She smiled. ‘Lively enough for me.’
Carter looked at Willis. She held his gaze for a second, which told him she had established a normal baseline for Emily Porter. Some things would be difficult to gauge. Emily has a habit of pushing her glasses back up her nose as she talks and when she pushes them she scrunches up her face. She is nervy and abrupt and has the annoying habit of ending or beginning many of her sentences with an ‘um’. Her body is still, upright. Her legs are still. They don’t move. When she’s answering Carter she keeps her head vertical, her movements small. She reminds me of a puppet. Now Carter would see how Emily behaved when she was under stress.
He took out the letter.
‘Did you get one of these?’ He held it up for her to see.
‘Um… Yes.’ Legs clenched, knees clamped. She holds her hands tightly until she pushes up her glasses, this time adding a small grooming movement with her hand as she pushes her hair back from her face.
‘When did it arrive?’
‘Um…’ She looks up to the left. ‘I got it on the Wednesday morning when I went home to finish some marking at coffee time. I had two free periods so I went home and checked my mail.’
‘Was it a shock?’
‘Um…’ She pauses. She was thinking what she should say. ‘I would have to say – not really.’ She stares straight ahead. Her legs relax a little.
‘Did you already know about the existence of the list?’
‘Did I write it, you mean? No, I didn’t.’ Her shoulders rise a little. Could be anxiety, could be lying.
‘How long have you known JJ Ellerman, Mrs Porter?’
‘Um… About five years now.’
‘How did you meet?’
‘On a dating site for Christians.’
‘You are divorced?’
‘Um… Yes. My marriage only lasted two years, unfortunately. I’ve been with JJ since it ended.’
‘Five years is a long time.’
Emily’s eyes went to Willis. Willis didn’t react. She was taking notes.
‘Yes… Um.’ Emily glanced briefly at Tucker, who smiled, and then she turned back to Carter. ‘I suppose it is, um… but I wasn’t in a hurry to settle down with someone else. One marriage is enough.’ She smiled but it didn’t reach her eyes.
Willis wrote in her notes: Demeanour changed. Eyes looking up to the right. Face colouring. Hands restless in lap. Body language not corresponding to words.
‘So you never wanted anything more from Ellerman? You never thought: “This isn’t going anywhere?” Not even now, five years down the line?’
‘No. It suited us both.’
She’s lying – beginning to perspire, breathing rate increasing, fidgeting.
‘So you will be happy to continue your relationship with him?’
‘Absolutely not. Of course I can’t.’ More lies.
‘I’m sorry if this is an indelicate question, but have you invested money in any of his business schemes?’
‘Um… I’d rather not tell you about my financial arrangements, if you don’t mind. Not unless it’s absolutely necessary. Please tell me what this is about first. Is he under investigation? Surely, it isn’t illegal to do what he’s done?’
‘It’s not illegal to date several women at the same time but three of the women on this list are dead, under suspicious circumstances. And there’s the possibility of Ellerman having defrauded these dead women out of their money.’
‘Dead? Women from this list?’ Her demeanour changed slightly. She seemed more guarded, aware that she was being watched. She seemed to be able to control her reactions.
‘Yes. Um… I’m sorry to have to tell you that these women died under suspicious circumstances and we are conducting murder investigations,’ Carter said.
Willis watched Emily intently.
‘So… um… what has that got to do with JJ?’ Emily looked up from her lap, composed, her breathing rate returning to normal. ‘It seems that… um… all that the women had in common is knowing him. We know that he knows a lot of women. I understand that he has a dubious past.’
‘We think you might have met one of the women who died – Lisa Tompkins?’
‘Um… yes. I did. Once, um… just briefly. I didn’t know her before that day.’ Emily sat, covering her eyes and her forehead with one hand. ‘Why are you here today? Have you come to warn me?’
‘Yes, partly, and also to ask for your help. We would urge you not to see JJ Ellerman again, until these enquiries are resolved.’
‘When you say their deaths were suspicious, that means you are not sure they were murdered?’
‘Olivia Grantham was. She’s on the third page of the letter. Gillian Forth was – definitely, she’s on the second page. Lisa, we have yet to solve her death. Did you ever meet either of the other two women?’
‘No. Just Lisa. Once, as I told you, in the presence of the other women: Paula and Megan. Did you talk to them?’
‘Yes, and we will be doing so again, and many of the other women on this list.’ Emily pushed her glasses up on her nose several times in succession. ‘Just so that we can create an accurate picture of the events, we need to know where you were on the dates that these women died. They are Sunday the fifth, Tuesday the seventh and Saturday the eighteenth.’
‘Um… I was here in my cottage. I was here and so was JJ. He was with me.’
Carter waited. Willis paused in her note-taking.
‘You know, Mrs Porter, we will have to check out these facts and this is not a time to make hasty statements without being sure of the facts. I appreciate that you are fond of JJ Ellerman, but you do him no, or youself any favours by lying on his behalf.’
‘Maybe it’s the other women who are lying, not me. Um…’
‘When you met up with them, what was the outcome of the meeting?’
‘We talked about general things. We wanted to support one another.’
‘That wasn’t at all awkward?’
‘No.’
‘How did you leave it with the other women? What were your parting words?’
‘I can’t remember exactly.’
‘See you again? I don’t ever want to see you again?’
‘More like – we’ll wait and see what happens.’
‘What could happen?’
‘Um… I’m not sure.’
‘Let’s hope what can happen is not another murder, Mrs Porter. Our aim here is not to get anyone into trouble unnecessarily or to cause embarrassment or to expose you in any way. But serious crimes have been committed and JJ Ellerman seems to be in the middle of it all. Would you mind if I ask you what you intend to do now?’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Will you be carrying on your relationship with Ellerman?’
‘No, of course not.’ Carter looked across at Willis. She was watching Emily Porter intently and she knew she was lying.
Chapter 52
Bella had been waiting too long for Ebony to call. She’d chewed all the scenarios over in her head and she hadn’t slept for days.
She looked across at the pregnant woman, who stared back uneasily.
‘Let’s stop all this,’ said Bella. ‘We’re both in here for the same reasons.’
‘I’m not a murderer like you,’ the pregnant woman, Jolene, replied.
‘Maybe not, but you were sectioned, weren’t you?’
‘For my own protection.’
‘Okay, well I accept that we don’t have masses in common but we are here together and we may as well make the most of it. I have a present for you, to say sorry for the way I’ve behaved towards you.’
‘What present?’