Dani left Mutambe and Kendrick at Will Eccles’ grotty apartment. There was no body there, no sign that Will or anyone else had been there for a couple of weeks at least, but having made the call to break down the door, Dani decided it was at least worthwhile to get her colleagues to properly look around the apartment to see if there were any clues as to what had happened to the youngest Eccles son.
Was his disappearance connected to his parents’ death? Or had he simply cut ties and was living somewhere else now, oblivious to the fact that his parents had been brutally murdered?
Dani didn’t know, though it did seem odd that if he’d cut ties, he’d done it so completely to not even be contactable.
She headed back to HQ, and three p.m. soon came around when it was time for the meeting with Eric Eccles. Earlier in the day Dani had been ready to pass this meeting off to someone else. She’d already spoken at length to Eric the previous day, but with the ever-increasing issues she was churning up regarding the family and its affairs, the meeting was taking on a whole different slant already. She hadn’t firmly decided whether or not she’d bring up the matter of the wills. She’d make that call during the meeting itself. Despite Mutambe’s decent performance earlier, she also decided she needed a more experienced hand by her side this time, so it was back to her and Easton.
Eric Eccles was early, just like his brother Henry had been. Easton brought him over to meeting room 5, the same room Dani had met Henry in. What wasn’t the same was Eric’s demeanour. Henry had been fragile, a little apprehensive, scared even, when he’d first arrived. Eric Eccles looked aggrieved, like he was up for a fight. Dani’s first impression of this man, the previous day when he’d tried to bombard his way into Kibble House, had been of an angry hothead. She’d seen him calm and stoic too, but was edgy Eric the real him?
‘Thanks for coming in, Eric,’ Dani said.
‘I almost didn’t bother,’ he said.
‘I’m glad you did.’
He huffed. ‘It’d be nice to get some peace and quiet, to be honest. I spent all day yesterday at the house. Most of this morning we had a support officer at home. Felt like some sort of cheap psychoanalyst trick. I’ve had to go to the morgue to identify my parents’ bodies. Now this.’
‘I’m sorry,’ Dani said. ‘I appreciate this is a really hard time for you. You and all your family.’
‘Do you have any update? Any suspects?’
‘I’m afraid it’s very early in the investigation st—’
‘You can just say no. You don’t get extra points for bullshitting me.’
‘OK. No. We don’t. Not yet.’
He shook his head slowly. Disappointment. But in a mocking way.
‘And when can I get into the house? I waited all of yesterday.’
‘I know. Again, I’m sorry. Forensics have finished there now, but it is still considered an active crime scene. If you really must, then we can arrange for you to go inside, but it’d have to be accompanied.’
‘That’s fine. I just… I just need to do it.’
Dani could understand that.
‘Have you spoken to your sister or brothers?’ Easton asked.
‘I went to Henry’s apartment before coming here.’
‘You’re close to Henry?’
‘He’s my brother.’ Defensive. Again.
‘What about Laura?’
‘We’ve spoken on the phone. We’ve texted. I heard she’s having trouble getting back. She’s… devastated.’ Finally, a hint of emotion as he thought of his sister. ‘I think it’s all the worse because she’s so far away.’
‘She’ll be back soon enough,’ Dani said. ‘What about Will?’
Eric shook his head. ‘I’ve tried calling him.’
‘We went to his apartment earlier today,’ Dani said. ‘The one in the Jewellery Quarter.’
‘His apartment?’ Eric rolled his eyes. ‘I don’t think he ever paid a penny towards that place.’
‘He didn’t?’
‘Dad arranged it for him.’ He sighed. ‘It’s complicated. I never fully understood what those two were doing. Dad was trying to help Will out. He set him up with some cash to start buy-to-lets last year. I thought I told you about this yesterday?’
‘You did,’ Dani said.
‘I think that apartment was supposed to be one they were letting out. But Will moved in at some point. I don’t know, six months ago maybe. I don’t know the specifics.’
‘Henry mentioned he’d had a trust fund that matured when he was twenty-one. He used the money for that to help buy his place at the Mailbox. Did Will not have access to money like that?’
Eric’s eyes narrowed as he stared at Dani.
‘What does any of this have to do with my parents’ murder?’
‘The thing is,’ Easton said, ‘we’re increasingly concerned about your brother Will’s welfare. You said yourself he’s not returning calls. We sent officers to his apartment today. No answer. The officers broke in, and, well, to put it mildly, the place looked like it’d been abandoned.’
