personal. Age fifty, give or take.’
‘Give or take how much?’
‘Five years. May I continue? Dyed hair and painted nails- which you can see for yourself.’
‘Bruising?’
‘No chance of finding any. Look at the state of the skin. When I’ve examined the internal organs I may have more to tell you.’ He stood up. ‘Where’s that young man disappeared to?’
Gary was summoned again.
‘Help me turn her over,’ Kibblewhite said, producing a second pair of gloves.
Hen said, ‘Are you all right with that, Gary?’
‘I think so, guv.’
When the manoeuvre was complete, Kibblewhite said, ‘No signs of wounding that I can discover. I’ve done all I can here. I’m going to make a dash for it now. Do me a favour and keep the umbrella over her until they take her away. You can return it to me at the autopsy. ’
‘When will that be?’
‘Tomorrow morning at the mortuary. Be warned. Cases like this take longer than average.’
Hen gave Gary the umbrella to hold. ‘You’re allowed to take the gloves off now.’
‘Will it be for long, guv? I feel such an idiot standing here with everyone watching.’
‘Ignore them. You look distinguished, like a butler.’
‘A butler?’
‘The gloves, Gary. You don’t need them. And if I can be personal, do you wear that suit when you’re off work?’
‘No, guv. T-shirts and jeans mostly. I was told if you want to become a suit, you’d better wear one.’
‘It’s about ambition, is it? No bad thing. I don’t know where you got that advice. It may be true for lawyers and undertakers, but not CID. Our job is about blending in. I won’t think any less of you if you come in your jeans tomorrow.’
He looked as if the sun had come out. ‘Thanks.’
‘Are the two women still out front? I’ll speak to them shortly.’
‘You first,’ Hen said, pointing at Gemma.
‘We’re in this together,’ Jo said.
‘Doesn’t mean I see you together,’ Hen said. ‘I want two witness statements and we’ll do it inside, in the dry. I’m going to open the house.’
‘It’s open already,’ Gemma informed her. ‘You can get in round the back by the patio doors.’ She glanced at Jo. ‘We might as well own up, sunshine. They’re going to find out sooner or later.’
‘You’ve been inside?’ Hen said, resigned to more lawbreaking.
‘For a search,’ Gemma said.
‘Oh, how enterprising.’ Hen set off round the house to the rear and saw the smashed window. ‘And such subtlety.’ She slid the patio door aside. ‘Wait here under the canopy, Miss Stevens.’
In the living room she and Gemma sat in armchairs. Gary had finished his stint with the umbrella and joined them.
‘What on earth were you doing here?’ Hen asked Gemma after going through the preliminaries.
Gemma had wide, persuasive, blue eyes. She tried to make it all sound as sensible as insurance. ‘My friend Jo was deeply upset when you arrested Jake yet again. She thinks he’s being victimised and she wants to do something to help him.’
‘By creating a distraction?’
‘Not at all.’ Gemma wasn’t going to be intimidated. ‘This was properly thought through. We talked it over and decided my boss, Mr Cartwright, very likely killed Fiona and maybe the other woman as well, so we came here to look for evidence.’
‘You took the law into your own hands and broke in?’
‘When the law is heading up a blind alley someone has to point the way,’ Gemma said, and folded her arms as if expecting to be challenged.
‘Before we go any further,’ Hen said, ‘I’d like to hear why you in particular suspect Denis Cartwright is capable of murder.’
‘We’ve been over this. I worked with the man. Fiona led him on outrageously and he fell for it.’
‘I know all that,’ Hen said. ‘Didn’t you hear my question?’
‘He was driven beyond all.’
‘So Fiona brought it on herself, did she? The old story.’
‘I’m not excusing him,’ Gemma said. ‘I was putting myself in his shoes. He’s a yellow-bellied coward if you really want to know. Anything unpopular with the staff, he asked me to speak to them. He wanted everyone to think he was mister nice guy. But if he was pushed into a corner I’m sure he’d bite back. That was Fiona’s big mistake.’
‘She pushed him into a corner?’
‘Onto his office floor, to be accurate. And they weren’t discussing the petty cash.’
‘Are you sure of that?’
‘My office is next door. I heard the audio version.’
‘Did anyone else know of this?’
‘It was all round the office. She wanted a top job and a seat on the board.’
‘If this is true, and Cartwright felt pressured, he may have had a motive. But nothing like this happened with the other victims.’
‘I can’t say, can I? I don’t know what went on between them and him.’
‘We haven’t found any connection. We’ve searched his house, his computer, his office at work. Nothing. But we’re quite sure Fiona’s killer also murdered Meredith Sentinel.’
‘What about the woman in his pool, then? If that isn’t a connection, I don’t know what is. That’s two out of three.’
Hen didn’t challenge the statement. ‘When you got here this afternoon, did you break in and search the house first?’
‘Yes.’
‘Find anything?’
‘No.’
‘And then you decided to look in the pool. Whose idea was that, yours, or Jo’s?’
Gemma frowned. ‘I don’t think that’s important.’
‘I’ll be the judge,’ Hen said.
She shrugged. ‘Jo thought of it. Either of us could have done.’
‘And was that blue cover in place?’
‘Right across the pool, but we managed to shift it. One end wasn’t properly attached, and that helped.’
‘What do you mean, not properly attached?’
‘Some of the springs weren’t fixed to the bolt things. That made it easier to get a start.’
‘What did you expect to find?’
‘We were looking for Mr Cartwright, weren’t we? He’s the missing person, after all. We didn’t know anyone else was missing. Have you found out who she is?’
‘Not yet.’
‘We did the decent thing reporting it,’ Gemma said in a too-obvious attempt to excuse their conduct. ‘We shouldn’t have broken into the house, but we found the body for you.’
Hen wasn’t giving votes of thanks. ‘Have you been in trouble before?’
‘What-with the police? Certainly not. You can check your records.’
‘You’re local, are you?’
‘I’ve lived here all my life.’
‘Do you have family down here in Sussex, then?’
‘Only an old aunt and I don’t see much of her. My parents died in a crash when I was nine. And in case you’re
