“Unfortunately, it’s not always human error,” said Luke. “It makes you wonder whether everyone who handled that evidence was trustworthy.”
“I’ll pass the information on to DS Mercer,” said Gus. “He can investigate whether there was foul play or just carelessness. It’s not something I can tackle myself. If the phone’s gone for good, we’ll need to manage without it. I can’t deny it’s a body blow.”
“As big a body blow as perhaps losing Graham Street, guv?” asked Neil.
“Get to the hospital, Neil,” said Gus. “I want you there in case he comes around long enough to talk. Luke, or Alex, will relieve you at midnight.”
“I’ll go,” said Luke. “Alex can take over at eight in the morning.”
“We should know one way or another by then,” said Neil as he headed for the lift.
“Where do we go from here, guv?” asked Lydia.
“We stick to the schedule I had in my head, but Graham Street is on hold until we hear from the hospital. So, Stephanie Reeves is up next, followed by Martyn Street. For the benefit of the rest of you, Arthur Jackson is Martyn’s line manager at Wilton House. Theo Reeves suggested his name as a responsible adult to sit in on our meeting. Martyn has a few issues. Theo Reeves talked about his stepson being a slow learner. Theo didn’t want Martyn in the house after Marion died. We’ll learn more when we speak with Stephanie, but Theo suspected Martyn had acted inappropriately with Stephanie. He might have taken advantage of her when she used alcohol to blot out the trauma of losing her mother.”
“We don’t have confirmation of that,” said Lydia. “It could be Theo was over-protective of his daughter. Although Theo said he was happy to take on Marion and another man’s child at the start of the marriage, it appears the issues Gus mentioned proved too hard a burden to carry.”
“Did you do a walkabout?” asked Blessing.
“We did,” said Gus. “I wish I could tell you it was informative. Without having seen the industrial estate, I thought it impossible to drive there, park the car for almost two hours, and a vicious stabbing to take place without someone noticing. Lydia and I found a quiet spot on the edge of the estate, on Stephenson Road. No foot traffic, hardly any passing vehicles, but two dozen cars and vans parked on either side of the road. Every unit was in operation, with factory noise, music, and people moving about their business inside the premises. A nuclear bomb could have exploded, and nobody would have poked their nose outside to see what was going on. Perhaps they’ll rewrite the manual on how to commit the perfect murder. Find a quiet corner in a place that’s busy all year round, and you’ve got every chance of getting away with it.”
“We asked a funeral director about the gym that used to operate out of the premise they now occupy,” said Lydia. “It was a run-down shell of a place when they took it over five years ago. At the time of the murder, there was every chance it was closed for maintenance.”
“The light engineering outfit next door is still going strong,” said Gus. “I can visualise the Lexus and its surroundings now, but that’s about it. We don’t know whether Marion met someone on Stephenson Road at nine-thirty. I had hoped to learn something from her mobile phone.”
“Who do you want to speak to after the children, guv?” asked Luke.
“Milligan and Preston, the builders,” said Gus. “Other than that, I can’t see anyone from Marion’s printing firm or Theo’s design company offering up a suspect.”
“I suggested we look at the schools, guv,” said Lydia.
“A long shot,” said Gus. “No, we must concentrate on Graham Street. Even if we can’t talk to him, we can still learn a lot by talking to his friends and colleagues. We might learn even more by having a word with his enemies. I want to know what makes that guy tick.”
CHAPTER 7
Gus drove home to Urchfont after a busy but frustrating day. The last thing he’d done before leaving the Old Police Station office was to call Geoff Mercer.
“Did Matt Price think it was possible someone tampered with evidence in the Marion Reeves case?” asked Geoff. “Why didn’t he flag it up at the time? Why wait seven years?”
“Matt was still a Detective Sergeant back then, Geoff,” said Gus. “It was his DI, Billie Wightman, who should have pulled the trigger.”
“What do you think happened?” asked Geoff.
“Because of the number of people clambering over the crime scene, it’s possible the phone didn’t make it back to the evidence room. Maybe it got mislaid between the car and the forensics vehicle assigned to transport everything collected from the murder site. Or the switch occurred in the evidence room itself—human error. If we had a month of Sundays to spare, we could keep opening every box in the evidence room until we found it. A job you could assign to Geraldine Packenham to get her out of everyone’s hair.”
“Geraldine is far too busy. The other alternative doesn’t bear thinking about, does it?” said Geoff.
“Someone close to the case put the phone in their pocket?” said Gus. “I didn’t ask Theo Reeves whether his wife had a top-of-the-range smartphone or something basic but serviceable. Marion kept the same number from her first-ever mobile by the sound of things, so it’s hard to tell which model she owned.”
“Many people hold on to the same number,” said Geoff. “It saves the hassle of having to notify people of a new one every couple of years. Let alone try to remember it when people ask. A theft wasn’t the alternative that concerned me. What if someone removed it because they feared Marion’s phone held information that could incriminate
