‘Yes, sir.’
‘What was the reason for these visits?’
‘A man called Gavin Miller was found dead on a disused railway track near Coverton. Dr Glendenning’s post-mortem revealed that he had been involved in a scuffle before going over the side of a bridge. We checked his mobile phone records and found out that he had called Lady Chalmers a week ago. Her number is ex-directory, so he had gone to a bit of trouble to get it from their old university, Essex, and the whole thing smelled very suspicious.’
‘How?’
‘The phone call lasted almost seven minutes. Yesterday, Lady Chalmers told me it was something to do with the University of Essex alumni donations.’
‘And the problem is?’
‘We’ve discovered that Gavin Miller had no connection whatsoever with the alumni team at Essex, or anywhere else. Lady Chalmers was extremely vague about the whole thing. I don’t believe her version, sir.’
‘Why would she lie to you?’
‘That’s what I’d like to know. I can’t think of any good reason, unless she’s hiding something.’
‘Isn’t it more likely that Miller was lying to her, trying to pull some sort of a scam?’ said Gervaise. ‘You already know he was short of money and not averse to criminal activity, a drug addict, if the drugs found in his cottage are anything to go by. He was clearly trying to con her out of some money.’
‘That’s what Anthony Litton suggested,’ said Banks. ‘And that’s the most logical explanation.’
‘Well?’
‘Why didn’t she say so? All she had to tell us was that Miller was trying to con her and we’d have believed her. Instead she gives us some bollocks about alumni donations. And how did Miller know she was an Essex alumnus?’
‘Surely that’s a matter of public record? Anyway, it can’t have been that difficult to find out.’
‘It was dead simple, actually,’ said Banks. ‘He was at Essex at exactly the same time as she was. They probably knew one another. But Lady Chalmers never mentioned anything about that. And Miller wasn’t a drug addict or a dealer. His drugs were for personal use.’
‘So that makes it all right, does it?’ McLaughlin butted in. ‘Come off it, Alan. You surely don’t think Lady Veronica Chalmers had anything to do with this man’s death, do you? A drug user, a sex offender and a loser like Miller?’
‘I don’t know, sir. All he did was smoke a bit of marijuana from time to time. I’m just saying that I don’t think that makes him a junky. I doubt that Lady Chalmers was strong enough to throw him over the railway bridge, but she was rich enough to pay someone to do it.’
‘Don’t be absurd. What evidence do you have?’
Banks glanced from McLaughlin to Gervaise and back again. He shifted in his chair. It wasn’t the comfortable one he usually got. McLaughlin had that one. ‘I’ll admit that at the moment it’s pure conjecture, but it’s logical conjecture, if we can find a motive.’ He told them what he knew about the points at which Lady Chalmers’ and Miller’s paths coincided.
‘And you believe that all these things are connected and might make her a murderer?’ said Gervaise.
‘I’m saying that it’s possible, that’s all. If it were anyone else, we’d investigate it without question.’
‘And you have actual evidence that they knew each other at Essex, in America, in Eastvale?’
‘Not yet. Nothing concrete.’
‘These “connections” are preposterous,’ said Gervaise. ‘Circumstantial. So they lived in Eastvale at the same time. Lots of people do. I should imagine they moved in very different circles.’
Banks glanced at McLaughlin. ‘Obviously.’
‘Enough of that, Alan,’ McLaughlin said, reddening.
‘And the same in America,’ a tight-lipped Gervaise went on. ‘Besides, as I understand it, Miller was in Western Canada, not America — or at least not the United States of America — which is some distance from Beverley Hills, isn’t it?’
‘He could have travelled there, or she could have gone to Canada.’
‘But why? Do you have any evidence to suggest that?’
‘No,’ said Banks. ‘And it’s beginning to seem like I’ll never get the chance to dig up any.’
‘Is this some sort of witch hunt?’ McLaughlin said. ‘Have you got something against the woman?’
‘I don’t like being lied to, sir. Not by anyone.’
‘Then you’re in the wrong line of work.’
Banks half rose from his chair. ‘Is that some sort of threat?’
‘Alan, sit down,’ Gervaise intervened, and he noticed she also gave McLaughlin a chastising glance. The ACC looked uncomfortable, but he didn’t pull rank, as a lesser man might have done. ‘As far as I can see,’ Gervaise went on, ‘all you have against Lady Chalmers is nothing but vague suspicions and coincidence. You have no evidence that she knew this Miller character at all. You ought to know you need a lot more than that before you go around challenging or accusing people.’
‘Challenging titled people, you mean. And I haven’t accused anyone of anything, except perhaps not telling the full truth. What did Anthony Litton and Ralph Nathan tell you?’
‘Oh, come off it, Alan,’ Gervaise said. ‘Get real, as they say. Yes, Lady Chalmers is a respected and honoured member of the community, as is her brother-in-law in his. This isn’t some street-corner drug dealer you’re questioning. A bit of decorum, a bit of respect, wouldn’t go amiss.’
‘I was respectful,’ Banks said. ‘They just didn’t like what I was saying.’
‘Insinuating, more like it. And I can’t say I blame them,’ said Gervaise. ‘As I understand it, you even suggested that Lady Chalmers was being blackmailed by Miller. I’m not sure I’d like it if someone came around to me suggesting that sort of thing.’ Her tone softened, and she seemed to relax in her chair. ‘Don’t you think you’re letting yourself get a bit carried away by this, Alan?’ she went on. ‘There’s nothing sinister about any of it as far as I can see. I’m sure ACC McLaughlin agrees.’ McLaughlin nodded to show that he did. ‘Haven’t you heard of Occam’s razor? The simplest explanation is usually the best one. Yet you choose to go for the complicated conspiracy theory stretching back forty years. Take this business of going to university together. It turns out that I was at the same university as Liam in the lab, and at the same time. I didn’t know him. I was doing Sociology, and he was in Computer Studies. I wouldn’t have known if I hadn’t read over his CV when he started working here. For crying out loud, Alan, this was forty years ago you’re talking about. How could any of that possibly have any impact on the murder of an antisocial, disreputable character in the here and now?’
‘So I gather you’re asking me to lay off?’ Banks said.
‘Not asking,’ said McLaughlin. ‘I don’t want you visiting Lady Chalmers and her family again, or even talking to her on the telephone. Do I make myself clear?’
‘Yes, sir.’
‘We can count ourselves damn lucky the press haven’t found out about it. Let’s keep it that way. Is there any media interest, by the way?’
‘In Miller’s murder?’
‘Yes.’
‘Minimal,’ said Banks. ‘It’s not as if he was rich or famous or anything.’ He was about to add, ‘Or played golf with the chief constable,’ but thought better of it and bit his tongue.
‘Any chance of a leak?’
‘I can’t see how. Nobody’s approached me, at any rate.’
‘So we should be able to keep all this under wraps, if you stay away from The Heights from now on. We don’t want some keen young reporter spotting you going in or coming out of Brierley House.’
Banks shrugged.
‘Let me and the press office handle all media requests to do with the Miller case in future.’