"So, he might need this planning decision to go his way."
Eric nodded. "I'd say so."
"Okay, good work, Eric," Tom said, reaching for the door handle.
"There's something else." Tom glanced at him. Eric hesitated. "Rumours are going around that Daniel Crowe is seeing someone. No idea who," he said, shaking his head. "I don't know if it's relevant, but thought I'd mention it."
Tom smiled and opened the door to the interview room. Liam Hansell sat behind a table, an empty chair alongside him. Cassie was already in position, hands clasped together in front of her, waiting patiently. Tom glanced up at the camera in the corner of the room where two walls met the ceiling, the telltale red light indicating it was recording. Tamara was watching from another room.
Liam Hansell's eyes followed Tom as he approached, pulling out a chair and sitting down, casually clearing his throat and gesturing for Cassie to set the recorder running to commence the interview. She announced those present, and Tom confirmed his name for the benefit of the tape. Tom read Hansell his rights, knowing full well he'd already declined the offer of legal representation. He was either supremely confident, naïve or, Tom hoped the last was wrong, completely innocent.
"Mr Hansell. Thank you for coming in this morning."
"I wasn't aware it was optional."
Tom smiled but didn't reply. "Well, we'll try and get through the questions as quickly as possible and then you can be on your way."
"Great. Ask away. But as I told you before, I don't see how I can help with the Mary Beckett case. I'm surprised I'm here."
Tom opened the folder in his hands and withdrew a small plastic wallet. Inside was the note Adrian Gage had left for Alice. He placed it on the table in front of Hansell, whose eyes flicked to it and away again.
"Do you recognise this?" Tom asked.
Hansell nodded, pursing his lips. "It's a piece of paper?"
"Headed paper with your company logo on it. Part of a notepad, we believe?"
"Yes, it is."
"Are there a lot of them around?"
Hansell looked momentarily puzzled at such a random line of enquiry. Tom persisted.
"Mr Hansell? Do you have a lot of company stationery in circulation?"
Hansell blew out his cheeks, raising his eyebrows and shaking his head. "I'd say no, not really. We use headed paper, like other businesses, and have this stuff lying around the offices. We do a bit of this type of thing… pads, branded disposable pens… lanyards and keyrings, and so on. If we ever have school trips, we'll hand out some freebies, not that we've done anything like that in a long time."
"How long?"
"Er… probably a year ago… but not around here. That sort of follows once a project ramps up to build community buy-in to the scheme, you know. Everyone likes free stuff, right?"
Tom nodded solemnly. Internally, he was pleased. Hansell had just killed off a plausible explanation for Gage having one of these pads in his possession without realising it. Now there seemed only one way he could have obtained such a pad, and that was by being present in Hansell's premises. Cassie, sitting alongside Tom, stared at Hansell, her expression firm. Hansell glanced at her several times, smiling nervously, but Cassie remained unmoved.
"Is this why I'm here? Because of stationery?"
"Partly," Tom said. The expression on the face of the man opposite him changed from puzzled to concerned. He must be trying to work out where Tom was going with this line of questioning.
"What on earth does a… company-branded notepad," he said, waving his hands around in front of him, "have to do with Mary Beckett's death?"
"Oh, we're talking at cross purposes," Tom said. "I'm asking because I want to understand how one of these pads ended up in the possession of Adrian Gage."
Hansell's lips parted, his eyes narrowing.
"Because," Tom said, sitting forward and tapping the evidence bag for added emphasis, "by your own admission he must have been to your offices fairly recently. Do you know Adrian Gage, Mr Hansell?"
Hansell fixed him with a stare. His lips must have run dry because he felt the need to roll them inside his mouth, his face a picture of concentration. He slowly shook his head, his eyes narrowing.
"I recognise the name from the news. He was the local man who died, wasn't he?"
"Yes, that's right. He was a journalist, investigating—"
"That's it!" Hansell said, sitting upright and snapping his fingers. "Journalist. Now I remember. Yes, he came to the office once to ask about our development plans. I didn't recall his name but now you mention it, yes, I remember. Gage, you say?"
Tom nodded. Perhaps Liam Hansell was sharper than he'd thought. Had he continued to deny ever meeting Gage, he would only draw more scrutiny upon himself. By offering a plausible reason as to how they may have met, he was putting a hole in the case against him. It was similar to a man accused of a sexual assault claiming to have been in a sexual relationship with his victim in order to explain away his DNA being present at the victim's home or on their person. To maintain a stance of complete denial would be crippling for a defence, but to offer a credible solution could do quite the opposite, and sow doubt in a juror's mind.
"Adrian Gage specialised in uncovering shady dealings, corruption and the like," Tom said. "Why might he be interested in you?"
Hansell shrugged, looking away from Tom's gaze and picking at an invisible speck of something on the table in front of him and casting it aside.
"And when did this visit take place?" Cassie asked, pen poised to make a note of the answer. Hansell lifted his gaze to meet hers.
"Months ago. I'm sorry. It was a brief visit. Maybe you should check his appointment diary."
"So you didn't visit him on
