by T J Harris
When Carver had finished, Frazer gave his verdict.
“I don’t think you have quite enough for a formal charge yet, so I’d like you to take a little longer to see if anything concrete turns up. I’d suggest you arrest and bail him until Monday. Then chase the three motives a little further.”
“All three?” Philpot interjected, looking concerned.
“I think so yes. Goldberg is a good man, if he thinks there’s something in it, let him run for a while.”
“I’ll let Moss follow her nose as well Sir, while I take the prime suspect.”
The conversation then shifted to a promise by the two senior men to play a round of golf before too long and an exchange of best wishes for their respective wives. Once the call was ended, Carver stood.
The team in the incident room had grown while Carver was upstairs. Angela was with them talking to the two DCs from Wiltshire and examining the timeline on the whiteboard wall. The room hushed as Carver walked back in. “The CPS say we should arrest him and bail him, but we should still carry on with the other two.” He announced walking over to the motive board.
He pointed at the conspiracy theory box. “Goldberg, can you work with Hunter and see if you can get anywhere with this. Back check her sources and see if you can find anything that suggests she was asked to tone it down. Go over her email and phone records again. See if anything stands out.”
He moved to the next box. “Moss, you take the lead here. I’ll give the other one a crack. Everyone else, try and find this bloody necklace or anything else that we can use to pin this thing down. We’re very close, just one more piece of the puzzle should clinch it.”
Ten minutes later, Carver and Reid entered the interview room together. “I’m very sorry to keep you waiting so long Dr Brooks.”
“Oh Inspector, that’s no problem. Thank you for taking the trouble to talk to me yourself. I’m afraid I was very rude to your colleague. She shocked me with the things she was saying about Helen. About her having an affair. Surely it’s not true.” He looked, pleading with Carver to allay his fears.
“I’m afraid it is true Sir.” He paused as they all sat down. “Not only has the man admitted having the affair, but we have DNA evidence from his house and a long list of digital evidence as well.”
“Digital evidence, what sort of digital evidence?”
“They were emailing each other, arranging meetings. I’m afraid the exchanges were quite explicit.”
There was a pause while Brooks appeared to absorb the information. “I’m sorry, I’m just stunned. You must think I’m incredibly stupid for not realising anything was wrong.”
“It does appear that they were very careful, even covert.”
“Has he admitted to killing Helen now?”
“No. We think Helen was trying to break off the relationship, he denies this, but we can’t yet prove that he is guilty of her murder.”
“So you haven’t ruled out a third party then. Did your Sergeant pass on my information about the energy market?”
“She did, and we are looking into it.”
“OK, well if you need anything further from me, you know where to find me. Am I free to go? I told my sister I would only be a couple of hours, but that was a long time ago now.”
“If we could ask you to stay for just a little longer, we won’t keep you more that a few minutes but I just want to check on one more thing while you are here.” Carver stood with Reid and they made their way out and back to the incident room to watch Moss on the monitor.
She had just walked in and sat down. The solicitor was complaining about the delay, but Moss had responded reminding him that he was the one who had requested the break.
“Let’s start at the beginning again if we could Mr Williams. You say the affair had been going on for over six months is that right?”
“Yes. You know this.” Williams replied, obviously frustrated.
“Were you in love, or was it purely physical?” She delivered the line in an even voice, not adding any judgement one way or the other.
“I think we loved each other. OK, the sex was a big part of it, but there was more than that. We enjoyed spending time together. We would watch films, talk, we were becoming good friends.”
“But she still wanted the affair kept very quiet. All this cloak and dagger stuff with the email drafts.”
“That’s right, she kept saying that she didn’t want to hurt her husband. She didn’t want him to find out. It was our secret.”
“Did she ever talk about leaving him, of the two of you living together?”
“No, and I knew better than to push it.”
“Is that what you wanted though?”
“Well obviously… I mean, I thought about it, who wouldn’t?”
“But you never discussed it?”
“No.”
“So why do you think she wanted to end the affair?”
“She didn’t. That’s absolute nonsense. I told the other officer.”
“But she said it in the email draft on Monday.” Moss leafed through the file to find the correct page then placed it in front of Williams.
“That’s wrong, that’s not what she wrote.” Williams was becoming agitated again. “Someone must have changed it. I swear that’s not what she wrote.”
“Why did you delete all the messages?”
“What do you mean?”
“You logged into the account last night and deleted all the draft emails. Why did you do that if the message would have corroborated your story?”
“I didn’t, someone else must have access. Anyway, your lot took my computer.”
“That’s not what you said to my colleague.” Moss replied. She opened another file containing the earlier transcript, found the passage she was looking for and started reading.
“This is from this morning’s interview. Inspector Carver: ‘I’m showing the suspect exhibit HW15. These are transcripts of messages left in a draft box on an online email facility. Both yours and Helen Brooks’s computers have been regularly used to access this account.’”
