Tom shrugged. ‘Alright. Do you guys want a drink or something in the meantime? Tea? Coffee?’
Caroline smiled. ‘Coffee would be lovely, thanks.’
‘Sounds good,’ Dexter replied.
They followed Tom through the office towards the brightly decorated break room, where Caroline eyed up the egg chairs once again. ‘Y’know,’ she said, ‘these things do start to grow on you, don’t they?’
‘Not really my style,’ Tom replied, leaving Caroline wondering what his style actually was. The closest she could come to defining it was “greasy”.
‘So, what kind of guy was Martin? Good boss?’ Dexter asked.
‘Yeah, he’s alright. Was. Crikey, feels weird saying that.’
‘I imagine it’ll take some getting used to. What were his relationships like, do you know?’
‘Relationships?’
‘Yeah. Did he get on with everyone?’
‘Oh. Right. Yeah, sorry, I thought you meant... Sorry.’
‘Meant what, Tom?’
‘I don’t want to drop anyone in it. It’s just... there were rumours. About him and Monique,’ he said, almost silently mouthing her name although she was nowhere to be seen.
‘What about them?’ Caroline asked innocently.
‘Probably just rumours. But office gossip was that they were, well, you know.’
‘I think I do, yes.’
‘I dunno what’ll happen to our jobs now. Someone said his wife’s a director too, but I don’t think I’d recognise her if she walked in here. Can’t see she’ll be too bothered about keeping the place going.’
‘You never know. She might bring in a manager or bump someone up to looking after the place. Silent director sort of thing.’
Tom laughed. ‘Chance’ll be a fine thing. Never much silence round here, I can tell you that.’
‘One of your colleagues mentioned that Martin had a bit of a row with someone last week,’ Caroline said. ‘Did you hear anything?’
‘Ah. Yeah, I think I know the one you mean. It was the day before I went up to Scotland. Thursday, it would’ve been. I didn’t really hear what was said, but it didn’t sound good.’
‘Do you know what it was about?’
Tom shook his head. ‘No, sorry. To be honest, stuff like that happens at work sometimes. There won’t be anything in it.’
‘Who was he arguing with?’
‘Uh, Amie, I think.’
‘How well do you know Amie? What’s she like?’
Tom took a deep breath, then let out a huge sigh. ‘I dunno. I mean, she’s fine. She’s nice. She seems to get on well with everyone. Keeps herself to herself, mostly. She can be difficult to get to know, but not necessarily in a bad way, if you know what I mean. Private. But cheerful, friendly, bubbly.’
‘This is Amie Tanner?’ Caroline asked, unable to reconcile Tom’s description with the woman they’d already met.
‘Yeah. Why?’
‘Just trying to build a picture,’ Caroline replied, smiling. ‘How were things left after the argument?’
‘How do you mean?’
‘Well, did Amie stick around or did she go home? Were there any comments or remarks made? Did they kiss and make up?’
‘Nothing specific that I can remember. They seemed fine, I think. No permanent falling out, if that’s what you mean. I don’t imagine Martin would stay angry at her for long.’
Caroline cocked her head slightly as she registered this comment. ‘How do you mean?’
Tom looked as though he’d just realised he’d said too much. ‘Oh, nothing,’ he said.
‘No, go on.’
‘Honestly, it’s nothing. It’s probably not even relevant.’
Dexter interjected. ‘With the greatest of respect, that’s for us to decide.’
Tom looked at him, then back at Caroline. ‘It’s just… Well, it’s difficult to explain really. It’s Martin. Between you and me, I think he’d been trying it on with Amie as well. It’s the sort of guy he is. Was.’
‘A relationship, you mean?’
‘Oh no. Not Amie. I doubt it, anyway. She’s always been pretty smitten with her other half. Not that he’s the nicest guy in the world, from what I’ve seen. But Martin had a bit of a reputation. It was a sort of unspoken thing. Especially with… you know.’
‘His wife?’
‘Well, yeah. No-one really wanted to rock the boat, I guess. But like I say, they got along fine. Everyone has arguments every now and again, but it all seemed to be sorted out pretty quickly. And I doubt it had anything to do with what happened.’
Caroline smiled at him. She had to admire his optimism, but she wasn’t entirely sure she agreed.
16
Meanwhile, Sara and Aidan had taken a drive over to Seaton to speak with Sandra Forbes. They’d been at the George & Dragon the previous day and had seen how uncomfortable the owner had looked when they’d asked about Martin, and they were keen to try and gauge how much Sandra really knew about her husband’s extra-curricular activities.
‘She must have known,’ Aidan said, thinking to himself as Sara drove. ‘If it was going on for that long, there’s no way she was oblivious to it all. Especially if they were right at the pub about her reaction when she came looking for him.’
‘We’ll soon see. It’s the timing that worries me,’ Sara replied. ‘Just enough time from discovering the truth to have sat and stewed on it for a bit before planning her way out.’
‘You think she did him in because he was having an affair?’
‘Honestly? I’ve no idea. But we probably shouldn’t go into this with too many preconceptions or theories. If we do that, we’ll only see what we want to see.’
‘Fair point,’ Aidan replied, returning to his own thoughts.
A few minutes later, they arrived at Sandra Forbes’s house in Seaton, and were soon seated in her living room.
‘We’re really sorry to intrude on you again at such a difficult time,’ Sara said, ‘but we’re at the stage now where we’re looking to widen the investigation. That means we need to find out more about Martin’s friends and contacts, his work, all that sort of thing.’
Sandra gave a non-committal shrug. She