‘You broke into his apartment? With whose permission?’
‘It was a judgement call,’ Easton said. ‘If we fear for someone’s wellbeing, or we believe a crime is being committed inside, we don’t need to apply for a warrant beforehand.’
Eric didn’t look convinced, but didn’t say anything more of it.
‘The point is,’ Dani said, ‘there’s no indication Will has been there for some time. Do you know where else he could be living?’
‘I’ve no idea,’ Eric said. ‘And to your point about trust funds? We all got broadly the same. It wasn’t that long ago Will turned twenty-one. How much he got, and what he did with his money, I truly have no idea.’
‘Broadly the same?’ Easton questioned.
‘Mum and Dad invested the same for us all. But obviously the returns weren’t identical for us all. Stocks move up and down, it’s all to do with timing.’
He said this as though he thought Easton was an idiot. Dani could tell from her colleague’s still passive face that he’d taken it on the chin. An experienced hand. Odd, in a way, that she now thought of Easton like that. It wasn’t long ago that he’d himself been the newbie.
The room fell silent for a few seconds. It felt like much longer. Dani was contemplating whether or not to bring up the wills. Was this the right time?
‘Do you know if your parents had formalised a will?’ Easton asked.
Dani smiled on the inside. She was happy enough for Easton to have made the decision.
Eric set his questioning eyes firmly on Easton now.
‘I’m sure they would have,’ Eric said. ‘They were both very good with money. Dad was a businessman, but in many ways Mum kept their affairs in order.’
‘Do you know specifically if they had a will?’ Easton asked. ‘As in, when it was drawn up, and with whose help?’
A short pause. ‘I’ve no idea about specifics.’
‘So do you know what your parents’ intentions were with regards to their assets? Had you ever discussed inheritance?’
Another pause. ‘No. Not really.’
‘Not really?’
‘That’s what I said. Do you know something I don’t?’
Now there was a question. Yes, was the clear answer.
‘We’re just trying to get to grips with your parents’ situation, that’s all,’ Dani said. ‘Why don’t we move on?’
Easton glanced at her. Not a very impressed look, though to anyone who didn’t know him well there wouldn’t be a tell. Her answer was a lie, but for some reason this didn’t feel like the right time to push further, even if she realised she might later regret it.
That thought dominated her mind as the meeting continued. Not that it really carried on with any great purpose after that. The whole affair felt a bit lacklustre, and it wasn’t long before Dani suggested they call it a day.
Eric couldn’t have agreed more quickly. He was out of the building within a couple of minutes.
‘Why’d you do that?’ Easton said, as he and Dani headed for the lifts to take them back to their floor.
‘What?’
‘The wills.’
‘Because I want to play it cool. No point in revealing our hand too soon.’
Easton didn’t say anything to that, though she could tell he didn’t necessarily agree.
‘He still wants to get into the house,’ Dani said. ‘It’ll be interesting to see what he does when he’s there.’
‘If he goes looking in the office, you mean?’
‘Exactly.’
‘Do you want me to arrange something with him?’
‘Yeah. Let’s get it done over the weekend. And make sure we keep a PC at the house around the clock for now. I don’t want any unexpected visitors.’
‘OK. I’m on it. You want my opinion, though?’ Easton asked.
‘Go on then.’
‘Of all the siblings, his alibi is the tightest.’
‘Is it?’
‘Didn’t Mutambe confirm his account of where he was with Tamara that night?’
‘She did. But Henry was three hundred miles away. That’s pretty tight too.’
Easton sighed. ‘I suppose. We also need to track down Peter and Hugo Werner’s whereabouts on Wednesday night. And for Will and Laura, we still don’t know either way.’
‘Well, let’s get on it then.’
As Easton wandered back to his desk, Dani headed straight over to Mutambe to discuss that exact point.
‘Any update on Laura Eccles?’ she asked.
‘She’s on a plane right now. Should be home this evening.’
That was good news. The niggling thought at the back of Dani’s mind that Laura had absconded could finally be buried.
‘But last time I spoke to her she wouldn’t commit to coming in,’ Mutambe added. ‘I think she wants to meet with her brothers first.’
That was fair enough. Dani might pay Laura a visit at her home over the weekend instead, in place of a support officer in the first instance.
Dani was about to turn to go back to her desk when Mutambe stopped her.
‘McNair was looking for you,’ she said. ‘She looked pretty angry about something. She ran out about ten minutes ago.’
