lumbago.
He stopped at the place where he had found Thea huddled over the body of her brother and tried to recall every detail. How did Owen's body get here? Anmore's van, of course. Together they'd hauled Owen out of the van and dumped it here. But no, recalling her expression and her shivering body when he'd found her, he refused to believe she could have done that.
He walked on up to the holiday centre, where Anmore with binocu lars must have been viewing the scene. Anmore must have seen him talking to Thea and watched him go to his boat which he had then searched. This was futile. Time to forget Thea Carlsson, forget this case and go home. His phone rang. It was Cantelli.
'Well?' he asked sharply, hoping.
'There's no record of Sutton having worked at Whitefields in 1959. I called the editor of the local rag, Sonia Belman, and asked her what she knew about Whitefields. She said there was quite a furore over demolishing the old house. Jack Cawley, the developer, was set on pulling it down. That way, he said, he could build more houses. And he got his wish. The NHS Trust was glad to get shot of it. The land was contaminated, some kind of chemical was found underground in places.'
'Chemical? What chemical?' Horton had read nothing on the Internet about that.
'I don't know.'
'Find out who handled the sale on behalf of the Trust.'
'Already have. It was a man called Noel Halliwell. And before you ask, you can't talk to him unless you enlist the help of Gordon Elms. He died not long after, in 1993. Suicide.'
'Why did he kill himself?'
'No idea. Sonia says that no note was found with the body. He hanged himself.'
Horton frowned in irritation. 'What about the developer, Jack Cawley?'
'He's also dead.'
So that was it. Another dead end, unless… 'Hold on — Jack?'
'Yes. It's a fairly common name.'
It was but Horton's mind quickly trawled through a previous conversation 'I ran a property development company, with my late husband, Jack, for fifteen years.'
Had this Jack Cawley been Laura Rosewood's husband? Did she know anything about the land being contaminated? If so then why should it matter? How could it have any connection with Sir Christopher Sutton? And how could it be connected to Helen Carlsson's death? Horton watched the seagulls dive over the area where Owen Carlsson had been found. He didn't know but he needed to find out.
TWENTY-FIVE
Laura Rosewood wasn't at home. Instead he found the silent Julie, her hired help. This time she spoke.
'Laura's on her way to Brussels. You've only just missed her. Can I help?'
Horton doubted it. Annoyed at missing Laura, and frustrated that he couldn't get the answers to the questions bugging him, he stepped inside the hall at Julie's invitation, and thought, what the hell, he might as well ask. 'Was Jack Cawley Ms Rosewood's husband?'
'Yes.'
'Why doesn't she use her married name?'
'I don't know. You'd have to ask her that. Not every businesswoman does.'
He guessed not.
'Why do you want to know?' she asked, eyeing him curiously and a little suspiciously.
Horton didn't see any harm in telling her. 'I'm interested in the development of Whitefields, the old mental hospital.'
Julie looked surprised. 'That was a long time ago. Is it important?'
'It could be.'
'And something to do with these murders?'
'Possibly.'
'Then you might catch Laura at the cottage.'
Horton didn't bother to hide his surprise. Uckfield hadn't mentioned any cottage, but then why should he? Maybe he didn't know about it.
'She's got a house near Quarr Abbey on the north coast,' Julie explained in response to Horton's baffled expression. 'It's called Tideways. It's not far from the old church near Binstead Hard. Laura said she was calling in there before catching the ferry to Portsmouth. Do you want me to phone and see if she's there?'
'No,' Horton said quickly. 'I'll take a chance on finding her in.' If she was then fine, if not then it would be time to go home and ask Marsden to follow up the lead he had uncovered once he was back in Portsmouth. He knew DCI Birch would prevent that, however, especially when Horton couldn't say exactly what that lead was. Helen might have gone to Whitefields in 1990, she might have taken photographs, she might have been killed because of it. But why? He still had no idea.
Horton found Tideways without too much difficulty. It was at the end of a quiet, narrow lane that led towards the sea. Turning the Harley into a twisting driveway bordered by naked trees, he pulled up outside a substantial house built in grey Isle of Wight stone. It looked to be about a hundred years old, was solid, with a square stone porch and three storeys high. He guessed that the low slung sports car with a suitcase on the back seat belonged to Laura. Thank God he had caught her.
'I have a boat and plane to catch,' she said, letting him in and dashing a glance at her watch. He might be pleased to find her in but clearly she wasn't too thrilled to see him. Neither was she surprised. Despite asking Julie not to alert her boss, she had obviously done so. Perhaps he should be grateful otherwise he might have missed her.
'I won't keep you a moment, Ms Rosewood. I just need some information.'
'Is it about the murder? Only Steve — Superintendent Uckfield — has told me that Thea Carlsson killed her brother and Jonathan Anmore. I feel sorry for her. She's obviously unbalanced.'
As she spoke he followed her through to a lounge with wide patio doors that looked out across a broad sweep of grass and beyond it a substantial log cabin facing a pontoon and a grey turbulent Solent.
He wondered at Uckfield's change of heart when not long ago he was bellowing down the telephone wanting to know what was going on. But then Birch must have told Uckfield that Anmore had called Thea in the hospital. And that had clinched it.
'Whitefields,' he said. 'I understand your husband, Jack Cawley, developed it.'
'He did,' she answered, surprised. 'Why the interest?'
'What can you tell me about the contaminated land?'
She frowned, clearly puzzled by his line of questioning. 'Jack had it cleaned before developing it, but what has this to do with Thea Carlsson?'
He didn't know. Probably nothing but, reluctant to give up on it, he asked, 'What was the land contaminated with?'
'I've no idea.' She was eyeing him as though he was slightly mad. After a moment she gave a small sigh and her expression softened. 'You don't believe Thea is the killer, do you?'
'No.'
She looked at him sadly. 'Why?'
He wasn't going to tell her that. Instead he said, 'Did Jack ever talk to you about Helen or Lars Carlsson?'
'No.'
'Did Owen mention them to you?'
'No.'
But Horton knew immediately that was a lie. And she saw that he knew it.
She held his gaze. He could see she was deciding on a course of action. He hoped it was to tell him something that would help him prove Thea was not a killer, but he wasn't holding his breath.
