‘I can do it,’ said Paula. ‘I can pretend like I’m hurt but I’m willing to see both sides.’
‘Um… so can I,’ Emily said.
Lisa swung her head back and forth in disbelief.
‘Don’t tell me, deep down, you’re all okay with what he’s done?’ She gestured towards the letter. ‘Don’t tell me you’re just going to bend over and take it?’
‘No. Of course not. I wouldn’t be here otherwise, would I?’ said Paula.
‘I don’t know. You could be here to check us all out. You could have written the letter and maybe there is a place in Spain and you’re the one who’s going to be living in it.’
‘Please.’ Megan called for calm. ‘I know we are all upset about this but we need to keep to the facts. Paula is fond of JJ; we all are, were. I understand this is going to be very difficult for a lot of women. But we are here to teach him a lesson, not to upset one another. And we are here to come out of this with some justice. It’s a good thing that Paula is still talking to Ellerman, we can use it. What about you, Emily?’
‘I haven’t contacted him since the letter arrived. I just want my money back. I thought he loved me. I feel so stupid. I feel humiliated for all of us.’
‘You mustn’t beat yourselves up about falling for it.’ Megan reached out her hands across the table to the other three. ‘I may not have parted with any money yet – but I can see how it happened to all of you. Maybe I would have before long, who knows? I know he was beginning to try and push me in that direction. I am hurting like the rest of you, I thought I had a future with JJ. I will do everything to help you get your money back. I’ve been pretending to him that I don’t know about any letter. I am going to keep that a secret from him. I would be grateful if you all remember that if he phones you. Don’t mention my name. I think the best thing is to lure him down to Dartmoor and we can all confront him there. We can make him sign a contract about the money and investments. We can hand over power to the investors, you. We will all witness it. We’ll be in this together. How does that sound?’
‘Sounds good,’ Lisa said. ‘Safety in numbers. Plus, we can force him into action. We might even make the Spanish scheme work. We can make him sign a properly worded contract.’
‘I can help with that,’said Emily. ‘I have access to legal representatives through the school.’
‘Okay, then we all need to set out exactly what we were promised and what we want from it. Let’s do that now, round this table, and then Emily can make a start.’ Megan looked at each woman around the table. ‘Shall we decide what our aims are here?’ They nodded.
Lisa answered: ‘It’s to fuck him over and get our money back.’
‘And to be in control of the Spanish investment,’ said Paula. ‘Say we will go to the police if he doesn’t sign.’
‘I think it’s to get justice, to make him realize he’s been wrong and so terribly unfair,’ said Emily.
‘And I want to make sure he’s too scared to ever contemplate doing this kind of thing again,’ said Megan.
Chapter 36
Willis and Carter arrived mid-afternoon and parked in the police-station car park at Middlemoor Regional Headquarters on the outskirts of Exeter.
A tall, slim, dark-haired man in jeans and a blue-and-black-check shirt called to them as they were on the way into the station.
‘Hello, Dan.’
‘Scott – how’s things? Good to see you.’ They gave one another a man-hug.
Carter turned back to introduce Willis.
‘This is my partner – DC Ebony Willis.’
‘Nice to meet you.’ Scott shook her hand. ‘Did you get your passport stamped coming this far south?’ he said, smiling at her.
‘I did think about it.’
‘How’s Cabrina, Dan?’
‘Good, thanks, mate.’
‘What happened to your stag do, Dan? Croatia, Barcelona? Which is it to be – vodka shots or tequila?
‘Not there yet, mate. We had a kid first. Have to wait for the right time.’
Scott looked at Willis and gave a nod Carter’s way. ‘Is he still planning what he’s going to wear?’ She laughed.
Carter looked at Willis. It was nice to hear her laugh again.
‘Yeah – don’t think so, mate, no time.’ Carter grinned. ‘Too busy with proper crime up in the big city; it’s not all about who stole all the cabbages.’
Scott laughed and rolled his eyes.
‘That’s right, I forgot, it’s a bad world north of Brizztol.’ He laughed. Carter winked at Willis. ‘We can talk in the car.’ He led them over to the blue estate. ‘I’ll take you to see Gillian Forth’s body first.’
‘What kind of a woman was she? Any enemies?’ asked Willis as they drove out of the car park.
‘She was thirty-eight,’ Tucker answered. ‘She worked in the sales department of a car-parts firm. She’d lived in Exeter all her life. She was a divorcee but her husband kept in touch – no animosity there. She never had kids. She was quite highly strung. If pushed she could fly off the handle. But nice most of the time – her workmates liked her. She was kind and fun to be with, they said.’
‘Boyfriend?’ asked Willis.
‘Her workmates said they thought there might be, but they weren’t absolutely sure. There are only two other women working at the company, the rest are blokes. Not sure how much she would have told them. We’ve spoken to friends outside her work and they say they’ve never met him but have heard about a man who visits once a fortnight.’
Carter flashed Willis a look.
‘Interesting.’
‘She didn’t elaborate though.’
‘Did they get a name for him?’
‘John. No surname.’
Carter looked at Willis expectantly. She didn’t look his way; she was staring at Scott’s profile. She didn’t seem to have heard what he just said.
‘This man JJ Ellerman you’re looking into – what’s the connection? Could he be the boyfriend, John? Is that what you’re thinking?’
‘It’s possible,’ Carter told him. Willis took the letter from her bag and handed it to Carter.
‘We got this about him. Two of the women from this list are now dead. Gillian Forth’s name is on it and so is Olivia Grantham’s, the lawyer.’
‘This is a helluva list,’ Tucker said as Carter showed him the three pages of names. ‘Who are all these women?’
‘These are his conquests,’ answered Willis. ‘He travels all over the country, trying to flog luxury yachts and he meets women from dating sites.’
‘Yeah… he has a novel way of finding a bed for the night,’ said Carter. ‘A woman in every town. Whilst he’s there, we also think he cons them out of money. He got Olivia Grantham to invest ten grand. That was made by a bank transfer to his Spanish Hacienda company – a renovations company based in Spain but seeming to do no advertising.’
‘She didn’t die the same way as Gillian, did she?’
‘No, she was murdered by a third party, or several of them. She was lured into a building thinking that she was meeting a man for sex. Instead, she was set up to be raped and beaten by a gang of homeless drunks or gang members, take your pick – who were given large amounts of drugs and drink to get them in the party mood.’
Scott shook his head. ‘You can’t get Ellerman for her murder then.’
‘Could be conspiracy to murder – he could have paid to have it done. We’re going to try and get him for fraud at least – we don’t know if he missold the investments to these women. We’re still trying to find some paperwork but we’re hopeful – Olivia Grantham was a lawyer, she must have written something down. The other women need to press charges. We’re contacting all the women on the list.’