27

My exit from the command centre wasn’t as easy as waltzing out the door and walking off down the road. The presence of yet another media crew out front forced a quick swerve to the right and a detour via the back car park where, fortunately, no one either expected or recognised me.

By the time I’d walked home, I’d hatched a plan. Even the hangover had been relegated to the back of my mind. I could not sit by and be a spectator: I was far too involved for that. The Boss had expressly ordered me not to snoop but, bugger it, it was time I undertook a little civil disobedience in my otherwise law-abiding life. The first thing I needed was information, and I knew just where to get it.

Once again I picked up the phone. I made a truly lame attempt to disguise my voice to the officer on reception duties, and was soon transferred through to my intended target.

‘Paul Frost speaking.’

‘Paul, it’s Sam. Can you talk?’ I felt a bit like Secret Squirrel.

‘What do you mean, can I talk?’

‘Will you be overheard?’

‘Why?’

God, he could be infuriating. ‘Because I need information,’ I said a little tersely. ‘I need to know what’s happening with the case.’

There was a pause. ‘I heard you’ve been in to see the Boss. Didn’t he tell you everything you needed to know?’

Rotten bugger was not going to make this easy for me.

‘Do you think I would need to ring you if he’d told me anything?’ The pitch of my voice was rapidly climbing.

‘Aren’t you still under suspension?’

‘God, Paul, do you always have to answer a question with another question?’

‘Well, you just did, didn’t you?’

If I could have reached down the phone line and ripped out his throat, I would have. He thought he was funny.

‘But seriously, Sam, why would I give you details about the case?’ The humour had gone from his voice. ‘I could get into a lot of trouble for that.’

‘You know this whole thing of my being a suspect is a crock of shit. I just want to know if I’m still under suspicion and how things went with questioning Walden. When are they going to arrest him? Is he still a suspect?’

There was silence from the other end of the phone, and I began to wonder if Paul was such a good bet, after all. But I pressed on.

‘I still think I’m the best one to talk to the locals. I know them all and live among them. I think they trust me. I may be able to bring to light information they might not share with outsiders.’

Another pause.

‘What’s in it for me?’

The bloody creep!

‘I’m not going to sleep with you, if that’s what you mean.’

Paul choked down the other end of the phone. ‘No, no, no, that’s not what I meant.’

I could just about hear the blush. ‘I mean, if I help you out, will you send any information you find my way?’

I considered for a moment, enjoying the tables turned.

‘That sounds fair and reasonable,’ I said.

‘OK, then. For the record, I thought they were bloody stupid pinning you as a suspect. They treated you like shit. You didn’t deserve that.’

That reminded me. ‘Thanks for ringing Maggie yesterday. I needed the company.’

‘That’s OK.’ He sounded vaguely embarrassed. ‘She wasn’t supposed to tell.’

‘Just goes to show, you have to be careful who you trust, Paul. So what can you tell me about the case? Oh, and who dobbed me in to the press?’

‘For a start, you are pretty much off the suspect list, although they won’t take you off completely. To cover their arses, just in case.’

‘Yeah, cause I’m the psychopathic killer type.’

‘I wouldn’t joke about it. Statements like that could come back and bite you.’ He was right, of course. I let him continue. ‘Have you had trouble with the press?’ he asked. ‘No one here would have said anything, unless it was one of the out-of-town big brass. But I doubt it. There is still some code of honour.’

‘Thanks for that. Let’s just say I had a wee run-in this morning and am hoping nothing comes of it. But what else can you tell me?’

‘The Knowes house has just been released back to the family.’

‘That was quick. Did the forensics team find anything?’

‘Nothing of significance. You were right about the mother-in-law’s cleaning; she was thorough. They realised fairly early that any obvious evidence would have been obliterated or thrown out. The important thing, though, is they found no blood evidence, no fingerprints, no sign at all. The killer was very careful. Bloody TV teaches them how.’ He wavered before he added the next bit. ‘There was a bit of muttering from ESR about not getting to the scene early enough.’

I could guess who they were muttering about.

‘Well, there’s a familiar complaint. Jesus, how many times do I have to state I had to make a judgement call?’ The last seven words were fairly emphatic.

