Woman in Black (10 page)

Jessica kept her thoughts to herself, trying to relax. The sun had only just begun to dip below the building opposite when her phone rang. She looked over at her two hosts to make sure they didn’t mind her taking the call but Caroline gave her a thumbs-up.

‘Hello,’ Jessica said.

A man’s voice spoke. ‘Hi, this is Charlie Marks. I hope it’s not too late to call you?’

‘No, it’s fine. What are you after?’ She had phoned him the evening before to confirm it was his brother’s hand that had been found. She had been wary about him having her mobile number and hoped he wouldn’t be someone who constantly pestered her with how the case was going. As it was, she needn’t have worried.

‘You remember the names you gave me to look at yesterday, Lewis Barnes and January Forrester?’ Charlie said. ‘I think I’ve found a link to my brother.’

NINE

Jessica went directly to the Marks’ home the next morning. From where she lived in Didsbury, Charlie’s house was around ten miles away. There was little point going to the station then driving back out again, so she’d messaged Dave and Izzy to tell them she was going to be late. There was plenty for them to be working on in any case.

Her morning commute was a lot easier than usual as she was driving away from the centre rather than towards it. As she got closer to the address on Ed Marks’ file, the size of the properties noticeably grew. There were lots of houses with large imposing gates at the front to maintain privacy and all of the homes seemed to have sprawling gardens. Jessica wasn’t sure exactly where it was but there was an area locally known as ‘Millionaire’s Row’ somewhere nearby where rich locals would buy patches of land and develop their own properties. The place she was visiting wasn’t quite in that area but it wasn’t far off and the obvious wealth was astonishing.

Jessica had checked directions before leaving but didn’t own a satellite navigation system of her own. She was struggling to find the address, partly because of the large gaps between houses and partly because a lot of the properties had names instead of numbers. She pulled over to ask someone walking their dog but whoever the person was sped up and ignored her, clearly concerned about why someone with such an old vehicle would be driving in an affluent area. While she sat in her car, she tried to load a maps application on her phone but the signal was so poor, it took too long to work. In the end she continued driving before realising the Marks’ house was on the opposite side of the road from where she had been looking. She had already driven past it three times without noticing.

Around two-thirds of the properties on the road had big gates at the front but she could pull straight onto the Marks’ driveway. A large tree at the front of the garden obscured the view from the road and you could have comfortably fitted a dozen cars nose-to-tail on the drive given its length. The tarmac was flanked on both sides by long patches of grass that were turning brown and beginning to look a little overgrown. The drive was empty apart from Jessica’s car, although there was a large garage at the end of it that, from the width of the door, could have comfortably accommodated three vehicles.

Before she went to the front door, Jessica walked around the side of the garage to the back of the house. If anything, the garden at the rear stretched farther than the one at the front. The surface was also beginning to brown after a couple of weeks without rain, the bushes running along the sides needing a trim. The only other thing noticeable at the rear was that an extension was half-built at the far end of the house. Because she hadn’t been inside yet, Jessica didn’t know what it was attached to but there was already a large conservatory, so she assumed it would offer another room both upstairs and downstairs. The brickwork appeared to be finished but there were holes where windows hadn’t yet been fitted.

Jessica walked back to the front of the property. The style of bricks wasn’t of the type used for most houses. Instead the building was made of much larger stones and somehow seemed both old-fashioned and state-of-the-art at the same time. The whole place was huge and she guessed it would have at least six bedrooms given the number of upstairs windows.

After Jessica had rung the doorbell, it took almost a minute before Charlie Marks opened it. He was bare-footed and wearing what seemed to be the same shorts from a few days previously, as well as a loose-fitting white linen shirt.

‘Sergeant,’ he said, welcoming her in. ‘Did you find the place okay?’

Jessica couldn’t be bothered explaining herself so just replied with: ‘Yes.’

