After parking her car in the station yard, Jane walked the short distance to the office of Thomas Durham and Son in Widmore Road. She pressed the intercom and explained she was the detective dealing with the unearthed coffin on the building site and had come to speak with Nick Durham.
‘Hang on second, please... I’ll see if Mr Durham is available,’ said a female voice.
Jane was surprised and a bit annoyed not to be simply buzzed in. It was nearly a minute before she got a reply.
‘Sorry for the delay, Ms Tennison. Please come in. Our offices are on the first floor.’
Entering the office Jane couldn’t help but notice how modern and bright it was, compared to the drab, green-painted walls and worn brown carpet of the CID office. On one wall were numerous pictures of houses and flats, which presumably had been designed and built by the Durhams. On the opposite wall were two large-scale drawings of different modern-style houses, next to which was a separate glassed-in office, with a kidney-shaped glass desk and two small sofas. Jane could see the back of a tall man with collar-length blond hair. He was smartly dressed in a light blue suit and holding a phone to his ear whilst looking at a large building plan on the wall.
An attractive blonde-haired woman in her mid-twenties looked up from her typing as Jane walked in.
‘Welcome to Thomas Durham and Son, Ms Tennison. I’m Judy, the office secretary. Mr Durham is on the phone. He’ll be with you as soon as he’s finished. Would you like a coffee or cup of tea?’
‘A black coffee, no sugar, would be lovely thanks,’ Jane replied, hoping it would perk her up after her lack of sleep.
‘Please take a seat.’ Judy pointed to a two-seater sofa. There was a small coffee table next to it with a pile of glossy house brochures.
Judy returned with Jane’s coffee in a bone china cup. ‘I’m sorry to keep you waiting. Mr Durham is on a very important business call.’
Jane wondered if it was about the coffin and the shutting down of his building site. She picked up a brochure for a five-bedroom house and flicked through it. Looking at the interior photographs, she was amazed how contemporary and bright the rooms were, especially the fitted kitchen with its modern appliances. It made her realise how old and rundown her house was. It struck her that Nick Durham might be able to recommend a good electrician to look at her fuse box and wiring. Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard a man’s voice call out.
‘Detective Tennison. I’m so sorry to keep you waiting. Please come through to my office.’
Jane looked up and instantly thought the man, in his mid-thirties, looked familiar. He was good-looking, with an engaging smile and slim physique. She picked up her coffee and followed him to his office, where he pointed to one of the sofas.
‘I’m Nick Durham. Please take a seat.’ He went and sat on the other sofa.
Even his voice sounded slightly familiar to Jane. ‘Excuse me for asking, but have we met before?’ she asked.
He put his hands up. ‘Honestly, I’ve never been arrested in my life!’
She couldn’t help smiling. ‘Well, there’s always a first time for everything.’
He raised his eyebrows. ‘If a policewoman like you had arrested me, I’m sure I’d remember.’
‘Clearly, I must be thinking of some other Casanova I met,’ Jane said drily.
‘I usually get mistaken for Robert Redford,’ he said with a grin.
‘Not Woody Allen?’
He laughed. ‘Ouch, that hurt.’
Although Jane was enjoying their banter, she thought it best to get to the point of her visit.
‘I’m sorry I didn’t contact you yesterday. Things got busy at work and I didn’t get a chance to call you before your office closed.’
‘That’s OK. Lee, my site manager, told me about the discovery of the coffin last night. He also rang this morning and said you’d found the body of a nun in it. Do you know who she was?’
‘Not at present. Her body was mummified, so she probably died some years ago.’
‘Lee also said you’d arrested Barry May for stealing a cross from the corpse,’ he said with a frown.
‘Yes, that’s correct. We found a cross and chain at his flat, which we believe to have been taken from the nun’s body after he forced open the coffin.’
‘He’ll never work for me again, that’s for sure,’ Nick said angrily. ‘How does all this affect our building work at the convent?’
‘My detective chief superintendent has said that you have to close the site for now.’
‘Can we at least knock down the fire-damaged buildings?’
‘He wants to know if the land is consecrated and identify the nun first, then he’ll review the situation.’
‘I doubt the outbuildings would be. I was told they were badly damaged by a fire while the nuns were still there. The structural damage meant we couldn’t rebuild them. We were going to knock them down and make it into a parking area.’
‘Like I said, the final decision is my boss’s. As soon as he’s made it I’ll let you know.’
‘Thanks. My dad’s a stickler for doing things by the book. He made sure everything was in order before buying the convent and starting the renovation work.’
‘I don’t doubt that,’ Jane said. ‘But we still have to make the necessary checks. Do you know in what year your father purchased the buildings and land?’
His brow furrowed. ‘I remember him showing me round. He was chuffed to bits, proudly telling me his vision of turning it into luxury flats. I’d just finished my A level exams at the time, so it must have been the summer of 1965.’
Jane wrote the date in her notebook. ‘Why the long gap before the current redevelopment?’
‘Financially my father needed to sell all the flats built in the first development to fund further development. Then he decided to buy land near St Mary’s Church and build detached houses on it. When they were completed and sold, I persuaded him to use the money to build more flats on the convent grounds.’
Jane recalled passing some new houses on the way to the convent. ‘Does your father know about the coffin?’
‘Yes. I spoke with him last night. He said his solicitor liaised with the Church and Bromley planning department. They supposedly checked everything before he purchased the land and there was no indication that any bodies were buried there.’
‘Unfortunately, I know nothing about religious or legal rules covering consecrated ground,’ Jane admitted. ‘I’m meeting the diocesan bishop this afternoon. Their archives office should have records concerning any burial sites on the land and the sale of the convent.’
‘Would you like me to dig through our old company files for any paperwork relating to the original purchase?’
She nodded. ‘That would be helpful.’
‘Where do we stand as a building company if it is consecrated land?’
‘It wouldn’t be a matter for the police to investigate, unless there was any fraud involved in the original purchase,’ Jane told him.
Nick looked offended. ‘My father would never do anything dishonest. His reputation in the building trade is second to none.’
‘I wasn’t casting aspersions on your father. I was just stating how and why the police might be involved. A civil court would probably deal with any legal arguments about the purchase.’
‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to sound tetchy. My dad has got a dodgy heart, so I get a bit worried about him. He’s supposed to be retired and enjoying life, but this coffin thing has got him all worked up. As a company we stand to lose thousands of pounds if the development is stopped, which won’t do his stress levels any good.’