Simon glowered at them as they filed in to the interview room. ‘Just be aware that when I’ve finished with you, you’ll be directing bloody traffic on the Old Kent Road. For the rest of your years on the force!’
Erika and Peterson ignored him, and they all sat. She went through the formalities for the tape and then opened a folder in front of her on the table.
‘Where is Linda?’ he said. Erika ignored him. ‘I have a right to know where my daughter is!’
‘Linda has been arrested, and is here in detention,’ said Peterson.
‘You leave Linda out of this, you hear me? She’s not well!’ shouted Simon.
‘Not well?’
‘She’s under a lot of stress; she’s not fit to be interrogated.’
‘Who informed you that we’re going to interrogate her?’ asked Erika.
‘When police officers rock up at my door at the crack of dawn in riot gear with guns, they don’t want a chat. I presume of course . . . I’m warning you . . .’
‘Your wife is in reception. Where is your son, David?’ asked Erika.
‘He’s on a stag weekend, with friends, in Prague.’
‘Where is he staying?’
‘I don’t know, a pub or hotel; could be a youth hostel for all I know. It’s a stag party.’
‘A stag party for who?’ asked Peterson.
‘One of his friends from university is getting married. I can get the information from my secretary; she booked it all.’
‘We’ll do that,’ said Peterson. There was a pause as Erika flicked through her file.
‘You run several companies in connection with your business and personal affairs, is that correct?’ she asked.
‘What a stupid question. Of course that’s correct.’
‘One is called Millgate Ltd, yes?’
‘Yes.’
‘And you have another one called . . . Peckinpath.’
‘Yes.’
‘Quantum, Burbridge, Newton Quarry . . .’
The solicitor leaned across the table towards Erika.
‘I don’t see why you feel the need to read this out to my client, DCI Foster. He’s well aware of his business interests; these are all public limited companies and this information is in the public domain.’
Simon sat back, alert but furious.
‘Yes, that’s correct,’ said Erika. ‘I just needed confirmation for the tape, before I proceed. Sorry to waste your client’s valuable time . . . So, I’ll ask again.’
‘Yes, yes, yes. Is that loud enough for your bloody tape?’
‘I would like to draw your attention to one of your bank statements from the month of September last year.’ Erika took a sheet of paper from her folder and laid it on the desk. Simon leant forward.
‘Hang on, why do you have this? On whose authority?’
‘On my authority,’ said Erika. ‘A payment was made by you to Cosgrove Holdings Ltd, which is the registered company behind Yakka Events – Giles Osborne’s Yakka Events. The sum was for forty-six thousand pounds.’ Erika tapped the figure on the statement with her finger.
‘Yes, I’ve invested in the company,’ said Simon, sitting back and eyeballing Erika.
She took out another bank statement. ‘I also have one of Giles Osborne’s bank statements. For Cosgrove Holdings Ltd, for the same date, which shows the forty-six thousand pounds goes in to the account . . .’
‘Where is this going?’ asked the solicitor. Erika held up her hand and carried on.
‘But on the same day, your forty-six thousand pounds goes back out again.’
Simon started to laugh, and looked around the room to see if anyone would laugh with him. Peterson remained stony-faced. ‘Why don’t you ask Giles? I’m not involved in the day-to-day running of his company. I’m a sleeping partner.’
‘But you invested forty-six thousand pounds. That’s a lot to be just a sleeping partner?’
‘Define a lot? To me, forty-six thousand pounds is not a vast sum of money . . . I’m sure for you, with a police salary, it’s a lot more.’
‘With that taken into account, surely you and Giles would have at least agreed what your investment would have entailed?’ said Erika.
‘I trust Giles and, if you remember, before the brutal murder of my daughter, I was welcoming Giles into my family as my son-in-law.’
Simon’s angry mask cracked, and they saw the raw pain from the loss of Andrea.
‘Okay, so as your son-in-law, did Giles share with you why the forty-six thousand pounds was paid straight out to a company called Mercury Investments Ltd?’
Simon looked across at his solicitor.
‘Yes or no? It’s a simple question,’ said Erika. ‘Yes or no, did Giles share why the forty-six thousand pounds was paid back out to a company called Mercury Investments Ltd?’
‘No.’
‘Do you know of a company called Mercury Investments?’
‘No.’
‘It’s registered to a Rebecca Kucerov, wife of this man – Igor Kucerov. Just in case you need reminding, we recovered Andrea’s second mobile phone with these pictures.’
Erika took the explicit photos from the folder and laid them out in front of Simon. He glanced down at them. He closed his eyes and began to shake.
The solicitor leant in and started to gather them up. ‘I object to my client being shown these distressing photos of his daughter, who has only just been buried . . .’
‘But what does your client have to say about this forty-six thousand pounds? We believe this man, Igor Kucerov, is linked to the illegal trafficking of young Eastern European woman to the United Kingdom. He was also tried for the murder of a young girl called Nadia Greco.’
‘Was he convicted?’ asked Simon, sharply.
‘No, but even without a conviction it adds up to a damming link. So I’ll ask you again. Do you know why Giles Osborne transferred the forty-six thousand pounds to Igor Kucerov?’
Simon sat back, looking rattled.
‘My client has no comment.’
‘Right,’ said Erika. She gave Peterson a look and they both stood.
‘And?’ asked the solicitor.
‘We’re suspending this interview for the time being,’ said Erika.
‘What time did you say it was?’ asked Simon.
‘It’s twelve-fifteen pm,’ said Erika.
‘I’d like to talk to Linda, NOW,’ he said.
Erika ignored him as she and Peterson left the interview room.
64
‘He looks like he’s going a bit nuts in there,’ said Moss when they were back in the observation suite. They looked at the four screens. Simon was in the middle of a rant about “that bitch policewoman” having no right to deny him access to his daughter.
‘Perhaps they all need to sweat it out for a bit,’ said Peterson.
‘Yes, but remember we’ve only got them for twenty-four hours. If we can’t charge them, then we have to let them go.’
‘If only we could re-arrest Kucerov for the murder of Nadia Greco,’ said Moss.
‘We don’t have any new evidence. And our time wouldn’t be used effectively trying. We need to get him on this link with the money from Simon and Giles,’ said Erika. ‘And Linda is the link to Andrea and Igor.’
On the next screen, Linda was now sitting with her head on the table of the interview room, absent-mindedly tracing circles on the scratched tabletop.
On the screen below, Igor sat back, legs splayed, resting his head against the wall. Giles remained impassive too, sitting in his chair and looking around, almost as if a waiter had forgotten his order.
‘Let’s take a few minutes,’ said Erika. She grabbed her cigarettes and made her way outside.
When she came out onto the steps of the front entrance, Diana Douglas-Brown was just lighting up a cigarette. She stood at the bottom of the steps, and wore a long, black fur coat. Her hair was immaculately blow-dried and feathered around her exhausted face.
Erika was about to turn and go back inside when Diana noticed her.
‘DCI Foster, what’s happening?’
‘We’re conducting our interviews,’ said Erika, with an air of finality.
She went to go back indoors but Diana said, ‘Please, would you give this to Linda?’ She reached into the folds of her coat and held out a tiny stuffed cat on a key ring. It was black with soft brown eyes and a tiny piece of faded pink material for a tongue.
‘I’m afraid I can’t, I’m sorry,’ said Erika.