'It could be the canteen food.' He cocked an ear as the tannoy blared out: 'Would Inspector Frost come to the phone, please.'
The solicitor had arrived.
Mullett took off his glasses and gave them a careful polish with a paper tissue, then smiled at Liz who was seated in the visitor's chair opposite him. 'So you are fully fit and ready to resume duties?'
'Yes, sir. It was only a minor operation.'
He nodded. 'Er… yes.' He found his eyes being drawn to her chest. If it was a breast enlargement operation as Frost had suggested, they certainly didn't look that much larger than he remembered them. 'If you could let me have your doctor's medical certificate — we need it for your sick pay, of course.' That should tell him what had been done.
'I didn't take the time off as sick leave, Superintendent. It was part of my annual leave entitlement.'
'I see.' He took another quick peek. Perhaps her chest was a bit bigger than before. These damn women with their mysterious female ailments, taking time off at crucial moments for trivial operations. Anyway, things should be a bit easier for you next week. Inspector Allen will be back and you will be able to revert to your proper rank as sergeant.'
Liz stared coldly. 'You did say you would see about getting my temporary rank of inspector made Permanent.'
Again Mullett took off his glasses and held them up to the light, looking for non-existent smears. 'Ah, yes. I fought hard, Sergeant, but…' He shook his head sadly. 'In spite of all my efforts on your behalf, County wouldn't agree.' He beamed an insincere sympathetic smile. 'If you had achieved any good results, things might have gone differently, but as it was…!' He spread out his hands.
Her eyes spat fire. 'I see.' And she was out of the chair and his office without another word, her door- slamming pushing Frost's into second place.
Mullett shook his head and sighed. Damn woman! How right he was not to have recommended her promotion to County.
The bald-headed solicitor was seated next to his client in the interview room, his briefcase on the table. He nodded curtly as Frost, followed by Burton, came in to take their seats. 'An important development,' he announced.
You're looking too pleased with yourself, you smug bastard, thought Frost. Aloud he said: 'Oh?'
'As I understand it, Inspector, the mainstay of your case is that all these killings were carried out by the same person, including the murder of my client's unfortunate receptionist?'
'That's right,' said Frost guardedly. What had the sod got up his sleeve?
'And you feel the strongest link in your case against my client is the killing of Miss Stokes?'
Frost nodded.
'And whoever was responsible for her death, also dumped the body?'
Another nod. Get to the bleeding point, for Pete's sake.
The solicitor unzipped his briefcase and extracted a sheet of typescript. With irritating slowness, he took out his spectacle case and put on his glasses to refer to it. 'As the fast food vendor was away for such a short time, you can pin-point within a quarter to half an hour or so the time the body was dumped?'
'Yes.'
The solicitor turned to his client and they exchanged superior smiles. 'At first my client was unable to recollect what he was doing around half-past midnight or so, but this morning, he did remember.' He waved a hand for the dentist to take up the story.
'I needed cash, Inspector,' said Ashby, 'so I went to the automatic cash dispenser at Bennington's Bank in Lexton.'
Frost leant back in his chair. 'Lexton? Why didn't you use the cash point in Denton?'
'Because, Inspector, it was out of order — as I'm sure you will confirm when you check — so I went to Lexton and withdrew Ј50.'
'And what time was this?'
'Three minutes to one in the morning.'
'Which means,' the solicitor cut in, 'there is no way my client could have got to that fast food van between your window of times.'
Frost stared at the dentist. 'Did anyone see you there, sir — anyone who could confirm your story?'
'There was no-one else about at that time of the morning.'
'A pity,' said Frost, sounding relieved. He was afraid Ashby was coming up with a cast iron alibi. 'And why did you need Ј50 at that time of night?'
'The lady in question insisted on payment in cash, and I didn't have any on me.'
Frost frowned. 'Are you telling us that you drew money out to go with a prostitute?'
Ashby hung his head. 'I'm not proud of myself, Inspector, but yes.'
After a session with your receptionist,' said Frost, 'I doubt if I would have had the strength to crawl back to my car, let alone go with another woman.' He pulled the cap from his pen. 'Details, please, so we can check.'
'I was out of luck, Inspector. When I got back, I couldn't find her, or anyone. I drove around looking for a while, then returned home.'
'Then we have nothing to corroborate your story, sir,' said Frost, trying not to sound relieved.
'On the contrary, Inspector,' smirked the solicitor. 'A timed receipt is provided with money withdrawn from the bank's cash machines. Fortunately, my client remembered he had retained his and it was in the pocket of his other suit. He phoned me this morning. I collected it, and here it is!' Like a magician asking 'Is this your card, sir?' he flourished the receipt at Frost. The date and time checked. The solicitor then produced his client's plastic credit card so Frost could see that the account number agreed.
'It does look fairly conclusive,' admitted Frost, grudgingly.
'It is proof positive,' smirked the solicitor. 'I take it my client will be released immediately? He does have a surgery to run.'
Frost thought hard for reasons to say no but couldn't come up with any. 'We'll need to make a few more inquiries, but at the moment he is free to go.'
Nodding with smug satisfaction, the solicitor zipped his briefcase and stood up. 'You will be hearing further about our claim for substantial damages for false arrest and unlawful imprisonment.'
'Fair enough, sir,' agreed Frost. 'We'll co-operate with you in every way. We'll even give the court full details as to why we suspected your client: his kerb-crawling, his late night excursions looking for nooky his extra-marital affair with his receptionist…'
Ashby and his solicitor exchanged concerned looks, with the dentist shaking his head firmly. 'I'm not vindictive,' he told Frost. 'A full apology will suffice.'
'Then, sorry,' grunted Frost. He opened the interview room door and yelled to the custody sergeant: 'We're releasing this gentleman… no further action.'
Frost grabbed another mug of tea from the canteen and plodded back with it to the murder incident room, giving Mullett's office a wide berth in case the superintendent bounced out, as he always seemed to do at the wrong moment, to demand to know if the dentist had signed a full confession yet. Morgan was hovering at the incident room door and seemed reluctant to enter. 'What's up, Taff?'
Morgan pointed to the towering figure of the mini-skirted prostitute who was savagely applying fresh lipstick to replace that adhering to the rim of her mug of canteen tea. 'What on earth is that, guv?'
'You haven't met Mrs Mullett then?' said Frost, jerking his head for Morgan to follow, then sitting in the vacant chair next to her. In the corner of the room he could see Burton and Liz Maud in deep conversation. He introduced himself to the tom. 'I'm Inspector Frost. What can you tell me?'
She rammed the tube of lipstick back in her handbag. 'About bloody time! Is it true? Is Sarah dead?' Frost nodded.
'The same bastard who did for the others?' Again Frost nodded.
'And all you do is sit on your arse-hole drinking tea?'
'What else can I sit on?' asked Frost. 'My ear-hole?' He swigged from the mug. 'If you can help us we flight catch the bastard, so tell us what you know.'
'Like I told the other copper, I saw Sarah last night going off with a punter.'
