Blood Line

‘Well, it had gone off a bit. I always had to instigate it and he hadn’t been that affectionate with me for a few months, so what else was I to think? We were planning on getting married so we were having sex on a regular basis. It was just he wasn’t . . . nice to me.’

‘Nice?’

‘Yeah. He was a bit short and abrupt, like he had something on his mind. I even asked him outright once if there was someone else and he swore to me there wasn’t, said he was just tired as he was working hard at the garage.’

‘Did you suspect when he said he was working late that he was seeing someone else?’

‘Yeah, yeah I did, because like I said he was a bit off with me, and from being very close it worried me.’

‘Do you think Alan could have been leading a double life?’

‘With someone else?’

‘Yes.’

‘No, because we were always together. It was just sort of recent and I even wondered if me planning all the wedding invites was getting to him, but he encouraged me and said I should start looking for a wedding gown.’

‘Did you ever overhear any unusual phone calls?’

‘No.’

‘Did you ever see him with anyone else?’

‘No. I used to check his mobile – I’m not stupid, I wanted to see if there were any text messages – but he hardly ever used it, and then it was mostly to call me. You’ve got his phone – you took it, didn’t you?’

‘Yes. Could he have had another one?’

‘I dunno. I doubt it. He was so careful about spending money because we were saving for a flat.’

‘You never saw him with another man, maybe?’

‘Back on that, are you? Listen to me: Alan was straight. He was a very gentle guy as well – you know, hated to get into a row or any confrontation. That was another reason I thought he might have run off – because he was having cold feet about the wedding.’

‘What if I was to tell you we also found that Alan had earned a considerable amount of money from the sale of his reconditioned cars?’ Anna said next.

Tina’s eyes narrowed.

‘We have receipts for the sale of an AC Cobra, a Ferrari and some other very high-end vehicles.’

‘How much?’

‘It’s considerable, and it’s possible there could have been a lot more as we only have the details from the receipts we found.’

‘How much?’ Tina repeated.

‘Four hundred and odd thousand.’

‘What?’

‘I know his father helped finance the purchase of the cars . . .’

‘Yeah yeah, and Alan paid him back with interest. How much did you say? FOUR HUNDRED THOUSAND . . . no – no fucking way. I would have known how much he got. How far back are you going with these motors?’

‘Five or six years.’

‘Then that is crap. He saved his wages – we had a joint bank account – and I am telling you straight up that Alan never made that kind of money. If you want to know why I kept the accounts, it was so I always knew what he was spending.’

‘Did you know he used his bedroom at his family home as an office?’

‘He was living with me. He only stayed over there a few times because his mother was ill.’

‘Nevertheless, that is where we found out about the money and that he had a possible double life.’

Tina hurled her coffee mug against the wall. It shattered and sprayed coffee over the floor and the sink unit.

‘I don’t know what you are trying to do to me – get me so riled up I’ll admit I killed him? If that’s your plan, it’s not gonna work. Now you get out of here.’

Anna stood up and wiped a coffee spill from her shoulder.

‘I am just telling you the truth, Tina.’

‘I DON’T WANT TO HEAR ANY MORE!’

Tina pushed Anna and looked as if she would punch her. Her face was taut with rage and her fists were clenched.

‘I loved him. I think you are just a sick woman. If he was murdered, then you should be finding out who did it, not trying to get me upset. I never did it – now you just get out, go on, get out and leave me alone.’

Anna bent to pick up her briefcase and acted swiftly as she saw Tina moving towards her before letting fly with a punch. Anna used her briefcase to take the blow and it almost knocked her off her feet. It was at this moment that Donna and Felicity hurried in to see what all the noise was about.

‘Get that bitch out. GET HER OUT OF HERE!’ Tina screamed.

As Anna passed between the two women, Tina fell to her knees sobbing, with Donna trying to comfort her.

‘Have they found him?’ Felicity asked nervously.

‘No. Excuse me.’ Anna left hurriedly. She had considered arresting Tina for assault, but thought better of it as she had caused the aggressive reaction.

By the time Anna got into her car she had calmed down. The interaction with Tina had not given any further insight into Alan Rawlins’s double life. What it had done, however, was show just how vicious Tina could become, and also how strong she was. There was even a dent left in Anna’s briefcase to prove it.

Anna drove straight to Liz’s lab over at Lambeth and deposited the buccal swab for her to test on the one hair discovered in the bed. She also left a note saying it was very urgent she get a response as soon as possible.

Brian Stanley had a stiff neck from holding the phone beneath his chin as he made call after call to check out the circled adverts in the magazines. He had made twenty with no result, but eventually made contact with a Tony Ardigo who had run an advert asking for studious partners and healthy physical guys with interest in sport and exercise.

Brian asked him if he would be prepared to assist their enquiry as they believed a man who had answered the advert was missing. Mr Ardigo admitted that he had met someone fitting the description of Alan Rawlins, but he was called something else. They had only met the once and it was not a satisfactory occasion. Mr Ardigo did, however, agree to come into the station.

Brian replaced the receiver and looked over to Helen.

‘I got a hit. Guy said he’ll come in and talk to us. We might have the other name our victim was using.’

‘Was it Daniel Matthews?’

‘Yeah. You got the same?’

‘Yes, twice, but they refused to come in. They each reported one meeting only that didn’t work out.’

Brian crossed to the incident board.

‘Hang on, hang on . . . Daniel Matthews, Dan . . . we’ve got a Daniel Matthews up here who was interviewed by Travis. His name was in Alan Rawlins’s address book – an old schoolfriend.’

Helen joined him. ‘Well, he was also gay – right?’ she said. ‘Maybe the magazines belonged to him?’

‘One way to find out. Let’s call him.’

‘Hold it,’ Paul said to them from his desk. ‘I’ve got a hit as well. Same scenario but the guy was not called Alan Rawlins – he said his name was Julian Vickers.’

Paul came over and they all looked at the name of the other old friend of Alan’s who ran the deli.

‘What do you think he was doing, just throwing up the names of his pals, or are they all shirt-lifters?’

Paul ignored Brian’s remark. Instead, he walked back to his desk, saying over his shoulder, ‘He was just using their names, Brian, and it looks like they were all one-night stands. If the magazines were in Rawlins’s house and all the adverts had been ringed by him, he was using them.’

Helen sighed and returned to her desk. ‘We’ll have to check it out with them.’