After expressing their condolences to the many family members, Jones and Hardwick were led into the kitchen where Sally Evans parents were sitting. The similarity between mother and daughter was immediately apparent, even through the tears and running make-up. The two even sported a similar haircut, although Jane Evans hair was running to ash-blonde, rather than the dark blonde of her late daughter.
Bill Evans bore only the most superficial of similarities to his daughter. A tall, craggy man of late middle-age, he had steel-grey hair and a slight paunch. Behind rimless reading glasses, his eyes were also puffy.
After declining a cup of coffee there was a limit to how much he could drink in one morning Warren turned to the matter in hand. Focusing first on Mrs Evans, he asked her to recount the events of the night Sally went missing. Again, the details matched exactly those told to the missing persons team and most recently to Jones and Hardwick by Cheryl and Darren.
Moving on to the subject of Darren, Warren asked about the relationship between the two young lovers. Suddenly, Bill Evans surged to his feet, his face reddening. Dont speak to me about that man in this house if it hadnt been for him, our girl would be sitting here safe and sound, not dead and lying on some His voice choked off and, brushing away his wifes hand, he raced out of the room.
* * *
Warren rocked back in surprise at the mans sudden outburst. Everything they had heard about Darren Blackheath had been good so far, so why animosity from Sally Evans father?
He turned to Jane Evans, who looked as if she was about to start crying again. Visibly pulling herself together, she waved a hand in the air as if to ward off their concern.
Dont read too much into that, Detective, she started. He doesnt mean it really. Hes just upset.
Im a little surprised, admitted Warren. I thought Darren was popular with Sallys friends and family?
Oh, he is, just not with her father.
Why is that? Warren had been all but certain that Blackheath was in the clear, but obviously at least one person wasnt so sure.
Jane Evans sighed and took a long sip of her tea.
Sally has always been a Daddys girl and she was the apple of Bills eye. Shes our only child and he worshipped her from the moment she was born. Truth be told, I dont think that any man would ever be good enough for her in his eyes, least of all Darren.
Warren waited silently as she composed her thoughts.
Sally was a slow developer at school and she was finally diagnosed as dyslexic. That was a real blow for Bill as he is dyslexic also. Its silly, I know, but he always felt guilty that hed passed on some gene. Anyway, the school were fantastic and, with lots of support from them and us, Sally started to pick up the ground that shed lost. By secondary school, she was scoring average grades and her reading and writing was almost normal for her age. She worked so hard and when she finally got the A levels to go to university we were both so proud. Nobody in our family had ever been before.
As the topic of conversation switched from her dead daughter to her husband, Jane Evans visibly softened. Warren wasnt certain where her long, rambling tale about her husbands achievements in spite of a disability that forty years previously had seen him dismissed as thick and lazy was headed, but he let her talk at her own pace.
The thing is, Sally may have got the dyslexia from her father, but she also got his work ethic and determination. Despite joining the company straight from school, with no qualifications, Bill is now national sales manager. Hes based in Cambridge, but travels all over the country.
As the conversation wound its way back to her murdered child, Jane Evans eyes filled with tears again. Nevertheless, she forced the words past her trembling lips.
Sally graduated with a two-one from university. We were both so proud. She smiled at the memory. Bill can be a bit abrupt and stern if you dont know him, but he cried all the way through her graduation ceremony. He truly believed that she could accomplish anything now and I think he wanted her to do all of the things he never got the chance to do. Anyway, she moved back here with us and got a job at the travel agents Far and Away.
She paused for a moment, before continuing, At first I think Bill was a little disappointed, but Sally convinced him it was only temporary she wanted to learn the ropes somewhere small where she could get a lot of experience, before joining one of the big companies and maybe becoming senior management. That was the plan at least, but shes been there for years now and seems comfortable. Lately, Bill has been pushing her to move on, but she claims that the time isnt right with the recession. Bill thinks that this is exactly the time to move as he doesnt think that there will be a future for small independents. They argued about it a lot. She shrugged. Sally says her dad doesnt know anything about travel agents, since hes only ever worked in sports clothing. Bill says that business is business and an outside perspective is important. She wiped her eyes with another tissue. Maybe theyre both right, but they kept on going around in circles and I stopped getting involved.
