Blood Line (29 page)

‘Yes, and . . .?’

‘I asked her if Tina was actually out of the salon.’

‘What did she say?’

‘That Tina used a pay-phone. The girls never really knew why she didn’t simply use the desk phone or even her own mobile.’

‘Did she tell them she was using a pay-phone?’

‘Not in so many words, but she would often take some of the change left for tips, which irritated the juniors.’ Helen crossed to Anna’s desk and laid out a computer printout of a map. ‘This is the area around the salon. There are no public telephone booths close by, but there is a pay-phone in a pub on a corner within yards of the salon, and there’s also one in a café across the street. There’s two more further along, and . . .’

Anna studied the map. ‘Get Paul to come in, would you?’ she asked, stacking more files from her desk.

‘Knock, knock, who’s there?’ Paul said from the doorway.

‘Very witty. Shut the door. I want you to do something.’

Closing the door, Paul glanced at the map, saying, ‘Maybe the reason we could never discover if Tina was contacting anyone outside her work is because of—’

‘I’m ahead of you,’ Anna said, standing beside him.

‘It’s going to take a bloody long time if we want any calls accessed from these pay-phones,’ Paul complained, ‘because she could be using any one of them.’

‘Plus we don’t know what number she will be phoning. So I want you to do some surveillance. You get over to the salon and wait.’

‘But it could take all day before she makes a call!’

‘I don’t think so. If she is contacting someone who is connected to the murder, she’s bound to ring them. And as soon as we know which pay-phone she’s using we’ll get the number accessed.’

Paul gave her a sidelong glance as she folded the map.

‘Right – get moving,’ Anna told him, ‘and ask Brian to come in and see me. When you are in position, let me know.’

A few moments later, Brian came into her office.

‘I want Daniel Matthews brought in for questioning,’ Anna told him.

Brian hesitated. ‘Sorry, I’ve got a slew of names on the board. Who is he?’

‘The graphic-artist friend of Alan Rawlins, whose name he used to purchase the house in Cornwall.’

‘Christ, yes, of course. Sorry.’ Then: ‘Everything all right? Only I noticed the Boss was in with you for a lengthy session.’

‘Everything is fine, thank you, Brian.’

‘Is a trip to Cornwall on the cards then?’

‘Yes, it is,’ she said tetchily as Brian left.

Sitting at her desk she was able to watch through the blinds as Brian started talking with Helen. She was certain that he had also spoken to Langton. It made her feel uneasy that the team didn’t think of her as being in charge of the case. She knew she would have to give a briefing and bring back their confidence in her.

Paul left his car at the local supermarket and walked the short distance to Tina’s hair salon. He rang through to Anna to say he was in position near the salon and that he’d remain on foot as the pay-phones were all within walking distance. Anna then put in a call to talk to Tina.

‘I’m really busy at the moment, Detective Travis. I’m giving a treatment to a client.’

‘This shouldn’t take long, Tina. I just wanted to run a few things by you that we have uncovered. We now know that Alan Rawlins purchased a substantial property in Cornwall – a cash buy for over four hundred thousand pounds. We have also been able to access some files from his computer. It appears that he has further substantial amounts of money. He was making payouts on quite a regular basis, amounts between five to ten thousand pounds.’

As she spoke, Tina constantly gasped, repeating that she couldn’t believe it.

‘I will need to discuss these new developments with you, but I wanted to know as soon as possible if you were aware—’

‘I never knew anything about it,’ Tina interrupted her. ‘It just doesn’t make any sense to me and I can’t help you at all. It’s all news to me.’ Her voice was shrill and then she started to cry.

‘I’m sorry if this is distressing for you.’

‘I can’t talk to you – there’s customers here. I’ve got to go.’

Anna replaced the receiver and her phone rang immediately. It was Brian to say that he had contacted Daniel Matthews, who was at home, so they were going to pick him up and bring him in. Then line two bleeped and Anna had to cut off Brian to answer. It was Paul. Tina had left the salon two minutes ago and he was tailing her.

‘Good. As soon as you know the location I’ll get onto Tech Support and you can return to the station.’

