I sent the summary of our infuriating conversation with Terence and Karl to the printer. If we believed them, then they could be removed from the pool of suspects. Neither man knew Melanie or had a reason to kill her. But that damn secret. No matter what my personal hunches were, not knowing something about two possible murderers made my skin itch.
There was nothing we could do, for now. We couldn’t arrest either of them and neither would talk without serious pressure. We had to hope they were telling the truth and that this secret was as irrelevant to Melanie’s death as they said it was. Benedict Hogan was still unreachable. Since he didn’t seem to have a job and lived alone, we were stuck repeatedly calling his mobile. If he didn’t get back to us soon, Terence would have to suffer more intense questioning.
‘I persuaded David to send the computers over to the IT team ahead of the rest of the evidence,’ Juliet said, as she walked into our office. She’d wandered off after we arrived at the station. I’d hoped she was searching out dinner.
She sat and typed in her password. ‘We recovered three in the end. Desktops from Terence’s bedroom and Dunlow’s study, plus the laptop that “fell” behind the desk in the den.’
‘Brilliant.’ I opened my top drawer, hoping I’d hidden a Twix in there.
‘The IT team said they’ll share the reports as they write them, which means the first few should be with us shortly.’
No Mars or Yorkie in sight. I shut the drawer and debated my options. Maybe Paul had brought in more bread to charcoal and wouldn’t mind me stealing a couple of slices.
‘The laptop from the garage is locked.’ Juliet squinted as she read from her screen. ‘Apparently it needs an update.’
I nodded absently. Despite Juliet’s insistence that the team send over their findings as they uncovered them, it wasn’t likely anything important would be thrown up tonight. Especially with the laptop whirring away.
We waited an hour, the volume of my stomach’s protests gradually increasing. Juliet read out snippets of Dunlow’s emails, his curt distain evident. Meanwhile, I learnt far more about managing art exhibits than I’d ever wanted to from the reports being sent over from Terence’s computer.
‘The team said Leonard’s laptop update is at 18 per cent now.’ I raised my eyebrows at the note at the end of the email. ‘They’re going to head home and continue tomorrow morning.’
The expected storm didn’t materialise. Juliet stretched, her face untroubled. ‘Let’s take another look tomorrow then.’
‘Are you suggesting we head home?’ My stomach practically flipped over in relief.
Juliet rolled her eyes. ‘It does happen, on occasion.’
‘Once every eight months.’ I hurriedly shut down my computer and grabbed my coat. ‘Good to know.’
‘Shut up, or I’ll change my mind.’