That was all Dani needed. What had she done wrong now?
She went over to McNair’s office. The door was closed, but Dani could see through the small window that it was empty inside. She looked at her phone. No missed calls or messages from McNair. What was it about then?
She sat down back at her own desk and opened up her emails. Ten unread messages. About usual given how long since she’d last looked. Though it was obvious, as she looked at the most recent two, both from McNair, what the issue was.
Dani opened up the first one. OK, so that explained where McNair was. In a meeting with the Chief Super. Dani needed to be there too. Before she went, Dani quickly opened the other email and clicked on the video link.
‘Oh, shit,’ she said after only a few seconds of watching.
She jumped up from her chair and rushed for the door.
Dani arrived at the meeting room just as McNair and Chief Superintendent Baxter were emerging. Both looked vexed.
‘DI Stephens,’ Baxter said. ‘Finally. Looks like you’ve got a task on your hands with this one.’
She wasn’t sure whether he was angry with her or not. Or whether his words were a criticism or helpful encouragement. Either way, he didn’t say anything more before he turned and walked off.
McNair remained. She caught Dani’s eye and shook her head despondently.
‘Did we have that video already?’ McNair asked.
‘I don’t know,’ Dani said. ‘I haven’t even seen that video yet. Just the one of Asher on the news. I came here as soon as I saw it.’
‘Come here,’ McNair said.
They headed back into the meeting room. McNair opened her laptop up and clicked through to the grainy mobile phone footage that juddered and shook. Dani recognised the scene, but not the angle. Clinton Harrison and Dylan Roberts were both in shot. Squaring up. There was shouting between them, but the footage was too erratic and unclear to figure who was saying what.
Then Roberts stepped forwards, kind of, but the view was momentarily blocked by another bystander pitched in front. By the time they’d moved out of view again, Roberts was on the ground and Harrison was on top of him.
‘I mean… it’s not conclusive,’ Dani said.
‘Have you seen this before?’ McNair asked again. Not very nicely.
‘I haven’t,’ Dani said. ‘I’d have to check with Grayling to be one hundred per cent on whether this was in our possession already, but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t. The whole point was we had plenty of footage but nothing that showed anything until the fight was already underway.’
‘Well, you need to be one hundred per cent. We have to be clear. And if we didn’t have this already, I want to know why. How on earth did Asher get it before we did? Who’s she been speaking to?’
Dani nodded. ‘But… it’s not conclusive, is it?’
‘Of course it’s not, but that’s not the point. Asher is playing you for a fool. She’s fanning the flames of the media circus. She’s made it clear to the press now with that little speech of hers that this was nothing more than self-defence, and your journalist friend’s hatchet job of Roberts as a career criminal only gives that argument further credence. Asher will battle tooth and nail against any charge we put forward now.’
Dani shook her head. She really didn’t know what to say. The absolute worst thing to do, given Asher’s hardline tactics, was to fall in line and to do battle with her, as though this were a contest. The case was about justice, not a game. If there was evidence that Roberts had attacked Harrison first, then that was fine. Dani, the police, would have to consider it. But so far it felt more like Asher just wanted to win. Her way. And make the police look stupid at the same time.
‘Let me look into this,’ Dani said. ‘I’ll do everything I can to get to the bottom of this video. Who shot it, why we didn’t have it already. And I’ll recheck over every witness to make sure there’s nothing else out there.’
‘Good. You can update me on Monday morning.’
Dani sank a little at that.
‘Yes. I will.’
She’d already planned to spend time on the Eccles case over the weekend, never mind finding time for her and Jason. Now this too?
McNair scooped up her laptop and then headed back to the office. A few questioning eyes poked up over the desk dividers as Dani made her way through. Once McNair was in her office with the door closed, Easton headed over, tentatively.
‘Everything OK?’ he asked.
Dani briefly explained. Easton’s face fell as she spoke. He looked to his watch more than once.
‘I get it,’ she said. ‘You have your date tonight. It’s fine, don’t miss it, because of this.’
‘Are you sure?’
‘Absolutely. I want you to concentrate on Eccles anyway. Grayling can take over what you were doing on Harrison.’
He looked unsure of that.
‘What about you?’ he said.
Dani sighed. She’d promised Jason she’d be home at a decent time tonight. After all, it was the last day marked for her ovulation cycle.
‘Don’t worry about me,’ Dani said.
She hated letting Jason down. But honestly? She felt relief more than anything else.