It was just after nine o’clock in the morning when the phone rang in the incident room at Mildenheath CID. Culverhouse answered it with his usual grunt.
‘DCI Culverhouse?’ the voice on the other end of the line asked. ‘It's Gerry Bryant, here.’
‘Ah. Mr Bryant. Listen, I…’
‘Look, I just wanted to call and apologise for yesterday.’
‘You wanted to apologise?’
‘Yes. I was completely out of order. I should never have spoken to you like that and thrown you out of the house.’
‘No, well. Let's... make sure it never happens again, yes?’ Culverhouse replied, confused.
‘Very well, Inspector. To bring us back to your original question, though…’
Culverhouse racked his brain, but he couldn't remember having asked Gerry Bryant any questions during their brief telephone conversation.
‘My question?’
‘Yes. You wanted to know if Nicole was a... was one of those. You know.’
‘Oh,’ Culverhouse said, suddenly remembering. ‘A prostitute, Mr Bryant?’
‘Yes. Well, no. That's just it. I can absolutely categorically say she wasn’t.’
‘Well, I respect your views, Mr Bryant, but how can you categorically say that? You admitted yourself that you very rarely saw or spoke to Nicole.’
‘Yes, but that doesn't change the facts. Nicole had — has — a sister. None of us see her any more. I think she's in London, now. At least that's where she said she was going. Bethany was a prostitute. Nicole despised that and hated it even more for tearing her family apart. The truth is, Inspector, you're not the first person to have the honour of being thrown out of my house.’
‘You threw Bethany out?’ Culverhouse asked.
‘I didn’t have a choice. She got mixed up in the drugs game too and it's not the sort of world I want infesting my household. Nicole agreed wholeheartedly and was often even more vehemently opposed to prostitution than I am. That, Inspector, is how I know Nicole wasn't mixed up in that terrible business and it's also why I reacted in the way I did. My wife and I have lost one daughter through prostitution and now, when our second one is murdered, you accuse her of being a prostitute as well. That cuts very deeply, especially as nothing could be further from the truth.’
Culverhouse let out an audible sigh. ‘I understand, Mr Bryant. I'm sure you realise that we cannot entirely remove the possibility from our enquiries, but I can assure you that we will certainly focus our efforts elsewhere for the time being.’
‘Thank you, Inspector. I would appreciate that.’
DS Wing was stood behind Culverhouse as he put the phone down.
‘Gerry Bryant, guv?’
‘Yes. He rang to apologise.’
‘Apologise? With all due respect, guv, from what I've heard it's you who was meant to be apologising.’
‘Yes, exactly. I'm not sure what's going on with Mr Bryant, Steve, but something's not quite right. I mean, it’s a convenient little story, but why wouldn’t he have said something about it to me at the time? Do me a favour, Steve. Have a look on HOLMES for anything about a Bethany Bryant. If she really existed and was into drugs and prostitution, I should imagine she’ll have some sort of record.’