"So, you have a key to the house?"
"Yes, we do. To the back door," Frank said. "But I couldn't open it today… for obvious reasons."
He averted his eyes from Tamara's. She figured he was in shock. Perhaps they both were.
"So, you went next door to see what the issue with the cat was and… looked through the window?"
"Yes, that's right," Frank said. "I thought about smashing the window in front of the kitchen sink to get in but, well, let's face it at my age, I'm not exactly Spiderman am I? I thought it best to call the professionals."
"Were the two of you home yesterday?" They both nodded. "Think back, was there anything that happened yesterday, that you saw or heard, that was maybe a little odd. Particularly in light of what we found today?"
The couple exchanged a quick glance, Marjorie looking down at the cup of tea she was nursing in her hands. Frank cleared his throat before looking at Tamara and then Cassie.
"There was a bit of an argument going on. Raised voices anyway. I wasn't listening in," he said. "I was just out here checking on my tomatoes. It's a bit hard to know whether they've been getting enough water these past few weeks, what with the weather being so changeable."
Tamara looked to her left, seeing a line of tomato plants staked out along the boundary wall. A number of them had lower leaves that were speckled brown and turning yellow at the tips. If anything, they were getting too much water but she didn't comment.
"Raised voices you say?" Frank confirmed with a brief nod. "Are you sure they were coming from next door, Mr Gage's house?"
"Definitely. I recognised his voice."
"Who was he arguing with, do you know?"
"Oh, couldn't say. It went on for a bit, though. Then it went quiet and I figured it was over."
"And then?"
"That's it. I watered the plants and went back inside."
"You heard nothing more?" He shook his head. "Can you describe a little more about what you heard?"
"Such as?"
"The number of voices you could hear, were they male or female? What were they arguing about?"
Frank exhaled heavily, placing his own cup back down on the table and rubbing his chin with thumb and forefinger. "I would say two voices… one being Adrian and another someone else. As to what they were discussing, and I wouldn't say they were arguing as such because I couldn't hear the words being said."
"Both male or one female?"
"Couldn't say. It was all muffled, sorry."
Tamara waited patiently until she was sure he wasn't about to offer anything more. "Tell me what you made of Adrian?"
"Lovely young man," Marjorie said, sitting forward with a broad smile. "Polite and charming. Raised well." Frank nodded along to his wife's description but didn't appear to want to add anything.
"Did he ever talk about his work with you?"
Frank frowned. "Can't say he did, no. I think he was a photographer or something."
"What makes you think so?"
"I saw him with a serious bit of kit, going out one night. He must have been going to take some night-time shots. I’m quite a keen birder. It's a prerequisite when you live where we do, and I'd love to have the type of camera he does. I'll bet he has some fantastic shots in his collection, taken day or night."
"Why would you say that?"
"What?"
"Day or night? Was your neighbour prone to being out at all hours?"
It was Marjorie who answered as her husband suddenly came across all bashful. "Adrian did keep some rather odd hours. Coming and going at all manner of times. That's why we think he must be a photographer. You would have odd hours if you're taking landscape shots, sunrise and sunset. And you never really know when the migratory birds will stop this way. You've been up and out in the early hours, or staying out most of the night, just to hear the lark's song, haven't you, Frank," she said tapping her husband's elbow. He lifted his eye to meet Tamara's but only for a second before looking away again.
"Oh yes. All night… sometimes."
Something about his reticence piqued her curiosity but that was a conversation for another time. Instead, Tamara smiled warmly, casting a subtle glance towards Cassie who appeared to have picked up the same point from the comment.
"Right, thank you. One last question, at what time were you out watering your plants yesterday?"
"It would have been a little after five," he said, his eyebrows knitting. Frank seemed much happier discussing the watering of their plants rather than his overnight excursions. "The plants are in the shade by then and I won't risk burning the leaves. So I came out here after five and went back inside fifteen to twenty minutes later. Right, love?"
Marjorie agreed.
Tamara thanked them and they left. Once through the gate and out of earshot, Tamara looked at Cassie. "What they said changes things a little, doesn't it."
"If the caretaker is right and the woman left around four, she can't have been the one having a heated discussion with Gage an hour and a bit later."
"Unless she came back and he didn't see her."
Cassie frowned. "True. One or both of them could have their timings wrong as well. It would be good to get some corroboration. And where's this camera Frank was talking about? I haven't seen one in the house or car."
"The bag with the laptop has a number of SD cards stored in one of the pockets. They could have been used in a camera. To think, this one was beginning to look like a potentially easy case to solve, if not personally awkward, but now I'm not so sure."
Cassie pursed her lips. Evidently she had something she needed to get out. Tamara encouraged her with a raised eyebrow.
"I think we both know who the red Golf belongs to, don't we?"
"Yes," Tamara said.
