The Fourth Friend (DI Jackman & DS Evans #3)(63)
‘This confirms what you surmised from the original forensic reports,’ said Jackman.
‘It certainly does. My motion graphics are incontestable. They are calculated on velocity, distance, and careful scrutiny of every single drop of blood that was shed, but I can add a bit more to the scenario.’
Everyone looked at him.
‘She was left there, in the position that she fell, for over three hours before she was moved. And one person would not have been able to get her out of the cottage alone. Two men, correction, two people, were involved in this.’
‘How do you know how long she was left there?’ asked Charlie.
‘Again, from our wonderfully informative blood. The blood that had seeped from the body had separated into clot and serum, so I could calculate the amount of time between her dying to the time she was dragged. It came to several hours. If she had been moved immediately and dragged through fresh blood, the drag pattern would have been quite different. Plus, the drag pattern stopped, and just a few drips were then found, indicating that she was lifted from the room, hence two people required.’
‘And two men were seen talking outside in the garden,’ added Carter. ‘Ponytail and another man.’
‘Why would her half-brother be so angry with her?’ Marie asked thoughtfully. ‘Wasn’t he generally the fawning type? Creepy and quiet?’
‘You know what they say about the quiet ones,’ Robbie answered. ‘And if he really was lusting after her, she might have rejected his advances, making him angry.’
Carter raised a hand. ‘Something bothers me about this Ponytail, or Ralph Doolan, as we believe him to be. He was always a loner. According to Tom, whenever he visited Suzanne he always came by himself. Max’s checks on him said the same. He has very few, if any, real friends. So who was with him on the night Suzanne died?’
‘This is probably completely irrelevant,’ Charlie smiled rather anxiously, ‘but Ralph Doolan is in hospital because of a hit and run. Do you think someone was trying to get rid of him?’
Everyone turned to Charlie.
‘Someone like the man who helped him dispose of Suzanne’s body?’ he added hopefully.
‘I suggest you give Max and Rosie a ring and ask them to speak to the Humberside boys about that hit and run. You might just have a point there, Charlie-boy!’ Jackman looked pleased, and so did Charlie.
Then Robbie dampened the mood. ‘What if Ralph had nothing to do with Suzanne’s actual death? The killer could have been the man in the shadows, and he called Ralph to come and help him with the body?’
There was a collective sigh.
Marie shook her head. ‘We need more evidence. Anything come up regarding DNA at the scene, Professor?’
‘Apart from some skull splinters that had been missed, the original SOCOs did a good job. There was no new DNA.’
Jackman stood up and walked over to the whiteboard. ‘What facts do we actually have? Rory has now confirmed that Suzanne was killed in situ, left for several hours, then moved.’ He pointed to the name Alan Pitt. ‘This man saw two men. This one,’ he tapped the ponytailed EFIT picture, ‘and an unidentified male, in heated discussion, on the garden path of Holland Cottage, at around the time she was killed.’ He pointed to Suzanne’s picture. ‘Harvey Cash, her first husband, has stated that she was a violent and abusive partner. Carter has confirmed that his friend Tom Holland changed after he married Suzanne. The changes he describes are consistent with someone living under threat from an emotionally abusive bully. She was not well-liked generally, and was known to be promiscuous prior to marrying Tom Holland. We have no indications that she was still behaving in that manner after her marriage, although we think from enquiries at the time, and from people that Max has interviewed, that she did see several men after Tom left. Which means that we cannot say whether she was faithful or unfaithful.’ He then pointed to the picture of Ralph Doolan. ‘There are allegations that this man, her half-brother, was sexually interested in Suzanne. But apart from hearsay and several descriptions of him as creepy, that is not a proven fact.’
He stood back. ‘Have I missed anything?’
No one spoke.
‘Not a lot, is it?’
‘Look, I hate to leave things like this, but I have to get back to my lab. I hear a cold cadaver calling me.’ Rory stood up. ‘If any other little morsel of information comes to me, I shall be in touch.’
‘Thank you, Rory.’ Jackman looked around. ‘I think we are finished here anyway. Back to the drawing board, folks.’
With a scraping of chairs they all returned to their desks.
Carter hung back, wanting to reassure Marie that he was okay, but he saw Jackman beckon to him. What? Now? thought Carter miserably, but smiled and followed his boss from the room.
*
Marie watched them go and bit her lip. Laura Archer had phoned a few minutes before Carter reappeared, and told her of his unsettling “episode” with her and Professor Page. Marie had naturally agreed to be vigilant. The call was hardly necessary, she had been on red alert for weeks!
‘Sarge, can I have a word?’ Robbie looked worried.
‘Carter looks fine, so I hope you are not still worried, are you?’ She hoped she sounded reassuring. She wanted everything back on an even keel where Carter was concerned.
‘Yes, Sarge, it’s not that.’ He pulled a chair close to her desk. ‘No one seems to have mentioned that if Suzanne did abuse Tom Holland, he might just have been the one who killed her. Women like that are addicted to conflict. She could have instigated an argument that ended in her death.’