Time of death could only be one hundred percent accurate when a skilled medical practitioner was present at the exact moment it occurred. Perhaps Marion Reeves died at nine-thirty? No, that didn’t work either. Serena Campbell told him the text message she received from the blackmailer said they’d seen the builder’s van reversing onto the drive and Stephanie leave for school.
Derek Preston was at Oakley Road at nine twenty-five. Stuart Milligan was inside the house getting ready to start work. The pair weren’t together. Derek had arrived in his car and transferred his gear from the van to whichever room in the house he was due to work. Derek could have sent that text message.
Derek Preston left Oakley Road to visit the bank but took a detour to Churchfields.
“I think we’re ready to speak to Derek now,” he said.
Alex left the kitchen and walked to the front door.
“The van’s gone, guv!” he shouted.
“Call it in to Bourne Hill, Alex,” said Gus, dashing into the hallway. “Get a general alert bulletin issued to every officer in the area. Preston can’t have got far. You know the colour and make of the van, and the signage is a giveaway. Get the registration of the van from Milligan. Ask him for details of the car Preston drives. Send uniforms to his home address as a matter of urgency in case he switches cars. Arrest Preston, get him into custody. He’s wanted in connection to a crime.”
“Is Preston our killer, guv?” asked Alex.
“Can’t be sure,” said Gus. “But everything points to him being our blackmailer.”
“I can’t believe it,” said Stuart. “You must have got it wrong. I’ve known Derek ever since we were at school.”
“Did you know John Preston wasn’t his father?” asked Gus.
“You’re kidding?” said Stuart.
“Think back to the week after the murder,” said Gus. “Did you get a phone call from your bank?”
“Not that I can remember. Why?”
“If you’ve still got statements going back seven years, I should check Derek paid in those cheques on Monday morning. I bet those statements will show he went to the bank in the days following the murder when you two took time off. Theo didn’t want you here until after the funeral. Unless someone had an urgent job to offer you, you had nowhere to go. Am I right?”
“I did a few jobs at home,” said Stuart. “What they say about builders is spot-on. Our wives get no running repairs done, even though they’ve got experts on hand. My wife had nothing to moan about after the ten days to a fortnight I spent ticking off items on her to-do list. I don’t know what Derek did while we waited. We went to Oakley Road as soon as Theo called to say we could start work again. It wasn’t the same, though. He wasn’t that interested in getting it finished. Steph and Martyn were in bits.”
“Theo has a slightly different view of that time,” said Gus. “He thought you hung around longer than necessary. Theo told us you only went there one day a week. Sometimes you left things unfinished for several weeks.”
“Things are making sense now,” said Stuart. “Derek was the one who didn’t want to go there to work. He said it made him feel uncomfortable. I was uneasy too, so I just went along with what he said.”
“Where would Derek run to?” asked Alex, who had returned to the kitchen and had heard the latter part of the conversation.
“No idea,” shrugged Stuart. “He must have panicked. His wife is at work in Salisbury, and the kids are at school. Derek wouldn’t leave them behind.”
“Are his parents still alive?” asked Gus.
“John, his father, well, I always thought he was his father, was a lot older than Kathy. It would have been 2009 when he died. Kathy died in January, a couple of months before Marion’s murder.”
Gus was happier with the numbers now. They still had a significant problem to solve, but there was light at the end of the tunnel.
CHAPTER 12
Gus and Alex left Stuart Milligan at the house on Sarum Close and drove in convoy to Wilton House. They had an hour, at least, before meeting Ralph Tucker. The fruit loaf at the Garden Centre café was an enormous temptation.
“What do you think Stuart Milligan will do, guv?” asked Alex as they found a seat in the café.
“We warned him not to contact his partner,” said Gus. “Milligan seemed a decent sort. I imagine he’s wondering how much it will cost to get the van signage altered. If he gets it back in one piece.”
“We need to speak to Derek Preston’s wife, guv,” said Alex. “Milligan didn’t think Preston would do anything stupid, but you never know. Preston knows what he’s done. He might think it’s the only way out.”
“I don’t believe Preston is our killer, Alex,” said Gus. “The timing doesn’t fit, nor would a blackmailer kill the goose that laid the golden egg. Of course, Marion Reeves may have died earlier than the time in the murder file. Milligan swears his partner returned to the house well before ten o’clock. What didn’t he say?”
Alex looked puzzled for a second and then snapped his fingers.
“Milligan didn’t say Preston had changed his clothing or was covered in blood when he returned. Why did he run if he didn’t do it, guv?”
“If Preston admits he was in the car, demanding money from Marion Reeves in return for intimate photos, he believes nobody will accept his story she was alive when he left her.”
“The sooner we find him and get him into custody, the better, guv,” said Alex. “Derek Preston has a lot of explaining to do, but he could provide us with
