‘I’ve looked into the story behind the email about the religious book evaluation. It makes interesting reading. There’s this guy called Patrick Murphy, Sir Patrick Murphy, a billionaire,’ said Mackenzie. She was with Cross and Ottey in his office.
‘I know that name,’ replied Cross. ‘Made his money from online gambling.’
‘That’s the one. Anyway, he collects religious artefacts and paintings. Really well known for it. Got religion after he married his second wife. Brother Dominic had become something of a world-renowned specialist in those circles and was approached by Murphy’s people to evaluate a fifteenth-century illuminated book of hours which was thought to have been commissioned by the Duke of Berry and then belonged to Henry the eighth.’
‘Which would have been in the sixteenth century, as his dates were 1509 to 1545,’ added Cross pedantically and totally unnecessarily.
She ignored his brief history lesson and showed them a picture on her phone of an elaborately illuminated manuscript. It was highly coloured with ornate black lettering and brightly coloured, hand-painted religious images in red, blue and gilt.
‘Wow,’ said Ottey.
‘The problem was that Dominic declared it to be a fake. An eighteenth-century fake. An exceptionally good one, but a fake all the same. Murphy was furious. He’d paid over twenty million pounds for it and Dominic’s valuation put it at about seven hundred and fifty thousand pounds.’
‘I can see Murphy being a little upset about that,’ said Ottey.
‘He tried to get Dominic to reconsider his opinion. But Dominic was adamant he was right. He suggested they get second opinions. Which they did. But they all agreed with Dominic,’ Mackenzie explained.
‘It got quite acrimonious, with Murphy calling Dominic’s expertise into question.’
‘Do we think he tried to get Dominic to change his mind by force?’ asked Ottey.
‘It’s possible, isn’t it?’
‘Find out who gave second opinions and talk to them. Did Murphy do anything to try and sway them?’ said Cross.
‘Will do. Anyway, the story really gained traction, local press, even an interview with the BBC,’ added Mackenzie.
‘Television or radio?’ asked Cross, showing sudden interest.
‘Television.’
‘When was this interview broadcast?’ asked Cross.
‘A few months back,’ Mackenzie replied.
‘Local or national?’ asked Cross.
‘No idea.’
*
The interview in question had been for the BBC local news programme Points West. It was based in Broadcasting House in Whiteladies Road, just twenty-five minutes from the MCU. Ottey and Cross had been here many times before on previous cases. They were taken up to the office of the local news editor, Susan Woodward. She was very approachable. Cross detected a north-west lilt in her accent.
‘Yes, I remember that interview, particularly in light of what has happened,’ she began.
‘Why particularly in light of what’s happened?’ asked Cross.
‘Well, because the poor man has been murdered, that’s all.’
‘What was the interview about?’ asked Cross.
‘Brother Dominic had questioned the authenticity of Murphy’s book of hours. You can imagine it didn’t go down very well with the collector. Things became quite heated – at least on the collector’s side. Brother Dominic said he was just trying to protect Murphy, who in his opinion had been defrauded. Murphy refused to accept Dominic’s opinion, but it unfortunately became something of a cause célèbre in those circles. He started to challenge Dominic’s expertise, so we gave them both a chance to come and discuss it.’
‘Was Murphy interviewed as well?’ asked Cross.
‘No, he sent a spokesman.’
‘Can you remember his name?’
‘Not offhand but I can find it for you.’
‘So, this was just a local news item?’
‘Initially yes, but it gained quite a lot of traction. The Benedictine monk against the billionaire was the tackiest version of it. It was then picked up by Newsnight. They asked Dominic to go on the show but he refused. He didn’t like the attention it was attracting. But they used our interview, so it was broadcast nationwide.’
‘What kind of attention?’ asked Cross.
‘Well any, I think. It went against the grain for his way of life, being a Benedictine monk. I think he ended up regretting doing the interview in the first place.’
‘Did he stay in touch?’
‘No. He just wanted to draw a line under it. But it just wouldn’t go away. He felt it was getting out of hand.’
‘What did you make of Brother Dominic?’ Ottey asked.
‘I liked him. He wasn’t how I imagined a Benedictine monk would be.’
‘In what way?’
‘I don’t know. Now that I’ve said it, I’m not at all sure I had an idea of what a monk would be, before I met him. But he was very comfortable in his own skin, in a modern kind of a way. Very confident, quite outgoing. He seemed, what’s the right word? Quite worldly for a monk.’
‘That’s an interesting observation,’ said Cross.
‘There was one odd thing though, now I think about it. It didn’t seem odd at the time but now with what’s happened… He was very concerned we didn’t mention the name or location of the abbey. He didn’t want St Eustace’s referred to in his name caption. Maintaining their privacy, perhaps.’
‘Or not wanting anyone to know where he could be found,’ said Cross.
‘Oh my god, you don’t think this had anything to do with his death, do you?’ she asked.
Cross didn’t answer.
‘It can’t have, surely. Why would anyone want to kill him because of a book valuation?’ she went on.
‘Unless they didn’t mean to kill him and they were just trying to persuade him to change his mind and went too far,’ replied Ottey.
Cross was now fairly confident that Dominic’s appearance on the local TV news would prove to be relevant. It appeared to be the only change in his pattern of behaviour, the only irregular or unusual thing that had happened to the monk over the past twelve months. It had been broadcast nationally. Someone had to have seen the interview and recognised him. Either that or he’d been killed by someone with an interest in the value of that text. But he knew Carson would jump on Murphy as the obvious lead, to the exclusion of everything else.