the team as they only had access to his personal mobile. Just as the buzz started that they were moving forward, Anna got bad news.
Liz called from the forensic lab. She explained that they had been unable to match the single strand of hair taken from Tina Brooks’s bed with her DNA. The one strand was in very poor condition, with no root attached. It also had bleach, or hair-dye on it which made the job even more difficult.
‘But it could possibly be Tina’s?’ Anna persisted.
‘I honestly can’t say.’
‘She’s a hairdresser and she uses hair-dye.’
‘But that really won’t help me. If it was ever brought up in court, I would have to deny that my tests were conclusive.’
Anna thanked Liz, very disappointed.
Brian Stanley had brought in Daniel Matthews for questioning. Before Anna went to interview him she gave a briefing to the team. The link she had been hoping for between Tina and Michael Phillips was now confirmed. She made no mention of the call from Forensics. She wanted Tina arrested at the same time Michael Phillips was to be brought in. The latter would be told he was assisting police enquiries, but Tina was to be unnerved. Anna stipulated that she was to be arrested for the murder of Alan Rawlins and handcuffed.
Chapter Twelve
Daniel Matthews was sitting waiting in interview room two. He had been given a coffee and was asked if he required a solicitor. He repeated over and over that he had done nothing wrong, so he wouldn’t need anyone to be with him. He seemed very agitated, however, and his skinny frame was hunched up as he asked for water.
It was over an hour before Anna and Paul went in to talk to him. Anna had told Paul that he was to open up the interview but then remain silent, as she wanted to head up the questioning, until she gave him a signal to do otherwise.
‘I don’t understand why I’ve been brought here. I told you everything I know about Alan and I’ve not got anything else to add,’ Daniel protested.
‘We really appreciate you coming in to help our enquiry,’ Paul said as he opened his notebook, flipping back the pages to read his notes from their previous interview. He then waited for Anna to take over.
‘Are you aware, Daniel,’ Anna began, ‘that your name is on the deeds of a very substantial property in Cornwall?’
‘I told you earlier – I don’t know anything about it.’
‘We believe that Alan Rawlins purchased this property and we need to know if you are—’
‘I said, I don’t know anything about it!’
‘But were you aware that Alan Rawlins used your name?’
‘No.’
‘Did you ever sign any documents appertaining to this property?’
‘No.’
‘Have you ever been to Cornwall?’
‘No.’
‘Did you know that Alan Rawlins was homosexual?’
Daniel flushed and Paul picked up on this.
‘Tell me about how you knew.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘You have admitted that you are gay and that you were friends for a long time. You came out to him in confidence. Did he ever do the same to you?’
‘We were friends, that’s all, nothing more. I don’t know why I am here.’
‘You are here, Mr Matthews, because your friend Alan Rawlins has been missing for some considerable time and it is very probable that he has been murdered.’
‘Oh my God.’
‘We have found some very strong evidence that makes us believe he was killed inside his own flat.’
‘I don’t know what to say.’
‘You just have to tell us the truth. You maintained that you had not seen Alan for some considerable time – in fact, four months before he was presumed missing. Do you want to change that statement?’
‘No, it’s the truth.’ Daniel paused and took off his glasses.
‘Just take us through the last time you met with Alan Rawlins,’ Anna interjected.
Matthews was polishing his glasses with a handkerchief, rubbing at the lenses.
‘He just dropped by to see me. We had a pizza, I think, and then he left. It was ages ago. Previously I’d not seen him for some time. He got engaged and we didn’t meet up as frequently as we used to do, just as I explained to you before. Oh . . . I did see him again – I’d forgotten, sorry. It was before that – maybe a month before.’
He replaced his glasses and continued to address Anna.
‘He asked me to sign his Will – that’s what he came round for. He wanted me to be a signatory on his Will because he said if anything ever happened to him, he’d want me to be executor.’
‘Did you read the Will?’
‘No. He just showed me where I had to sign.’
‘Do you recall the solicitor’s name?’
‘No, I didn’t see the top page. I just signed at the bottom where he indicated and then he left.’
‘Didn’t you find that odd?’
‘What?’
‘That he wanted you to sign his Will?’
‘Not really. He said that he was planning on getting married and might be moving away, and then with all his surfing he said there could be an accident and he wanted Tina taken care of.’
‘Did he seem concerned in any way or worried about anything?’
‘No.’
Anna was becoming frustrated with Daniel’s obvious lies. ‘Mr Matthews, you openly admit to being homosexual and we now know that Alan Rawlins was bisexual. You must have been a very close friend for him to want you to be executor of his Will.’
‘We have been close friends since school. Alan always looked out for me. I used to get bullied and he was the one person who wouldn’t let them carry on messing me around. I was always skinny, always a bit effeminate – it was just the way I was – and to have Alan as my friend made my time at school bearable. I owe him a lot.’
‘Did you owe him enough to sign a document that you were told was a Will, but could also have been ownership of a very valuable property?’ Anna asked in a loud voice.
‘I told you, I didn’t look at it. If you must know, I’d have signed anything for him if he’d wanted me to.’
‘So you cared for him a lot?’
‘Yes, I did and do, and it was only because of his relationship with Tina that we didn’t see each other as much.’
‘You didn’t like her?’
‘No, but if it made him happy then I just had to accept it.’
‘It’s not because you thought she was wrong for Alan that you disliked her, is it? You’ve never accepted her because you’re jealous. She had the one thing you’ve always wanted for yourself. You loved Alan.’
‘Yes, I loved him but not like you’re trying to make out.’
‘So you never had a sexual relationship with him?’
‘No.’ He took off his glasses again and began polishing the lenses once more, blinking rapidly.
‘I think you are lying.’
‘You can think what you want,’ Daniel Matthews said waspishly.
‘Why lie about it?’
