Frozen Grave (Willis/Carter #3)(61)

Pam brought up a photo on her PC of a hair salon from an article in a newspaper about the owner and her staff.

‘I traced a number to this salon, True Colours, and the hairdresser, called Paula Seymour. I think that’s her, third from the left. She met him on the site Sugar Daddies. The photo’s from the local paper from when they opened True Colours three years ago.’

‘Pretty-looking woman,’ said Robbo, looking at Pam’s screen.

‘She wasn’t in today,’ said Pam, ‘and I tried her home number. I didn’t leave a message. I’ll keep trying her. I did get through to a woman in the West Country. She’s quite a well-known artist who lives on Dartmoor. Her name is Megan Penarth. She paints atmospheric landscapes.’ Pam read from her notes: ‘It says on the letter that she met him through a wine-lovers’ dating site.’

‘You know . . .’ Carter spoke his thoughts out loud. ‘That’s one thing you can’t accuse Ellerman of – being lazy in this. He hunts women. I wonder what his end goal is? Is it just financial?’

‘Must be. If he is actually looking for a relationship with women, why does he stay in his marriage at all? answered Pam as she typed in the name of the company the next woman on the list, Gillian Forth, worked for: Dreamcars.

‘Maybe he doesn’t leave his wife because he thinks she’ll take what he has left,’ said Willis.

‘Does the wife have money?’ asked Robbo.

‘I’ve looked into her,’ Pam replied. ‘She was a hairdresser when they married. It looks like she worked the first few years but then she gave up when Ellerman started to make big money.’

‘How’s Toffee doing?’ asked Robbo suddenly, as they stood around Pam’s screen, waiting for the information to load.

‘Zoe is keeping us up to date,’ replied Willis. ‘She said that Simon Smith has been around a lot. She’s talking to him, trying to get him to tell us more about Toffee’s friends. We’re still looking for Mahmet Balik, who seems to have gone to ground.’

Pam brought up a photo from the Dreamcars website.

‘This was taken when the London Olympics were on,’ she said as she zoomed in on the image.

‘Nice car,’ said Robbo. A woman was posing with two men in front of a red Ferrari.

Pam read the details: ‘It’s a photo of clients with the sales manager Gillian Forth. I’ll see what else I can find on her.’

Pam Googled the name Gillian Forth and read out from the screen: ‘Gillian Forth was named as the woman who died in an arson attack on her home in Exeter last week.’





Chapter 35


Megan looked across the table at the three women opposite. They were sitting in a café close to Paula’s salon in Reading. They had chosen the most convenient location for Paula because she had Fifi and Esme to pick up from school later.

Paula, Lisa and Emily had all arrived within a ten-minute period of one another. They sipped their drinks nervously, watching one another. Megan took charge.

‘Okay, well if it’s all right with everyone then I’ll chair this meeting.’

‘Go ahead,’ Lisa said. She was the last to arrive and she had taken a seat at the end of the table. ‘Although I’m not really sure what we can hope to achieve.’

‘We can at least find out what’s what,’ said Emily. She’d managed to get cover for her lessons today. She’d set all her pupils mock exam papers and someone just had to make sure no one cheated.

‘Yeah.’ Paula had made a special effort with her make-up today. She looked like a young Priscilla Presley. Her black hair back-combed; her eyeliner thick black and her lips pale pink. ‘We need to know the truth.’

‘The truth is that he’s a bastard . . .’ Lisa was shaking with anger. ‘And an ungrateful twat.’

The rest fell silent. Paula bowed her head as she skimmed the chocolate off her cappuccino.

‘Okay . . .’ Emily got out a pad of paper and double-clicked the top of her ballpoint pen. ‘I’ll take the minutes.’

Megan smiled at her.

‘Let’s talk facts then,’ Megan started. ‘Is anyone here going to admit to writing this letter?’ She held it up.

‘Wasn’t me . . .’ went around the table as each of the women shook her head.

‘Okay, well, if it was me, I’d own up and be proud. This is a lot of work. And it looks like it’s long overdue,’ Megan said, putting it in the centre of the table.

‘Won’t the person who wrote this get in a lot of trouble with the police?’ asked Paula. ‘What about spying? What about all this information about other people – isn’t that illegal?’

‘What would the police charge you with?’ said Lisa. ‘Slander isn’t going to stick. These are plain facts, most of them.’

‘Oh, God . . .’ said Paula, shaking her head. ‘It’s such a mess.’ She stared wide-eyed at the other women. ‘We are never going to get our money back.’

Megan held up her hand for silence.

‘Who, around this table, has put money into his scheme and how much?’ Megan glanced towards Emily to be ready to record the amounts.

They looked at one another, reluctant to answer.