Shattered Bones, page 25
He felt guilty knowing he had kept the truth about his infertility from her. His parents had told him that he’d been born with undescended testicles. They had descended by the time he was six months old. After reading up about it when he was in his early twenties, he had been to see his GP, who had referred him for tests which proved he was infertile. It had come as a relief, as losing his baby brother had been the most painful experience in his life. Until now. He’d never told his parents or Bernadette and he’d had to learn to live with the guilt.
But now it was clear that Bernadette was keeping a secret of her own. A much bigger, dirtier secret than his. He could feel his rage building as his heart simultaneously broke whilst he came to terms with the betrayal. He didn’t know whether to scream or cry. He couldn’t face the thought of going home and seeing her. He didn’t think he could cope with her lies. And what would this do to Mum? The betrayal would be hard on her too. It would kill her.
He thought fleetingly of phoning Jonathan Forbes. He was the closest friend he had since his dad had died, but if he spoke the words out loud to someone, it meant they were true, and denial was a tempting option right now.
He heard footsteps crunching along the gravel canal path. He looked up and saw a familiar face walking towards him. He smiled at his soon-to-be killer.
68
The air in the conference room crackled with anticipation. DCI Chambers could normally silence the room with a stony glare, but today there were too many pockets of conversation as detectives swooped on each other’s updates like seagulls on chips.
‘Can I have your attention please?’ bellowed Chambers. ‘Right, I just want to bring you all up to speed. As you know, Hanford claims he and Bernadette were in a sexual relationship for six months, during which time he has “gifted” her a substantial amount of money.
‘Enquiries with the bank have just confirmed this and he has handed over his mobile phone which shows conversations of a sexual nature between him and Bernadette. Hanford also claims that he doesn’t think Bernadette’s baby is Trevor’s. He was adamant that Trevor didn’t even know about it, so we need to know who else she has been in a relationship with. We’ve had confirmation today from Trevor’s medical records that he was infertile.’
There was a stunned silence around the room.
Chambers turned to Adila. ‘This, of course, means that the grieving widow hasn’t been entirely honest with us, and we need to know what else she’s hiding.’
‘Is Hanford still in the frame for Trevor’s murder though?’ Sean said. ‘He was the last person to see Trevor and we only have his word for the fact he left Trevor on the canal bank safe and sound. He certainly has a motive, too, if he was sleeping with Bernadette.’
‘At this stage he is still very much a suspect. We do have a witness who was able to confirm that he met Hanford in his shop, as planned, at 1300 hours on Tuesday 5 October. He said there was nothing about his demeanour or appearance that suggested he’d been in any physical confrontation.’
‘He’s a slippery bastard though,’ said Lund. ‘He’s the type that could kill someone and not turn a hair.’
‘The problem we have,’ offered Maya, ‘is that we have no forensic evidence from Trevor’s body to link to his killer, he was too decomposed.’
‘Obviously Bernadette has been treated as a witness up to now. It looks like we’ll have to interview her,’ said Redford.
Chambers nodded. ‘I agree.’ She turned to Sean and Turner. ‘I’d like you two to conduct the interview as you’ve both dealt with her previously. I know tables have turned, meaning that the circumstances are now stacked against her, but I’m aware, from what I’ve heard, that she’s incredibly vulnerable and we do need to consider that, particularly as she’s also pregnant.’
The two men nodded.
‘Can we offer anything else forensically?’ asked Kym.
‘I can’t see anything we may have overlooked. My only thought is Hanford’s bedding. Did we seize that?’
Maya shook her head. ‘It wasn’t part of the strategy because at the time, although she claimed she was being blackmailed, the sex was consensual. Putting Bernadette in his bed just proves what they’ve both told us.’
‘Also,’ Malone said, ‘Hanford went to great pains to tell us that he uses condoms. It’s unlikely, although not impossible, that the baby isn’t Hanford’s either.’ Both he and Lund shuddered at the memory of the conversation.
