CODE TO MURDER, page 9
CHAPTER 19
Ben and Julie arrived at Diane Anderson’s house and walked straight in. There was an officer on the door and another inside who had preserved the scene. Natalie Gordon, the family liaison officer, was already there and was trying to keep Diane Anderson calm.
“Hello, Mrs Anderson,” said Ben. “Are you okay?”
“No, I’m not. This is like a nightmare that keeps on going!”
“Would you mind talking me through what happened?”
“I arrived home just before I phoned you. I walked into the living room and saw things strewn all over the floor. I screamed, then ran back out as I was scared someone was still in there. Then I noticed the back door was open and I hoped whoever it was had left . . . Stupid, I know, and I shouldn’t have done it, but I crept upstairs . . . Thankfully, there wasn’t anyone there, and that is when I phoned you.”
“The front door was still locked when Diane arrived home,” said Natalie, “but the back door had been forced. It’s just a field behind the back garden, so whoever it was must have come in that way.”
Ben and Julie surveyed the rest of the house. It was a real mess. They had gone to town in a room that looked like an office: all drawers out and on the floor, and filing cabinets knocked over. It was worse than the rest of the house.
That’s the clue to what has happened here, thought Ben.
“Let’s go back downstairs, Julie, and speak to Mrs Anderson. The forensics team are here now, so we’ll let them get on with their job.”
“Can I ask what time you left home this morning, Mrs Anderson?”
“About quarter to nine. I dropped Kayleigh at school – we are trying to keep things as normal as we can for her. The school knows what has happened, so they are keeping a close eye on her. I had an appointment with my solicitor in Glasgow at eleven and I got some lunch after that, went to my sister’s, then returned home.”
“Would I be correct in surmising the first room on the left upstairs was James’s office?” asked Ben.
Mrs Anderson nodded.
“I know I told you not to touch anything, but have you noticed anything obvious that has been taken?”
“I had left my iPad on the coffee table and it is not there now, but I don’t see anything else obviously missing. Do you think this was a burglary?”
“Well, I’m afraid to say I think there’s more to it. My gut feeling is that whoever did this was looking for something specific. The way your husband’s office was pulled apart suggests to me that they hoped whatever they were looking for was in there.”
“What would they be looking for?” asked Mrs Anderson.
“I was about to ask you the same thing,” said Ben. “Would James have kept any electronic equipment here – perhaps work equipment or any confidential papers, backups or anything?”
“Not that I know of. James was always very security conscious and would never leave any work papers lying around, even in the house. He had an iPad, but I’m not sure whether it was in the house or in his laptop case when he went to the hotel.”
Diane wiped her eye as she felt herself becoming tearful once more, thinking about the last time she saw James.
“Okay, Mrs Anderson, I know this is tough for you, I am so sorry. Would it be possible for you to stay at your sister’s this evening?” asked Ben.
Mrs Anderson nodded.
“One more question before you go, if I may: we’ve been told that James and Richard had a blazing argument in the office last Friday evening. Did James mention anything about it to you when he came home?”
“He didn’t. I knew he wasn’t happy when he came in, but when I asked him about it he said it was a work problem and wouldn’t elaborate. As I said before, I know he wasn’t keen to go on the offsite, so it may well have been about that.”
“Okay, thank you, Mrs Anderson. Natalie, can you please drive Mrs Anderson over to her sister’s? Once forensics are finished we’ll try and tidy this place up a bit and get it secured.”
Diane and Natalie headed out.
Ben’s best guess was that whoever killed James Anderson hadn’t found what they were looking for on his laptop – or they needed something else to allow them to access it.
“See what forensics come up with, Julie, and we can check the video doorbell footage, and also whether there have been any other burglaries in this area lately. Get round the neighbours, too, and see if anybody saw or heard anything suspicious. We also need to start asking some tough questions over at Trade-IT – I’m beginning to think that is where the answers lie, and not with some opportunistic thief stealing from hotel rooms.”