‘Hey, I’d have called it the same. Don’t beat yourself up over it.’

‘I’m not,’ I said, though I didn’t even convince myself with that one. ‘Did they go through the rubbish truck, or did poor Adam get pulled off the road for nothing? He was a bit shitty about not being able to finish his run.’

‘They’ve quarantined the contents, but haven’t sorted them yet. I don’t know what the delay there is – probably can’t find some mug to volunteer. Ugh, I hate that job.’

‘You and me both.’ Sifting through rotten garbage rated up there with traffic duty and sewer searches. ‘So, what’s the story with the doc?’

‘The doc and his wife. Interesting couple.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘Well, they both have a reasonable but convenient alibi – each other – so unless they were in it together, they are out of the picture. It was Dr Walden’s morning off on Tuesday and they claim to have spent the morning at home.’ He hesitated so I filled in the gap for him.

‘But?’

‘But, I dunno – apart from the fact he was blackmailing a woman for sex, which he categorically denies, by the way, I feel there was something he was trying to hide. That they were both trying to hide. The blackmail is a given. Chrissie Andrews came in and signed a statement about overhearing the conversation between Mrs Knowes and Dr Walden, so I don’t think she’d perjure herself by making it up. To me it seems so unlikely for Mrs Knowes to let herself get into that situation in the first place. I can’t figure out the dynamics there. Maybe he’s very slick. I don’t know. I’ll have to do some digging into his work in Britain. There’s something about him I don’t trust.’

He wasn’t the only one there.

‘I’ve heard that Angela Walden is a scary lady.’

He laughed. ‘Scary? She was downright hostile.’

‘You’d be a bit put out too, if you were in her situation.’

‘Which is another reason I don’t think the doctor is our murderer. He’s got a highly pissed-off wife who, I imagine, would be the first to line up and point the finger at him if she thought he’d done it, or even if he hadn’t done it, just to punish him. But she hasn’t. Tell you one thing, though. Can’t picture that marriage lasting out the year, or the day for that matter.’

‘It would be damned hard to stand by your man in those circumstances. He’d have to be pretty special or be in for a huge inheritance.’

Paul laughed again. But I had to agree with his opinion of the doctor.

‘I guess I didn’t really believe Walden had enough spine to kill. Pity, it would have made it very neat and tidy. He certainly had a good motive, specially with Gaby being pregnant and all.’

‘Yeah, well, he vows and declares he knew nothing about the pregnancy, and anyway, the child couldn’t have been his because he’s had the snip.’

Finally, there was one piece of good news I could take back to Lockie. A little something to ease his pain.

‘There’re no new leads?’ I asked.

‘Not a one. Have you got any ideas?’

I wished I did. ‘Not offhand,’ I said, ‘but I’ve only been thinking about the case in terms of Walden’s involvement. I hope the police are sending an official complaint about him to the Medical Council.’

‘It’s already done. Everyone wants that bastard to fry.’ A picture of Angel playing happily jumped into my mind. Having that monster using her for leverage must have ripped Gaby apart. I pulled my thoughts back to the present.

‘Did the blood results come back from ESR?’ I asked.

‘Yes, and the Midazolam level in her blood was much higher than what you’d expect from the number of tablets she’d taken – as predicted by the pathologist.’

‘One thing I’ve considered about the case,’ I said, ‘is that it may have been a professional hit.’

‘That’s been bandied around here too, which is another reason why Walden – and you – haven’t been ruled out as suspects.’ He hesitated a bit, and went on. ‘Don’t be surprised if your bank accounts get checked out soon. You haven’t made any large cash withdrawals recently, have you?’

‘Oh ha ha. I barely make the rent.’

The thought of them going through my bank accounts really pissed me off. I’ve always viewed my finances as extremely personal, and didn’t want all and sundry knowing how much I spent each month on junk food or HPs. Still, my chat with Paul had gone better than expected; he could prove to be quite an ally.

‘Thanks for your help, Paul. Keep me posted of any developments.’

‘And don’t forget to call me if you come up with anything interesting.’

‘Of course,’ I said, ‘if you’re lucky.’