‘If you say so.’
‘We know you were at the Grainstore late afternoon and early evening. The staff confirmed it at the time. But there are no witnesses to anything after you left.’
Tanner signed. ‘We’ve been through this. It’s a bit difficult to summon up witnesses when you’re at home on your own. In any case, I wasn’t a suspect. I didn’t need an alibi. All I did was tell your lot where Amie was all night.’
‘Have you always looked out for her?’
‘I’ve always told the truth, yes. I know it might look like a bloody big coincidence from your point of view, but I’m telling you now that’s all it is. So yes, obviously I’m going to be protective of her.’
‘I bet she felt quite safe with you, didn’t she?’ Caroline asked, starting to go in for the kill.
‘I hope so. That’s what spouses are for.’
‘I mean, what with your background and everything. I imagine she felt very... no, not safe. That’s not the word I want. Protected.’ Caroline watched as Gavin Tanner’s jaw tensed. ‘Do you think she felt protected, Gavin?’
‘I don’t know. Are you trying to insinuate something?’
‘No, not at all. I just imagine she would’ve felt pretty secure with you wanting to look after her. Especially considering your dad was Chief Constable of Rutland Police.’
Tanner was silent for a moment. His solicitor looked like he was about five miles out of his depth. ‘What’s that meant to mean?’ Tanner asked.
‘Did your old man pull a few strings, Gavin? Don’t worry, I get that Russell Speakman wasn’t the nicest bloke on earth. Not by a long shot. I’d hazard a guess there were more people glad he was gone than missed him. I imagine your old man knew that as much as anyone. So what happened? She came over to yours, told you what a bastard he was, you spent a couple of hours walking and talking about how much he’d upset her, had a few drinks, then... what? Decided to go over and have it out with him?’
‘For Christ’s sake, this is ridiculous. You didn’t have a single shred of evidence then, and you don’t have one now, either. Stick me on a lie detector test. Do what you have to do. I don’t care. This is all a complete waste of time.’
‘I’m afraid polygraphs don’t tend to be admissible in court, largely because they’re nonsense,’ Caroline said.
‘Yeah, well that makes two things that can be described like that, doesn’t it?’
Caroline forced a smile. ‘We’ll see, Gavin. We’ll see.’
37
Caroline and Dexter left the interview room and glanced at their watches simultaneously.
‘Jesus,’ Dexter said. ‘Hardly worth going home at this point. Might as well nip to Boots for a toothbrush.’
Caroline straightened her spine and pushed her shoulders back, feeling and hearing the vertebrae cracking as she tried to settle into some sort of skeletal comfort. ‘I don’t know what I’m more worried about,’ she said. ‘Missing out on sleep or lying down and not being able to get back up again.’
‘It’s your age. Us young’uns can go all night. That’s not a come-on, by the way.’
Caroline laughed. ‘Don’t worry, Dex. I didn’t think in a million years it would be.’
‘We might as well call it a night,’ Dexter replied, thumbing a gesture towards the interview room. ‘If we keep him up any longer his brief’ll want to start claiming torture through lack of sleep.’
‘I know how he feels. Get custody to escort him back down the corridor to our finest luxury penthouse suite and we’ll carry on in the morning.’
They headed up to the incident room to collect their things, and Caroline decided to give her email inbox one last check. She was glad she did.
‘Dex. Look at this.’
Dexter walked over, his eyes red with fatigue. ‘What’s up?’
‘We’ve got the data back from Gavin Tanner’s car tracker. It says here it doesn’t track actual journeys, only start points and end points.’
‘Okay. Is that a bad thing?’
‘That depends. It shows his car being started at his home at 6.23 on the evening Martin Forbes died. The next time the engine goes off, he’s back at home again at 7.56pm.’
‘So can we prove exactly where he went in the meantime?’
Caroline looked at the screen again, trying to work her way through the possibilities. ‘That, Dex,’ she said, ‘is the million pound question.’
38
Back at home, Caroline found Mark waiting up for her, but the atmosphere was frostier than it needed to be. He had a wonderful way of pretending nothing had happened if he’d been the one at fault in an argument, but if it was down to something Caroline had said or done he could be in a mood for days. He always came round eventually, but Caroline wasn’t interested in waiting. She wanted to iron things out, even if that meant grovelling.
‘Look, I’m sorry about the other night,’ she said as she sat down on the sofa. ‘I know how hard you’ve been trying and I know it’s no excuse, but what I’ve been through... it really messes with your body. And your mind. I just... I can’t explain the things it changes.’
‘Changes?’
‘Not the way I feel towards you. I promise. Please, never think that. It’s entirely me. It’s so difficult to explain. It feels like a part of me has been taken away. I mean, it has, but you know... It makes me feel differently about myself.’
‘How so?’ Mark asked, his voice soft. For the first time in a long time, she felt as if he was finally listening, actually taking in what she was saying.
‘I don’t know,’ she
