“Is this about Milly?”
“In a way,” Taylor said. “I’ll drop you back at home afterwards.”
“I’d rather go in the van. I need to pick up a few things in town anyway. I’ve run out of port.”
* * *
Thirty minutes later, Alice, Taylor and DI Carrick sat in the interview room at the station in Trotterdown.
“Am I a suspect?” Alice said when Carrick turned on the recording device.
“No, it’s the DCI’s orders. He wants every interview logged for future reference. He’s very meticulous.”
“Would you like a cup of tea?” Taylor sat down opposite Alice.
“No, thank you. What’s this all about?”
“We’d like you to think back,” Carrick said, “back to your wedding day. I know it’s a long time ago but I need you to think.”
“It was before you two were born. What do you want to know?”
“We think what’s happened in the past week may have something to do with your wedding.”
“What do you mean? How could it?”
“Who was at the wedding that day?” Taylor asked.
“Me, Stanley, Milly and Dennis. I’ve told you all of this before.”
“I know. It’s just for the tape.”
“There were just the four of us.”
“And three of them have been killed in the space of a week,” Carrick said. “Are you sure there wasn’t somebody else there that day?”
“Just the clerk. We were married in a small registry office in Plymouth. It was a low-key affair. We didn’t want anything flashy.”
“And there’s nothing else you can think of that would explain what’s happened recently? Anything that struck you as suspicious at the time?”
“No. Like I said, it was very low key. Stanley and Dennis Albarn got slaughtered afterwards but that was par for the course. It wasn’t much of a wedding night, I can tell you that.”
“Can you think of anybody who might have wanted to hurt Stanley, Dennis and Milly?” Taylor said.
“I wanted to kill Stanley and Dennis plenty of times myself, but poor Milly? She wouldn’t hurt a fly. I suppose I shouldn’t have said that on the tape, should I?”
“It’s all right, Alice,” Taylor told her. “You’re not a suspect here. We’re exploring a number of avenues at the moment and this wedding is the best we’ve come up with so far. It’s all we’ve got to go on.”
“Nothing happened. We said ‘I do’ and that was it.”
“OK,” Carrick said, “where did you go after the wedding? Did you have some kind of a reception?”
“We went to this dive in Plymouth. It was Stanley who organised it. He and Dennis got legless. We left at around ten and went home.”
“In Plymouth?” Taylor said.
“That’s right. We had a small flat above a baker’s shop. We moved to Polgarrow a few years later.”
Carrick paused the machine. “Thank you for your time.”
“I’m sorry I couldn’t help you more, but I still can’t see how our wedding has anything to do with what happened to Stanley, Milly and Dennis.”
Carrick turned the machine on.
“When was the last time you saw your husband?”
“Ten years ago. More or less.”
“Ten years? That’s a long time. Where did he go?”
“I don’t know and I don’t care. Stanley has been out of my life for years. I’m not even sure I feel much about his death.”
“That’s understandable,” Taylor said.
“I’ve got used to being on my own. I like it that way. I’ve got my bees. They’re all I need.”
“Alice, you told me that Stanley phoned you on Wednesday night.”
“That’s right.”
“But he was already dead by then. That means it was somebody pretending to be your husband. Do you have any idea who it might have been?”
“I was a bit tipsy. I’d had quite a lot of port. It sounded like Stanley, but the line was bad. It could’ve been Dennis Albarn for all I know. He and Stanley had similar voices.”
“Dennis Albarn?” Carrick said. “Why would he phone, pretending to be your husband, and arrange to meet?”
“Maybe as a joke. Dennis never liked me, and the feeling was mutual.”
“Albarn’s house blew up with him in it on Wednesday at half past nine,” said Taylor. “What time was the phone call?”
“It was before the explosion. I know, I heard the blast.”
“So Albarn could’ve phoned you?” Carrick said.
“Let’s take a break,” Taylor suggested. “This is all getting confusing.”
“I think we’re finished here anyway.” Carrick switched off the recording device. “Thank you, Alice. You can go now.”
“Will you be OK on your own?” Taylor asked.
“I’ll be all right.” Alice looked at Taylor. “I’ve got your number if I notice anything suspicious going on. I’ll make sure my doors are locked.”
“I don’t think you need to worry,” Carrick said.
When Alice had left the room, she turned to Taylor. “I’ve got an idea. It’s a bit of a wild stab in the dark, but it’s worth looking into. What if Dennis Albarn is behind all of this? What if he killed Stanley Green?”
“Why? Why would he kill his best friend?”
“Stranger things have happened. Maybe they had a drunken argument that got out of hand. Maybe Albarn saw red and killed Stanley Green. Milly Lancaster saw the whole thing and Albarn had to get rid of her to shut her up.”
“What about the explosion?”
“An accident? Maybe Albarn was overcome by guilt, he tried to gas himself but ended up dying in a much more spectacular fashion? Like I said, it’s just a wild stab in the dark.”
“No, the more I think of it, the more it makes sense. Albarn can’t have been banking on the worst lightning storm in years to happen when he left the gas on. With a house full of flammable gas, it wouldn’t have taken much to set it off. Now all we have to do is try to link Albarn to Stanley Green and Milly Lancaster.”
“And if we can, we’re left with one small problem. Dennis Albarn is dead. He’ll have got away with it.”
“Hardly. He must have had a horrible death. What now?”
“Let’s wait and see what DS Southern finds out from the forensic reports. I’m particularly interested in that fire.”
CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
DS Paul Southern was sitting by himself in the canteen. It was fairly busy, but nobody had joined him. Taylor could sense the tension in the room when she and Carrick walked in. She did her best to ignore it, and sat down at Southern’s table.
“Did you find anything?” Carrick asked.
“I don’t know. I’ve pretty much figured out the timescale. The chain of events goes something like this. Stanley Green was killed first. Cause of death was a severe blow to the head that caused a fractured skull and splinters of bone into the brain, and he was cut in half afterwards. We can assume Milly Lancaster was next even though her body still hasn’t been found. Dennis Albarn was the last one.”
“What about the fire report?” Taylor said. “Have you been through it?”
“Of course. The gas was left on, that much is clear, and it does seem to have been set off by a direct lightning strike. Albarn wouldn’t have stood a chance.”
“Do you think it was an accident?”
“Yes. Just a dreadful set of coincidences. An old guy forgets to switch the gas off and a freak lightning flash hits the house. What are the chances? One in a million?”