we have a duty to warn him.’
She looked like she was about to break down. ‘You really think someone is trying to kill him?’
‘Right now, I think it’s a definite possibility.’ He looked at her. ‘Does the name Susan Elliot ring any bells?’
She pulled a face. ‘No. Why? Who the hell’s Susan Elliot?’
‘Tony’s never mentioned her?’
‘No. Never.’ She shot him a curious look. ‘What’s this about?’
It was a long shot on his part. If could find some connection between Susan Elliot and Tony Hallam, then he might actually start making some progress with this case. ‘It doesn’t matter. I got the impression, the last time I spoke to you, that you thought Tony was seeing someone. I wondered if it might have been Susan Elliot.’
‘I said I thought he was seeing someone before he went inside last time. I have no idea who he might be seeing now. You think this woman could be Tony’s new girlfriend?’
He had to admit, it didn’t seem likely. Professional, educated Susan Elliot and career criminal Tony Hallam… but love was meant to be blind, and lust seemed to play by its own rules, so anything was possible. ‘And you’re sure you haven’t heard from Tony since his release from prison?’
‘I told you last time you were here – I haven’t seen him and I don’t want to see him.’
‘So he hasn’t tried to make contact?’
There was a pause before she answered. ‘I didn’t say that.’ She looked at her nails again. ‘He texted a couple of times a few weeks ago. He told me he wanted to see the kids. He said I didn’t have any right to stop him seeing them as he was their dad.’
‘Did he threaten you?’
‘He didn’t need to. He knows I know what he’s capable of.’
‘So he did threaten you, just not in so many words.’
‘Like I said… Tony’s used to getting his own way.’
‘Did you report this?’
She laughed. ‘What would be the point? You lot never do anything anyway. No, I phoned Declan. He said he’d have a word with Tony.’
‘And did he?’
She shrugged. ‘I don’t know. But he stopped texting.’
‘When was this?’
‘About a week ago.’ She looked at Denning, frowning. ‘Look, the most Declan would have done was have a word with Tony, put the frighteners on him. There’s no way he’d harm him. Well, certainly not kill him.’
Denning scratched his head. If Declan Meech had gone after Tony Hallam, he would have made sure he had the right man. Unless he’d paid someone else to do it. A professional killer who wasn’t as professional as he’d anticipated and they’d got the wrong man. It seemed far-fetched, and yet…
