Alerted by her last sentence Scarlett sprang up from her slouch, ‘What had gone on at his other school?’
Sara took in another deep breath, held it for a couple of seconds and then released it heavily. ‘I didn’t tell Tarn this, but an old friend of mine was a teacher at his last school – he was the head of a primary at Wembley – and she told me that when he left, it was under a cloud. I made the call because I was suspicious about him – you know the story he’d given me and what was happening with Trish – I wanted to know if he’d done anything similar at his last school...’
‘And had he?’ It was Scarlett’s turn to cut into their conversation.
Trish nodded. ‘My friend told me he’d had an affair with a teacher at her school and that the teacher concerned had to leave. She was married. The affair came out because a load of damage had been done to her car. She’d had her tyres slashed and paint stripper thrown over it. And a brick was thrown through her window at home one night. It all happened after she’d ended it between them. The husband called the police and Adam was interviewed about it all. He’d denied it and the police were unable to prove anything. The teacher concerned handed in her notice, and he’d applied for the Head vacancy at our school and got it.’
‘Weren’t the Governors aware when they appointed him?’
Sara shrugged her shoulders. ‘No, we weren’t. I was on the panel that interviewed him. He was easily the best candidate and came with a good reference. When I spoke to my friend, the deputy at his last school, she told me they had taken advice, after he’d told them he’d got the job here, but they couldn’t put anything in about it because he’d not been charged. We never thought to ring the school before we appointed him. It was only after he’d tried it on with me, and what I believed was happening with Trish, that I made the call.’
‘Wow, that’s thrown a spanner in the works.’
‘I just thought because of what happened to that other teacher and this with Trish – not for one minute am I wanting to suggest Adam killed her, but you know, especially with him not turning into school this morning, I thought it was important you should know.’
Scarlett leaned forward, ‘You’ve done the right thing Sara. Adam not being here might be completely innocent. He might be ill or something. But I need to chase it up all the same.’ She stood up.
Sara started to rise, ‘He’s not at home. Or at least he wasn’t when I rang just after nine this morning and spoke to his wife. She said he hadn’t come home last night and she didn’t know where he was. I tried his mobile and it went through to voicemail. I’ve left him a message to contact me.’
Scarlett took out her notebook and pen, scribbled down Sara’s full details, Adam Witton’s address and the name of the teacher Adam had the affair with at his previous school, and then snatching up her bag, sought out her BlackBerry and switched it back on. She shook hands with Sara and thanked her, told her she would be back to take a statement and left the staff room. With a spring in her step she strode across the playground, putting in a call to Diane Harris.
The DCI answered on the third ring. Before she had time to say anything Scarlett said excitedly, ‘Boss, can you meet me at Tarn’s? I think I’ve got a strong lead.’
Forty-three
Scarlett met DCI Diane Harris outside Tarn’s house. Lucy Summers joined them. Scarlett stuck to the same story she’d told the incident room earlier, avoiding steady eye contact with either of them, hoping it wasn’t going to backfire on her. She related Sara Bailey’s tale with the same detail as she’d been given.
When she finished, Diane Harris said, ‘You were right, this couldn’t wait for evening briefing Scarlett. We need to act on this straight away.’
Scarlett breathed a sigh of relief. The response was music to her ears. ‘We need to go to Adam Witton’s home and see if he’s there. If it’s as his wife told Sara – that she hasn’t seen him since last night – we need to find out if she knows where he is and we could also do with searching the place.’
‘Totally agree Scarlett. I want you and Lucy to get over there and take George and Ella as back up. If Adam Witton’s at home, bring him in, and if you find anything suspicious at his house, secure the place and call out forensics.’
***
Witton’s home was in Northolt. The two-bedroom semi-detached house, built shortly after the war, had a red-brick ground floor and cream coloured stucco to the upper storey. It lay at the head of a cul-de-sac, and had a low front wall and freshly mown small lawn. To the right was a driveway which led to a side door and a concrete garage with double wooden doors that looked to be 1940s original.
Scarlett and Lucy walked up the concrete drive. George Martin and Ella Bloom had stayed in the back of the car, in view, at the bottom of the drive, waiting while Scarlett made the introductions and broke the ice.
She pressed the side doorbell and waited. It didn’t take Mrs Witton long to answer. She was a thin, wiry woman, with long brown hair and dark brown eyes. She wore a floral top and jeans. Scarlett took in her well made-up face and rich red painted fingernails – she didn’t look like a woman with mental health issues. Scarlett held up her identification and introduced herself and Lucy and asked if her husband was at home.
She eyed them suspiciously. ‘I’m afraid he isn’t.’
Scarlett thought she sounded nervous. ‘Do you know where he is, Mrs Witton?’
