‘What do you think?’ Annie asked.
They were driving through the dales, heading west towards Tom Miller’s farm. The landscape was largely moorland, given over primarily to sheep-farming, the rolling hills majestic in the morning sunshine. On a day like this Annie could appreciate the reasons why she’d chosen to stay in the county.
Zoe was driving, and Annie had just finished an extended telephone debrief with Jennings, which she suspected had added little to either’s knowledge but had at least reassured Jennings some kind of progress was being made. The CSIs were still busy back at the house, but so far there was little of substance to report. Annie had followed her call to Jennings with a brief call to Sheena, who had seemed a little brighter than earlier.
‘About Garfield?’ Zoe’s eyes were fixed firmly on the road. ‘He seemed to be telling the truth this time, anyway.’
‘That was what I thought. Whether it gets us anywhere is another question.’
‘This Cathy Parkin sounds as if she’s worth tracking down. If nothing else, she might be able to give us some more insights into what Garfield and Parkin were involved in.’
‘I’ll get someone on to it. If she’s still calling herself Cathy Parkin it may not be too difficult. If she’s going by any other name, it’ll be harder. But, yes, worth a shot.’ Annie paused. ‘You still serious about offering Sheena a place to stay?’
‘Definitely, if she’s up for it. Spoke to Gary about it, and he’s fine with the idea. Think he’s quite excited about the prospect of having a celebrity about the place.’
‘She’s hardly a celebrity.’
‘She is by our standards. I told Gary that that’s fine as long as he doesn’t start blabbing about her being there.’
‘Is he likely to?’
‘Not Gary. He plays the fool sometimes, but he’s pretty switched on. And he knows when to keep schtum.’
‘He’s welcome to the bragging rights, such as they are, once it’s all over.’
‘Sheena’s up for it, is she?’
‘She is. I thought she’d resist and say it was a bit too much like running away. But this turning up almost literally on her doorstep really shook her up. So emotionally she wants to get away, and rationally she knows she might not be safe there.’
‘That’s great, then. Bring her over later this afternoon, once we’ve done.’ Zoe hesitated. ‘What about you, though? You can’t stay in that place on your own. Not if dumping the body there was intended as a message to you. You’re welcome to stay too.’
‘I don’t think that would be fair on you or Gary. I can’t expect you to take on two people, and I just think, well—’
‘That it would be awkward, you being my boss and everything.’
‘Something like that. Anyway, I’ve made the ultimate sacrifice and asked my mum if I can stay there. She’s jumped at the chance to lecture me whenever she feels like it.’
Zoe laughed. ‘Thoughts and prayers for you, then. But if it doesn’t work out…’
‘It’s all only a few days,’ Annie said. ‘If this isn’t all sorted one way or another by then, we’ll need to come up with another plan anyway.’
‘Good luck then.’ Zoe squinted at the road ahead. ‘We’re nearly there.’
Another mile brought them to the farm turn-off. Zoe pulled into the narrow lane that led to the farmyard.
They drew up in front of the farmhouse and climbed out into the chilly morning. Somewhere beyond the house, Annie could hear the sound of sheep and a faint breeze was rustling through the trees, but otherwise the morning was silent. ‘Nice place.’
‘Looks much less sinister than on my previous visit. Surprising what a bit of sunshine can do,’ Zoe said. She stepped forward and pressed the doorbell. They’d agreed that, since Miller had met Zoe previously, she should take the lead in talking to him now.
There was no immediate response to the bell, and Annie was about to conclude that Miller was out, perhaps working elsewhere on the farm. Then she saw a curtain in a window to the right of the front door flick back as someone peered out at them. A few moments later, they heard the sound of bolts being drawn back and the front door was opened. Annie raised a quizzical eyebrow to Zoe, who nodded.
Tom Miller peered out at them suspiciously. He was unshaven and looked as if he hadn’t slept. Annie thought that, even from some feet away, she could detect the smell of alcohol on his breath.
It clearly took him a second or two to place Zoe, then his gaze flicked between the two women in surprise. ‘I wasn’t expecting a return visit,’ he said. ‘What can I do for you?’
‘I’m sorry to have to bother you again, Mr Miller. I just wondered if you could spare us a few minutes to answer a few more questions. This is my colleague, DI Delamere.’
Miller was silent for a moment, as if considering whether to refuse the request. ‘Yes, of course. Come in.’
He led them through into the living room. ‘Can I get you a tea or coffee? I could do with something.’
Annie nodded. ‘Thanks. Coffee for me. Just milk.’
‘Same for me. Thanks.’ Zoe lowered herself on to the sofa.
As Miller disappeared into the kitchen, Annie whispered, ‘He seems jittery.’
‘We had all the security stuff with the front door when we were here before. But that wasn’t surprising given what he’d just found. He didn’t particularly strike me as the nervous type. But he looks awful today. As if he’s ill.’
