Frozen Grave (Willis/Carter #3)(90)

‘JJ came. The girls went to stay with my mum.’

‘Tuesday? Is that a night he usually spends with you?’

‘Yes.’

‘What was he like when he appeared? And what time was that?’

‘He turned up in the middle of the evening, about nine. No – it was quite late really, maybe half past.’

‘How did he seem?’

‘He was okay. He seemed harassed. He’d got cash-flow problems.’ She rolled her eyes. ‘As usual.’

‘And, if you could think back to a few days before that, Sunday the fifth? Where were you that day?’

‘I was here. I can remember. Doing things with the kids. We had a party to go to in the afternoon.’

‘Was there ever a time with Ellerman that you felt threatened at all?’

‘No.’

‘Would you be willing to press charges against JJ Ellerman for defrauding you out of money?’

‘No. I don’t want to do that.’

‘Why, can I ask?’

She shook her head. She looked cornered, flustered.

‘I don’t really want to. I know he’s been a bastard but he’s also been good to me and the kids.’

‘Have you seen JJ Ellerman since you got this letter?’

Paula looked down at her coffee. She nodded. ‘Just briefly.’

‘Have you talked to him on the phone?’ asked Carter.

‘We haven’t talked a lot. I think he’s hoping everything will calm down.’

‘Do you think it will?’

She shook her head. ‘Who knows?’

‘Am I right in thinking that you would be willing to continue this relationship with Ellerman?’ asked Carter. ‘I realize you’ve invested a lot in it.’

‘No. I can’t see it – can you?’

She looked at them in turn and was obviously panicking. The more she shook her head at the thought of it, the more it became obvious that she had no intention of giving Ellerman up.

Carter sat, leaning forward, his elbows resting on the table, as he smiled at Paula. Tucker sat right back; Willis wrote her notes.

‘I want to ask you to do something for me, Paula.’ Carter decided they’d waited long enough. ‘I want you to resist contacting Ellerman. Don’t answer his calls, or if you do, don’t say anything about meeting us or the other women. Get off the phone and call us if you are at all worried about anything.’ Carter handed her his card.

‘What’s the matter?’

Carter picked up the letter and turned to show her three names.

‘Olivia Grantham, Gillian Forth and now Lisa Tompkins, all women from this list and now all of them now dead.’

Paula knocked her coffee cup as she brought her hand to her mouth in shock at the news.

‘Not Lisa, who I met?’

‘Yes, she died the night before last whilst she was out running. She fell off the edge of a cliff. We don’t know if she was pushed or whether she fell, but she is dead and there will be an investigation into her death.

After Paula went back to work, she phoned Megan from the back room; Megan was out – she phoned Emily. Emily was between lessons.

‘They say three of the women on the list are dead – including Lisa. She died Saturday night – possibly murdered. They say to stay away from JJ and they asked me if I wanted to press charges. I don’t know what to think. I’m worried I’m in danger.’

‘They’re just trying to scare you into pressing charges against him. They want to get him for fraud, I expect. They need us to do that. Don’t tell them anything. They are out to get him. Let’s get our money back first. There’s an awful lot of women on that list – three dead is not a lot.’

‘Poor Lisa.’

‘Yes, poor Lisa. We need to stick together, Paula.’

‘Are we still going to meet at Megan’s house?’

‘Yes, as soon as we can – we need to get it over with.’





Chapter 51


The police officers drove back to London in two cars and Ebony left Carter and Tucker at Carter’s flat. Tucker was staying the night there. Cabrina opened the door and invited her in for some supper. Willis declined. It was late.

‘I’ll see you tomorrow.’

Carter and Tucker talked deep into the night as they finished off a bottle of whisky. Carter was suffering the most when they walked into Robbo’s office the next morning.

‘Come in, Tucker. How does it feel to be back?’ Robbo stood and shook Tucker’s hand as he walked into the office.

‘It feels . . . interesting.’ Tucker smiled. He shook hands with Pam and Hector. He smiled at Willis, who was already in the office.

‘Okay, well, let’s get this meeting started,’ said Carter. ‘Robbo, can you talk us through the timeline of events?’

He drew up a chair for Tucker and one for himself. Hector stopped working at his PC, to join in the meeting.

Robbo wheeled his whiteboard forward, took a marker and drew three circles, each linked to the other, then put a name in each:

OLIVIA . . . GILLIAN . . . LISA . . .

‘All three women were having a sexual relationship with JJ Ellerman. All killed in different ways. So far, the only lead we have is the homeless man, Toffee, who is currently in an induced coma. We know Toffee had money on him and we know he witnessed the attack on Olivia Grantham because he said so.’