Caroline nodded. ‘But your suspicions remained?’
‘Yep. Not much you can do with suspicions, though, when you’re struggling for evidence. And you think she might be connected with this new murder? The Murray girl, I mean.’
‘Amie? Yes. She’s Amie Tanner now, though.’
Barrington’s face turned grey in front of her. ‘Sorry, did you say Tanner?’
‘That’s her married name, yes.’
‘Jesus Christ. What’s the husband’s name? Gary, isn’t it?’
‘Gavin. Do you know him?’
‘Christ, do I. He was her alibi when Speakman died, did you know that?’
‘Yeah. We did. That’s what makes me wonder if there’s a connection somewhere.’
Barrington let out a noise that sounded like a football hitting a bush. ‘You can say that again. Gavin Tanner’s “connections” are exactly what scuppered our investigation last time.’
Caroline cocked her head slightly. ‘How do you mean?’
Barrington looked at her. ‘Christ. You really don’t know, do you?’
Caroline felt her heart starting to beat more heavily in her chest. ‘Know what?’
‘Gavin Tanner’s dad was Alf Tanner. Chief Constable Alf Tanner as he was then. We had pressure from above to close the investigation and write it off as an accidental death. Said there was no benefit to be had from spending time on it. The thing is, we didn’t think for one moment Amie had gone back to Speakman’s house to kill him. We were pretty certain it was Gavin Tanner.’
33
As soon as Caroline had left Bob Barrington’s house, she called Chief Superintendent Derek Arnold and told him she needed to see him urgently. He was in meetings, but would be free a little later, he replied. Keen to find out more about former Chief Constable Alf Tanner, she arranged to meet Arnold in his office later that day.
In the meantime, she decided to head back to Oakham via Seaton, so she could drop in on Sandra Forbes. A specialist Family Liaison Officer had been appointed to keep the family abreast of developments and ensure they were being cared for, but it wasn’t too unusual for the Senior Investigating Officer to make further direct contact. In Caroline’s experience, it was common — once the initial shock had subsided — for some more organised and logical thoughts to start to come to the fore. Occasionally, memories would start to make sense and those close to the victim would have information that could be useful to the investigation.
She parked up outside Sandra Forbes’s house and knocked on the door. Sandra opened it a few moments later, a look on her face that bordered hopeful and fearful.
‘We don’t have any major news at the moment,’ Caroline said, keen not to get Sandra’s hopes up too much that her husband’s death had been solved. ‘I was just passing by and thought I’d pop in and see how you were doing, give you a bit of an update.’
They sat down in Sandra’s kitchen, which Caroline noticed was still immaculately clean. She supposed scrubbing the house from top to bottom was a relatively effective distraction from the thoughts that must have been plaguing Sandra’s every waking minute.
‘How’re things going with the business?’ Caroline asked, keen to get Sandra talking.
‘Alright, I think. I’ve not had a chance to sit down and look at everything. It can run itself for a bit. People understand.’
‘It looks like he built a good team there.’
‘Mostly, yes. I tried not to get too involved.’
‘Have you been in touch with any of the staff at all?’
Sandra shook her head. ‘Not yet. I’m just trying to distract myself, you know? I need to stop my brain from thinking about… Thinking about it.’
‘I understand.’
At that moment, Caroline’s phone rang. ‘Sorry,’ she said. ‘Do you mind if I take this?’
‘No, of course.’
She stood up and walked out into the hallway, answering her phone. ‘DI Hills.’
‘Ah. Hi. It’s Tom Mackintosh from Allure Design. The IT guy.’
‘Hi Tom. What’s up?’
‘Uh, well, it’s a bit delicate actually. I don’t really want to discuss it on the phone, but I was hoping I might be able to meet up with you.’
Caroline looked at her watch. ‘Where are you? At work?’
‘Yeah.’
‘Alright. I’m not too far away. I can be there in five or ten. Everything okay?’
‘Honestly? I’m not sure. I think it’s probably best you come and see this for yourself.’
34
A few minutes later, Caroline arrived outside the offices of Allure Design in Uppingham. She texted Tom to say she was there, and he met her at the front door. She figured it was preferable to listening to Monique reciting passages from Virgil as she signed her in.
A few moments later, they sat down in Martin Forbes’s office.
‘Okay,’ Tom said, releasing a deep breath as he sat. ‘I know your guys have got backups and mirrors and all sorts of things, but I was sorting out Martin’s laptop earlier. I was hoping I could recondition it and re-use it in the company somewhere, or maybe give it to Sandra if she needs it. And I… Look, I hope I haven’t broken any laws here, but you know how it is. I was there, I had access to look, and… Well…’
‘You went snooping.’
‘No. Not like that. Nothing illegal or anything. I mean, it’s my job to handle the IT systems.’
Caroline smiled. ‘Tom, it’s okay. I’m joking with you. If you’ve found something useful, I’m all ears.’
Tom seemed to calm a little. ‘Okay. Well, it’s a MacBook, see? The browser saves passwords and logins so you don’t need to keep remembering them and typing