“You: ‘How did you… but I deleted them. OK yes, we were having an affair.’”
She looked up and fixed Williams with a stare. “You deleted them, I want to know why?”
“I don’t know.” He paused. “I don’t know how you got them, I didn’t want anyone else reading them. They were private.”
“Did you use your other computer, your laptop to delete them?”
“No, my phone.” There was a slight pause. “What other computer, I told the other one, I don’t own a laptop.”
“The trouble is, it doesn’t help that you keep lying to us. Even now when you forget what you have already admitted to, you try and deny that you deleted the messages. How are we supposed to believe anything you tell us?”
“I’m sorry, but I’m not lying about this.”
Moss changed tack, trying to unbalance her quarry. “Going back to your time with Helen. Did you buy her any gifts?”
“No, she wouldn’t have accepted anything anyway.”
“So, all the jewellery she wore, you never bought any of it for her.”
“No, obviously not.”
“Did you ever wonder where she got the items she did wear? Whether she bought them for herself or if someone else bought them for her?”
“Not really. I assumed her husband did, but I never really thought about it.”
“Really, I find that difficult to believe. You’d be holding her hand with another man’s ring on it, nibbling her ear with another man’s earring, nuzzling her neck…”
“I never though about it, I told you.” Williams snapped back.
“I think you did. What did you think of her new necklace, the silver one in the shape of a knot?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I never saw her wear a necklace like that.”
“It was an anniversary present from her husband. Did you know it was their silver anniversary last week
end?”
“She said it was an anniversary but I didn’t know which one.”
“Lovely gift though, very thoughtful. You can see why she wanted to cool things off with you, concentrate on her husband.”
“I told you, that’s not what happened. She wanted to see me.” He was pleading with her now, but he wouldn’t break. “I didn’t kill her, I couldn’t have.”
“I’m afraid we’ve only got your word for that, and the evidence tells us a completely different story. Evidence you tried so hard to destroy. It doesn’t look very good does it Mr Williams?” Moss stood and gathered her files. “Interview terminated at” She glanced at her watch, “seventeen forty seven.”
Back in the incident room, Carver stood and made his way out and down the corridor to the interview suite. He joined Moss in the corridor. “Let’s do this thing.” he said.
They both entered the room together. Williams was talking to his solicitor. They both looked up, annoyed at the interruption.
Carver remained standing as he looked at Williams and said. “Sean Williams I am arresting you on suspicion of the murder of Helen Brooks.” He carried on by re-stating the caution and then explained that he was to be released on police bail.
“Your solicitor will explain the details but we will need you to stay at home, officers will visit to ensure you are complying with the terms of your release and you will be required to return to this police station at ten o’clock, Monday morning.” he paused. “Do you understand?”
Williams had turned white. He shook his head.
“Mr Williams do you understand the caution I have just given you?”
“Yes.” he replied in a weak voice.
“Thank you.” Carver nodded at Moss and the two of them left the room. Their next stop was the family interview suite where Brooks was still waiting.
“Sorry to keep you so long Dr Brooks.” said Carver as he entered the room. “We do appreciate your patience.”
“That’s quite alright. There’s not much to go home to. My sister insists on cooking but I can’t face anything at the moment.” He stood to meet them but sat again as Carver waved him back to his chair.
When they were settled Carver spoke again. “We’ve come to inform you that we have made an arrest in connection with your wife’s murder. It is the same man who was having an affair with her. We believe she wanted to end the affair but he would not let her go.”
“Has he admitted it then?”
“No, but he has the motive, means and opportunity and he can’t prove his whereabouts at the time.”
Brooks nodded slowly. “Thank you inspector. It’s a relief to have some level of closure. So it was nothing to do with the energy crisis after all. I’m sorry if I wasted your time with that. I couldn’t think it was anything else.”
“Don’t worry. We are going to keep looking at that, just to be certain, but we think it’s more likely to be the boyfriend.”
“Boyfriend. I still can’t believe it.” He stopped suddenly then started again. “So does this man have Helen’s necklace? I want it back Inspector, it’s very precious to me, especially now that she’s gone. If he’s destroyed it, I’ll…” he stopped again.
“You’ll what?” Moss spoke for the first time.
“I’ll be very upset.” Brooks replied carefully. He turned to face her. “Look, I’m very sorry for what I said to you before. It’s all been totally overwhelming and I lost my temper. I do hope you can forgive me.” He held his hand out towards her.
He looked genuinely sorry and Moss accepted the apology thinking he was either a very good actor or he really meant it. She couldn’t quite decide. She took the offered hand and he shook it.
The two officers exchanged a glance then Carver explained that Brooks could now leave and return home. He promised to keep him informed of any developments.
