WHEN VERA GOT INTO HER OFFICE early on Tuesday morning there was a voicemail message from Katherine Willmore. Very sharp. Very stern.
‘I’m surprised that you thought it necessary to speak to my daughter without having the courtesy to talk to me first. I understand that you’d like to speak to me now. I’m tied up for most of the day, working from home. You can see me here at ten o’clock if it’s something so urgent that it can’t be done on the phone.’
Well, Vera thought, that’s me told. Ma’am.
She was tempted to send Holly and Joe to interview the woman, to put her in her place and show her that she wasn’t worth the attentions of a senior officer, but they’d both be too over-awed to ask the hard questions. So she set off up north again, out to the coast.
There was no Range Rover parked outside the house, and no face looking down from an upstairs window. Katherine Willmore let Vera in, and led her, without a word, not to the large sunlit room looking out over the bay, but to an office shaded by trees. This time, she wasn’t to be treated as a guest, but as an unwelcome intruder.
Vera thought it was best to go on the attack from the start. ‘I came to speak to you yesterday. I didn’t even know that your daughter was here. You didn’t mention that you had a daughter when I was here to see your partner on Sunday, or that she was the complainant in a sexual assault allegation against a murder victim.’
‘In a case like that, she has a right to anonymity.’
‘But not in this case, not in a murder inquiry. And not to an investigating officer. Anyway, from what Eliza told me there was no real case against Rick Kelsall. She made a false allegation, spurred on by an unscrupulous journalist and the company chiefs.’
Silence. Then: ‘Not entirely false. It’s clear that Kelsall was a bully.’
‘Rick Kelsall was here on Friday morning, before he went onto the island. It didn’t occur to you to tell me that?’ Vera paused. ‘Besides anything else, you must have realized that we’d find out. It was foolish. Someone would have seen him! We’ll be able to trace his movements from the satnav in his car or his phone.’
‘I must admit that my judgement was a little clouded.’ The defiance of the voicemail was completely gone now. The woman was pale and scared. ‘But Eliza’s my only daughter. I was trying to protect her. She’s got her life ahead of her. The last thing she needed was some sort of scandal, Rick Kelsall accusing her of lying.’
‘Is that what he was threatening? To go public with what had actually happened?’
‘No! No, he was actually very decent about it. We’d worked out a statement, which we could give to the press, saying that Eliza and Rick had both been victims of a hostile tabloid press and a television company who wanted rid of an older presenter for their own ends. We’d agreed to release it at the end of this week. Now of course, the press will still be poking their grubby little fingers into his affairs, sniffing into the reasons that he left his job, trying to make some spurious link between the allegations and his murder.’
Vera wondered about the timing of that. Could it be significant that Kelsall had been killed before the statement had been made public? She didn’t see why it should be.
Willmore looked up at her. ‘So you see, Inspector, the last thing we wanted was Rick Kelsall dead. A bland statement, leaving Eliza’s name out of the copy but giving her side of the story, would have diffused the situation. Rick would have gone in front of the media as a wronged man, saying he completely understood how a young woman had been manipulated by unscrupulous individuals, and the whole affair would have been over. Now, it’s likely to linger on.’
‘How did Eliza come to be working for him in the first place?’
‘Well, that was why the whole thing was so awkward. Kelsall was doing us a favour. Daniel asked him if Eliza could do some work experience there. She’s always been fascinated by the news. Not because she wanted to be a politician; she’s a shy little thing. But rather presenting it, making it clear for the ordinary reader, listener or viewer, and it’s almost impossible to get an internship in the media if you don’t have contacts.’
‘You didn’t have contacts in the field?’ Vera sounded deliberately sceptical.
‘Well of course, but I couldn’t be seen to be lobbying on behalf of my daughter.’
‘But you could ask your boyfriend to do it for you?’
Willmore had the grace to blush. She didn’t reply.
‘Daniel and Rick were still friends?’ Vera said. ‘That wasn’t the impression Daniel gave when we talked.’
