Tom folded his arms across his chest. Cassie had been pushing the case against Alice pretty much since the body was discovered as far as he could tell. She was nervous about speaking in front of him, but he maintained his composure. He was confident they were now on the right track.
"What evidence?" he asked calmly.
"The lab matched the fibres of Alice's jumper to the ones found under Gage's fingernails," she said, shooting a sideways glance in his direction but focussing on Tamara.
"And what else?" he asked. "Did they find any trace evidence related to the stabbing, blood spatter, DNA?"
Cassie shook her head.
"So, all you have is that she was there at his house," Tom said, failing to keep the dismissive tone from his voice. "We know that. She admitted it. But there's nothing to link her to the act itself, just supposition."
Cassie rolled her eyes. "Your objectivity is compromised by your emotional attachment to Alice. It's obvious—"
"And you're too narrow in your outlook. The easiest answer isn't always the right one, Cass!"
Cassie scoffed. Tom made ready to respond but Tamara stepped between them.
"Pack it in, the pair of you," she said. "Tom's right. We've got the time frame and evidence Alice was there. That's not in dispute. But," she said, looking at Tom, "Alice hasn't helped herself by not revealing why she was there."
"Isn't it obvious?" he said. "The two of you work with me. Adrian was making a play to win her back over the course of a few weeks, maybe months," he said, his voice lowering as he spoke. Cassie and Eric averted their eyes from his, feeling his embarrassment. "If she opened up to you then there was every chance I would hear about it… and she'd made her choice. And she chose me."
"You're sure about that?" Tamara asked. He met her eye, wondering if something had been said between the two women the night he'd met Tamara leaving Alice's place after an impromptu meeting. His gaze narrowed, but Tamara's expression remained fixed.
"Yes, I am. That's what she told me… and I trust her."
Tamara held his gaze for a moment. Was she assessing his judgement, like Cassie, questioning whether he could be objective? Then she nodded and broke the eye contact.
"If you're right, then that would explain her reluctance to reveal the detail. Particularly if she couldn't foresee ever being responsible for Adrian's death. And if she'd called it off with him—" She shot him an apologetic look. He waved it away.
"We just need to get to the truth. I'll handle the fallout later," he said.
"Okay," Tamara said, "if she'd ended it all with Adrian Gage, she had no reason to kill him. If a lover kills their partner, it's usually the one who is scorned who loses it, not the one choosing to walk away. That's one reason I've struggled with seeing Alice as a suspect." She looked at Cassie, shaking her head. "What would she have to gain from killing him?"
Cassie reluctantly accepted the logic.
"Right," Tamara said, looking at Tom, "you've got us this far. What do you want to do next?"
"Bring in Liam Hansell. Put him in an interview room and throw some facts at him, see how he responds."
Tamara looked at the board one more time, rolling her tongue across the inside of her cheek. "Do it."
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Tom Janssen walked along the corridor clutching his notes, arranging his thoughts as he made his way to the interview room. This time, more than in any other case he had worked previously, his performance counted. On this occasion he was well invested in the results, more so than just to catch a killer. If his theory proved to be correct, then not only would they have revealed a murderer but the shadow of suspicion would leave Alice for good. Tamara gave him the option to sit it out, to leave it to her but he declined. She was capable and tenacious, of that he was in no doubt, but he wanted to see this one through. Not least because it was his theory, but that's all it was, a theory. There was little concrete evidence they could produce to support it. Never had he felt such pressure.
Eric appeared at the end of the corridor, running to catch up with him. Tom was hopeful he'd already found something useful to put to Liam Hansell. He turned to the constable expectantly.
"I've just got off the phone with an old friend of my dad's," Eric said. "I've not seen him in years, but he knocks around in the same circles as Daniel Crowe."
"Anything interesting?"
"The word around the golf club is that Crowe isn't quite what he used to be. From what his wife said to us, I reckon she's in the dark, but the rumour mill has him in trouble financially."
Tom knitted his eyebrows. "I thought Crowe was semi-retired. He looks like he's doing all right."
"Yeah, outwardly, that's exactly the impression he gives off but not so. At least, not according to my source. Crowe built quite a large land portfolio over the years, primarily agricultural blocking, but as his interest in farming waned, he starts banking plots for future development. Apparently, he's very much one of those bores at the nineteenth hole at the club banging on about how well he's doing. Seemingly he's been a little subdued of late."
Tom considered the information and what effect it might have, if any, on the conversation he was lining up for Hansell.
"Any idea how serious his position is?"
Eric inclined his head. "He has a number of development sites that ran aground in the financial crisis a few years ago. He had to offload some land that went for a bit of a song by all accounts just to get by. Seemingly, this time last year he entered into negotiations with an American agri firm with a view to selling off that side of his business and it all looked good
