Thirteen minutes later Steve pulled the car into the curb outside the Firth residence. He parked the car behind a dark blue BMW with the number plates JF - 001. The house was a grand double story Victorian terrace in the money belt of Carlton. He glanced up at the home and thought to himself that it had to be worth several million.
Steve and Branson walked up the path leading to the front door. The front garden was immaculate with blooming David Austin roses, and a host of other English cottage garden flowers.
‘Someones got a green thumb then’ Branson commented as the arrived on the front porch. She reached out and rang the door bell.
The grand wooden door with central brass door knob opened and they were greeted by an immaculately groomed woman in her late forties.
‘Mrs Firth?’ Branson inquired.
‘Yes that’s right. Jane Firth, you are obviously here about my husband?’ she said standing aside to let them in. Steve glanced at her eyes as he passed and noticed they were slightly puffy and red.
‘Yes. Mrs Firth I am Detective Steve Rickets and this is Detective Sarah Branson’ Steve said as he stood inside the doorway.
‘I’ve been expecting you.’ She replied. ‘Two of your constables had left not ten minutes ago. They came to tell me the news of my husband’ she said, her voice breaking and on the verge of tears.
‘We are very sorry to have to bring the news Mrs Firth’ Branson offered as Jane Firth led them into the sitting room. It was a large sitting room with bay windows. Steve glanced around the room and did a quick calculation of the value of the art and furnishings in the room. Probably worth more than all of his possessions combined he decided.
‘Please sit’ Mrs Firth said taking a seat on the lounge. The detectives sat on the opposite lounge.
‘Mrs Firth we are sorry to have to come and ask you questions about your husband but it is important to finding his killer’ Branson started to explain.
‘Yes I understand. I want to do everything I can to help you catch the bastard who did this to him’ she was quick to reply.
‘Can you tell us what your husbands movements were last night?’ Branson asked.
‘No. Not really. I was out with some girlfriends’ Mrs Firth replied. ‘So I am not really sure what he was up to or why he was over in Collingwood, sorry’
‘He didn’t tell you where he was going?’ Branson continued.
‘No he rarely did. He was late coming home from the office. I headed out for drinks with friends at about 7pm. He was not home by then so I didn’t get a chance to speak with him.’
‘What time did you get home?’ Steve asked her.
‘Oh about midnight’
‘And I assume he was not home at that time? Not in bed when you went to bed?’ Steve questioned her further.
‘Well I didn’t check if he was in. I went straight to bed. We sleep in different rooms so I had no way of knowing if he was home then or not. Frankly it didn’t occur to me to check’
‘So you had no reason to worry about him then?’ Branson asked.
‘No not at all’ Mrs Firth replied coldly.
‘Mrs Firth can you think of anyone who might have had a reason to harm your husband at all?’ Steve asked.
‘Well, not really. James was a wonderful man loved by everyone. As far as I know he had no enemy's or anything like that’
‘I see. Everything okay with his work, what was it ... Firth & Pinkton?’
‘As far as I know it was. I mean, James and Alex had their issues with the business, like any business. Lately things had not been going so well and that was causing a lot of tension between them and they had the occasional disagreement. But nothing that would lead to a tragedy like this.’
‘Alex?’ Branson asked seeking more information.
‘Alex Pinkton, he and James had been business partners for 11 years now.’
‘And so as far as you are aware everything was fine between them then?’
‘Yes. James would tell me everything about the business so if there were issues then I would know about it. The only thing he had mentioned to me was that some money had seemed to have gone missing from the trust account but they were looking into that. Nothing else comes to mind though’ she explained.
‘And there was no one else that you know of that may have wanted to cause Mr Firth harm at all?’ Steve pressed her a little harder.
‘Nothing that comes to mind’ she said with a puzzled look on her face. Tears started to well up in her eyes and Steve wondered if she had really had time to come to grips with the death of her husband or not.
Sensing the emotional pain building up Branson looked around the room for something to change the subject with. Her eyes settled on the pile of travel brochures to Thailand gathered on the coffee table.
‘Planning on a trip to Thailand?’ she asked hoping to lighten the mood.
‘No, I’m not. These are my daughter Anna’s’ Mrs Firth replied.
‘Oh I see’ Branson replied not sure where to take the conversation.
‘Mrs Firth is there any thing else you feel we should know?’ Steve asked. He had a sense that there was a lot Mrs Firth was not volunteering to them.
‘Ah no, well actually yes there is one thing’ Mrs Firth said looking awkward. ‘I’m not really sure how to say it really but if it is all possible I would like to ask for your discretion as you pursue the case if you know what I mean?’
‘Not really?’ Steve asked hoping for more information.
‘Well, you see my husband, he had a habit that I would like to keep out of the public.’
‘And what was the habit?’ Branson asked her mind going wild with possibility.
‘There is no easy way for me to say it. My husband had a habit of paying for the services of young prostitutes’ she explained her face flushing red.
‘I see, well there is nothing that unusual about that’ Steve assured her.
‘Male prostitutes. Young boys to be exact’ she said her eyes towards the floor.
‘Right, well that might explain what he was doing in Collingwood then?’ Steve said.
‘Possibly detective. Again, if you can be discreet I would appreciate it as I still have to get on with my life and the embarrassment might kill me’
‘Of course we understand’ Branson said as they stood up to leave. Mrs Firth walked them to the front door.
‘Thanks for your time Mrs Firth and let us know if you think of anything else that could be important’ Branson said.
‘I will do’
‘By the way, you have a lovely garden I was admiring it on the way in’
‘Thank you, my daughter Anna is the gardener’.
Steve and Sarah walked down the front steps and down the path to the car.