"And you think—"
"She's withholding because someone's got to her," he said. "Not threatening, but they've bought her silence."
Tamara shook her head. "Tom, that's a serious accusation to level without proof."
He held up his hand. "I know, at this point it's a reach, but the woman has no income, no job. Eric checked her records with HMRC." He indicated Eric.
"She hasn't shown up on the PAYE system for years, indicating she hasn't had any formal paid employment in that time."
"But she has no shortage of funds," Tom said. "Now she didn't claim to have had a life insurance policy to me, and I'm willing to bet that she's either receiving repeated sums of money from someone or was given a large pay out off the books to ensure her silence. To be fair to her," Tom said, biting his lower lip, "her other half was the earner in the household and she was left widowed with a child. I wouldn't blame her."
He looked at Tamara as she studied the information. She was intrigued, but he wasn't sure if she was fully convinced just yet.
"Okay, let's see if you can pull me across the line," she said. "Where's the link to Beckett?"
"Ah… we don't have one," Tom said. She looked at him. "Yet!" he added. "But Billy Tilson's widow had another visitor recently. Adrian Gage, and he was asking the same questions."
Tamara glared at him. He knew what she was thinking but wouldn't say so in front of Eric. He'd promised to stay away from the Gage case, and he'd tried to an extent.
"It's the type of story he would go after; corruption, bribery. This has all the hallmarks. Why else would he be calling on Tilson's widow?"
"Eric," she said without looking at him. "Can you give us a minute?"
Eric looked between them, raising his eyebrows as he read Tamara's expression. "I'll… get some coffees."
Tamara waited until Eric had stepped out of the room and then she turned on him.
"I’m sure you’ll have a good reason as to how you’ve found a link to a murder case you’re not supposed to be anywhere near! I thought we'd had this conversation and you understood—"
"It's not like I went looking for it," he said. He could understand her reaction, but he bristled at it all the same. What was he supposed to do when a tentative link came to mind? "I wasn’t investigating Adrian’s murder. Hear me out before you go off on one, will you?"
"Then explain to me how a link to the Gage case came up when trying to locate Mary Beckett's killer."
"The pad!"
Tamara frowned, her lips parting. "What pad?"
"Adrian Gage left a note with his sister to pass on to me if anything happened to him. It was written on the same paper as a note he left for Alice last week. It was Prometheus Energy stationery, headed paper."
Tamara raised a hand, indicating for him to stop. "Back up. Gage left you a note with his sister, saying what?"
"Just to pass the paper to me. Nothing more."
"And why am I only hearing about this now?" she said, scowling at him.
He was thrown by her attitude, feeling his anger rising. His response was curtailed by Cassie entering in the background. Tom looked at her but Tamara only had eyes for him. Cassie picked up on the tension in the room, hanging her coat up slowly. Tom flicked his hand in her direction and Tamara looked over her shoulder.
Cassie tentatively approached. "I would say good morning, but I fear I've missed something."
Tom's eyes narrowed. "What did you do with the note I gave you from Carol Martins, Adrian Gage’s sister?"
Cassie's mouth fell open. "I… it's on my desk," she said, confused.
"You didn't tell me," Tamara said.
"I haven't seen you," Cassie countered. "Why? What's going on?"
Tom turned back to Tamara. "That's the link, right there. He was looking into Prometheus Energy, the cover up, the deal they were working on. Maybe he had something. He told his sister it was something big. He must have been close."
Tamara took a deep breath, chewing on her bottom lip. She put both hands up, palms facing Tom, and fixed him with a stare.
"Okay, let's run this through. Just saying, for the sake of argument, that you're right. If Gage had something on Hansell or the company, he killed him… for what? To keep the secret?"
Tom shook his head. "We don't know who. It might not have been anyone at Prometheus Energy. It need only be someone with something to lose if the company goes to the wall. Which brings us to most of those who we've been looking at for the Beckett murder. Those with a vested interest."
Tamara thought hard, her expression fixed. "Run them by me."
"Well, you've mentioned Prometheus Energy. Locally, they have a minimal presence, but Liam Hansell is the one who visited Mary Beckett and is based in Norfolk much of the time. Although, he was…"
"What is it?" Tamara asked.
Tom grimaced, shaking his head. There was a nagging thought at the back of his mind, but he was struggling to tease it to the front. It was significant, he was sure. Eric re-entered the room, seemingly relieved to see Cassie was present, and picked up his pace. He didn't have any coffee in his hand. Tom beckoned him over.
"Eric, remember when we spoke to Daniel Crowe?" Eric nodded. "His wife walked us out bemoaning her husband's concerns regarding the wind farm proposal for the switching station. She said he was frustrated at the weekend. Do you recall?"
Eric thought hard. "Yes, but…" he shook his head, "I can't remember her saying anything particularly useful. Why?"
Tom was about to reply, but Cassie interrupted at that point, flicking her eyes anxiously between Tom and Tamara. "Look, clearly I've missed a fair bit of this but." She glanced at Tom again. "We still have concrete
