‘How come we’re not speaking to Adele Marchant at the depot, then?’
Gavin held up his hand in thanks as another driver allowed their vehicle to exit the police station car park into slow-moving traffic.
‘She had a rostered day off organised before all this happened,’ said Laura, checking the woman’s address in her notebook. ‘Kay wanted her interviewed sooner rather than later, so I phoned her last night to see if she was around this morning. She sounded quite distraught about Carl.’
‘I can’t imagine what it’d be like if something happened to one of us,’ said Gavin. ‘I’m not surprised she’s upset. Where’s her house?’
‘Take a left up here. She lives just around the corner from the grammar school.’
She gave Gavin directions through a series of roads that twisted and curved beyond the school towards the leisure centre, then pointed out Adele Marchant’s house to him as they drew near.
Semi-detached with a brown tiled roof, the building had a stone-clad ground floor with a rendered upper storey. A bay window protruded over a tidy front garden that abutted an asphalt driveway.
Gavin rang the doorbell, and Laura heard footsteps descending a staircase in a hurry.
A woman in her mid-fifties opened the door, her short blonde hair damp and a green towel in one hand. She wore a harried expression. ‘Are you the police?’
‘Adele Marchant? I’m DC Laura Hanway, and this is my colleague DC Gavin Piper. I spoke to you on the phone last night about Carl Taylor.’
‘Crumbs, sorry – I’m running late. Just got back from the leisure centre,’ she said, taking a step back. ‘Come in.’
Laura paused in a bright hallway, the faint smell of varnish emanating from freshly sanded skirting boards that hugged pale-cream paintwork.
A stack of framed prints lay against a small wooden table at the base of the staircase, the surface covered with what appeared to be unopened bills and a discarded bunch of keys.
‘Shall we go through to the kitchen?’ Adele Marchant turned without waiting for an answer, furiously scrubbing at her cropped hair with the towel so that by the time they caught up with her, her hair was sticking up on end.
The woman continued a running commentary as she tidied a pine dining table, collating a mixture of old local newspapers and sales brochures before gesturing to them to sit.
‘I thought I’d make the most of my day off – a Pilates class, followed by a swim. It’s not often I get time to myself what with two kids in the house––’ She broke off, her hand moving to her lips. ‘I’m sorry – I probably sound callous, what with everything going on. I just feel so helpless. I needed to do something rather than be here on my own. Carl’s death has been a shock.’
Gavin emitted a noncommittal noise.
‘People cope with grief in all sorts of ways, Mrs Marchant.’ Laura gave the woman a faint smile.
‘I suppose so. Call me Adele, by the way.’
She sank into one of the matching pine chairs, resting an elbow on the table as she peered up at them. ‘Have you found out who killed him yet?’
‘We’re following a number of leads,’ said Laura, ‘which is why we wanted to speak with you. Did Carl have any trouble at work recently?’
Adele frowned. ‘No, not that I’m aware of. He was a model employee. Turned up well before his shift every morning, and he was happy to help out around the depot or swap routes if someone needed to take a day off. He got on well with the businesses on his usual route, too. He received more Christmas cards than any of our other delivery drivers last year.’
‘You mentioned about swapping routes – how often did that happen?’
‘Only occasionally these past few months. Of course, once we’re into the school summer holiday season it happens more regularly.’ A wistful look passed across Adele’s eyes. ‘I know Carl and his wife didn’t have kids – he mentioned it to me once, a while back – so he was always volunteering to help out over the summer. They tended to go away in September once the schools went back when it was cheaper, anyway.’
‘Did Carl ever mention any concerns to you about his route?’
‘Not at all.’ Adele sat up straighter, evidently more comfortable talking about work-related matters. ‘Occasionally we’d loan him to our Ashford depot but that’s only happened maybe once or twice this year. I don’t recall him mentioning any trouble there, though.’
‘Would he have come to you with any concerns?’ said Gavin.
‘Oh yes. We had a terrific working relationship. All my employees know they can come and talk to me about anything, any time. Open door policy and all that.’
‘What about Will Nivens?’ said Laura. ‘How come he was paired up with Carl when he joined the company?’
Adele sighed, a sad smile appearing. ‘Carl was so dependable. He was a natural choice as a driver trainer. He was patient with the new ones, especially people like Will who hadn’t done multi-drops before – always willing to spend an extra week or two with them to make sure they knew what they were doing, and insisted on them calling his mobile if they had any problems once they were out and about on their own. Goodness knows how many phone calls he saved me over the years.’
‘And were there any issues with Will since he joined the company?’
‘No, nothing. Again, it was probably Carl’s influence but Will was turning out to be quite an asset to the company.’
‘Did Carl swap routes with anyone in the past, say, during the three to four weeks leading up to his death?’ said Gavin.
Adele’s brow furrowed. ‘A couple of times, yes. There was a Monday or a Tuesday – I can’t remember which. Bonnie Hopkins, who usually does the Aylesford route, was off – she has a young daughter who went down with a bad cold and had to stay home from school, so Carl offered to cover for her on those days.’ She broke off, and sniffed. ‘I don’t know what we’re going to do without him.’
‘Did either Carl or Will ever fail one of your mandatory drug and alcohol tests?’ said Laura.
‘No – never.’ Adele’s eyebrows shot upwards. ‘Why?’
‘It’s just a routine question. Did Bonnie or Carl ever mention anything that gave them cause for concern about that route?’
The woman’s jaw dropped. ‘Do you think Carl was killed because of his job?’
‘We’re looking at everything in relation to a possible motive,’ said Gavin calmly. ‘Has Bonnie said anything to you over the past couple of weeks since that may have given cause for concern in hindsight?’
‘No – nothing at all.’
‘We’d like to arrange to speak with her as soon as possible,’ said Laura, and handed over one of her business cards. ‘Could you get her contact details for me and email them over today?’
‘I – of course, yes.’ Adele swallowed, then rose from the table. ‘I’ll dry my hair and head over to the depot straight away. I can’t access the personnel records from my computer here, and she’ll be out and about at the moment anyway.’
‘We appreciate that,’ said Laura, following the woman back to the front door.
Adele paused beside it, her hand on the latch, and turned to face them both.
‘It’s the least I can do, isn’t it? I’d do anything to find out who killed Carl and Will. They were such lovely blokes – they didn’t deserve to die like that.’