The fact that he pulled a muscle in his lower back dampened the moment. Later that day, she walked around the garden, keeping her distance from where her dead husband had been found. ‘We’ll cover the area with concrete, put up a pergola,’ she said.
Her husband, a calm and steadying influence, only nodded. Whatever she wanted, he knew she’d get. He had not wanted to enter the house as it reignited memories in his wife, memories she had kept repressed. He had looked upstairs and into the room where Aberman had been shot. It had been a bedroom, now it would be a study for him. A reminder that Ben Aberman was dead and he was not coming back, thankfully.
***
The reopening of the investigation into the death of Gerald Adamant had certain repercussions. The majority of those who had been close to the man and to Helen would have preferred it to be left alone. There was a cherished memory of the man, a fondness for the woman, and both were flawed. Helen’s flaws were all the more apparent after her murder and more so after her past life had been exposed again. Not that it was a great secret before, as she had never attempted to conceal it totally, but now the gutter press was digging in the dirt, trying to find out the salacious, interviewing those who had known her. If they couldn’t get what they wanted, they made it up.
As far as the media was concerned, Helen Langdon did not gyrate on that pole at Dixey’s, she was taking the men into the back room. And as for Holden, she seduced him, dragged him into that hotel, and then a jealous ex-lover, probably a criminal, had come in and in a rage of jealousy shot Helen and Holden.
The truth, Isaac knew, was what people believed. No amount of explaining the facts at a press conference, or if he agreed to an interview, would change what people thought. James Holden, as a result, regained some respectability. Many in the community believed in what he had been trying to achieve, and some were willing to admit that he had erred, not because of his weaknesses, but because societal values and the openness of modern-day England had corrupted even him.
All that Isaac knew was that his department had reached a critical juncture in the investigation. The murders appeared to have ceased, everyone’s dirty linen was out in the open.
Caddick was a nuisance, now looking to Isaac and his team to get him out of trouble, and even Isaac wasn’t sure what to do. Other stations, other police officers, were concerned about the consolidation of various departments, the shutting down of some stations, even reducing police numbers out on the street. Isaac knew it was a retrograde step, and even Davies couldn’t do anything about it, other than take advantage to strengthen his position, weaken others.
The first that Isaac heard by way of confirmation that Richard Goddard’s star was again in the ascendancy was when Bridget came bursting into his office. ‘DCS Goddard’s coming back.’ The second was when the man put his head around the door. ‘Caddick’s gone,’ Goddard said. One-minute Caddick was on the phone, the next he was out of the front door.
Isaac rushed over to warmly shake Goddard’s hand; the others in the office, likewise.
Goddard made an impromptu speech. ‘Thanks for welcoming me back. Commissioner Davies has great faith in this department, a faith that you will show is fully justified.’
‘Superintendent Caddick?’ Wendy asked.
‘He’s been assigned a position in a regional station. He will retain the rank of superintendent.’
Inside Isaac’s office with the door closed, Isaac asked his senior, ‘What’s the truth?’
‘Davies is playing for time. If he puts me here, then he’s shown that he has taken notice of the criticism levelled at Caddick. He’ll take the flak for removing me and others and strengthen his position, turn it to his advantage.’
‘Caddick?’
‘Davies has protected him. A regional station, lower responsibilities, and not subjected to the same scrutiny as we are.’
‘He left in a hurry, no coming in here to say goodbye.’
‘The man was thankful to be out of here. He made no friends here.’
‘We’ll not miss him. We can rely on you to deal with the audit.’
‘I will. However, James Holden?’
‘It all points to Helen Langdon as the primary target, although there were others who bore a grudge against Holden. Since then, as you well know, there have been several other murders.’
‘I’ve kept up to date with the case,’ Goddard said.
‘We believe the murderer entered the hotel with another prostitute. He drugged her – she woke up later – and then walked across the passageway, entered the room, and then shot the two of them in bed.’
‘The other prostitute?’
‘Gwendoline. She’s still alive, although her previous flatmate, Daisy, is not.’
‘And Adamant?’
‘In light of what’s happened, what we’ve found out, his death is suspicious,’ Isaac said. ‘And Slater’s and his receptionist’s deaths, they could be related to Aberman.’
‘Wherever Helen Langdon moved, death seemed to follow,’ Goddard said.
‘They’re all interconnected, and just focussing on who shot the first victim is going nowhere. The man with Gwendoline is not easy to trace.’
‘Any clues?’
‘Nothing significant from the prostitute. The normal – average height, average weight, hat pulled forward.’
‘Did anyone else see him?’
‘The concierge at the hotel, but he wasn’t looking either. He keeps his eyes down, takes the money off the woman and hands her the key. He had a good little number there, but he couldn’t stop peeping into the rooms.’
‘No more from him?’
‘Nothing.
‘If Gwendoline remembered anything, she’d probably be dead now.’
‘It’s her only protection. The man killed two people in cold blood, and then another prostitute later;
