DCI Clarke sat back in his swivel chair.
‘Good lad. That could be a great help when we question her, or if we go as far as arresting her. The more we uncover, the more it appears she was an accessory to the murders.’
Leon went to record the new information on the notice board. There was now a fourth section to accommodate the new developments. In the light of Leon’s discovery, Clarke contacted the hospital to check on Amanda’s wellbeing. He was told that she was no longer on a drip feed and had recovered enough to be moved from the hospital to a different facility. Clarke started the process of arranging a safe house with local authorities plus 24/7 surveillance.
Sara and Anik rang the bell at the Millers’ flat and waited. There was no sign of anyone coming, but they knew it was occupied and continued to ring. Eventually Harold Miller opened the front door. Anik held up his ID and asked to speak to Joyce Miller.
‘She can’t see anyone right now. She’s with her carers, being washed,’ Harold told them.
‘That’s alright,’ Anik said. ‘I can talk to you whilst my DC goes into the bedroom.’
Reluctantly Harold let them in.
Sara knocked on the wide bedroom door. The folded wheelchair was leaning against the wall in the hallway and Sara doubted that Joyce had left the room for some considerable time.
A care worker in a navy blue overall opened the door. Sara explained that it was important she speak to Joyce on an urgent matter.
‘Well, we’re almost finished,’ the carer explained. ‘We just turned her, but her bed sores are very painful. She’s in a lot of discomfort.’
Sara walked into the bedroom. The second care worker was attempting to put a vast kimono-style garment over Joyce’s head and Sara could see her bloated stomach falling in rolls down to her massive thighs. Her legs were also bloated, making her feet look as if they belonged to a tiny doll in comparison to the bulky body above them. Joyce gave Sara an angry look as she struggled to put her arms through the sleeves.
‘You should have waited. I was being washed.’
‘I do apologise. I urgently need to ask you a question with regard to your nephew, Rodney Middleton.’
The two carers packed up their equipment and, after pulling a sheet up over Joyce’s body, they left the room. Joyce proceeded to clean her teeth, using a mug and a bowl for her to spit into. Sara moved closer and stood beside Joyce’s bed. She watched as Joyce began to comb her thick dark hair. Joyce then balanced a plastic makeup bag on her breasts and dug around in it until she found some moisturiser and foundation.
‘Did you supply your nephew with a mobile phone?’ Sara asked bluntly.
‘No, I did not,’ Joyce said indignantly. ‘I haven’t seen him for a very long time. Why would I purchase a mobile phone for him? I have one, but I only use it for my carers and the hospital and for ordering in food deliveries.’
‘Could I see it, please?’ Sara asked.
Joyce waved her tiny hand at the bedside table, then went back to applying her makeup. Sara went across to the table and picked up an old-fashioned flip-top mobile, almost hidden by piles chocolate bars and biscuits.
‘Can you give me the PIN, please?’
‘3-2-4-5, but you won’t find anything on there, apart from what I just told you.’
Sara leaned against the bed as she opened the phone. She scrolled through the list of recent calls, jotting down the numbers so she could verify that they were the ones Joyce had mentioned: carers, hospital and food deliveries. Joyce was now applying eye shadow and mascara.
‘You probably think this is a waste of time,’ she said. ‘But I always wear makeup just in case I have to be seen by a doctor, or a nurse. I always try to look my best. I have a woman come in to do my hair once a week: she dry washes it, and then once a month I have it properly washed. We’ve got a plastic thing for me to rest my head against and she has a basin propped up behind me with a hose from the bathroom, I’m very particular about the way my hair is set.’
Sara finished checking through the phone. There were no text messages, no apps and there was no contact stored on it for Rodney Middleton.
‘Do you have Wi-Fi here?’ she asked.
‘My husband has it in his office, but I don’t use it. I just watch the TV and DVDs. Why do you want to see my phone?’
‘Just confirming some details regarding the investigation, Mrs Miller. Thank you for your time.’
Joyce pointed to the photographs adorning the wall. ‘That was me, that photo next to my little nieces; one of them looked a bit like me. I was quite the looker when I was younger.’
Sara glanced over at the large photos of Joyce’s two dead nieces — two adorable-looking little girls dressed in pretty clothes, smiling. The smaller photograph beside them was of Joyce as a young woman. She was slim and attractive, and it was shocking to see how much she had changed.
Sara thanked her again and put the phone back down on her bedside table. She declined the offer of a Mars bar as Joyce unwrapped one, sucking at it as she switched on the TV.
Anik was sitting with Harold Miller in his office. He turned to Sara as she walked in giving him a little shake of her head to indicate she had found nothing. Anik stood up and carried the small hard-backed chair back to its place against the wall.
‘Mr Miller says that he has never supplied his nephew with a mobile phone. We were just searching for the receipt for his wife’s mobile, but he seems to be having difficulty tracing it.’
‘Mrs Miller has an old flip top mobile, with only a few numbers and no apps,’ Sara explained. ‘There’s no contact for Rodney and the numbers are mostly medical or for food delivery companies. I didn’t think we need to take it in, but I can double-check with her service provider. She said she doesn’t use Wi-Fi, but we found Netflix and Prime on the TV in her bedroom.’
Anik moved closer to Miller, and Miller reacted nervously.
‘I don’t think we need to take Mrs Miller’s phone,’ Anik said in his most officious voice, ‘but I think we need to escort Mr Miller in to the station for questioning. We have video footage of Mr Miller passing money and a mobile phone to his nephew. I don’t think he realised the seriousness of him withholding evidence in a murder enquiry, and how it could have serious consequences for him.’
‘What do you mean?’ Harold asked in a high-pitched voice.
‘You have been lying, Mr Miller. Perhaps you can start telling us the truth or we’ll have to take you in. Your nephew has been arrested and will be charged with three murders...’
Anik leant very close and kept his voice low.
‘You are obstructing this investigation, Mr Miller, and I’m losing my patience.’
Miller swallowed hard. He had begun to sweat. He retrieved a set of keys from his pocket and unlocked one of the drawers on his desk.
‘You have to understand that I was pressured by Rodney to do this. He said it was because he couldn’t get one for himself and he needed one whilst he was in prison. He smuggled it in, but I didn’t help him to do that. I was forced to pay the bills because it was in my name. You have to understand, I didn’t want to get in any trouble with his father; he has threatened not to give me money for Joyce.’
‘Why would his father threaten you? He hates his son?’ Sara said.
Harold shook his head. ‘They know something, him and Joyce. I just get paid to look after her, and now it’s going to get me into trouble. I’ve got a mobile for myself, but in Joyce’s name. I pay her bills as well and...’
Harold took two mobile phones out from the drawer and held one up.
‘This is mine, you can check it. They’re all my own calls.’