Back in the incident room, he checked that everyone had their tasks for the following day and then headed home. He took the A40 west, stopping to fill his car with fuel and pick up some flowers. When he got home he found his wife sat at the kitchen table helping their daughter with her homework. He put the flowers in front of his wife and bent down to kiss her. “Something smells good.” He said, then whispered in her ear. “And I don’t mean the stew.”
“These for me? Thanks love.” She looked up smiling. “I suppose this means you’re going to be at work all day tomorrow as well does it?” She looked up at him concerned. He always pushed himself hard when he had a big case on, and it wasn’t helped by the fact that he slept poorly even when he did manage to get home.
“You know me too well. I do have to go in tomorrow, but these are nothing to do with that, they are just to remind you how much I appreciate you.” He leaned over and kissed her again, on the lips this time.
“Ah, get a room!” The twelve year old smirked at them.
“Your next!” He announced and ran round the table enveloping his daughter in a bear hug, kissing the top of her head.
She giggled and squealed. “Dad!”
Chapter 13
When Carver arrived at the station the following morning, Goldberg and Hunter had beaten him to it and were already set up in the incident room poring over data concerning the UK’s electricity market. Goldberg in particular looked very pleased with himself as he welcomed his superior.
“Morning Boss.”
Picking up on the atmosphere, Carver indulged them. “Going well is it?”
“You could say that, yes. I called an old mucker of mine last night. Haven’t seem him in ages but we were at Hendon together back in the day. He moved to London and is now an Inspector in the Fraud Squad with City of London Police. We swapped stories and I dropped into the conversation that we were investigating the murder of a scientist in the energy sector and the thought was that there might be some political or big money interest.”
“Careful, you know we’re supposed to get authorisation before talking to other departments, let alone other forces.”
“I was just chatting, nothing official, but anyway. He got very interested, very quickly. He wants us to go down and visit him tomorrow in town.”
“Tomorrow?”
“Yes, he wants to see us both, and Hunter here, seems he understands it better than most.” Goldberg pointed at the complex spreadsheet that they had been working through when Carver had arrived.
Hunter beamed. “I pulled some basic numbers together last night to check on Helen Brooks’s data and conclusions. It’s quite straightforward. The National Grid’s FES analysis is based on four scenarios based on different uptakes of technology, economic growth, social change and environmental effects. Each one with predictions based on load, availability, utility and so on. I’ve collated them into a matrix model that allows us to run scenarios and examine the…”
“Steve, for Christ sake, let a man get a coffee first.” Carver held his hands up in surrender and laughed.
“Sorry, Inspector.” Hunter looked embarrassed but no less determined to fully explain what he had been able to confirm.
Once Carver had his coffee, he’d selected extra strong to fortify himself for the barrage of data, he made his way back into the incident room. As he entered, Goldberg and Hunter were still talking excitedly. He looked up at the screen projection but could not see what was so amusing. It just looked like a wall of data.
Hunter took them meticulously through his model. The man had basically stayed up all the previous night, going over Helen Brooks’s numbers and building his spreadsheet. The majority of the data was traced back to the original sources and it confirmed the victim’s analysis. His model allowed him to input different take up rates for electric cars, energy efficient homes and economic growth but play with it as they did, the outputs were always the same, unless the UK dramatically accelerated investment in building power generation capacity, demand always exceeded supply.
“OK, so her numbers look tight, but what’s the fraud angle? Why is your mate interested?” Carve
r asked when they were satisfied that the threat was real.
Goldberg replied. “Apparently, one of the things Jason and his small team look for is people shorting positions that seem highly unlikely.”
Carver looked at him quizzically. “Try again.”
Goldberg nodded at Hunter who took over the explanation. “OK Boss, it’s basically a bet that a particular stock will fall in value. Normally if you are playing the market you buy shares when you think that they are under valued and sell them when you think they are over valued. You make your profits on the shares that rise in value between you buying them and selling them.” He looked at Carver to ensure he hadn’t lost him.
“OK” said Carver.
“In a short trade, you effectively buy an insurance policy that pays out if the share value drops. The thing is you don’t need to own any of the shares in question, you can just buy the policy. So if you think that a company is over priced or you think that something is going to affect the price negatively, you buy one of these…” he made quotation marks in the air “instruments.” He lowered his hands and continued. “If the share price falls, you sell the instrument back to the bank for the value that the shares have dropped. Effectively the insurance pays out. But you can bet huge sums. The safer the bank selling the instrument thinks the bet is, the better odds they will give you. The rub is that you have to pay premiums while the instrument is in force, otherwise it is voided.”
“OK” said Carver, “let’s see if I’ve got this. If I think that, Oh I don’t know, Apple shares are going to fall, because I like the look of the next Android Phone…”
“You techie you.” laughed Hunter.
“I’ve got kids.” replied Carver. “If I think they are going to fall, rather than just sell the shares I have in Apple, I can pay for an insurance policy that will pay out if the shares fall in value. But even if I only own a few shares, I could buy insurance based on millions of shares.”