She smiled, pleased with herself, but the good feeling didn’t last long. Had she been so off-kilter as Langton had suggested that she had sent the murder enquiry into areas that were not even relevant? She got up and straightened her jacket. If she had, she was going to have to apologise, but the old adage that Langton always used to use: ‘What’s your gut feeling?’ made her think again, because
her
gut feeling was that the case was on course.

As everyone waited for Paul to get in touch, the tension grew. By now Anna had filled the team in on the importance of discovering who Tina was in contact with, and that it had to be someone she didn’t want anyone at the salon to know about. Fifteen minutes ticked by and still nothing. Then Paul rang in to say that Tina had done a walkabout before she went into the local pub. She did, however, make two calls – one after the other. She spent no more than a few seconds on one and five minutes on the other.

By the time Paul had returned to the station they had accessed the numbers and the buzz was on. The first call had been to Michael Phillips’s office and the second was to his company mobile. This had not been checked by the team as they only had access to his personal mobile. Just as the buzz started that they were moving forward, Anna got bad news.

Liz called from the forensic lab. She explained that they had been unable to match the single strand of hair taken from Tina Brooks’s bed with her DNA. The one strand was in very poor condition, with no root attached. It also had bleach, or hair-dye on it which made the job even more difficult.

‘But it could possibly be Tina’s?’ Anna persisted.

‘I honestly can’t say.’

‘She’s a hairdresser and she uses hair-dye.’

‘But that really won’t help me. If it was ever brought up in court, I would have to deny that my tests were conclusive.’

Anna thanked Liz, very disappointed.

Brian Stanley had brought in Daniel Matthews for questioning. Before Anna went to interview him she gave a briefing to the team. The link she had been hoping for between Tina and Michael Phillips was now confirmed. She made no mention of the call from Forensics. She wanted Tina arrested at the same time Michael Phillips was to be brought in. The latter would be told he was assisting police enquiries, but Tina was to be unnerved. Anna stipulated that she was to be arrested for the murder of Alan Rawlins and handcuffed.

D
aniel Matthews was sitting waiting in interview room two. He had been given a coffee and was asked if he required a solicitor. He repeated over and over that he had done nothing wrong, so he wouldn’t need anyone to be with him. He seemed very agitated, however, and his skinny frame was hunched up as he asked for water.

It was over an hour before Anna and Paul went in to talk to him. Anna had told Paul that he was to open up the interview but then remain silent, as she wanted to head up the questioning, until she gave him a signal to do otherwise.

‘I don’t understand why I’ve been brought here. I told you everything I know about Alan and I’ve not got anything else to add,’ Daniel protested.

‘We really appreciate you coming in to help our enquiry,’ Paul said as he opened his notebook, flipping back the pages to read his notes from their previous interview. He then waited for Anna to take over.

‘Are you aware, Daniel,’ Anna began, ‘that your name is on the deeds of a very substantial property in Cornwall?’

‘I told you earlier – I don’t know anything about it.’

‘We believe that Alan Rawlins purchased this property and we need to know if you are—’

‘I said, I don’t know anything about it!’

‘But were you aware that Alan Rawlins used your name?’

‘No.’

‘Did you ever sign any documents appertaining to this property?’

‘No.’

‘Have you ever been to Cornwall?’

‘No.’

‘Did you know that Alan Rawlins was homosexual?’

Daniel flushed and Paul picked up on this.

‘Tell me about how you knew.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘You have admitted that you are gay and that you were friends for a long time. You came out to him in confidence. Did he ever do the same to you?’

‘We were friends, that’s all, nothing more. I don’t know why I am here.’

‘You are here, Mr Matthews, because your friend Alan Rawlins has been missing for some considerable time and it is very probable that he has been murdered.’

‘Oh my God.’

‘We have found some very strong evidence that makes us believe he was killed inside his own flat.’

‘I don’t know what to say.’

‘You just have to tell us the truth. You maintained that you had not seen Alan for some considerable time – in fact, four months before he was presumed missing. Do you want to change that statement?’

‘No, it’s the truth.’ Daniel paused and took off his glasses.

‘Just take us through the last time you met with Alan Rawlins,’ Anna interjected.

Matthews was polishing his glasses with a handkerchief, rubbing at the lenses.