‘I won’t waste your time. As you can see, the place is pretty big and I don’t even begin to know where to start. I’ve not touched many of my brother’s things but there’s still so much space. It looks like there are loads of Dad’s things still in boxes upstairs too. After we talked the other day, I began looking through some of the photos and items upstairs.’

The man started walking away from her as he spoke and Jessica followed. While the entranceway had white stone flooring, the staircase was wide and covered with a red carpet. The stairs looped around, ending on a landing with a choice of doors and a varnished wooden floor. It was an odd mix of apparently being finished and furnished, with other areas that hadn’t been touched in years. There were thin layers of dust on some of the surfaces and boxes stacked in a few corners.

‘I’ve not checked through all of these rooms,’ Charlie continued, pointing towards one end of the upstairs hall. ‘I’ve been sleeping in the one furthest down there because the room seemed empty.’ He turned around and pointed to the closest opening. ‘That one there is full of boxes.’

He pushed open a door and led Jessica inside. The room had large windows directly opposite the door that looked out over the back garden. A four-poster bed was on her left but unmade and had a collection of random items on it. There were more boxes pushed to the edges of the room and a dressing table with a cracked glass top.

Jessica walked to the window, peering towards the extension. ‘What’s that?’ she asked, pointing towards the structure.

Charlie had picked up something from the bed and came over to stand next to her. ‘I’ll show you if you want? It looked like Ed was having a swimming pool put in but it’s not finished for whatever reason.’

‘Why’s everything in boxes? Was he looking to sell?’

Charlie shrugged. ‘I don’t think so, although he had offered to half-sign it over, so maybe. We’ve lived here most of our lives but it’s always been a little like this. I told you before I don’t think Dad really knew what to do with it all. He spent loads of time in the garden and conservatory. Some of this stuff was still in boxes when I moved out five years ago or so. I think you just get used to living in a certain way, don’t you?’

Jessica knew that was true; she was always likely to be a little messy whatever happened to her in the future. ‘Why did you call me over?’

Charlie offered her a framed photo he had been holding. ‘Look.’

She took the object from him and turned it around. The frame was made of dark wood and the photo showed what Jessica at first thought was a football team. Something didn’t seem quite right and she quickly realised there were too many people in the photo. Even though she had no interest in sport, she knew a football team had eleven players. She then saw an oval-shaped rugby ball resting next to a trophy at the front of the picture with one row of players kneeling and another standing behind.

The people pictured all seemed to be in their teens but Jessica couldn’t recognise any of the faces. ‘What am I looking at?’ she asked.

‘Turn it over.’

Stuck to the wood on the back was a note that had been meticulously hand-written. It had the name of the rugby team and then one by one listed all of the players’ surnames. She skimmed through the list and saw the word ‘Marks’, then turned the photo back over and looked at the young man who must have been Ed. He was crouching in the front row and, now she was looking, she could see a strong resemblance to his brother. The hair was darker but he was a similar build and had the same smile.

Jessica flipped the frame back over and looked through the names for a second time. This time, her eyes were drawn to the name ‘Barnes’. She felt a tingle of excitement as she again turned the frame over. The young man she assumed must be Lewis Barnes was directly behind Ed, towering over him. She didn’t know rugby positions but was aware a team often mixed smaller lads with much larger ones.

‘How did you find this?’ she asked.

‘By accident really. It was in a box of other photos. I’d started looking through them just because…well, because of everything going on. There were a few of Ed and me as kids and others of Dad playing football with us and so on. I saw that one and noticed the names on the back.’

‘Did you play?’

‘No, it was never my thing. I remember him playing for a couple of seasons when he was about sixteen or seventeen. It was one of the local clubs around here. I wouldn’t have been able to tell you name without that note, mind you.’

‘Do you know any of the other boys in the picture?’

Charlie shook his head. ‘No, I didn’t recognise the faces or names. The only reason I noticed anything was because of the writing on the back and you’d asked about a “Barnes”. I don’t know if that’s who you’re after but the last name matches.’

Jessica nodded, thinking the match was unlikely to be a coincidence. There was an awkward pause as she continued to scan the photograph and names before changing the subject. ‘What’s it like being back up here?’