‘No, I don’t...’ she broke off, studied the pair for a moment and then said, ‘Do you mind if I ask what this is about?’
‘We want to speak with him as a matter of importance.’
‘Well I’m afraid, as I said, he isn’t here.’
‘Do you know where he is?’
‘No, I don’t. I thought he was at school. He’s the head of a primary school in Brentford, but I know he isn’t there. The school contacted me this morning to tell me he hadn’t arrived.’
‘When did you last see your husband?’
‘Why are you asking all these questions? I’ve told you I don’t know where he is.’
Mrs Witton was starting to get anxious. Scarlett softened the formality of her tone with her reply. ‘It is important we speak with him. Have you any idea at all where he might be?’
‘None. And in response to your last question I haven’t seen him since last evening. After his meal, he said that he had to go out – that he had some school business to attend to – and he left in his car. I haven’t seen him since. Look, do you mind if I ask what this is about. Is he in trouble or something?’
‘May we come in for a moment?’ Without waiting for a response Scarlett put a foot on the threshold and stepped up into the doorway, forcing Mrs Witton to take a stride back. For a moment it looked as if the woman was going to challenge her, but then she lowered her gaze, and with a sigh of resignation turned aside and let them in.
The kitchen Scarlett and Lucy walked into looked in need of a makeover. The wooden cupboards and tiles above the work surfaces were years out of date, though the place was tidy. Scarlett looked around the room, stopping her gaze by the integrated cooker and hob. A wooden knife block stood next to it. The black handles of the knives were the only thing visible and they looked to be of the same style as the one found that morning. One of the slots was empty – her heart started beating fast and she felt a rush of adrenalin. ‘Mrs Witton, can we go through to the lounge?’
Forty-four
‘Adam Witton’s done a runner.’ Scarlett was at the bottom of the Wittons’ driveway speaking on her BlackBerry to Diane Harper. She’d already told her DCI about the missing knife from the wooden block in the kitchen. ‘We’ve seized and bagged the knife block, and I’ve got George and Ella going through the house now for details of Adam’s car. As soon as we get his registration I’ll text it to the incident room. And Lucy is talking to Alice Witton. It looks like she and Adam have had a fight or he’s attacked her before he left. She’s got marks to her neck and arms. She’s not saying too much at the moment but she’s adm
itted they had a row yesterday evening and he stormed out. She says she’s no idea where he is. We’ve got his mobile number, and we’re going through with her the list of friends and family, or places he’s likely to go, to see if we can narrow down where he is. Once that’s compiled I’ll ring everything in.’
‘Splendid job Scarlett,’ the DCI replied, ‘I’ll get a forensic team over to you as soon as possible. What about Alice Witton? What are you doing about her?’
‘Understandably she’s a bit shell-shocked by it all. She’s asked us why we’re searching her place and so we’ve told her we want to speak to him about Trish’s murder. She went a bit hysterical at first but she’s calmed down a bit now. I’m going to give it another half an hour and then get her across to a victim suite with Lucy and interview her. I’ll get an FME out to examine her injuries, and get a CSI officer to photograph and swab them. I’m leaving George and Ella at the house to liaise with forensics.’
‘Well it looks as though you’ve got things pretty much sewn up. The minute you get hold of Adam’s car’s details let us know and we can get the ball rolling to try and locate it.’
‘Will do boss.’ Scarlett ended the call and returned to the house.
***
Diane Harris took the evening briefing. The murder board behind her was now three-quarters full of images, intelligence and timeline information. A photograph of the knife recovered that morning was up there too, together with a recent photo of Adam Witton – supplied by his wife Lucy – and an image of a red 3 series BMW with the registration number of Adam’s car. She tapped Adam’s photo, ‘We’ve carried out a number of checks this afternoon at addresses of close family members and friends of Adam Witton without success, and we’ve now circulated his photograph, together with details of his car. If he passes any of the road network cameras we’ll get an instant hit. We’ve also locked onto his phone. It’s deactivated at the moment so we can’t get a location, but the minute he uses it we’ll get him.’ She looked across to Scarlett. ‘Tell the team what you and Lucy got from his wife this afternoon.’
