Chapter Six

Given the choice between interview partners, Kate would normally have always plumped for Olbeck or Chloe over Theo. Whilst she and Theo worked rather better together than they had done in the past, there still wasn’t the easy rapport that she shared with her old partner or her new friend. Still, given the tension between her and Olbeck at the moment, and given that Chloe was still away on holiday, partnering up with Theo to interview Joe Vickers’ brother didn’t seem so bad after all.

Kate insisted on driving, mainly so she could escape Theo’s choice of hip-hop, played at ear-bleeding levels, for their musical accompaniment. It was one of those golden days of the little Indian Summer that always occurred in mid-September; warm, dusty, drowsy. The leaves on the trees lining the roads were still green but it was a dull, dried-out colour, so different to the freshness of the spring leaves. Here and there the foliage was turning brown and gold, touched with the first autumnal tints. Blackberries hung in heavy, purple clumps on the brambles.

“We should be at the beach,” remarked Theo as they drove out of Abbeyford.

“Well, you’re in luck, because Hugh Vickers lives in Salterton. If we get this done in time, we could stop for lunch on the front.”

“Nice one.” Theo brightened up.

Kate knew Salterton reasonably well – Chloe still lived there, and Kate was a frequent visitor to her little fisherman’s cottage – but she was still glad of the sat nav once she came to the maze of narrow streets that lay beyond the main town centre. Hugh Vickers, the brother of their victim, lived in one of the Victorian semi-detached houses that had been built in their thousands over a hundred years ago. The house they approached once Kate had parked the car was one of the type in which one of the poorer sort of worker would have been housed. There was no porch, no bay window and the door opened directly onto the street. Even so, given their proximity to Salterton’s beach and esplanade, Kate thought that these small homes were probably doing all right in terms of property value. Before she rang the doorbell, she consulted the notes she’d cadged from Rav. Hugh Simon Vickers, forty-five, accountant for one of the big courier firms…

The door was opened promptly by Hugh Vickers himself. It was the middle of the working day but Kate had guessed, correctly, that the poor man would be on compassionate leave. He looked serious but not unduly upset; a pleasant looking man, rather thick-set, with cropped receding hair and the growth of at least a day’s beard on his chin. He was dressed casually, in jeans and a baggy black jumper.

Kate introduced herself and Theo and gave the standard condolences. “Thank you for seeing us, Mr Vickers. I hope it’s okay if we come in and have a chat with you about your brother?”

“Yes, yes, of course. I’m not sure what I can tell you though – Joe and I haven’t – hadn’t – been very close for a while. But I’ll do the best I can.”

Kate and Theo followed Vickers through to the living room and declined Vickers’ offer of refreshment. If they had been interviewing a suspect, Kate would have agreed to whatever was offered – it gave you a good chance to have a good snoop about – but although theoretically Vickers was on the suspect list – at this stage in the proceedings, almost everyone known to the victim was – Kate didn’t think much would be gained by a few minutes of searching. She’d rather put the time to good use and get some background information on Joe Vickers and his family.

“So you and your brother weren’t close?” she asked, seating herself on the grey modular sofa. A quick look around the room revealed a pleasant, conventionally furnished room. A small book case, a wood-burning stove, a framed wedding portrait on the mantelpiece. There was a basket of children’s toys in one corner and a scatter of picture books on the carpet by the window. Kate gently moved them to one side, out of the way of her feet.

Hugh Vickers’ frown deepened. “I’m afraid not,” he said, with what sounded like genuine sadness in his voice. “We were very close as children, despite the age gap – he’s five years younger than I am – but after he – well – when we were teenagers, we sort of lost it – I mean, we didn’t exactly fall out or anything, but I suppose we just started to lead such different lives…” He trailed off, staring at the toys in the basket.

Theo, who had been uncharacteristically quiet, suddenly sprang to life. “You’re married, Mr Vickers? You’ve got kids?”

“Yes, two of them. A boy and a girl. They’re at school and pre-school at the moment.”

Kate opened her mouth to ask another question, but Theo jumped in ahead of her. He had a bad habit of doing that, and she sat back a little, trying not to show her annoyance.

“So, when was the last time you saw your brother, Mr Vickers?”

Hugh Vickers blinked. “You can call me Hugh if you like, it’s fine. As to when I saw Joe, it would have been – God, it would have been over a year ago.” He shook his head as if in disbelief. “Yes, over a year ago. I think we last saw him at Christmas.”

“You say you weren’t close but would you say you were on good terms? You parted on good terms?”