‘Or hung-over.’ Annie fell silent as they heard Miller returning with a tray laden with mugs of coffee. He placed the tray carefully on the low table between them, then slumped down on to one of the armchairs. As he reached to pick up his own mug, Annie noticed his hands were trembling slightly.
‘What can I do for you?’ Miller asked.
‘It may seem a slightly odd question,’ Zoe said, ‘but we wondered if you could tell us about your connections with a company called Werneth Holdings.’
‘Werneth Holdings? Why?’
‘We’ve just come up against some references to them in connection with our enquiry, and we noticed that you were listed as a former director.’
Miller frowned. Annie could almost hear his mind working. ‘I don’t understand,’ he said after a moment. ‘What connection could Werneth Holdings have with your enquiry?’ He had the air of someone playing for time, Annie thought, perhaps trying to discover how much they knew.
‘I’m afraid we can’t go into any detail in respect of the enquiry, Mr Miller,’ Zoe said. ‘But we came across the company through another source and then noticed your past involvement.’
‘I still don’t see why it’s important.’
‘We’d be grateful if you could just humour us, Mr Miller,’ Annie said. ‘You’ll appreciate that in the course of an investigation we follow numerous lines of enquiry. Many of them lead nowhere but we still need to pursue them until we’re sure.’
Miller seemed to hesitate. ‘There’s not really much to tell. This goes back a few years. Werneth was set up by an acquaintance of mine. Entrepreneurial type. Much more than I am, anyway. Had his fingers in various pies. Property development. Couple of pubs. Various other bits and pieces I didn’t entirely understand. Which was part of the trouble, really. He gave me an opportunity to invest some money in the business. I had some cash available because he’d already bought a plot of land off me. My parents had obtained planning permission for residential building on it, but hadn’t done anything with it by the time my dad died, so it was worth a fair bit. I’d planned to invest the money back in the farm, but he persuaded me that I’d get a much better return if I invested some of the money back in his business. It seemed a decent punt given that farming isn’t exactly the most lucrative business at the moment. So I put the money in, took a shareholding, and in return he made me a director.’
‘And did it work out?’
‘Not the way I expected, let’s say. It was all a bit beyond me. I was supposed to be a director, but I didn’t really feel in control in the way I’d have liked. There was a network of companies linked to Werneth, and I didn’t really understand how cash was being transferred between them. My fault, I’m sure. I’m just not really cut out for that kind of thing. I have enough trouble with the accounts here. Anyway, I began to feel more and more out of my depth, and I wasn’t really seeing the kind of returns I’d been promised. So in the end I just bailed out.’
‘What about your investment?’
There was a silence before Miller said, ‘I got some of it back. But there were supposedly all kinds of good reasons why my shareholding wasn’t worth what it had been when I’d invested.’
‘You think you were ripped off?’ Zoe said.
Miller shrugged. ‘You live and learn, don’t you? It was probably my naivety. We didn’t exactly part on the best of terms. I’ve made a few attempts to get recompense through various channels. But I guess I have to accept it.’ He sat up straighter in his chair. ‘That’s really all I can tell you. I hope I’ve not wasted your time.’ He had the air of wanting to end the conversation.
‘Not at all. That’s been very helpful,’ Zoe said. ‘Just for the record, can we ask for the name of your acquaintance? The person who persuaded you to invest, I mean.’ They already had a list of the directors of a number of the businesses, drawn from the Companies House submissions, but it would save them some time if they could identify who was really behind the web of companies.
Miller appeared surprised by the question. ‘Does it matter? I mean, it’s water under the bridge now.’
‘Just for completeness, Mr Miller,’ Annie said. ‘As I say, we have to follow up all these leads, just in case.’ She decided to leave Miller dangling for a few moments longer. ‘You must have known this man quite well, if you trusted him with your money?’
‘I—’ He stopped, and again Annie could sense that he was trying to align his story, unsure what information they already had. If only he knew, she thought. ‘It’s a bit of a long story,’ he said, finally. ‘I went through a bit of a rough time, psychologically, after my parents died. They both died of cancer within a couple of months of each other. I was introduced to him by a friend, and he helped me through some of that. I felt I owed him something.’
‘I’m not sure I follow,’ Annie said. ‘You said he was a businessman?’
‘He was. Is. But there’s another side to him. He’s involved in – well, I suppose you’d call it a spiritual movement. That was how I initially got to know him. Everything flowed from there.’ He stopped, as if conscious that he’d said too much. ‘Anyway, that was it. Look, I need to get on…’
‘Yes, of course,’ Annie said. She started to rise, then paused. ‘Oh, I don’t think you told us his name. Your friend, I mean.’
Miller looked up at her, his expression unexpectedly anxious, as if he’d been caught out in a lie. ‘Yes, of course. Not that it matters. He’s a man called Robin Kennedy.’