Charlie smiled. ‘Different, drier for a start.’

‘It’s not usually.’

‘So I gather. I’m not sure what to do with my time to be honest. I was planning to come up and look for a job. I’ve got some savings to get me by for a while but it feels weird.’

‘Where did you work in London?’

‘The publishers were called Bennett Piper. It was a family company at some point but not by the time I got there.’

Jessica tried to sound dismissive, as if only half-listening. ‘Can you give me a few minutes? I need to make a call.’

‘Sure, I’ll go downstairs. Give me a shout when you want me.’

Charlie turned around and left the room. Jessica was going to phone Izzy at the station but didn’t want the man to be around to hear her. She still wasn’t entirely ready to discount him as being a suspect, even if he was only one in her own mind and not officially. Having now seen the extent of the house, it was clear the property was worth hundreds of thousands of pounds, if not more. If Charlie was interested in getting his hands on the place, cutting off his brother’s hand, as well as someone else’s, and getting someone to leave them in a public place seemed a very convoluted way of doing it.

Jessica took out her phone and dialled DC Diamond’s extension. She asked the constable if she had a pen handy and then read out the list of surnames from the back of the photo.

After that, she explained about the picture. ‘Can you call Vicky Barnes and ask if her son ever played rugby? Hopefully she’ll remember but, if not, we could ask her if she can identify her son in the photo. Also crosscheck the surnames with anything else we might have on record. The link could be the rugby team as opposed to the college but at least there are less people to contact if we start with the sporting angle.’

‘Is there anything else?’ Izzy asked.

‘Can you get me a phone number? The Internet’s not great on my phone.’

‘Who are you after?’

‘A publishing company in London called “Bennett Piper”. Message me the number.’

Jessica hung up and looked through a few of the other items littered around the room as she waited for the number to arrive. The items in the boxes really were an assortment of junk, as if someone had gone to a car-boot sale and bought every item, then packed it all up and left it for twenty years. It did seem strange that the family had been in the house for somewhere between twenty and thirty years and were still living out of boxes. Jessica didn’t find it as odd as some might, however, as she strongly suspected she would be exactly the same if she lived in a house this big. Her bedroom would have all the clothes she needed but everything else would be untouched until required.

The alert tone sounded on her phone and she pressed the buttons to load the message. Izzy had sent her the company’s name and the number. Jessica thumbed the screen and put the phone to her ear as it rang. A secretary answered and Jessica introduced herself as a police officer, asking if she could speak to whoever was in charge. After a short wait, she ended up talking to a woman with a plummy-sounding accent.

Jessica again introduced herself but didn’t elaborate on exact reasons for her call. ‘Can I check that a Charlie Marks worked for you until recently?’

The woman didn’t hesitate. ‘Charlie? Yes, he was here for a few years. He quit a few weeks ago. It was a bit of a surprise really. He’s not in any trouble, is he?’

‘Not at all, I just wanted to check a couple of details. Did he tell you why he left?’

‘Not really, something about returning to the north. I think there may have been a family member involved but I only know that from one of the other people who work here. He didn’t elaborate when he gave his notice.’

Jessica thanked the woman for her time and then hung up, walking out of the room quietly. She wasn’t deliberately creeping but kept to the edges of the hall in an effort to avoid obviously squeaky floorboards. She looked in a couple of other rooms which were very similar to the first in terms of random items. The fourth door she tried led into what was probably Ed’s bedroom. Instead of boxes there were wardrobes that were open with clothes inside and shoes at the bottom. A four-poster bed was made and didn’t seem as if it had been slept in recently and a huge window at the front of the room looked out over the driveway.

Jessica didn’t know what she was looking for so made her way back downstairs. ‘Charlie?’

He came out from a room opposite the front door. ‘Are you sorted?’

‘Yes, I passed on the names from the back of this photo so we can look into them.’ She held up the picture of the rugby team. ‘Do you mind if I keep this for a while?’