So where does Darren fit into this?
Mrs Evans sighed. Hes a tyre fitter and a lovely boy, he really is, but he has zero ambition and isnt very well educated at all. Bill always felt that Sally should marry a doctor or a lawyer or a dentist not a tyre fitter. It was something else to argue about.
So what was his reaction when Sally moved in with Darren?
Mrs Evans looked even more sad. He was really angry. He told her she was wasting her life and tried to make her feel guilty, claiming that she was throwing away all of her years of hard work. He implied that he wouldnt contribute to any wedding plans and told her not to turn up on the doorstep pregnant and homeless.
Warren could feel the pain in the room and struggled to find the words to ask her the questions he needed to without upsetting the poor woman further. Again, it was Karen Hardwick who saved the day.
It sounds as if he really loved her and was afraid of losing her.
Mrs Evans smiled through the tears. Thats exactly right. He loves her to bits. I think that with a little more time hed have come around and everything would have been all right. Her voice choked slightly. I guess well never know.
Taking over from Hardwick, Warren tried to be as sensitive as possible. I imagine he was worried when she didnt come home that night. Where was he?
If Mrs Evans realised that the question was about establishing Bill Evans alibi, she gave no sign.
I called Bill just before we called the police. He was working away in Leeds that night. Hes been doing that quite a bit lately. They have a new branch up there and Bill has been going up to iron out the teething troubles. He stays in a Travelodge hotel near the airport. He came back immediately, made it in record time he was here by three a.m.
Warren jotted down the companys details and made a note to get his alibi checked out. It could just be that this wasnt a stranger murder after all.
In the car on the way back to the station, Warren praised Hardwicks questioning technique before asking her opinion on what they had heard so far.
I cant see Darren Blackheath being guilty. He doesnt seem the type.
In the car on the way back to the station, Warren praised Hardwicks questioning technique before asking her opinion on what they had heard so far.
I cant see Darren Blackheath being guilty. He doesnt seem the type.
I tend to agree, admitted Warren, but we cant rule him out just yet. Its possible that he had a motive what if he popped the question early and Sally decided to turn down his proposal because of her relationship with her father? Maybe he flew into a jealous rage and killed her?
Hardwick looked doubtful. Anythings possible, sir, but again I dont think he seems the type. And if her upcoming wedding was the catalyst, what about her father? Could he have had an argument with her about it?
Warren shook his head slowly. I dont see how the timing would work. If, as Mrs Evans claims, her father loved her, then if he did kill her it would almost certainly be a crime of passion. The sequence of events as we know them suggests that Sally Evans left work at her usual time of six p.m. If Blackheath is in the clear and telling the truth, then she disappeared some time in the next ten minutes. Could her father have dropped by unexpectedly to offer her a lift home and she forgot to text Blackheath then they get into a row and he kills her and dumps her, before pretending to be all concerned when his wife phones late that night?
Hardwick pursed her lips. I agree, it seems a bit far-fetched. I guess well just have to see if their alibis check out and what Forensics have to say.
In other words, hurry up and wait sometimes I think that should be the motto of the police, thought Warren ruefully.
Chapter 6
By the time they returned to the station it was more or less lunchtime. Warren scheduled a team briefing in a half-hour, insisting his officers got at least a short break and something to eat. Warrens gut told him that this investigation might run for some time and he wanted his team to take care of themselves.
Karen Hardwick stopped by her desk and picked up her lunch box, before heading out for some fresh air. Almost exactly a minute later, Gary Hastings grabbed his lunch and followed her out of the door.
Tony Sutton sidled up to Warren.
Do you reckon they think nobodys noticed?
Warren nodded, a small smile forming on his lips.
Yup. They havent a clue.
Sutton sighed theatrically.
Young love, eh, boss. Is there any better kind?
Warren chuckled, glad for a moment of brightness in an otherwise bleak day.
Yeah. I think they make a sweet couple. I wonder how long itll be until they stop trying to hide it.