CHAPTER 20
“Right, folks, listen up, please,” said Ben. “I don’t believe the break-in at Diane Anderson’s house yesterday was random. They were looking for something specific, most likely in James Anderson’s home office. Even though there was some cash lying on the coffee table and jewellery in the bedroom, nothing was taken except for an iPad. Anything useful from forensics or from speaking to the neighbours?”
“Nothing of note from forensics, sir, and nothing from talking to any of the neighbours either. Nobody heard or saw anything and there was nothing on any of their video doorbells.”
“Any information on Phil Martin yet? Has he been picked up?”
“Nothing so far, sir. He seems to be lying low. We’ve checked his usual haunts, but everyone says they haven’t seen him for a couple days. I suspect he knows Manson and Molly were arrested and is lying low,” said Kevin.
“We need to find him,” said Ben. “What about the CCTV footage from the hotel – any sightings of Phil Martin there?”
“There are, actually,” said Emma. “I was in early this morning going through it. On two separate days last week, we have footage of Manson and Phil Martin being in the hotel together, sitting having a coffee, and on one occasion they headed upstairs, even though they weren’t guests in the hotel. They weren’t up long – ten minutes or so. Nothing was reported missing on those days, so I’m guessing they were checking out the layout of the hotel: CCTV, security, things like that. Even more interesting, though, is what the footage shows from the day of the murder – have a look at this . . .”
Ben, Julie and Kevin moved over to look at Emma’s screen.
“See, there’s Manson coming down the stairs and heading towards the exit. Now watch the lift . . . there, coming out of the lift, that’s Phil Martin. With all the kerfuffle going on between Manson and the security manager, Martin just walks casually past.”
“Yes!” said Kevin. “So he could have been passed the laptop and phone and that is why we didn’t find them on Manson – and he is carrying a bag!”
“Actually, on that point, I decided to have a look at the lift. I’ll enlarge the screen. As you can see, the display above the lift door shows the floors that the lift is stopping at. Now, I’ll rewind a bit. Look: there it is showing the lift stopped at the second floor. Now watch – it goes up past four and stops at five. Then it comes all the way back down and out comes Phil Martin in a crowd of others.”
“So, Martin was potentially doing the rooms on floors four and five?” said Kevin.
“Maybe. Or maybe he was on the second floor with Manson, helping to commit the murder, then he could have taken the laptop and phone and moved the body while Manson ran downstairs. He then could have gone up before coming down in the lift to leave a bit of time, walking calmly out the door,” said Emma.
“Manson could be the killer either on his own or working with Martin,” said Kevin.
“What do you think, sir? Will we charge Manson?” asked Julie.
Ben thought about it for a few seconds.
“Any contact between Molly and Manson or Phil Martin on the footage?” he asked.
“Nothing, I’m afraid,” said Emma.
“Right,” said Ben. “So we know Manson was in the room and he has admitted it, a short time later James Anderson is found dead. We’ve proved that Manson would have had time to commit the murder, even on his own. We have a connection between Manson and Martin, and they were in the hotel together, and it was Molly Martin’s card that was used to open James’s room. Martin being present makes it even more possible from a time perspective, which closes that loop. We do need to get hold of Phil Martin, though. Looks all nice and neat . . .”
“I can sense a ‘but’ coming,” said Kevin.
Kevin was right. Ben had an uneasy feeling about the situation. It all made sense, but at the same time it didn’t.
“I have a niggle there is more to this. Why, for example, was Diane Anderson’s house ransacked? I don’t think it is Phil Martin’s MO to do a follow-up burglary . . .” said Ben.
“Maybe it was a random burglary after all, sir,” replied Kevin.
“And they didn’t take the cash or jewellery?” asked Ben. “No, I think there’s more to this, and that it’s got something to do with either Trade-IT or the people there.”