‘It would be a moot point anyway. Finding his semen in his bed still doesn’t progress the investigation,’ Maya said.
Chambers tapped her teeth with her pen. ‘I think we’ll get Laurel back in. She might be able to shed light on who the unidentified prints belong to. It might be an innocent visitor or workman, or it could be another of Bernadette’s lovers. Either way, I want to know.
‘Also, we can provide Laurel with the latest evidence about Bernadette and see how she reacts. It might jog her memory. I’m still keen to know who it was she saw running away from the Dawlishes’ house that morning. Let her see a photo of Hanford so we can find out whether or not it was him.’
Maya suddenly had a thought. ‘There were tester pots of paint on the desk in Trevor’s study. They’d been used on the wall in there. If Trevor isn’t the dad, then why would they be turning his office into a nursery. And I assume, looking at the neutral, lemon colours, that’s the intention. Also,’ she said, turning to Jack, ‘remember there was a spot of paint on Rose’s slipper. The one wedged under the stairlift.’
Jack had the grace to look embarrassed, considering how he had dismissed any discussion about the paint when they were at the scene.
Chamber’s face lit up for the first time since the briefing had started. ‘That’s very interesting. Especially if that happened since Trevor went missing. Did we recover the tester pots?’
‘Yes, but because it wasn’t deemed pertinent at the time they’ve just been booked into property. If I’m honest, I just exhibited them on a whim, because of the paint on Rose’s slipper. I’ll get them out of the property system today and have them submitted to the lab for chemical treatment as a priority, hopefully get some fingerprints.’
‘Excellent. Thank you, Maya.’
‘Also,’ said Maya, ‘we can search the clothes that were seized off Hanford, to check if there’s any paint on them. Even if they’ve been washed, there may well still be traces.’
Chambers grinned. ‘We’re cooking on gas, people. Adila, can I ask you to go and speak to Bernadette’s sister please? She might be able to shed some light on our illusive widow’s private life. We’ll have a chat with her and Laurel before we put the latest evidence to Bernadette. Let’s see if we can find out who the daddy is.’
69
Stacey’s eyes widened with shock when she opened the door to Adila.
‘What’s happened? Is Bernadette okay? Please don’t tell me something bad has happened to my sister?’
Adila smiled reassuringly. ‘She’s fine. Sorry to have scared you, but I just wondered if I could have a very quick chat. I promise I won’t keep you.’
‘Come on through.’ Stacey led Adila through to the lounge where she perched anxiously on the edge of an armchair. She was the mirror image of her sister, and shared the same nervous, flighty mannerisms.
‘Bernadette seems to have settled back at home okay. I was surprised she was ready to return so soon.’
‘She said she wanted her own space,’ Stacey said tersely.
Adila raised an eyebrow. ‘Did you argue?’
‘No,’ said Stacey a little too quickly. ‘She just needs her privacy apparently.’
‘Maybe it’s because of the pregnancy. Hormones and the nesting instinct.’
‘Probably.’
‘How does she seem about the baby?’
‘Really happy. It’s all she’s ever wanted. A husband and children. She was starting to get so despondent about it because they’d been trying for a while, and nothing has happened until now.’
‘Was Trevor happy too?’
‘Yes,’ said Stacey unconvincingly. She wiped a hand over her face. ‘It’s difficult for Trevor. Do you know about his little brother?’
‘I do. It’s tragic. Difficult to come to terms with, I can understand his reservations. But he was happy about the baby?’
‘I mean, I suppose so. I always feel a bit sorry for dads, especially when it’s the first baby. All the attention is on mum and how she’s feeling, etc. Bernadette didn’t really say much about what he thought. But then again, she’s had so much on her plate.’
‘Oh, she has, bless her,’ said Adila with more conviction than she felt. She was still struggling to come to terms with the fact that Bernadette wasn’t the weak, vulnerable woman she had portrayed herself to be. Adila prided herself on having a strong bullshit detector and was annoyed that she’d allowed herself to be fooled.