* * *
Warren held the team meeting in the largest of the units briefing rooms. Detective Superintendent John Grayson had formally delegated the lead investigator role to Warren; nevertheless he was present, since part of the agenda would be to discuss the upcoming press conference.
Grayson was a small, dapper man, with a steel grey moustache, in his early fifties. Common consensus was that he was more interested in securing his next promotion and thus a more generous final-salary pension than actively heading up investigations. Whether that was a fair assessment or not, Warren had yet to decide, but it was certainly true that he spent more time meeting with senior colleagues at the Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire Major Crime Unit in Welwyn Garden City than he did at his desk in Middlesbury CID.
The man was certainly a crafty politician. Warren still remembered his first serious case at Middlesbury during the summer, when Grayson had made it clear that it was sink or swim for the newly promoted DCI. To make things worse, Tony Sutton had been extremely vocal in his opposition to Warrens handling of the case and the two had almost come to blows. Sutton had finally confided in Warren that he was worried that the future of Middlesbury CID was under threat, with its unique role as a small, first-response CID unit outside the main Major Crime Unit in Welwyn a source of tension in a time of budget cutbacks. Sutton had been convinced that Jones had been sent to close them down.
Matters were further complicated by the fact that the strongest proponent for maintaining Middlesburys unique status had been Gavin Sheehy, Warrens predecessor and Suttons mentor, who was currently awaiting trial later in the new year for corruption. Grayson had yet to make his views clear on whether he thought Middlesbury had a future or should be absorbed into the main unit and so Sutton and now Warren, who had grown to value Middlesbury CIDs independence and unique place in the local community, were careful around him. Both men had a strong suspicion that Grayson would happily see Middlesbury CID closed if it meant that he would be moved to a more senior role within Welwyn Garden City.
One plus, as far as Warren was concerned, was that Grayson was always willing to talk to the press. Warren, on the other hand, regarded press conferences as a necessary evil and was happy to let Grayson enjoy his fifteen minutes of fame, whilst he stayed in the background and answered the odd question. Grayson had already decided that there would be a press conference to announce the finding of Sally Evans body that evening, just in time for the late-night news bulletins and later editions of the next days newspapers; therefore he was jotting down notes and ideas as the meeting progressed.
Calling for quiet, Warren brought the team up to speed on the various interviews conducted that morning. All those present agreed that Darren Blackheath was probably not guilty of his girlfriends murder, although her fathers outburst couldnt be dismissed entirely. Warren moved his name to the unlikely column on the whiteboard, until the results of the house-to-house enquiries and forensics came back.
As for her father, his behaviour was certainly strange and Warren made a note to pull him in for questioning after hed had a few hours to cool off.
A second team, headed by DI Tony Sutton, had focused on Evans workmates, using the initial investigation from the missing person enquiry as a starting point. The travel agency had been closed and the entire staff, including those not working on the day that she went missing, had been questioned. By the end of the morning, Sutton and his team had built a far more detailed profile of Sally Evans last day and largely ruled out all of her former colleagues as realistic suspects. Confirmation of a couple of alibis were outstanding but they didnt expect much from Maureen the obese sixty-something grandmother with an arthritic hip.
Evans had arrived at work as usual at about eight-twenty, dropped off in the same alleyway her boyfriend picked her up from after work. After smoking a cigarette, she had knocked on the fire door and had been admitted by her boss, Kelli Somerton. This was confirmed by Somerton, who said that there was still a cloud of smoke around the bin and that Evans smelled strongly of it.
The shop didnt open until nine a.m. and at this time of the year they werent expecting many customers, so the staff had logged onto the computers, put the kettle on and sat around gossiping until opening time. No customers had appeared until almost midday, so the staff had spent the day preparing for the expected post-Christmas sales. Sally Evans had occupied her time unpacking boxes of promotional material and catalogues.
The weather had been cold and Evans had stayed in for her lunch of home-made tuna sandwiches, nipping out on her own for a cigarette. Evans had been described by everyone interviewed as her usual cheerful self, looking forward to Christmas. Nobody could recall her mentioning any worries or strange people that shed met.