‘Not about him, but I knew something was happening.’
‘Relevant?’
‘Not to you, it isn’t. I killed no one, never have, never will.’
‘Yet you sell weapons to countries that suppress their citizens, wage war on others.’
‘Guidance systems, not weapons.’
‘The same thing,’ Wendy said. ‘You must have seen them being used, people being killed.’
‘I’m a salesman, government-sanctioned. I do my duty, look after this family. I don’t screw around, and I don’t kill people. Period! Is that clear?’
‘Mr Mason, do you realise that you’ve raised your voice, that you are angry, that you are capable of killing someone who gets between your wife and you? Do you love your wife?’
‘What sort of dumb question is that? I’m meant to love a tart, a woman who screws a younger man because he’s more of a stud?’
‘No one’s mentioned that this man was younger.’
‘I assumed he was.’
‘Why? According to Christine, her past relationships have been with men more her age. You’re holding something back. What’s the truth?’
‘There is no truth. I don’t know any more than I’ve already told you.’
Wendy took her mobile from her handbag and made a call. ‘Inside, now,’ she said.
‘I’m afraid, Mr Mason, that you will need to be interviewed at Challis Street Police Station, suitably cautioned and with a lawyer present.’
‘Are you arresting me for murder?’
‘No. But you knew of your wife’s affair. You have gone from being a peripheral witness to a major suspect.’
‘Gwen, I’ll need you with me?’ Tony Mason said, looking over at her.
‘Yes. And Christine?’
‘I still want her, even though she drives me crazy sometimes.’
‘Are you coming voluntarily? Wendy said.
‘No need for handcuffs. Let me get my coat, and we can go,’ Mason said.
Chapter 23
On the way over to Challis Street Police Station, Tony Mason had made a few phone calls from the back seat of the police car, one of the officers telling Wendy afterwards. Not that there was an issue; the man was coming in voluntarily for questioning, he hadn’t been charged, and with mobile phones, how could they stop him phoning anyway.
Wendy had to agree with the officers. The man had his rights, innocent until proven guilty, but his reference to a younger man had not been expected.
Mason sat in the interview room; across from him, Isaac and Wendy. To Isaac, he was a man who kept his emotions in check. But then, from what Isaac had read about negotiating commercial deals in the Middle East, it was an extended process involving the initial courtesies, then the outright disagreements, then the consolidation, the renegotiation, the arguments yet again, before patting the other on the back, the words of conciliation and friendship and a lasting relationship. It took a competent man to handle that. To Mason, sitting in Challis Street would be seen as a minor inconvenience.
The reason for Gwen Hislop to be representing him was unclear. If the man had connections, then he would have been phoning for a QC, not asking for his wife’s sister, competent as a lawyer, but not with a murder investigation.
‘Mr Mason,’ Isaac said after the formalities had been dealt with, ‘Sergeant Gladstone was not satisfied with your responses to some of the questions that were asked at your house.’
‘Chief Inspector, my wife tells me that she’s having an affair. How do you expect me to answer? I was upset, not thinking straight,’ Mason replied.
Isaac was aware that he would need to be on his guard with Mason. He liked to control the questioning in the interview room and to ensure that the person opposite him wasn’t able to take control. But Tony Mason was a skilled negotiator, a man who could hold his own against the very best. And even now, was Mason telling the truth, or was it all a show? Was the man seething about his wife? Or was it a feigned response? And what about the reference to a younger man? A stab in the dark, a lucky guess?
‘Could you please explain your reaction to your wife’s confession?’
‘Stunned. Not that it was unexpected. It was just that it was so sudden, and then Gwen’s there, a woman who I’ve not seen for years. Not only that,’ Mason said, ‘a police sergeant is waving her badge under my nose, asking if she can come in. What do you expect me to say or do? How would you feel if your house was invaded, and then your wife tells you she’s been screwing around with a murdered man?’
Isaac had to concede the man had a point, not that it meant that what he had told Wendy at the house, and what he intended to say in the current interview, was the truth.
‘I’ll grant you that it was difficult for you. But now, we must focus on what you know about the murdered man.’ Isaac said.
‘Nothing. I assumed he was younger. Christine’s got wandering eyes. A few drinks in her, and well, you never know.’
‘Your wife has told us about the murdered man and three other men. Did you know about the others?’
‘One of them. I suspected another, but I never said anything.’
‘The normal reaction would have been to confront the man, ask your wife to her face.’
‘Normal, what’s normal, Chief Inspector? How would you have handled it?’
‘I’m not the person being questioned. You are.’
‘Both times I let it pass, gave it a few weeks. Once she had got it out of her system, she changed back to what she had been before. And besides, the