‘Can I just ask you about the night Rose died? When Bernadette stayed over here. Just run me through the events of that evening again. You invited her for tea, is that right?’
Stacey frowned. ‘Is there something I need to know about?’
‘There’s nothing for you to be concerned about. Some new information has come to light and my boss has just asked me to dot the i’s and cross the t’s.’ She rolled her eyes for good measure. ‘I just do what I’m told,’ she said apologetically.
Stacy visibly relaxed. ‘Bernadette intimated the invitation if I’m honest. I feel guilty for not thinking to invite her earlier myself. She rang to say how difficult things were with Rose and how tired she was and that she’d not eaten properly. She made a joke about how much she was craving my lasagne.
‘That was when she told me she was pregnant. Obviously, I was thrilled for her and then subsequently worried that she wasn’t eating properly so insisted she come over that night. I knew she’d want to talk about how she was going to cope with the pregnancy and baby on her own. Such a worry.’ Stacey shook her head despondently.
‘To be honest, after dinner things are a bit of a blur. After we’d eaten, Bernadette said she was feeling a bit unwell. Morning sickness and a headache. I was really concerned when she told me that, because I wasn’t feeling great myself and I was worried there might have been something wrong with the food.
‘Bernadette had brought a bottle of wine for me, and I’d had a couple of glasses. I don’t mind admitting, they went straight to my head. It was a relief when Bernadette said she was going to bed, because I could hardly keep my eyes open. Must have been a bug or something.’
‘And Bernadette stayed all night.’
Stacey frowned. ‘Well, yes. She told you that. She was up before me. She woke me up with a strong coffee. Good job she did too, otherwise I think I could have slept until lunch.’
‘Can I ask if you know how Bernadette and Trevor were doing financially?’
‘Oh, I couldn’t say. She’s a very private person. She’d never talk outside of her marriage about something as personal as money. That said, she’s never asked me for any financial help, and they both worked, so I assume they were both comfortable.’
‘This is a delicate question, particularly in light of Trevor’s death, but would you say they were a happy couple?’
‘Yes. Again, Bernadette was quite secretive, but they seemed to be.’
‘Secretive?’
‘I mean, private.’
‘Okay. Is there any chance she could have been seeing someone else?’
Stacey let out an incredulous laugh. ‘I wouldn’t have thought so for one moment. Why do you ask?’
‘Oh.’ Adila rolled her eyes. ‘Just my boss, you know. Is there anything else at all you can think to tell me about Bernadette, Trevor or Rose?’
‘Nothing. Nothing at all. They were just a normal family. It’s so tragic. I’m just so glad Bernadette has the baby. I’ve told her I’ll help out and support them both as much as I can.’
Adila smiled. ‘That’s kind of you. One thing I’ve learnt in this job is that family need to stick together more than ever at a time like this. I’m glad Bernadette has you. Here’s my card. If anything else does spring to mind, however obscure or insignificant it may seem to you, please give me a ring and let me know.’
Stacey showed Adila out and waved her to her car. The cold weather prevented her remaining on the doorstep to watch her drive away. Adila reached for her phone and called Redford straight away.
‘Boss? Assuming it’s not already been done, it might be worth running Bernadette’s registration plate through ANPR on the evening Rose died. It sounds like her sister was out for the count that night. Bernadette could well have left the address and returned home without Stacey even knowing.’
70
Laurel had always been against any mention of prison reform. She was of the opinion that prisons were like holiday camps. Her brief foray in Styal prison had changed her mind. In fact, she had begun to reconsider the moment she’d been bundled into the GEOAmey prisoner transport van. She was horrified to discover that the majority of the women around her were addicts, victims of horrific abuse or mentally ill. She was certain half of them belonged in hospital rather than prison.
The squalor was horrendous and the food inedible. The constant noise had her on edge. Shouting, screaming, crying, threats and the continuous banging of cell doors. The small shred of sanity she was clinging on to, broke the moment she saw a woman self-harming by trying to reopen a slash wound to her throat using a plastic knife.