‘Not friends exactly. But they were acquaintances, and Daniel was willing to ask Rick. For Eliza’s sake.’
‘Oh no, for your sake, surely.’ Because Daniel is besotted, Vera thought. Even I could tell that. ‘And Rick agreed?’
‘He did. I can show you the email. “Anything to help my old friends in the North. Let’s catch up when you’re visiting Eliza. I need to pick your brains about a project of my own.” Daniel was surprised. I don’t think he was expecting such a positive response.’
‘Did they meet up?’ Vera thought this contradicted everything Daniel had told her about his relationship with the people who’d spent the weekend at the Pilgrims’ House. He’d given the impression that they’d had nothing in common, even as teenagers.
‘Yes! Rick’s company helped Eliza find a room in a shared house in London with some other employees and Daniel drove her down. I was caught up with work here, or I’d have taken her. Daniel booked himself into a hotel and he and Kelsall went out for a meal and a few drinks.’
So, Daniel lied to me. All to protect his lover’s daughter.
‘What was the project that Rick wanted to discuss?’
Katherine Willmore shrugged. ‘Oh, I don’t know. I don’t think Daniel ever told me. Maybe Rick wanted to move north again. Lots of people seem to be deserting the city at the moment.’
‘Maybe.’ But Vera thought this might have had more to do with Kelsall’s novel. That seemed to have been preoccupying him in the weeks before his death. ‘Is Daniel around? I can ask him myself.’
‘No,’ Katherine said. ‘He’s out on the road, scouting another development opportunity. We can’t fit in more accommodation here at the tower without it feeling overcrowded, so he wants to find new sites. We think the climate emergency will generate a move to holiday at home. Who knows, global warming might even make Northumberland the perfect place for a staycation.’
‘Could you ask him to give me a ring. I’d like to speak to him.’
‘Of course.’ The woman had regained her confidence, her poise.
‘Where’s Eliza?’
‘We sent her to stay with her father. He’s a professor in Durham. He’s not her favourite person – she took my side in the divorce – but we thought she could do with a change of scene.’
‘Where the police couldn’t find her?’
Katherine smiled. She’d decided to take Vera’s comment as a joke. ‘Something like that!’ She shifted in her seat and looked at her watch. A sign that she thought the interview was over.
‘Did you ever meet Charlotte Thomas? Rick Kelsall’s ex-wife.’
There was a brief hesitation. ‘Not in person. I’d heard of her, of course. The famous model turned actress. Though I was just too young to be aware of her when she was at the height of her career. I have friends who’ve become her clients.’ A pause. ‘I believe that Daniel had some business dealings with her. She was hoping to open a studio here at Rede’s Tower. Yoga. Pilates. It might have gone down well with our customers, but I don’t think he could get the figures to add up.’
‘You were never tempted to consult her?’
‘I think I’ve become sufficiently successful without the help of a life coach, don’t you, Inspector?’
Vera nodded to concede the point. ‘Mr Kelsall was staying with Charlotte the night before he came here to discuss plans for dealing with the harassment allegations.’
‘Was he? I don’t think I knew that. Daniel made the arrangements for the meeting.’ Willmore gave the impression of being not the least bit interested. ‘Is that important? And I’d have thought you’d do better speaking to Charlotte than keeping me from important business.’
‘Oh, I would have spoken to her,’ Vera said. ‘In fact, I tried to speak to her yesterday. But by the time I got to her yoga studio she was dead. Murdered. Smothered like Rick Kelsall.’
Willmore stared at the detective. The colour drained from her face. She seemed incapable of speech. A breeze blew a branch onto the window. The sound as it scratched the glass startled them both.
‘You really didn’t know?’ Vera found that hard to believe. Even if the PCC hadn’t heard the news reports, Watkins would have told her. It was her role to know, to keep on top of anything happening in her patch.
