Frozen Minds: A murder mystery set deep in Wales (DI Winter Meadows Book 2)

by Cheryl Rees-Price

  Huw stepped in front of Jane. ‘You’re making a mistake. Jane didn’t have anything to do with what happened to Alan. She’s been very upset by the whole thing.’

  ‘If you would please step away, sir,’ Meadows said. ‘It would be better for both of you if your wife doesn’t make this difficult. I’m sure you don’t want to cause a scene in front of the neighbours.’

  Jane’s nostrils flared and her face creased with hate. ‘Fine, I’ll come with you, but I will be putting in a complaint for wrongful arrest. Get hold of a solicitor, Huw.’

  She turned on Edris who had placed a hand on her arm. ‘Get off me.’

  ‘I’ll cuff you if you don’t behave,’ he warned.

  ‘Can I come with her?’ Huw asked as Edris led Jane outside.

  ‘I’m afraid not,’ Meadows said kindly. ‘You can ring the station later and they’ll inform you of your wife’s status. Best call that solicitor.’

  Tears welled in Huw’s eyes. ‘I don’t understand.’

  ‘Did you not wonder where the money came from? Jane’s car must have cost a fair bit and it looks like you’ve had new furniture for the house.’

  ‘She’s the manager of Bethesda and she’s had a few large bonuses to thank her for her work.’

  Meadows followed Edris to the car. Jane sat in the back scowling, her arms folded across her chest, but fear was evident in her eyes.

  They drove back to the station with Jane keeping up a stony silence. Meadows hoped she was going to be a bit more cooperative when they got her into the interview room. She kept her head held high as they led her to reception and handed her over to the custody sergeant.

  They grabbed a cup of tea from the canteen before taking the stairs to the office. Blackwell, Paskin and Valentine were sat at their desks when Meadows walked in.

  ‘Any problems with Miles?’ Meadows asked.

  ‘No, I cuffed the little swine and chucked him in the car.’ Blackwell grinned. ‘He mouthed off a bit.’

  ‘Let them stew for a while. Valentine, how did you get on with Baines?’

  ‘Still trading and seems all above board. Stockbroker, as you correctly guessed.’

  * * *

  The interview room felt warm and stuffy and Meadows had to resist the urge to loosen his tie. Edris sat next to him with a serious expression on his face. Opposite sat Jane and her solicitor, Roger Thomas, a small bespectacled man with a receding hairline.

  Meadows placed a file on the desk, opened it then smiled at Jane.

  ‘I would like you to tell us about Guardian Holdings.’

  Jane looked at Roger and arched an eyebrow.

  ‘It is my understanding that you arrested my client in connection with the death of Alan Whitby. My client has already provided you with an alibi. What evidence do you have to justify detaining my client?’ Roger asked looking over the top of his spectacles.

  So that’s how they’re going to play it. Still, he has a point, we have no evidence to tie her to the murder.

  ‘We’ll come to that shortly. I assure you that your client’s involvement in Guardian Holdings is connected to the death of Alan Whitby.’

  Roger tuned to Jane and nodded. Jane looked furious.

  ‘Guardian Holdings is my own private business and has nothing to do with Alan, so I don’t see how it is relevant.’

  ‘You’re a director along with your co-worker Miles Flint. Is that correct?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘And can you tell me the nature of the business?’

  ‘It’s a trading company.’

  ‘Really. From what I can see money is moved in and out of the company with no actual trading.’

  ‘That’s because we employ a broker.’

  ‘And how is the company financed?’

  Jane fidgeted in her seat and glanced briefly at Roger who was looking mildly interested. ‘I put up capital from my savings.’

  Meadows took the statements from the files and laid them on the table, pushing them towards Jane and Roger.

  ‘Money has been taken regularly from the accounts of the residents of Bethesda House. Bethesda has joint power of attorney, together with some of the family members, over these accounts.’

  Roger leaned forward and perused the accounts.

  ‘I don’t know anything about that.’ Jane’s thin lips were set in a grim line.

  ‘Files were retrieved from your computer. Not so easy to delete them,’ Edris said. ‘These files clearly show payments to and from the residents’ bank accounts. Accounts you are responsible for, as well as approving any withdrawals.’

