Frozen Grave (Willis/Carter #3)(63)

‘I can help with that,’said Emily. ‘I have access to legal representatives through the school.’

‘Okay, then we all need to set out exactly what we were promised and what we want from it. Let’s do that now, round this table, and then Emily can make a start.’ Megan looked at each woman around the table. ‘Shall we decide what our aims are here?’ They nodded.

Lisa answered: ‘It’s to fuck him over and get our money back.’

‘And to be in control of the Spanish investment,’ said Paula. ‘Say we will go to the police if he doesn’t sign.’

‘I think it’s to get justice, to make him realize he’s been wrong and so terribly unfair,’ said Emily.

‘And I want to make sure he’s too scared to ever contemplate doing this kind of thing again,’ said Megan.





Chapter 36


Willis and Carter arrived mid-afternoon and parked in the police-station car park at Middlemoor Regional Headquarters on the outskirts of Exeter.

A tall, slim, dark-haired man in jeans and a blue-and-black-check shirt called to them as they were on the way into the station.

‘Hello, Dan.’

‘Scott – how’s things? Good to see you.’ They gave one another a man-hug.

Carter turned back to introduce Willis.

‘This is my partner – DC Ebony Willis.’

‘Nice to meet you.’ Scott shook her hand. ‘Did you get your passport stamped coming this far south?’ he said, smiling at her.

‘I did think about it.’

‘How’s Cabrina, Dan?’

‘Good, thanks, mate.’

‘What happened to your stag do, Dan? Croatia, Barcelona? Which is it to be – vodka shots or tequila?

‘Not there yet, mate. We had a kid first. Have to wait for the right time.’

Scott looked at Willis and gave a nod Carter’s way. ‘Is he still planning what he’s going to wear?’ She laughed.

Carter looked at Willis. It was nice to hear her laugh again.

‘Yeah – don’t think so, mate, no time.’ Carter grinned. ‘Too busy with proper crime up in the big city; it’s not all about who stole all the cabbages.’

Scott laughed and rolled his eyes.

‘That’s right, I forgot, it’s a bad world north of Brizztol.’ He laughed. Carter winked at Willis. ‘We can talk in the car.’ He led them over to the blue estate. ‘I’ll take you to see Gillian Forth’s body first.’

‘What kind of a woman was she? Any enemies?’ asked Willis as they drove out of the car park.

‘She was thirty-eight,’ Tucker answered. ‘She worked in the sales department of a car-parts firm. She’d lived in Exeter all her life. She was a divorcee but her husband kept in touch – no animosity there. She never had kids. She was quite highly strung. If pushed she could fly off the handle. But nice most of the time – her workmates liked her. She was kind and fun to be with, they said.’

‘Boyfriend?’ asked Willis.

‘Her workmates said they thought there might be, but they weren’t absolutely sure. There are only two other women working at the company, the rest are blokes. Not sure how much she would have told them. We’ve spoken to friends outside her work and they say they’ve never met him but have heard about a man who visits once a fortnight.’

Carter flashed Willis a look.

‘Interesting.’

‘She didn’t elaborate though.’

‘Did they get a name for him?’

‘John. No surname.’

Carter looked at Willis expectantly. She didn’t look his way; she was staring at Scott’s profile. She didn’t seem to have heard what he just said.

‘This man JJ Ellerman you’re looking into – what’s the connection? Could he be the boyfriend, John? Is that what you’re thinking?’

‘It’s possible,’ Carter told him. Willis took the letter from her bag and handed it to Carter.

‘We got this about him. Two of the women from this list are now dead. Gillian Forth’s name is on it and so is Olivia Grantham’s, the lawyer.’

‘This is a helluva list,’ Tucker said as Carter showed him the three pages of names. ‘Who are all these women?’

‘These are his conquests,’ answered Willis. ‘He travels all over the country, trying to flog luxury yachts and he meets women from dating sites.’

‘Yeah . . . he has a novel way of finding a bed for the night,’ said Carter. ‘A woman in every town. Whilst he’s there, we also think he cons them out of money. He got Olivia Grantham to invest ten grand. That was made by a bank transfer to his Spanish Hacienda company – a renovations company based in Spain but seeming to do no advertising.’

‘She didn’t die the same way as Gillian, did she?’

‘No, she was murdered by a third party, or several of them. She was lured into a building thinking that she was meeting a man for sex. Instead, she was set up to be raped and beaten by a gang of homeless drunks or gang members, take your pick – who were given large amounts of drugs and drink to get them in the party mood.’

Scott shook his head. ‘You can’t get Ellerman for her murder then.’