“Yes. Yes, we had quite a nice day, I remember. The kids are very fond of him. He was good with children – it’s funny, isn’t it? He wasn’t ever going to have any of his own but he was very good with our two. He enjoyed their games and things.”

Kate leapt in whilst Theo was still formulating his next question. “Why do you say he wasn’t ever going to have children of his own, Mr Vickers? Sorry, Hugh?”

Hugh blinked and looked a little uncomfortable. “Well, you know, because he was – you know—”

“Gay?” Kate said bluntly.

“Well, yes.”

“That’s no barrier to having a family, these days,” said Kate, thinking of Olbeck and Jeff.

“Well, no, I know that but – well, I suppose it’s more that Joe wasn’t - wasn’t really the settling down type. He was – he didn’t really have long term relationships, well, not after the first one, the first serious one.”

Kate was conscious of a slight coldness at those words. “The first one?”

Hugh nodded. “Joe’s first relationship – well, the first serious one – when that broke up, he sort of – well, he kind of went off the rails a bit then. It really broke his heart. I don’t think he really trusted people much after that.” He looked at the two of them as if he’d only just noticed something. “That was with one of your lot actually – Joe’s ex-partner, I mean. He was a policeman. Nice bloke, although I only met him once.”

Both Theo and Kate avoided looking at one another. There was a short, awkward silence.

“So,” said Kate, briskly, trying to move things along. “What about Joe’s work? He was an actor, wasn’t he?”

Hugh looked gloomier than ever. “Well, yes. Of a sort. I think that was half the problem, really – you know what an actor’s life is like. It’s so uncertain, there’s no stability about it at all. And you’re constantly judged on, well, yourself, you know, how you look and how you sound – if you’re a bit insecure about yourself, it just makes you worse.”

“Joe was insecure, then?” Kate found herself wondering what exactly Olbeck had ever seen in Joe Vickers. She had the uncharitable thought that he sounded like a needy, melodramatic nightmare. The very opposite of her friend. That’s why Olbeck’s behaviour just recently was so concerning; it was very unlike him.

Dismissing the thought, she turned her attention back to the interview. Theo was asking Hugh Vickers about whether he knew anything about Joe’s partying habits.

“Drugs? Oh yes, lots of drugs, I’m afraid. We had a big row about it one time – he turned up here for Sunday lunch completely out of it, one time – he’d obviously come straight from a party and he was just – well, let’s just say I told him he couldn’t be around the children like that, and he blew up and stormed off—“

“When was this?” asked Theo.

“Oh, ages ago. Before he came for Christmas last. Perhaps two summers ago?”

Theo nodded, making a note. Kate asked Hugh what he’d been doing on the night of his brother’s death, not putting it quite as baldly as that but knowing that he needed to be eliminated as a suspect if it turned out that Joe Vickers had died at another’s hand. Hugh Vickers put up his eyebrows when she asked, the implications of the date not lost on him, but he didn’t protest.

“I was playing squash with a friend of mine – we meet up every Friday after work – and after that, well, I was at home.”

“What time did you get home?”

“The same time as normal. About eight-thirty.”

“Did you speak to anyone, use social media, anything like that, that evening?”

Hugh Vickers shook his head. “No, I’m afraid I was just home with my wife. We normally watch a film or something on Friday evenings.”

Kate thanked him and sat back, letting Theo ask a few more, perfunctory, questions. It didn’t sound as if Hugh Vickers had much more to tell them.

As they were leaving, Kate thought of one more question. She hesitated for a moment and then took the plunge. “Did Joe ever show any interest in – in the occult?”

Hugh Vickers looked more taken aback at that than he had at any other question. “In the what?”

Kate knew she sounded awkward. “He didn’t have any interest in – in black magic, or the occult or – supernatural, erm, things? Or anything like that?”

Hugh Vickers looked almost offended, as if he thought she was making fun of him. “Well, I can’t imagine so - I never saw or heard him talk about anything like that. Why?”

Kate ignored his question. “That’s very helpful. Thank you, Mr Vickers.”

*

“What do you think?” asked Kate as they drove away from the neat little house.

Theo shrugged. “Bit of boring bastard, isn’t he? Sounds like he and his brother were chalk and cheese.”

“Mmm.” Kate agreed. “He’s probably not who we actually need to talk to to get an idea of Joe Vickers’ life, despite being family. It doesn’t sound like he really knew anything about his brother, really, does it?”

“Nope. Bit sad, really.”

“Yes.” Kate stared out of the window, pondering.

“You know, this could all be a big waste of our time, mate.”

Kate looked over at Theo. “Yes, I know. Still, what can we do?”

“Hope the docs will have sent those tox results over by now.”

“Fingers crossed.”