“Come on, sir, it would be reckless not to charge Manson and to let him go given the evidence we have,” said Kevin.
“You know as well as I do, Kevin, that in most murders the killer either leaves evidence behind or takes evidence away, and with forensics these days we are more likely to find it. Yet we have found nothing that would secure a conviction on Manson. We’ve already extended the time to hold him and I don’t think it’s justifiable to keep him any longer. The only other source of potential evidence would have been if we had found Phil Martin. But we haven’t – yet. Concentrate on finding him.”
Ben paused, before continuing. “My gut tells me that Manson is guilty – but of being a thief, not a murderer. I think he just happened to go into the wrong room at the wrong time. Charge him accordingly and bail him. Release Molly Martin as well. She may well have passed Manson the key card, but until we find evidence of that we can’t charge her.”
“Yes, sir,” said Kevin, his face showing he was not happy. Kevin felt Ben was sometimes too reasonable, if not pedantic, and ought to take a harder line with some of the suspects – that would get quicker results.
Ben believed there was certainly motive over at Trade-IT, but so far no evidence. He knew it was time to give the tree a hard shake to see what would fall out.
“There was one other thing I spotted on the CCTV, sir,” said Emma.
“Oh yes, what was that?” asked Ben.
“Last Wednesday, Mrs Anderson and Richard Pettigrew went past reception and into the restaurant together. Looks like they were having lunch. They seemed in very good spirits, laughing and joking throughout. I don’t know if I should say this, but if I didn’t know better I could well have taken them for a couple.”
“Mrs Anderson and the ‘charming’ Mr Pettigrew?” said Julie, remembering how Diane Anderson had described him.
CHAPTER 21
Ben and Julie sat opposite Richard Pettigrew in his office.
“I am not sure whether you are aware yet, Mr Pettigrew, but Diane Anderson’s house was broken into yesterday,” said Ben.
“What? No, I didn’t know, is she okay?”
“Well, she is of course shaken up by the whole experience.”
“I’ll bet she is. Poor Diane. Was it a burglary? Did they take anything?”
“We don’t believe it was a random burglary. We think she was targeted, and that whoever did it was looking for something specific. Mr Anderson’s home office was ransacked. Given what happened to him earlier in the week, we must assume both events are connected. So, the question for you, Mr Pettigrew, is what do you think that someone is looking for?”
Pettigrew hesitated for a second, then replied, “Sorry, Chief Inspector, but I’m not sure what it could be.”
Changing the subject temporarily, Ben asked, “What were you and James Anderson arguing about on Friday evening, and why were you threatening him?”
“I’m sorry, what are you talking about?” asked Pettigrew.
“What I mean, Mr Pettigrew, is we know you and James Anderson had a heated argument in your office on Friday evening, and that you raised your fist in a threatening manner towards him. Why?” asked Ben assertively.
Pettigrew sighed, “James was insisting he was too busy to go to the offsite the following Monday. Now, I had spent a lot of time planning it and it was critical to our business plan, and I needed him there to go through the new software. So, yes, I lost my temper and it got heated. I didn’t threaten him; I just told him in no uncertain terms he had better be there, and I left the office.”
“Sounds like a threat to me,” said Julie. “What would you have done if he hadn’t turned up?”
“I didn’t need to do anything, because he did turn up,” said Pettigrew abruptly, glowering at Julie. “With James, sometimes you had to just tell him how it would be, and that resolved things,” answered Pettigrew, smirking.
“So how was the car journey on Monday morning?” asked Julie.
“It was fine,” replied Pettigrew, irritated. “We know each other well. If we have an argument, we move on and it is not mentioned again.”
“How about at the hotel in the afternoon – did it start up again?” asked Ben.
“Well hardly, Chief Inspector, James had already done his presentation so what would we still be arguing about?” responded Pettigrew.
Ben said nothing.
Julie looked at him. She knew where he had been going with the questioning. But now Ben was just staring – not so much at Pettigrew, simply ahead – as if he had zoned out.