  Jane’s eyes darkened. ‘I don’t know anything about that. I’m not the only one to use the office computer.’

  ‘No, I would imagine Alan Whitby had use of the computer as supervisor. Only you and Miles have an interest in Guardian Holdings. Why would anyone else move money into that account?’

  ‘How would I know? Perhaps to set me up. You’re the detective.’

  Meadows glared. Her eyes were hard and her lips drew into a sly smile. He couldn’t believe that even with the evidence before her, she could continue to lie.

  She’s going to blame it all on Miles.

  ‘Don’t you regularly reconcile the residents’ accounts, check the balances? Surely it’s your job to make sure the accounts are in order.’

  ‘Well, yes, but I didn’t see any inaccuracies with the balances.’

  ‘When was the last time you checked the accounts?’

  Jane folded her arms across her chest. ‘I can’t be sure.’

  ‘Last week? A month ago? The residents are due to go on holiday in just over a week.’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Who financed the holiday?’

  ‘The residents.’

  ‘And was it you that organised the booking and payment?’

  Colour rose in Jane’s cheeks. ‘Yes.’

  ‘Then you would’ve had recent access to the residents’ accounts. I would imagine a hundred and fifty thousand pounds missing from the accounts wouldn’t be that easy to miss.’ Meadows noticed the solicitor raise his eyebrows.

  I bet she didn’t mention that.

  Jane wriggled in her seat. ‘The bank didn’t alert me to a withdrawal of that amount.’

  ‘No, they wouldn’t have. As you know, they would have been used to seeing money transferred in and out of the accounts. Was Alan part of Guardian Holdings?’

  ‘No, just me and Miles. It had nothing to do with Alan, why would it? As I said, it’s my personal business.’

  ‘Financed by the residents of Bethesda House,’ Edris said.

  ‘We know that Alan Whitby received large amounts of cash over the last year. Was he blackmailing you?’ Meadows asked.

  ‘No. If he was concerned about the residents’ accounts then he didn’t bring it to my attention.’

  ‘Oh, I think he did, and he wanted a slice of the pie. What happened, did you lose all your money and Alan still wanted his share to keep quiet?’

  Meadows leaned forward.

  Jane’s nostrils flared. ‘I told you, I don’t know anything about the missing money or what happened to Alan. Perhaps you’d better speak to Miles.’

  ‘We will,’ Edris said.

  Meadows leaned back in his chair and let the silence fill the room for a few moments until he sensed Jane’s discomfort. ‘Your husband was out last Monday evening.’

  ‘Yes, what of it?’

  ‘So you decided to call Alan and arrange to meet him at Bethesda. We have a record of that call.’

  ‘I already told you, he asked me to call so he would have an excuse to leave the house.’

  ‘You called him to meet you and Miles. Was he expecting payment? When he got there, you and Miles were waiting but you had other plans.’

  ‘No.’

  ‘You drugged him, then what went wrong? Did he wake up before you could carry out your plan?’

  ‘What? No!’

  The shock on Jane’s face raised a spectre
of doubt in Meadows’ mind.

  She turned to the solicitor in panic. ‘Are you listening to this?’

  ‘Do you have any evidence to connect my client to the murder of Alan Whitby?’

  ‘She had both opportunity and motive.’

  ‘I was at home all night with my husband, ask him.’

  ‘Your car was there all night, but as you and you husband have separate rooms, he cannot say with certainty that you were in bed all night,’ Edris said.

  Jane reddened. ‘This is ridiculous. If my car was parked at home all night, then how do you suppose I got to Bethesda?’

  ‘I would imagine Miles picked you up,’ Edris answered.

  ‘We found Alan’s car,’ Meadows watched for signs of distress from Jane but she didn’t react to the news. ‘Forensics are combing through it now. It’s only a matter of time. They will find the evidence. You can’t burn away all traces.’

  ‘You won’t find anything because I have never been in his car.’

  She appears very confident. Maybe Miles disposed of the car.

  ‘Are you going to charge my client?’ The solicitor’s voice cut through Meadows’ thoughts.