Laurel had never been more terrified in her life, and she wished more than ever that she had not failed her own suicide attempt. She had been right to try and take her life that night, death would be better than this. The thought that she might be found guilty of killing Rose and permanently imprisoned, made her feel physically sick.
She could have wept and kissed the floor of Beech Field custody suite when she was transported back there for her interview. Admittedly, she was still locked up, but in comparison to the prison, it looked and smelt like a five-star hotel. She was a shadow of her former self since she’d last been here.
Her weight loss was evident, and she looked diminished and haunted. She had her hands wrapped around a paper cup of hot chocolate, which compared to what she’d been consuming the last few days, tasted like heaven. She had a consultation with Purcell again before the formal interview began.
Adebayo took the lead. He smiled warmly at her to put her at ease. He was all too familiar with the shell-shocked look of someone who had just experienced their first taste of prison life.
‘How are your injuries?’ He nodded towards her wrists. The Medacs nurse at Beech Field had surveyed and re-bandaged her when she’d arrived from Styal. Although medical care was an option there, Laurel wasn’t considered a priority, so she hadn’t been seen by a nurse.
‘Getting better, thank you,’ she said quietly.
‘We just want to share some new information with you and see if you can help.’
‘Help? I assumed I was being accused of something else.’
‘You may recall on our previous interview that we asked you if you knew this man, Simon Hanford.’ Adebayo showed Laurel a photograph.
‘No, I don’t recognise him. If we have ever met, I don’t recall.’
‘Could he be the man you saw leaving the Dawlishes’ address? The man you assumed was Trevor?’
Laurel frowned. ‘How tall is he?’
‘About six foot two.’
‘Then no. He looks too slim. Trevor, or the man I thought was Trevor had a stockier build and was about five foot eight. He did have a hood up, though, so I didn’t see his face fully. All I can tell you is, he had dark hair.’
‘Can you think who else it may have been? Did the Dawlishes have any other visitors, or could it have been a workman?’
‘No. I’m the only person who ever called round. I told you, they were a very introverted family. And it would have been too early for a tradesman, not that they’ve had anyone in. Trevor was a very handy man. In all the years I’ve lived there I’ve never known there to be any home repairs he’s not been able to do himself.
‘He’s helped me out a lot, too, when things have needed fixing. The dear, dear man.’ She looked solemnly down at the table; her eyes looked red but were void of tears as if she was all cried out.
‘Anyway, the missing jewellery, I thought you were working on the assumption it was a burglary. Assuming you searched my house again and didn’t find it there,’ she said dryly yet without her usual spirit.
‘We found the items at Hanford’s address. They weren’t stolen, Bernadette sold them to him. It also transpires they were sleeping together.’
Laurel’s head shot up and her eyes widened.
‘Bernadette was having an affair? No.’ She sat open-mouthed, shaking her head. ‘The baby?’
The question hung in the air. Malone cleared his throat before answering. ‘This is where it gets a little awkward. Trevor was infertile so it can’t be his. Hanford claims he used protection. There’s a possibility that Bernadette was seeing a third man.’
Laurel was gobsmacked. ‘What a bitch. Bernadette though, are you absolutely sure?’ she asked incredulously.
Malone nodded. ‘Seemed she had us all fooled and isn’t the butter-wouldn’t-melt type we all thought.
‘Which is why it’s important that you tell us anything that might help. Are you sure there were no other visitors at the address, especially on her day off? I know you work, but you’ve said you work from home at times. Or did she mention anyone’s name to you regularly in conversation, somebody from work perhaps?’
‘I’ve not seen or heard of anyone else. I’m genuinely shocked. I assume you’ve checked with the other neighbours?’
‘Yes, they’ve not seen or heard anyone else coming or going either and unfortunately, we have no CCTV. On the night Rose died, you’ve admitted to having a wander around the house.’
Laurel nodded as she began to blush, recalling how she’d masturbated on Trevor’s office chair.
