point in him saying anything, she would never understand. Her brow furrowed into a frown, had she realised he was clocking her tits?
‘That’s nice, but I do worry about you love, you don’t get enough sleep. It’s alright for Ed Templeman; he doesn’t have to get up at five every morning.’
‘I won’t be long dear, I promise.’ She sighed and returned to the bedroom and her book. Dudley turned back to the computer and worked frantically to complete the edit. Of course, he knew Barrie Billingsgate had not killed her; he had collected the hard disk from her just before midnight. He used the service lift as instructed and she met him at the back door wearing her scarlet kimono with a blue silk scarf wound tightly around her neck. He hadn‘t thought anything of it at the time, too intent on her pussy. As usual it was on view and he desperately hoped she wanted him to do something to it. The fist fucking was scoring a tremendous number of hits on her website. Nymphie was delighted and called it ‘One in the cunt for Rosie la Bonque.’ They both laughed at that. He really was going to miss Nymphie. He changed her title idea of ‘The Postman Delivers’ to ‘Fist Frenzy’ as he was concerned that he might be identified as the owner of the fist. All images of himself were deleted from the hard disk, so at least he didn’t have that to worry on that score. He had been tempted to end the ‘Rough Sex’ video at the point where Billingsgate runs away, leaving the viewer with the impression he has killed her, but when he looked though the rest of the material he realised he would be missing a supremely erotic finale. He edited it down, so the viewer just had time to think he had killed her, before he closed in on her right hand, which twitched into life and moved down to stroke her pussy. Then he cut to the wide overhead camera as she nursed her sore neck with her left hand and frantically frigged herself to another orgasm with the other. He changed the title to ‘Gasping to Come’ and chuckled to himself as he posted his little masterpiece onto the Anita von Beta website. It seemed like a fitting tribute for her and as Barrie Billingsgate’s face was shown in close up, it would be another one in the eye, or perhaps to quote Nympie, another one in the cunt for the ungrateful Natasha Billingsgate. She would receive an anonymous letter suggesting a viewing of the website.
As he un-plugged the hard drive he thought about the last meeting with Lucinda, which was brief, but she knew what he wanted and let him shoot his load over her pussy. He put the hard drive in a plastic bag, turned off the computer and climbed quietly down the ladder. He paused by the bedroom door, holding the bag to cover his erection.
‘I won’t be long dear.’ There was no reply. Linda was fast asleep with the bedside light on, her reading glasses perched crookedly on her nose, and the book about to fall off the bed. Dudley crept away, not at all sure when he would see her again.
CHAPTER THIRTY.
Chief Superintendent Cullen found it impossible to hide his frustration. His voice shook with anger and squeaked at the end of each sentence as he ran out of breath.
‘It's five days since the body was discovered. We have six suspects, two who have actually confessed to the murder, but we haven’t charged anyone. I’m getting it in the neck from the chief constable. It’s simply not good enough Ian, DS Kimberley assured me of a fast clean-up on this one.’
Cardhew walked over to the window and looked out on the car park. He refused to stand in front of Cullen’s desk like a schoolboy getting a dressing down from the head master. He spoke to the window. ‘Kimberley went off half cock; he wanted to make an arrest before investigating all the facts. This is a complex case sir. We have five suspects, but it could double, even treble if we take into account the names of the judges, members of parliament, lords, knights of the realm and other worthies who used the victims services in Mayfair six years ago.’ He turned to face Cullen. ‘We’re checking out those with a known preference for bondage or S &M.’
Cullen looked at papers on his desk, picked up a silver fountain pen and used it as an aid to check paragraph by paragraph. ‘There’s nothing about that in here, why haven’t I been kept in the loop?’
Cardhew moved behind the desk and looked over Cullen’s shoulder. ‘Recent development, sir; but that’s not my report.’
Cullen placed an arm over the papers. ‘I asked Sergeant Kimberley to appraise me of the situation; as part of his career development and training. You understand?’
Cardhew looked him squarely in the eye. ‘Oh yes, I understand perfectly well sir. Shall we see how well Sergeant Kimberley is doing?’ He reached down and tweaked the half hidden report from under Cullen‘s arm. ‘I’ll go through the suspects for you sir. Number one, Barrie Billingsgate; came voluntarily into the station in the early hours last Saturday. Believed he had killed Lucinda Lovebrace during sex and made a statement to that effect, but it turned out not to be the case.’
‘How can you be so sure? Kimberley is convinced he had something to do with her death.’
‘Billingsgate left Laburnham Court at around 9pm on the Friday evening and had dinner with a fellow director of Travel Plan in Roberto’s Restaurant in the centre of town. We know that Lucinda Lovebrace died at around 3am.’
‘He could have gone back.’
‘Yes, he could have, but he didn’t, which brings me to suspect number two, Natasha Billingsgate. She too came voluntarily into the station and provided her husband with an alibi for the time he left Roberto’s at 11pm to when he arrived here at 5.40am on the Saturday morning.’
‘You mean, she swears that he was with her during that period. Really Ian and you believe her? ’
‘No sir.’
Cullen visibly grew in his chair. He had found the weak point in Cardhew’s argument and was preparing to tear him to shreds, and when he had reprimanded him for his handling of the case, he would admonish him for daring to stand behind his desk and read his private papers. He turned in his chair and spoke sharply. ‘What do you believe then?’
Cardhew spoke calmly, ‘I believe what she told me, which is that her husband left the restaurant with his fellow director, who is not a fellow, but a Miss Samantha Derby and went back to her flat, where they went to bed. He left there at approximately 5.25am and came here, and yes, we have spoken to Miss Derby, who corroborates the story.’ Cullen was about to interrupt, but Cardhew continued. ‘I know what you’re going to ask sir, and that is, how did Billingsgate’s wife know?’
‘Well, yes. How did she know?’
Cardhew walked around to the front of Cullen’s desk and without asking permission, pulled up a chair, sat down and leant forward with elbows on the desk, a pose he often adopted when interviewing a suspect. ‘If I told you that Natasha Billingsgate knew, because she was in her husband’s body at the time, would you believe me?’
Cullen threw his head back and gave a short, hysterical laugh. ‘Hardly – how ridiculous – so tell me, how did she know?’
‘Just that; she maintains she was in her husband’s body. We know it’s impossible, yet the statement she made to DC Leadbetter and myself was almost word for word the same as the statement made by Barrie Billingsgate to Sergeant Kimberley, almost five hours earlier.’
‘They must have colluded.’
‘Impossible. I was with DS Kimberley and Barrie Billingsgate in interview one, when Natasha Billingsgate arrived at the station. DC Leadbetter took her to interview two and called me out from interview one to speak to her. They had no chance to see each other, let alone talk.’
‘They could have exchanged texts.’
‘We’ve checked. There were no texts sent or received on either mobile over that period.
‘So, what are you saying, Ian?’
‘What I’m saying sir, is that if we proceed with charging either of them, based on their statements, we will be laughed out of court. Now, like me, you may think we are dealing with a couple of nut cases, but the fact remains that Barrie Billingsgate has an alibi and Natasha Billingsgate is not equipped to have been the murderer, unless she was in her husband’s body, as she claims, but even then, the DNA doesn’t match. The same goes for the third person on Kimberley’s list, Julie Bunford. Out of all the suspects she has most to gain from the victim's death. On the Friday, she drove to London with Lucinda Lovebrace to sign forms which gifted a 50% share in all her business interests. Also, although she may not have been aware of it, Lucinda Lovebrace recently altered her Will, leaving
