‘No, I never met him. I got it from a bloke at the Smugglers cafe months ago.’
‘He got a name?’
‘Raj, that’s all I know.’
‘Young, old? Describe him.’
‘He’s Indian, used to work there when we first arrived, but he’s not there now.’
Mrs Chapman returned with passports and handed them to Williams, which slightly annoyed Anna. He flicked through them and then passed them to Anna.
‘Your husband’s American?’
‘Yes, from Kansas, but he’s lived here for twenty years.’
Anna gave the passports back to her and asked if she would be kind enough to show her and Paul around the property. Williams said he would wait in the car.
Anna and Paul returned to the patrol car where Williams was waiting.
‘Untidy woman – every room is a tip, but it looks like it cost a lot to modernise and furnish the place so they must be paying a considerable amount.’
‘Not necessarily. On a fixed three years’ rental they probably got a deal, but I’ll check it out,’ Williams promised. ‘I think we need to chat to the cleaning lady, so we’ll go to her place next.’
They drove in silence for a while and eventually Paul asked from the back seat if they thought they had gained anything from the Chapmans’ household that was of interest.
‘Only the fact that Sammy was hammering on the door in a bit of a state and it’s around the time he went missing six months ago,’ Williams said abruptly.
‘What about her husband being an American?’ Anna asked.
‘Doesn’t pull my strings, Kansas. If he’d been Colombian I might have been interested. Anyway, I can check him out. In fact, I’ll do it now.’
True to his word, Williams rang the station as they drove, asking them to contact Mr Chapman and arrange for them to see him as soon as possible.
He next asked his team if there was any news from the pilot regarding the helicopter trip, but there wasn’t. The weather was still very blustery, the rain now lashing down.
Anna was frustrated. Williams being so dominant put her off her stroke and she considered asking for the car he had arranged so that she and Paul could work by themselves. Williams’s priority was obviously tracking down Sammy Marsh whereas hers was Alan Rawlins. She felt that she would make more headway without him.
The small terraced house was on the outskirts of Newquay and Mrs Flowers, a robust woman in her late sixties, was expecting them. She ushered them into a small sitting room, where thankfully a fire was lit as Anna was now freezing. Anna didn’t waste time, but began asking about the rental property.
‘I’m there twice a week, should be three times but she told me they didn’t need me so I do what I can while I’m there. It’s not the way he would like it as he’s ever so particular.’
‘When you say “he”, Mrs Flowers, who are you referring to?’
‘Mr Matthews. He’s got a flat as well which I used to clean, but that’s too far for me to go now.’
‘Is this Mr Matthews?’ Anna showed her the picture of Alan Rawlins.
‘Yes. Lovely young man he is.’
Anna’s pulse-rate jumped. ‘When did you last see him?’
Mrs Flowers licked her lips and then got up to fetch a thick notebook.
‘I can tell you exactly. He said he was here on a flying visit as he was not going to move into his new house, but rent it out. I’ve known him for quite a while now – about four years.’ She sat thumbing through her book, then passed it over to Anna.
‘It was seven months ago. He said he would arrange for me to keep an eye on the property. I’ve made notes for him of the damage. They’ve broken the gates, the kitchen is a real mess, and him being so particular everything was brand new. I can’t shift the grease on the cooker and the microwave is always filthy. They never wipe around it after they’ve cooked in it.’
‘Tell me about him.’
‘Well, as I said he was a lovely chap. I often used to do his washing and ironing when he was down here.’
‘Did you ever meet his fiancee?’
Mrs Flowers flushed and folded her arms.
‘Her name is Tina Brooks.’
‘Look, I don’t like to gossip, but I didn’t think he liked women.’
‘Why do you say that?’
She flushed again and glanced at Williams.
‘When Ed here was asking me about him, I told him that a few times Mr Matthews had guests – men – and he only had one bedroom.’
‘Did you ever hear him being called a different name?’
‘Who?’
‘Mr Matthews.’
‘No, but you know I just went in to clean, take his laundry back and forth. It was just a small place and he often wasn’t there. He always left me my money, not like some of them, and when I last saw him he said if I did a good clean-up as he was leaving, he—’
‘Wait a minute. Was this when you last saw him, when he told you he had rented out his house?’
‘Yes, that’s right.’
‘So when you cleaned, did you find anything left by him?’
‘No. He was very methodical. However, I did find . . .’ She stood up and walked to the door. ‘I never use the stuff myself, but my daughter-in-law when she stays has tried them out and says they’re very good.’
Mrs Flowers returned with half-filled bottles of shampoo, conditioner and moisturiser and all had Tina’s Salon labels on them.
‘It’s not as if I was stealing – he’d left them in his bathroom cabinet.’
Anna smiled, looking over the items.
‘When he said he’d rented out this house he had here, did you find that odd?’
‘Well, yes, I did. It had taken so long to be fixed up I presumed he was going to be living there himself. He had books of fabrics and magazines. I took some of those, but I’ve thrown them out.’
‘Did he ever tell you where he was going to be living, if not at his house?’
‘No.’
‘Did he seem like his usual self on the last time you say he saw you? You said he told you it was a flying visit.’
Mrs Flowers shrugged. ‘I put it down to the fact that he was renting out that lovely property. I mean, I never asked about his financial situation, but I reckoned it was because he was short of money.’
‘How do you mean?’
‘Well, for one he was in a terrible hurry, a bit agitated, and kept on looking at his mobile phone as if he was expecting a call.’
‘Did he have any luggage with him, as if he was going away?’
‘No, just his briefcase and a small overnight bag. He said he would be out of touch with me for a while and to liaise with the estate agents if anything went wrong at the house. He said they would handle everything.’
‘And you’ve not heard from him since?’
‘No, dear, not a pip.’
Back in the car, Anna leaned her head against the headrest.
‘Not a pip,’ she repeated.
‘The time he was down here arranging the house coincides with him taking a holiday break from his work. It sounds to me as if he was planning on doing a runner,’ said Paul from the back seat.
Anna made no reply, but simply stared ahead before addressing Williams. ‘You interviewed her before, right?’
Williams nodded, explaining that Mrs Flowers had also at one time cleaned for Sammy, but he was always late paying her. He then said that it was possible Sammy had recommended Mrs Flowers to Alan Rawlins.