  ‘We will be charging your client with misappropriation of funds. We have enough evidence. All the transactions are timed. You received statements from Guardian Holdings detailing the payments and receipts from the residents’ accounts. There is no doubt in my mind that you knew where the money was coming from. You could be looking at four years, maybe more considering the vulnerability of the persons you stole from.’

  Jane paled. ‘Can I go now?’

  ‘No, you will remain in custody until the court hearing. A judge can decide if you will be granted bail until the trial.’

  ‘You can’t do this! I have to be in work on Monday morning.’

  ‘You better get your solicitor to inform Bethesda that you won’t be in, and if I have my way you will never set foot in that place again.’ Meadows stood and beckoned for Edris to follow.

  ‘Charge her with misappropriation of funds and put her in a cell, give her some time to think. I’ll interview Miles with Blackwell. Let’s see how he tries to worm out of this.’

  Edris grinned. ‘Probably blame it on Jane.’

  ‘No doubt he will, but it’ll be interesting to see his reaction when I tell him that Jane is laying the blame at his door. I’ll update you later.’

  Meadows left Edris to deal with Jane and went in search of Blackwell, he found him drinking coffee at his desk and chatting to Paskin. Meadows watched the two for a moment and realised that he knew little about the lives of his team outside of work.

  Maybe DCI Lester is right, I should socialise more, get to know them.

  ‘How did it go with Jane?’ Paskin asked.

  ‘As we expected.’ He gave a brief account of the interview.

  ‘Lying bastards, the pair of them,’ Blackwell growled.

  ‘Well we’ve got them both for theft, that’s something at least. We still don’t have any physical evidence to tie them to the murder,’ Meadows said.

  ‘Yet. I reckon I can get a confession.’ Blackwell cracked his knuckles.

  Good luck with that.

  ‘Right, let’s go and see what Miles Flint has to say for himself. I’ll let you lead.’ Meadows saw Blackwell smile as he stood up from his desk.

  ‘He’s refused legal representation,’ Blackwell said as they made their way down the stairs. ‘He reckons we have nothing on him so doesn’t need it.’

  ‘He’ll probably change his mind,’ Meadows said. ‘I’d prefer it if he had counsel, it looks better on us when it goes to court.’

  They entered the interview room where Miles was sat with his legs stretched out under the table and hands behind his head.

  ‘About bloody time, I’ve got better things to do than hang around here all day.’

  The young PC that sat in the corner of the room rolled his eyes.

  ‘You can go and take a break now, thanks, Ryan,’ Meadows said.

  Once the PC had left the room Meadows pulled up a chair in front of the table and recorded the time, date and those present for the interview.

  Blackwell plonked himself down in the chair and slammed the file down on the desk, causing Miles to sit up in his seat.

  ‘Guardian Holdings. You’ve been screwing over the residents of Bethesda House. It’s all here.’ Blackwell tapped the file. ‘Perhaps you should reconsider legal representation now.’

  Well, I suppose he gets straight to the point.

  Miles smirked. ‘Don’t need to, mate, there’s nothing in that file that isn’t above board.’

  Blackwell leaned across the desk, his eyes glinting dangerously.

  ‘You’re a director of Guardian Holdings along with Jane Pritchard. Money has been transferred from the residents’ accounts into Guardian then to Baines the brokers. Made quite a bit from the scheme, didn’t you? Enjoy taking money from vulnerable people, do you? You piece of shit.’

  Meadows coughed to alert Blackwell that he was going too far.

  Blackwell’s nostrils flared and he leaned back in the chair.

  ‘I don’t know anything about residents’ money. Jane asked me to set up the company and she provided the capital. I assumed it was from her personal savings.’

  ‘Funny, she said the same about you,’ Meadows said.

  ‘Don’t take me for an idiot,’ Blackwell growled. ‘The transactions are clear on the account. You knew where the money came from.’

  ‘I told you, Jane provided the money. I had no reason to think it wasn’t above board.’ Miles leaned back in his seat.

  ‘I’ve been talking to your old employers. Looks like you make a habit of misappropriating client’s funds.’

