‘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.’
Marie leaned closer to Robbie, elbows on her desk. ‘Jackman and I had come to the same conclusion. When you mentioned someone asking Ponytail — Ralph Doolan — to help him, then the only person I could possibly think of would be Tom Holland. Who else knew him?’
‘My thoughts too. But I didn’t want to talk in front of Carter. Not after the last time.’ He looked apprehensive. ‘Actually I’ve changed my mind. I don’t think Carter should be here at all.’
‘Well, we have our reasons for keeping him close.’
Robbie nodded. ‘Can I get permission to go back to Holland Cottage?’
‘Why?’
‘I want to go through all their personal stuff. Letters, diaries, calendars, computers, the lot.’
Robbie was obviously on exactly the same track as she was. The discovery that Suzanne might have been abusive meant husband Tom was suspect number one. ‘A lot of it is in the evidence storage facility. It was taken and bagged and tagged after her disappearance, but go ahead. See what you can find, and I’ll call evidence storage and tell them to allow you access, okay?’
‘Thanks, Sarge.’ He started to get up, then sat back down again. ‘One thing that doesn’t conform to the usual abusive pattern is that Suzanne seemed to be okay about Tom spending time with his mates. Carter says they spent a lot of hours working on that old boat, but she didn’t object.’
Marie frowned. ‘I couldn’t really say. I don’t know too much about that kind of behaviour.’
‘Sadly, I do. I had an old friend who got involved with a controlling woman, and it was one of the scariest things I’ve ever seen. Hence I read up on it. The thing is, they usually isolate their partner, keeping them apart from friends and family, and then poisoning their minds so that they actually become hostile towards them.’ He scratched his chin. ‘Suzanne didn’t do that.’
‘Don’t these things escalate? Maybe she hadn’t reached that stage yet? Or, maybe she liked to let him out somewhere safe, like with buddy Carter on the Eva May, because she was busy with other things.’
‘Like going back to her old ways?’
‘Bet ya!’
‘Good point.’ Robbie stood up. ‘Don’t tell Carter where I’m going, will you?’
‘No intention.’
‘I’ll report back to you.’
‘Do that.’
*
Carter left Jackman’s office. He had done everything he could to soothe his boss’s troubled mind, though it had been difficult to concentrate when he was almost choking on the acrid stench. Tom had stood like a statue, staring out of the window.