Julie noticed Pettigrew looking expectantly at Ben as the pause went on for longer than was comfortable, so she jumped in.
“You tell us, Mr Pettigrew. We have a witness who overheard shouting coming from Mr Anderson’s hotel room. By your own admission, you went up to see Mr Anderson in his room that afternoon.”
“If you heard shouting, it wasn’t when I was in the room. I told him his presentation was great and updated him on the feedback. That was it. There must have been someone else in James’s room at a different time.”
Julie noticed Ben glance over at her. He briefly closed and opened his eyes and shook his head slightly, as if shaking himself out of something.
“Any idea who it could have been?” asked Ben.
“You are the detective, not me,” said Pettigrew, annoyed.
“And you are the CEO. You have told us you are across everything happening in the business,” Ben fired back. “So, is there any information or something else related to the business that someone could have been after at the hotel or at Mrs Anderson’s house yesterday?”
“James has lots of confidential information, much of it in his head and of course on his laptop – which I take it you haven’t found yet?” asked Pettigrew in an accusatory manner.
“We haven’t, but is there anything else someone would need to access the laptop or log on to your other systems?” asked Ben.
“They would need a password to get on to his laptop. They would also need a code sent to his phone to get on to our servers, and the pin number for his phone to pick up his code. But these wouldn’t just be lying around or written down anywhere by James, so I don’t think that is what someone would be looking for.”
Ben decided to shift the conversation again to keep the pressure on and try to unsettle Pettigrew. Time was marching on and he felt the time was right to now mention it.
“Did James update you on the employee appraisal he had done on Mike Williams?”
“No, why should he? Staff matters for the software team were his responsibility.”
“Given the nature of it, I thought he would have mentioned it to you.”
“Well, he didn’t, so what is the nature of it and how do you know about it?”
“Let’s just say it was highly critical of Mr Williams, in a number of different areas. We came across it in our search of Mr Anderson’s office.”
“Well, can I have it back to read it for myself?” demanded Pettigrew.
“It is in our evidence room at the station. I will arrange for a copy to be sent to you,” replied Ben.
“So, are you suggesting Mike was trying to get hold of that appraisal? And was that the shouting in the hotel?” asked Pettigrew.
“We are looking at all possibilities,” said Ben. “One more thing before we go: as we know you were in Mr Anderson’s room at the hotel, we would like to take your fingerprints and a DNA sample so that we can exclude those when comparing prints and so on from the room. I assume you will be okay with that, Mr Pettigrew?”
“I guess so,” said Pettigrew.
Julie took the prints and a swab and then she and Ben got up to leave the office.
Suddenly, Ben turned around again. “For elimination purposes, Mr Pettigrew, were you in the office all day yesterday?”
“No. I was in the office first thing, but went home to work on a tender mid-morning and was at home the rest of the day,” he replied.
“And is there anyone who can confirm you were at home yesterday?”
“No, there isn’t, so you’ll have to take my word for it,” said Pettigrew smugly.
Ben smiled, but said nothing.
Back in the car, Julie looked over at Ben. “I hope you don’t mind me asking, Ben, but there was a moment in there, when we were speaking to Pettigrew, when you didn’t seem yourself. You went quiet and, I don’t know, you seemed to . . . zone out?” she said, hesitantly. “Were you feeling okay?”
“Yeah, sorry, Julie, I don’t know what happened. My head was a bit fuzzy all of a sudden. Probably just tired and not getting enough sleep. It will sort itself out,” said Ben.
Julie nodded. “As long as you are okay,” she said, and started the engine.
Ben himself was a bit concerned, though. He had felt the same way earlier in the week as well, but thankfully nobody had noticed. He was definitely feeling the pressure of the case. He wondered whether it was just that, or whether there was more to it. He was also worried about what would happen with the Cameron case. The big day was coming at him faster than he would like.
