Cold Revenge (Willis/Carter #6)(22)

‘I agree. But I don’t think he’d take a roundabout route with three weapons, do you? If Don Stephens wanted to kill you he could crush you with his bare hands. If he’d swung a hammer at her head it would have been off.’

‘What are you looking at?’ Carter asked. Willis was reading from a tablet.

‘Gavin Heathcote doesn’t live far from here. He has a building firm, the Heathcote Roofing Company, in Rickmansworth. I would have thought he’d have changed his name.’ She cast a glance at Carter. ‘I mean, he must have been hated?’

‘In the rest of the country, maybe, but here? I don’t think so. Douglas gave parties that were famous around here, he was everyone’s friend. I reckon people didn’t want to think bad of him, even though they were faced with the facts, they still couldn’t help liking him and they probably half-admired the disciples for sticking up for him.’

‘I’ll give Gavin Heathcote’s number a ring. Let’s find out where he is and swing by and talk to him.’

Gavin Heathcote’s wife, Sandra, had told them where to find her husband. His van was parked outside the Victorian semi-detached latticed in scaffolding in Chesham. Three men were working on the roof when they arrived. Music was blaring out and Heathcote was balancing on the apex, renewing tiles.

They stood on the opposite side of the street and Carter held up his badge. Heathcote swore a lot on his descent. He had on grey tracksuit bottoms and a T-shirt with a list of reasons why beer was better than sex. He shouted up instructions to his mate to take over the tiling.

‘Jesus, this better be good.’

‘Gavin, can we have a chat?’

‘What is this about? I’m not leaving this site; I need to get this roof finished before the rain comes.’ Gavin lifted his chin defiantly and glared at the detectives in turn. His square head was pock-marked with evidence of scars and knocks. He had three-day-old mottled stubble on his chin.

They walked across to a green area with a few trees and sat on a bench.

Willis opened her backpack and took out her notebook. ‘We’ve come here to talk to you about Millie Stephens.’

Heathcote shrugged, looking slightly caught out and irritated. ‘What do you want me to say? I picked her up a couple of times, that’s all, I felt sorry for her, why do you have to hound blokes like me? I already had a letter sent to my house from your lot. I’m already in enough shit with the wife.’

‘We’re not here to talk to you about kerb-crawling, Mr Heathcote,’ said Willis.

‘What’s this about then?’

‘Millie’s body was found in the river yesterday morning,’ replied Willis.

‘That’s sad, but why do you come to me about it?’

‘This is a murder investigation, so we are looking for anyone who knew Millie who might know if she was feeling threatened at all. Seems like you knew her pretty well, as much as anyone did?’ asked Carter.

‘Don’t be fucking stupid.’ He shook his head and smirked. ‘How can you ever really know a junkie who lives that kind of life? I told you, I felt sorry for her, occasionally I bunged her a few bob, that’s all.’

‘We’ve just come from her dad’s. You were very good friends once, he said. We are hoping you might help to tell us a bit more about her.’

‘How can I help, for fuck’s sake? Millie was a drug addict, a prozzy – she was never going to have a long life. I’m sad for her but I can’t tell you anything about her. Don hates my guts; he blames me for the way she turned out, he thinks we were close once, but we never were. Millie would shag anyone.’

‘When was the last time you saw her?’ Willis asked as she took notes.

‘It must be a couple of months ago now. I met her for a drink.’

‘You said you’ve picked her up more than once?’ Carter said.

‘The first time was an accident. I saw her when I was on a night out with the lads. We went down Finsbury Park, see if we could get some action. We were just having a laugh in the van. I pulled up to talk to this bird, ask her how much for the four of us, just for a laugh, and it was Millie. I tell you, I was shocked. I hadn’t seen her for ten years. I hardly recognised her. I gave her a few quid for nothing.’ He looked at Willis to make sure she understood that he hadn’t bought any services from Millie. ‘I mean you really wouldn’t have wanted to, if you know what I mean? She had sores on her legs and arms from injecting. She was a real mess.’

‘Worse than the others on the street that you did have sex with?’ asked Willis.

He shrugged uninterestedly. ‘I accepted the kerb-crawling warning, I haven’t done it since.’

‘But you said you saw her again, after that?’ asked Carter.

‘Yes, a couple of times, we had a drink in the pub, for old times’ sake. She was a sad case.’

He started rolling a cigarette as he glanced behind to make sure work was continuing on the roof. Radio Hits was blaring out.

‘Did you ever take her to a park for a chat? What about Lee Valley Park, do you know it?’ Carter asked.

‘I know it, been there a few times fishing.’

‘When was the last time?’ Willis asked.

‘I don’t know, a couple of months ago, August?’

‘Where were you on the nineteenth and twentieth of last month?’