When he failed to appear looking sheepish and hungover at work the next morning, Kate began to get concerned. She started calling around to people she knew he knew, asking if anyone had seen him. Kate even excused herself from work to go to the pub he frequented at lunchtime that day to see what they could tell her. The report from the landlord was that Joel had been in, he was a regular and easily recognised, but he left after just two pints. Once the landlord assured her he left alone and had been reading a paper and using his phone rather than talking to anyone, she began to let genuine worry creep in.
Where was he? The end of the working day came around and he was still not answering his phone. No one knew where he could be, and Kate had run out of people to ask. Almost. Dreading the task, she drove to his ex-wife’s house and knocked on the door.
Albert had questions about why Joel lived in Kate’s house, when Victor described it as a small terraced house. Surely, as a successful business owner, he must be making decent money and be able to afford a nice house. Of course, a person can choose to spend their money however they wish, but it didn’t sound right to Albert’s ears, and he had planned to ask for more detail. Now he didn’t need to. Joel left his wife for Kate. It sounded like a terrible thing to do, especially when Victor revealed that the couple had two teenage children.
‘How old is Joel?’ Albert asked, thinking he must be a decade or more older than Kate who looked to be around twenty-five.
‘Thirty-nine,’ replied Victor. ‘He looks older if I’m being honest. He hasn’t taken great care of himself but he’s a great guy and Kate clearly loves him. They hit it off when Kate took a job here. I was already working in the kitchen when a role came up in the café. She trained as an accountant but hated the firm she worked for. It was one of those catch twenty-two situations where she needed the job but hated the job and had no reason to believe a job at a different firm would be any different. I only suggested she work alongside me on a whim, but she knew I loved working here and she quit her old job the next day. That was two years ago.’
Albert listened to everything, absorbing information like a sponge. The infidelity grated against his beliefs, but he kept his mouth shut: he had no right to sit in judgement even if he did think it loathsome for a man to walk out on his wife and children when a younger woman showed some interest. ‘You were telling me Kate went to see Joel’s ex-wife,’ Albert prompted.
‘Yes. I don’t know what she was thinking. It went badly as you can imagine, and Trisha hadn’t heard from Joel of course. She’s not a very nice person, truth be told. Nor are his children. She cleaned him out in the divorce, took everything but the shop and she wanted that too. He managed to keep hold of it by giving her everything else – you know what divorce lawyers are like.’
He didn’t, actually. Albert married once and loved Petunia as deeply as a man could. It would never have occurred to him to leave her or mess her around. It wasn’t germane to the case though, and he shifted the conversation forward rather than comment. ‘What evidence against her might there be?’ he asked. ‘The police confirmed she has no alibi for the time of his disappearance and for the period when he is believed to have been killed.’
‘Wait,’ Victor frowned. ‘I didn’t hear them ask her about when he was killed.’
That’s because they hadn’t. ‘She reported him missing, yes?’
‘Yes.’
Albert scrunched up his face, needing to deliver some bad news and wondering how best to do it. ‘You would not believe the number of times the person reporting a person as missing is the one responsible for the murder.’ Victor’s eyes flared in surprise and he sat more upright as he started to bristle. Albert held up a hand to calm the younger man. ‘I’m not saying that is the case here, but the police will not take the fact that she filed the report into account. They may even consider it a point against her. They asked her where she was at a specific time; that will be the time the coroner has estimated to be the time of death. She has no alibi; therefore, she could be Joel’s killer.’
‘That’s ridiculous,’ Victor spluttered. ‘She loved him. I have been waiting for her to announce their engagement.’ Albert had dealt with this so many times in the past. For family members and close friends, the idea that the person they knew could be guilty of such a heinous crime was unthinkable and nothing would shake their conviction.
Albert asked. ‘What did she have to gain?’
‘To gain?’ echoed Victor.
‘The whole shop,’ said a loud voice from behind the counter. Both men turned their heads to see April glaring their way. ‘That’s right,’ she snapped. ‘He named her as a partner in the business.’ Her announcement got the attention of everyone in the café; customers and staff alike. ‘What? She didn’t tell you?’ asked April with mock surprise. ‘They didn’t