‘He just dropped by to see me. We had a pizza, I think, and then he left. It was ages ago. Previously I’d not seen him for some time. He got engaged and we didn’t meet up as frequently as we used to do, just as I explained to you before. Oh . . . I did see him again – I’d forgotten, sorry. It was before that – maybe a month before.’

He replaced his glasses and continued to address Anna.

‘He asked me to sign his Will – that’s what he came round for. He wanted me to be a signatory on his Will because he said if anything ever happened to him, he’d want me to be executor.’

‘Did you read the Will?’

‘No. He just showed me where I had to sign.’

‘Do you recall the solicitor’s name?’

‘No, I didn’t see the top page. I just signed at the bottom where he indicated and then he left.’

‘Didn’t you find that odd?’

‘What?’

‘That he wanted you to sign his Will?’

‘Not really. He said that he was planning on getting married and might be moving away, and then with all his surfing he said there could be an accident and he wanted Tina taken care of.’

‘Did he seem concerned in any way or worried about anything?’

‘No.’

Anna was becoming frustrated with Daniel’s obvious lies. ‘Mr Matthews, you openly admit to being homosexual and we now know that Alan Rawlins was bisexual. You must have been a very close friend for him to want you to be executor of his Will.’

‘We have been close friends since school. Alan always looked out for me. I used to get bullied and he was the one person who wouldn’t let them carry on messing me around. I was always skinny, always a bit effeminate – it was just the way I was – and to have Alan as my friend made my time at school bearable. I owe him a lot.’

‘Did you owe him enough to sign a document that you were told was a Will, but could also have been ownership of a very valuable property?’ Anna asked in a loud voice.

‘I told you, I didn’t look at it. If you must know, I’d have signed anything for him if he’d wanted me to.’

‘So you cared for him a lot?’

‘Yes, I did and do, and it was only because of his relationship with Tina that we didn’t see each other as much.’

‘You didn’t like her?’

‘No, but if it made him happy then I just had to accept it.’

‘It’s not because you thought she was wrong for Alan that you disliked her, is it? You’ve never accepted her because you’re jealous. She had the one thing you’ve always wanted for yourself. You loved Alan.’

‘Yes, I loved him but not like you’re trying to make out.’

‘So you never had a sexual relationship with him?’

‘No.’ He took off his glasses again and began polishing the lenses once more, blinking rapidly.

‘I think you are lying.’

‘You can think what you want,’ Daniel Matthews said waspishly.

‘Why lie about it?’

‘I hero-worshipped him, if you want the truth. I’d have done anything for him.’

Anna nodded to Paul to indicate he was to take over the questioning.

‘What other things
did
you do for him, Daniel?’

‘I did his washing for him sometimes.’

‘His
washing
?’

‘Yes. When he’d been away I’d take his laundry and wash and iron it for him.’

‘So this would be when he returned from Cornwall?’

‘Wherever, but I hadn’t done it recently.’

‘Did you do drugs with him?’

‘
No
. I just don’t understand what you are trying to get me to say. You want me to admit I had a sexual relationship with him, but I didn’t – in my dreams maybe, but Alan was always straight and . . .’

His eyes filled with tears and he took off his glasses yet again.

‘I find this very distressing because I just can’t come to terms with the fact that you say he might be dead. If he is, then that’s the reason why he’s not contacted me for so long.’

‘This washing you did for him . . . why do you think he brought it to you rather than take it back to his own flat?’

‘He was very particular. He said
she
couldn’t iron.’

‘So when you’d done his laundry, did he have a suitcase or a bag to take it home?’

‘He had a laundry bag and I’d fold it all into that.’

‘What type of clothes did he bring to you?’

Daniel sighed and described T-shirts, jeans and underwear. He mentioned that Alan would sometimes keep the items at his flat for collection. He would then call in to pick them up and take them back to his own flat.

Anna jotted down that this was yet another part of Alan Rawlins’s double life. These were probably the clothes he wore when away from home. She also believed that the so-called Will Alan Rawlins had asked Daniel to sign was some kind of document appertaining to the purchase of the property in Cornwall reverting the ownership back to himself. Anna again interjected.