‘Honestly, Inspector, I didn’t. I’ve had my work phone switched off. There were dozens of messages and I haven’t checked them all. I needed some time to think about Kelsall’s death, to decide what to do for the best.’
‘You got back to me.’
‘So I did.’ Katherine gave a little smile, but offered no other information.
Vera continued: ‘Where were you, ma’am, yesterday? We don’t have a precise time of death yet, so I need your movements for the whole day. And it would be helpful if you could confirm where Daniel was, as he’s not here to tell me himself. Neither of your cars were here when I was talking to Eliza.’
‘I don’t know about Daniel. He was out all day. I think there was a meeting in Kimmerston with the council planning officer in the morning. Again, that would be about his ideas for expanding the business, looking at options for further development.’
‘And in the afternoon?’
‘I’m not Daniel’s keeper, Inspector.’ Anxiety was making Katherine shrill. ‘You could talk to Mel on reception. She keeps his diary.’
Vera nodded. ‘Thanks, that’s very helpful. I’ll talk to her on the way out.’ A pause. ‘And where were you, ma’am?’
‘You’re asking me to provide an alibi?’ The voice was even tighter, higher.
‘A matter of procedure. Following the rules without fear or favour. I’m sure you understand.’ Repeating the commissioner’s catchphrase.
Katherine took a deep breath and seemed to bring herself back under control. ‘Of course, Inspector. You must excuse me. This has all been rather a shock and I haven’t been thinking clearly. I was in Kimmerston but only in the morning. I had a meeting with Superintendent Watkins. I’m sure that will be alibi enough.’
‘I’m sure it will. And the afternoon? We believe that was when Charlotte Thomas was killed.’
‘I was on Holy Island. Nothing to do with work. I had plenty of time owing and I wanted to clear my head. Your turning up on Sunday afternoon with news of Rick Kelsall’s death had thrown me rather. I knew I should have told you about Eliza’s involvement and I suppose I wanted to work out a game plan. I always think better when I’m walking. It was an impulse.’
‘You were on your own?’
‘Yes. And I didn’t go anywhere near the Pilgrims’ House. There was no attempt at all to interfere with the investigation. But I suppose the island was in my head, because of the news.’
‘Did anyone see you while you were there?’ Vera was keeping an open mind. Walking helped her to think too, though she wasn’t sure she’d have gone back to the site of a murder as a civilian, if murder was the subject of her work.
‘I had tea in the Old Hall hotel!’ The woman sounded relieved. ‘It wasn’t terribly busy. Half-term was over and the weather wasn’t as good as it was over the weekend, so there was a gaggle of journos, but very few tourists. The staff might remember me.’
‘How did you pay for your afternoon tea?’
‘I’m not sure. With my debit card probably. Don’t we all pay with our cards these days? Cash seems almost obsolete.’
‘Then we’ll be able to check,’ Vera said. She smiled and got to her feet. She hoped that they’d hear less of the ‘keeping to the rules without fear or favour’ mantra, and that Katherine Willmore might be a little less inflexible in the future. ‘Please tell Daniel to get in touch with me. We do need to speak to him.’
She drove again past the pool, stopped for a moment and wound down the window to listen to the calls of the waterfowl. In the distance, a woodpecker was drumming.
The same receptionist was at the desk in the tower. She recognized Vera. ‘I’m sorry, but Mr Rede is out. I think Katherine is at the house.’
‘I know. I saw her. She said you might be able to help me. I need to know where Daniel was yesterday afternoon. Katherine said that you keep his diary.’
‘I do.’ The woman clicked on her computer. ‘He was in Kimmerston from late morning. A planning meeting.’
Vera nodded. That confirmed what Katherine had said. ‘And the afternoon?’
‘I’ve got nothing marked in, so I presume he was working here, either on site or in his office at home.’
‘Did you see him yesterday at all?’ Vera kept her voice conversational, but Mel was a good employee, and was non-committal.
‘Honestly? I can’t remember. I’m pretty sure he was around later on, but I can’t be sure.’ Which was no help at all.