‘God, yes! I’ve had the whole story till I’m sick of it. How David stole Amanda from Robin, then treated her badly—’
‘How, badly?’
‘Oh, other women. Apparently he couldn’t stop – it was like a sickness. Until Amanda got fed up with him and divorced him. Robin rushed to her side to comfort her, and she took him into her bed, but then wouldn’t marry him. Oh, I had all the sob story,’ she concluded wearily.
What on earth did she see in him? Swilley wondered. A man who only visits you to whinge about the woman he won’t leave for you? But maybe he had a huge willy. Women could be so shallow.
‘But Amanda put money into Robin’s stables?’ she asked.
‘Yes. Robin put money in, too – sold his house and everything – but she put in more than half. So she’s got him by the balls.’
‘Where did she get the money?’
‘The divorce settlement, I suppose. There was this mansion out in Hertfordshire she and David had, that was sold. That must have been worth millions. It all happened about that time, anyway.’
‘Wasn’t there some kind of scandal?’ Swilley tried. ‘Didn’t David get into some kind of trouble about that time?’
‘Trouble? You mean money trouble?’
‘No, some kind of sex thing. Trouble with the police?’
‘Not that I know of,’ she said easily. ‘Robin’s never said anything about that.’
Now did that mean that Amanda had told him to keep it secret? Swilley wondered. Or that Robin had never known about it at all? But surely if they had been keeping up with each other all the time he would have known? On the other hand, how closely had they remained in touch while Amanda was married to David?
‘Was Robin having an affair with Amanda?’ she asked. ‘While she was still married to David, I mean.’
Sue Hardwicke frowned. ‘I don’t know. He’s never said so.’
‘So what made him “rush to her side” as you put it?’
‘The divorce.’
‘How did he know about it?’
‘Oh, I see what you’re asking. Apparently, Amanda contacted him, told him that it was all over with David and that she was divorcing him, that he’d moved out and she’d filed against him for adultery.’
‘So that was before the divorce was finalized?’
‘Oh yes.’ A bitter look crossed Sue’s weary face. ‘She wasn’t taking any chances on being left alone. Made sure of Robin the moment David was out of the door. Made him sell his place so that he’d have to live with her. She’s like a vampire octopus, that woman.’
She made Robin sell his place to buy the stables, and she put money into the stables. But if that was between the separation and the divorce, her side of the money couldn’t have come from the divorce settlement. So where had it come from?
This was not a question to put to Sue Hardwicke, however. And she was looking increasingly beat. ‘Well, thank you,’ Swilley said. ‘You’ve been most helpful.’
Sue roused herself. ‘Is that it? Can I go now?’
‘Yes, of course, and thank you.’
‘You do believe me, about Robin? That he just couldn’t kill anyone.’
‘Yes,’ Swilley said, circumspectly. ‘Are you going to see him now?’
‘No, Terry’s home. And I’m flying out again tomorrow. I shan’t see him until next week.’
Well, that was all right, Swilley thought. By next week they ought to know for sure whether they were interested in the poor woman’s Colin Firth. And this, she thought as Sue stood up, swaying slightly with weariness, was the poor woman.
‘We need to get some firm dates on this financial business,’ Slider said, when Swilley had made her report. ‘When the stables were bought, when the various houses were sold. You can get that from the property register. And you ought to be able to find out some figures from the estate agents concerned. I’d like to know exactly what happened between them, because I’ve had a feeling for a long time this was a money crime, not a crime of passion.’
‘People get passionate about money,’ Swilley said.
‘True. And it could always be both, of course, love and money tied up in the same situation. But the only time I saw Amanda shaken was when I mentioned her financial involvement with Frith’s stables. Anyway, call it idle curiosity if you like—’
‘Wouldn’t dare,’ Swilley murmured.
TEN
Sex at Noon Taxes
Porson was tired. His face was grey and his eyes pouchy, and his fidget level had fallen to a mere restless twitch as Slider made his report, the eyebrows surging now and then, the fingers drumming on the desk top.
‘It doesn’t sound as if you’re much further forward,’ he concluded when Slider paused. ‘Isn’t there any light at the end of the funnel? I’ve got to have something to tell Mr Wetherspoon.’
‘We’re working to identify the man who bought the plates, sir. We think Embry knew him. I’d like to put pressure on Embry, see if we can get him to cough, but it’s not our ground, and the local police . . .’
Porson nodded. ‘I’ll see what I can do. Have a word with their super. We’re all supposed to be on the same side.’
‘Thanks,’ said Slider. ‘The trouble is we know those were the plates used in the crime, but we don’t know that the man who bought the plates was the murderer. The killer could have bought the plates from him.’
‘You want it to be this Frith character.’
‘He’s not dissimilar to the man on the CCTV footage. And he doesn’t have an alibi for the time of the murder. Amanda Sturgess’s car is a BMW seven, so he could have had access to that. It’s actually gunmetal grey, not black—’
‘But gunmetal can look black on a black-and-white tape,’ Porson finished for him. ‘But where’s your motive?’
‘The relationship between Frith, Sturgess and Rogers was complicated. Trouble is, we know so little about him – Rogers, I mean. I’m trying to find out what it was he was doing for a living, but I can’t get anything more about this Windhover or the Geneva trust. The Swiss just won’t co-operate. And I’m sure there’s more money somewhere – what he was getting from Windhover doesn’t feel like enough to me.’
‘Wise instinct. Cherchez la cash.’ He tapped his nose. ‘This tells me there’s more to it than wimmin. If this Sturgess woman had wanted to kill him over that, she’d had done it long since.’
‘Of course, I’ve no real evidence she was in on it at all. But she has been extremely unhelpful from the beginning, refusing to answer questions and lying in reply to several of them.’
Porson shook his head. ‘On the other hand, that sort don’t like co-operating at the best of times. You haven’t got enough even to question her hard. Especially as she’s well connected, and she does this charity thing. The press’d have a picnic day if we went after a pillow of society like her. We know the murderer was a man, so it’d need a bit more than innuendo to link her with the crime.’
‘Yes, sir,’ Slider agreed glumly.
‘On the other hand, there’s no bricks without fire. She’s hiding something or she wouldn’t lie. What about this scandal Rogers was involved in? The press haven’t cottoned on to that yet, but they will. Then the flood’ll be let loose, and we’ll be caught like Canute with our finger in the dyke.’
‘It was all kept very quiet at the time, and it was a long time ago,’ Slider said. ‘They might not spot it. But I’ve got a feeling it could be important. I’m trying to find out what it was all about—’
‘Yes, a little bird told me you were,’ Porson said, his gaze sharpening. ‘Not sure about your approach. Can’t have civilians doing police work.’
How was it the old man always knew everything? Slider wondered. He was a little nervous himself about Emily, but he’d had time to think it over and realize that not only could it do no harm, but that he couldn’t stop her anyway. ‘She’s an investigative journalist, sir. You said yourself the press are going to get on to it sooner or later. It’s a matter of public record. And any journalist who’s seen the newspaper archives could follow it up if they were interested. Probably some will. Nothing we can do about that.’