Scarlett straightened in her seat. ‘Lucy and I interviewed Alice Witton this afternoon. It took us quite a bit of time to get her to open up. I don’t think it was because she was protecting him or anything, but she was overwhelmed by it all and embarrassed. She said she’d known Adam had been having affairs with several women for the best part of eighteen months because she’d found some dating sites in the history on his laptop. She challenged him about them, and they’d had several rows. Six months ago, after another heated argument in which she’d threatened divorce, he’d confessed he’d met a couple of women from the dating site but nothing had happened.’ She caught the wry smiles on the faces of many syndicate members. Suppressing a grin she continued, ‘Although Adam has a well-paid job, Lucy and I discovered the home and most of the money in the bank account belongs to Mrs Witton, inherited following her grandparent’s death. He’d promised after their last argument, six months ago, that there would be no more seeing other women. She thought getting this head’s job had stopped it all but then she found some texts on his phone two days ago from Trish Scarr, which made her suspect he was having another affair, and last night they’d rowed about it and he told her he was leaving. He left the house shortly after six p.m.’ She looked around the table. The squad had latched on to the significance of this time-frame: it easily gave Adam Witton the time to drive across to the Scarr household, murder Trish and leave before the neighbour found her body. He could well have got there, seen Tarn leaving the house and then gone in. Why he’d killed her was another question, and one they would only have answered once they had him in custody. She continued, ‘We didn’t mention the affair with the teacher at his last school because we didn’t want to compound her torment and anyway we’ve only got what Sara Bailey has told us at the moment. We now know the teacher he was involved with is called Helen Davis. The mobile number Sara gave us for Helen is no longer in use so I contacted the school where she and Adam last worked. I spoke with the new head there, a Mrs McDonald, and she told me Helen had already left prior to her being appointed and she believes she is now working at a school in Golders Green. She also said Helen had moved house. She’s going to make some phone calls on our behalf and get back to me tomorrow. Once we track Helen Davis down we’ll go and talk to her about what happened between her and Adam and the damage to her car and house.’
‘And the injuries to Alice Witton?’ asked the Diane Harris.
‘Yes, to her neck and arms. The Force Medical Officer who examined her describes them as scratch and grab marks. She’s also had some of her hair pulled out. We asked her about how she’d come by them and she said when Adam had told her he was leaving she’d grabbed his car keys to try and stop him and he’d attacked her to get them back.’ Pausing again, she added, ‘It certainly gives us an insight into his frame of mind when he left his house.’
Diane Harris nodded. ‘It certainly does.’ She switched her gaze between Scarlett and Lucy Summer. ‘Thank you for that. Good work you two today.’ Then taking back briefing she continued, ‘There’s nothing much else we can do for now. Alice Witton wanted to go back home, so I’ve put a uniform officer with her tonight in case Adam shows his face, though I don’t think he will. It’s been plastered all over the news today, and he’s not daft – my guess is he’s lying low until he can sort things out – maybe ditch any incriminating evidence. He’d have been covered in blood, so he needs to get rid of his clothing for one.’ She clapped her hands, ‘Good work everybody. Now I see a lot of tired faces, so time for home guys and we’ll start afresh tomorrow.’
Forty-five
Scarlett dumped the empty coffee cartons from her desk into the bin and had just started to tidy away her paperwork when her mobile rang. It was Alex. She recalled their last time together and a warm feeling engulfed her. She snatched it up and answered.
‘What’re you doing?’ Alex asked.
‘Just finishing work.’
‘Still on your partner’s wife’s case?’
‘Still. But we’ve had a breakthrough today. We’ve got a new suspect.’
‘Don’t tell me, the butler did it.’
She burst out laughing.
‘Fancy going for a drink?’
Her stomach fluttered and her heart did a double beat. The sensation reminded her of when they had first started seeing one another. ‘I’d love to say yes, but I’m all sweaty, and in my work clothes and I’ve come to work on the bike. I’ll have to go home first – it’s going to be a good hour at least before I’m presentable.’
‘I like sweaty. Sweaty on you is good from my recollections.’
She caught the suggestive note in his voice. ‘Alex King, that is sexism in the workplace, that is.’
‘I’m not in your workplace.’ After a couple of seconds, he said, ‘Look, forget the going out. Why don’t you come straight over to my place and get cleaned up here? I’ll rustle us up some supper – what do you say?’
‘That’s sounds like an offer I can’t refuse.’
‘Good, see you in about half an hour – yes?’
‘Definitely, yes.’
***
Alex’s apartment was on the third floor of a refurbished 1930s block in Twickenham. He had his own parking space, which was an end slot, so there was enough room for Scarlett to park her bike beside his Range Rover Sport without encroaching on someone else’s space. Taking off her helmet she shook out her red hair, ruffled her fingers through it to tease out the knots and then strode across to the entrance where she pressed Alex’s intercom. He buzzed her in and she rode the lift, partly unzipping the top half of her biking leathers, suddenly overcome by the warmth of the building. His door was already open and he was standing in the entrance as she exited the lift. He was dressed in a tight-fitting T-shirt and jeans and again she felt her heart speed up a notch as she approached him.
‘It’s a long time since I’ve had a sexy girl come to my apa
rtment dressed in leather.’
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