His rise through the ranks had meant they had a good income and with no children they lived well. Very well indeed.
Nice house, nice clothes, nice cars and nice holidays. What more could she want?
This Chris ‘bloody’ Norman character was at a lower pay grade than her. If she left and they set up home together she couldn’t expect to enjoy the same level of luxury.
And there was no way she was getting the house.
Besides, Andy was up for promotion to the rank of Superintendent in the next month.
The promotion would see his pay level increase by £40,000 a year plus all the perks that went with the job. But if the top brass knew his wife was about to leave him then his chances of getting the promotion were slim. They liked good steady people with a wholesome family image. If news got out he wouldn’t stand a chance. The promotion would go to his main rival Ronnie Hampton. Then he would have to bow and scrape to that prat. His life would be a misery.
But to ensure the promotion the top brass were depending on him to get this case all neatly sewn up and the press off their backs.
He already knew who was responsible. Norman Gentle. So why was his own DI still trying to find other suspects. Andy had even heard rumours Kevin O’Connor might be in the frame. Good God. They’d been trying to get something on that bastard for years without success. He was a cunning sod. Proving anything against him would be nigh on impossible. No. The killer was already in the frame. Norman ‘bloody’ Gentle. Anyone with a name like that had to be guilty.
DCI Andy Stone had been convinced of Norman’s guilt all along. It all fitted.
And after all, the evidence was strong. It was a straightforward case, like the dozens of cases he had handled in the past. The age-old tale of two lovers and then one finds out his partner was seeing someone much younger. The two had argued and the next morning his lover had been found knifed in the back. Was that because he felt betrayed?
Most murders were committed by someone close to the victim. Yes. All his years of experience as a detective told him this was his man.
One last swig from the whiskey in his top drawer and then he would go through to the incident room, and wrap this case up once and for all. Then they could all move on to other cases and leave the CPS to deal with it. And his promotion would be in the bag.
Two minutes later, DCI Andy Stone stood next to the large whiteboard in the murder inquiry incident room.
"Okay. Can I have everyone's attention please? We are about to wrap up the murder case of Peter Winston-Moore.
As you know, Norman Gentle is currently on remand at Birmingham Prison awaiting trial.
We’ve done our bit. This is what I have presented to the CPS.
“Norman Gentle was the victim’s live-in lover for six years and they even talked about getting married. Then he found out his partner was cheating on him with a much younger man and discovered they were booked in the Albion hotel together. So he came all the way from London and booked into the hotel using a false name. Unfortunately for him, there was a flaw in his plan, in that one of the antique dealers staying there recognised him.
Our search of their apartment revealed a will that had been drawn up just three weeks before the murder, and Norman is the only beneficiary and receives several million pounds plus the business and the luxury London apartment they shared.
The victim had let his killer into the room and turned his back. You wouldn't normally do that with a stranger.
“The coroner’s report puts the killer at between five feet two and five feet five. Norman is five feet five.
“According to the hotel's main housekeeper and one of the house maids, Norman argued with the victim on the morning of the day he was killed.
The doctor’s report tells us the victim was stabbed in the back ten times with an eight-inch kitchen knife. The report puts the killer at between five feet two and five feet five and possibly left-handed. Norman is five feet five but is right-handed.
Amongst all of the suspects and staff we found four people, who are left-handed. However, it is possible Norman might have used his left hand to deliberately mislead us. It's rare but it has happened before.
The Post Mortem puts the murder at between 11 pm. and just after midnight The hotel is locked and the ground floor is alarmed from eleven and the bar manager has told us everyone in the bar had left by eleven and all the staff left soon after. He set the alarm and locked up by eleven-ten. So unless someone was able to hide in the hotel undetected it leads us to one of the hotel guests as the prime suspects.
“The doctor says it would be impossible for the killer not to be covered in blood. So if we’re dealing with someone not staying at the hotel, they would have needed to have changed their clothes and walked out of the hotel covered in blood.
“The head barman has confirmed the side entrance to the bars was locked at ten-thirty and that he stood by the front entrance from approximately ten forty-five so that no one else came into the bar. He saw everyone leave and says he didn’t see anyone suspicious or anyone with blood on their clothes. There were only a handful of people in the bar at closing time so he remembers them as he had been serving them all night and he thinks all the people that left came from the bar. Then he locked the doors. There were only two staff members besides him to clear up and they all left together as he set the