  ‘I think you’ll find that was a misunderstanding,’ Miles drawled. ‘No charges were made.’

  ‘You were fired.’

  ‘Voluntary redundancy.’

  ‘So you left a well-known brokers on 60K plus bonuses to work looking after little old ladies for 15K a year?’ Blackwell chuckled. ‘That’s because no one would touch you, the stench followed you around, eh?’

  Meadows saw Miles’ eyes darken and his fists clench.

  ‘So Alan found out about your little scheme,’ Blackwell continued. ‘Did he want in or money to keep his mouth shut?’

  ‘I don’t know what you are talking about. How many times do I have to repeat myself? Jane asked me to set up the company and provided the money. If she had something going on the side with Alan, she didn’t mention it.’

  ‘Your sticky fingers are all over this.’ Blackwell waved the file. ‘My guess is that Alan wanted more money and he didn’t care where you got it from. You were already 150K down with no way of getting the money back. You had to keep him quiet. So Jane calls him and arranges to meet him at Bethesda. You drug him, intending to set it up so it looks like one of the residents attacked him. What happened? Did Alan wake up and you had to finish him off.’

  Not a bad theory.

  Meadows watched Blackwell stare Miles down.

  Miles leaned forward, anger twisting his lips into a snarl. ‘This is bullshit!’

  ‘Where were you Monday evening?’ Meadows asked.

  ‘In London. I already made a statement.’

  ‘What time did you get back?’ Blackwell relaxed his shoulders.

  ‘I drove straight from London to work on Tuesday morning. Had to get up at a bitch of a time. Got into Bethesda about nine. Made good time.’

  ‘Yet your car was picked up on camera on the M4 Monday evening, the last sighting at seven.’ Blackwell grinned. ‘Enough time to get to Bethesda for your meeting with Alan.’

  Miles ran his hand through his hair. ‘OK, you got me there. I lied. I told work I was away for a long weekend and wouldn’t be back until Tuesday. It was supposed to be my turn to do the night shift on Monday. If Jane knew I was back I would have been called in to do the shift.’

  ‘So where did you go Monday nig
ht?’

  ‘Home to bed. I was knackered after the drive.’

  ‘And I suppose you were alone,’ Blackwell snapped.

  ‘Like I said. I was tired.’ Miles pushed back his chair and stood. ‘Well if that’s all, I think I’ll go. I’ve answered all your questions.’

  ‘Sit down!’ Blackwell barked. ‘I haven’t even started.’

  ‘You don’t have anything on me.’ Miles shrugged his shoulders. ‘I don’t see what more I can tell you.’

  ‘You will be charged with the misappropriation of residents’ funds and remanded in custody until the court hearing,’ Meadows said.

  ‘To start with,’ Blackwell said with a malicious grin.

  Meadows stood and nodded to Blackwell to continue. He didn’t think there was any more information to be gained from Miles at this stage. He left the interview room and called for the PC to go back in to watch over the proceedings.

  Meadows found Edris sat at his desk completing the paperwork for Jane’s arrest and charge. ‘Get any more from her?’

  ‘No, just kept denying the theft charges. How did it go with Miles?’

  ‘Much the same story, they’re just going to try and shift the blame onto each other. With a bit of luck they’ll both be tried and found guilty.’

  ‘It’s just a shame we’ve got no evidence to place them at the murder scene.’ Edris turned back to the screen and continued typing.

  ‘We might have if we can find Eddy’s book.’ Meadows pulled off his tie and put it in his pocket.

  ‘We searched the whole place, they probably shredded it.’

  ‘No, I don’t think so. I’m sure we’re missing something. What did Miles say when we asked him about Thursday’s night shift?’

  ‘Hold on a sec.’ Edris’ hands skimmed across the keyboard, his eyes shifting across the screen. He hit the save button then took his notebook from his jacket pocket and flicked through the pages. ‘Settled residents down, watched a film with Cillian, Liam woke up complaining about the tortoise–’

  ‘Stop there.’ Meadows held his hand up. ‘Didn’t he say that Liam complained that someone had woken Hard Hat?’

  ‘Something like that.’

  ‘Come on, I think I know where we’ll find the book.’