“The owners are at work,” he said. “We can do this inside. I’m painting the lounge, so let’s use the kitchen.”
Gus and Alex followed Milligan along the hallway into the kitchen. The pair had been working here installing a fitted kitchen. He preferred the rustic look of his kitchen at the bungalow. That looked as if its owners used it regularly. This room was more for show than anything else: white goods and chrome everywhere, but no warmth or soul.
“What did you want to ask me?” asked Stuart Milligan.
“Tell us about the Monday morning of the murder,” said Gus. “Leave nothing out.”
“I arrived at the Reeves’s house in Oakley Road at eight-fifteen. As I reversed the van into the corner of the driveway, Theo Reeves was just leaving for work. Marion came out of the house to chat with me for a minute, then went back indoors. I started fetching my tools from the van and transferring them to the rooms inside the house where we planned to work that day. Steph, the daughter, was eating breakfast in the kitchen when I passed the door. I said hello; she nodded and carried on eating. Steph cycled to school at around twenty-five past eight, the same time as normal. I heard a mobile phone. It must have been Marion’s, but she wasn’t talking to anyone. I asked her if everything was okay as she rushed out of the house. She was later than usual; it was after nine. Marion left here fifteen minutes earlier than that every weekday we’d worked here until that morning.”
“Where was Derek while this was going on?” asked Alex.
“Derek was here, moving the gear around and preparing to start work.”
“Derek’s sat in the passenger seat of your van today,” said Alex. “Do you drive everywhere, or do you take it in turns?”
“We’ve taken it in turns for the twenty years we’ve worked together. Derek drives his car if he needs to go to the bank or when one of his kids had football practice a few years back. Something which meant he needed to leave a job early. Our kids are old enough to make their own way anywhere these days.”
“What about the Monday morning of the murder?” asked Gus. “Was Derek in the van when you arrived?”
“Derek drove his car that day,” said Stuart Milligan, “He wanted to bank several cheques that arrived in the post on Saturday. Money was tight, and suppliers were putting the pressure on. We need to bolster our bank balance to make sure none of our cheques bounced.”
“When did Derek leave the house to visit the bank?” asked Gus. “How long was he away?”
“It was after Marion left. No later than a quarter past nine. I wasn’t checking the clock, but he must have got back before ten.”
“Are you certain of that?” asked Alex.
“How long does it take to drive into town, pay in a few cheques and drive back?” said Stuart. “Ask him when you finish talking to me.”
“According to Theo Reeves,” said Alex, “who did that journey every day, it took four or five minutes to reach the town centre. The banks opened at nine, so even with an early morning rush, Derek would have been in and out of the bank in five minutes. If Derek left no later than nine-fifteen, he should have gotten back here in around fifteen minutes, twenty minutes tops. You said he must have got back by ten. Why are you so sure of that?”
“We have the radio on while we’re working. There was something on the news bulletin on the hour that we laughed about. I remember what it was. Our kids were young then, and we took them to a Lapland-style theme park in Hampshire just before Christmas. It was a rip-off, and loads of parents complained. They jailed the brothers who set it up for a year that day.”
“How can you be sure it wasn’t the eleven o’clock news bulletin?” asked Gus.
“If I’d heard it on my own at ten, I would have told Derek when he got back, wouldn’t I? As I said, check with Derek. See if he remembers what we heard.”
“When did you hear about the murder?” asked Alex.
“We’d stopped for lunch,” said Stuart. “Theo came home in a state, told us to pack up, and he’d be in touch when he needed us again. A police officer in a uniform arrived as I was driving the van off the driveway. Theo let her in straight away. I knew something serious had happened but didn’t find out Marion died until later that day. I thought Steph had got knocked off her bike cycling to school. Something like that. You never think it will be murder, do you?”
“And Derek?” asked Gus.
“He was still walking to his car. I was going in the opposite direction, so we didn’t speak until I rang him later that evening to talk about Marion. We saw her every day; she was a good person.”
“You didn’t see Stephanie or Martyn?” asked Gus.
“No, I don’t know how they got home. I guess the police collected Steph and Martyn from school and work, then brought them back. The woman I saw arrive in her car was there for that reason.”
“A Family Liaison Officer,” said Alex. “Yes, that’s normal procedure. Did either of you recognise the woman?”
“I’d never seen her before,” said Stuart, “Derek was on the pavement walking to his car as she arrived. She was behind him; he might not even have seen her. I never mentioned her when we spoke later.”
Gus tried to make the numbers work while Stuart spoke with Alex. Derek Preston was one of Graham Street’s children. Did he know that, or had John and Kathy Preston kept it from him? Could Derek Preston
