“I don’t suppose Mr Truelove will spend as much time with you as he has in the past, guv,” said Blessing.
“The PCC made the right choice in promoting the ACC into the top job,” said Gus. “We’ll just have to make the best of things. The PCC is only concerned with getting a superb administrator and a safe pair of hands. That’s exactly what the county needs after the last two characters in the post. The downside is that, unlike many other senior officers who climb to the top of the greasy pole, Kenneth Truelove is a proper copper. His astute analysis of the dozen cases we’ve handled thus far has undoubtedly helped this team to hit the ground running. DS Mercer said we’d been thrown in the deep end for the first time.”
“Then it’s up to us to avoid sinking, guv,” said Lydia.
“Exactly,” said Gus. “We’ll need maps covering Salisbury and Wilton on the walls, please. The photos from the murder scene are horrific, but keep them in a prominent position on the main whiteboard. I don’t want us to lose sight of why we’re hunting for the killer of Marion Reeves.”
“Did you have anything to do with this case, guv?” asked Alex.
Gus shook his head.
“I’d need to check what I was working on back then, Alex. The Chief Constable mentioned aggravated burglaries were a hot potato by the beginning of May. That’s when the detectives working on the Reeves murder switched their attentions elsewhere. I remember those crimes. Wiltshire is way down the list on national statistics for violent crimes, so something like that sticks in the memory.”
Lydia leafed through the murder file on Gus’s desk, searching for the crime scene photos.
Neil and Blessing found the relevant street maps covering Wilton and Salisbury.
“Do you have a list of all the people interviewed in the original investigation, guv?” asked Luke Sherman.
“It’s in the file, Luke. To start with, I want to talk to the victim’s husband, Theo Reeves. He will be sixty-five this year. He may have retired. We’ll need to speak to the daughter, Stephanie too, wherever she is. She was eighteen and due to sit her A-levels. After seven years, Stephanie, if she went on to university, could live and work anywhere in the world. Or she could be married and living in Salisbury. Good hunting, Luke.”
“Were there any other children, guv?” asked Luke.
“The victim’s son from her first marriage,” said Gus. “Martyn Street. He’ll be thirty now. No idea if he still works at Wilton House, but that’s a good place to start. The other two on my priority list are Stuart Milligan and Derek Preston. You should find them listed under MP Builders Limited. They ran the firm renovating and extending the Oakley Road property for Theo and Marion Reeves.”
“Who was in charge of the case, guv?” asked Luke.
“DI Billie Wightman and DS Matt Price from Bourne Hill nick in Salisbury,” said Gus.
“Close colleagues, guv?”
“Matt Price was a good copper, Luke.”
“Do you want to speak to them?”
“When we have questions that only they can answer,” said Gus. “Until then, we’ll plough our own furrow.”
“Understood, guv,” said Luke. “It’s not as long a list as on our other cases, is it?”
“Ah, there’s the rub, Luke,” said Gus. “Wightman and Price spoke to the best part of a hundred people and got nothing. We could ask a fresh set of questions of those people and get the same result. Maybe one person they spoke to told them a pack of lies. I don’t want to waste time going over the same ground the original investigation covered. We’ll look for people with a connection to the victim. If the killer sat next to Marion Reeves in her car for several minutes before plunging a knife into her time and time again, two things stand out. First, the killer was someone Marion Reeves knew. Second, the motive was personal.”
“If that person was someone interviewed by Wightman and Price, they missed that personal connection, guv.”
“Possibly, Luke,” said Gus. “Talking of personal connections, see if you can find the victim’s first husband. The Chief Constable didn’t mention a name, nor did he explain why the marriage ended. Theo and Marion married in 1991. Martyn Street was only three years old. How long was Marion married to this man? How soon after the couple separated did Marion meet Theo?”
“Either way, the courtship didn’t last long, guv,” said Luke. “Marion had had a child in 1988, and Theo married Marion in 1991, just three years later. Perhaps it was Martyn that caused the rift?”
“An unwanted pregnancy,” said Gus. “Now, there’s a fresh idea for us to follow.”
“And we’ve only had the file for a matter of minutes, guv,” said Luke.
Gus left the team to get on with setting up meetings, preparing their digital files, and familiarising themselves with the contents of the murder file.
He reflected on this afternoon’s meeting at London Road.
Gus knew that as Chief Constable, Kenneth must regularly explain to the public the actions of officers and staff he commanded. Kenneth was now responsible for keeping the county’s communities safe and secure. As well as being responsible for the officers and staff under his control, he was also accountable to the public and the PCC. Although not necessarily in that order.
A Chief Constable had to answer to the courts that apply the law for how
