Frozen Grave (Willis/Carter #3)(40)

Ellerman went downstairs and into Paula’s kitchen, where he knew she kept a stash of spirits. He passed the television on the way – the news was on. He didn’t stop to look at the house fire in Exeter that had claimed a woman’s life – he found the brandy and poured himself a large one.





Chapter 22


‘Which one are you?’ Carter asked, looking over Hector’s shoulder at his screen.

‘I’m a male doctor named Lawrence,’ said Hector. ‘I’m also Sharon Thomas, a teacher. They list their jobs as teachers, politicians, civil servants, policemen.’

‘Well, you pay to get a better class of person, apparently,’ said Carter.

‘You have to go into a lot of detail about what you will and won’t do. You’re encouraged to lay it on the line – make it absolutely clear. For instance, this woman I’m looking at here, can’t see her face but she likes bondage, submission and to be dominated. She says she’s not too keen on pain but mild spanking is great. Humiliation and exhibitionism boxes? Yep – tick, tick – she likes those a lot.’

‘I’m sure I recognize that woman’s mole on her left buttock,’ Carter said, watching as Hector flicked through the profiles onscreen. ‘It’s a good job we can’t see faces. Could be half of the Met’s vice squad on here.’ Pam giggled in the background.

‘Have you managed to get hold of most of Olivia Grantham’s contacts yet?’Carter asked Robbo.

‘Yes. We’re starting interviews tomorrow morning – bringing them in one by one.’

‘What else do we know about any of them now?’

‘I’ve been looking at JJ Ellerman’s story,’ answered Pam. ‘He’s from Portsmouth. He’s forty-five now. Left school at fifteen. He served an apprenticeship in a boat builders’ in his home town and worked his way up the ladder until he became a partner. He married a local Portsmouth-born hairdresser, Dee Thompkinson – she’s five years younger than him – and then they moved to London.’

‘What was his background?’ asked Carter.

‘He’s done a few interviews about his tough upbringing. He seems to have lived alone with his father. His dad died when he was seventeen. Cause of death: liver failure brought on by alcohol abuse.’

‘No sign of the mother?’

‘No. They were already divorced at the time of his dad’s death.’

‘He was their only kid?’

‘Yes.’

‘So he worked his way up the ladder. Determined type. Admirable. Can’t have been easy living with a father who drank himself to death,’ said Carter.

‘He bought out the other partner in Mermaid Yachts at the end of the ’90s and Ellerman and his wife bought a big house in Richmond. It looks like things started to go down for Ellerman after that,’ said Pam. ‘The company accounts show a sharp decline in profit.’

‘How does he afford to stay in the house in Richmond?’ asked Robbo.

‘He has another business. He’s the director of a company renovating houses in Spain,’ answered Pam. ‘He looks like he draws a salary from that.’ Pam’s azure-blue eyes flicked back on Carter.

‘Can we see some of these houses?’ Carter asked as he helped himself to coffee.

‘I’ve had a look for a website – it’s amateur at best. It’s more of a one-page advert than an interactive website. There are a couple of pages of photos of houses, that’s it. There doesn’t seem to be anything else about it online. The company’s called Hacienda Developments; it’s based in Spain although registered here.’

‘If he makes money from it, he must advertise it somewhere.’

‘You’d think so,’ said Robbo. ‘Everything’s online these days.’

‘Unless he’s doing one bespoke project at a time,’ said Hector. ‘I saw something like that on one of those building TV programmes. This one was for a wealthy Brit and it cost a million. If you were in charge of that project, you could expect a fair whack.’

‘So – we think he’s got two high-profile businesses going on? Restoring expensive Spanish homes and selling just as expensive yachts?’

‘The yachts haven’t been doing well for a while,’ said Pam as she looked at the screen over her glasses. They were glam ones – leopard-print with winged sides.

Carter turned to Hector.

‘Did you ask him where he was on Sunday afternoon and evening?’

‘At home.’

‘When was the last time he had contact with Olivia?’

‘They texted one another a lot, said Hector. ‘Last time looks like a week ago. They sent a text to one another first and then there were a few phone calls between them. The last one we have is one from Olivia to him saying: “Great to chat, looking forward to putting plan into action. Very exciting!!!”’

‘She seemed to like him,’ said Carter.

‘Yeah, there are a lot of calls between them, long ones, sometimes lasting more than an hour,’ Hector replied, looking at the lists of phone records. ‘There is also a six-month period a year ago when Ellerman was texting her every day; looks like a basic, round-robin text – he says the same thing every time: “Hello, gorgeous, how’s things? I’m so hot for you right now. Miss you, love you . . .” That kind of thing. They must have felt a connection—’