A Genuine Mistake

by Ted Tayler

  “What was it this time?” asked Gus.

  “Victim support,” said Suzie. “It’s a good idea because it dovetails with the other projects I’m handling.”

  After they had eaten, Gus joined Suzie in the lounge where they tackled the list of people and companies she needed to notify of her change of address.

  “Not an exciting evening,” he said after they finished the task, “but worthwhile.”

  “Will tomorrow night be exciting then?” asked Suzie.

  “I need to spend an hour or two at the allotment,” said Gus. “August is half over, and I’ve got lots to do. If you feel up to it, you can come with me. Then we’ll drop into the Lamb. I’d like to hear from Bert how Irene was this evening. Brett said last night that he was taking him to the RUH whether he protested or not.”

  “I’ll see how I am,” said Suzie. “I can rustle up that omelette and chips for us to enjoy. Then we could walk to the Lamb later. What have you got planned for the morning?”

  “I have a nine-thirty meeting with a fitness instructor,” said Gus. “A beautiful thirty-six-year-old single lady.”

  “Time for bed,” said Suzie. Gus didn’t argue.

  They both got out of bed a few minutes later than usual in the morning. Suzie felt better than she had for a week, and they sat in the kitchen, eating breakfast together for a change.

  “If this mood lasts throughout the day, I might join you at the allotment after all,” said Suzie as they dressed ready for work.

  “Fingers crossed,” said Gus. “Before I do a thing today, I need to decide who to take with me for this morning’s meeting.”

  “Who is this woman you’re seeing?” asked Suzie as they left the bungalow.

  “Our victim’s partner,” said Gus. “They’d been together for five years. There was talk when she inherited the vast majority of his estate, but nothing suggests she had anything to do with his death.”

  “Is she still single?”

  “I don’t know,” said Gus. “I don’t remember reading her current status in the murder file.”

  “You didn’t consider interviewing her on your own?”

  “Geoff said that I should always have a serving officer present. We’ve strayed from that on the odd occasion. I vary the team member who comes with me for obvious reasons.”

  “To share the load and make sure each of them feels as important as the rest,” said Suzie. “That should be standard practice, but I’ve met senior officers who do the exact opposite.”

  “Don’t bite my head off, but Lydia has been the ideal choice when we’re talking to male suspects or inmates. She distracts their attention from the line of questioning.”

  “There’s a word for that, Gus Freeman.”

  “I think Luke might fit the bill today,” said Gus. “Does that fall into the same category?”

  “Possibly,” said Suzie. “Although, you might not learn as much from this woman if two blokes gang up on her. She might not suss that Luke’s gay. Why not take Alex Hardy?”

  “Alex is crunching the numbers for the financial firm our victim ran. I don’t want to take him off that task. It’s our last hope for a quick breakthrough.”

  “Luke, it is then,” said Suzie. She got into her Golf and set off for London Road.

  Gus followed her as far as the car park and then drove to the Old Police Station office. Neil Davis was already upstairs when Gus exited the lift.

  “Morning, guv,” said Neil. “All systems go for today and tonight. I’ve cleared a visit to the snooker club with Melody, and Nick Barrett reluctantly agreed to see me at eleven-thirty this morning.”

  “Terrific, Neil,” said Gus. “Press him hard for information on the girls who Batman and Robin chatted with, whenever and wherever that was. Feed that to Blessing so she can liaise with Divya in the Hub. The sooner we can get those searches underway, the better. Good luck tonight, too. You might bump into Sean Hogan. If you do, then beat a hasty but dignified retreat. I won’t have time to talk to him, at least until tomorrow. I don’t want him spooked by finding out we’re digging into the background of his family and Nick Barrett.”

  “Got it, guv,” said Neil. “That sounds like the others coming up now.”

  Luke and Blessing were next to arrive.

  “Luke, you’re with me this morning,” said Gus. “It’s okay if you didn’t bring your shorts and trainers. We’ll be talking to Rachel Cummins, not taking a fitness lesson.”

  “Very droll, guv,” said Luke.

  The lift descended to the ground floor once more, and Alex and Lydia came up and joined them.

  “Everyone’s here, and it isn’t nine o’clock,” said Gus. “That’s what I like to see. You know what you’ve got to do, Alex. Neil’s going back to Bradford-on-Avon later, and you two girls are scanning old news items. Luke and I will catch up on your progress when we return.”

  “We should get to Trowle Common bang on half-past nine, guv,” said Luke as he and Gus headed for the lift.

  “I don’t mind making Ms Cummins wait,” said Gus. “I’m more worried about this lift. It’s up and down more than an assistant referee’s flag.”

  Luke hesitated when they reached the car park.

  “What’s up?” asked Gus.

  “I didn’t want to presume that we were using my car, guv,” said Luke.

  “Jump in the Focus, then. What’s life without the occasional risk?”

  “Neil said his role in Barrett’s office yesterday morning was to listen, make notes, and inwardly digest. Is that the same for me today?”

  “If a reply from Rachel triggers a fresh line of questioning, don’t hesitate. Go for the jugular. By the way, is Ms Cummins single?”

  “I believe so, guv,” said Luke.

  “I guess we’ll find out when we get there,” said Gus.

  Gus drove them through Trowbridge and onward to Trowle Common. They arrived outside the Cummins and Hogan property without mishap one minute before the appointed time.

  “I couldn’t have judged it better, guv,” said Luke.

  “Five sets of lights against us out of six, Luke. Judgement had nothing to do with it. I blame the Wiltshire Highways Department.”

  “It’s an impressive property, guv,” said Luke. “I wonder whether they’ve made further improvements since Gerry’s death.”

  “Apart from a new driveway, d’you mean?” said Gus.

  Luke studied the clean gravel at the front of the house. He would have moved if it were him. Every time he opened the front door, he’d see the body and the blood.

  “Why did we leave the car back there on the road, guv? It’s a fair walk to the house.”

  “Ms Cummins is a fitness instructor, Luke. I wanted to get off on the right foot. Anyway, there’s a method in my madness. I want to see whether she can see our car from the front doorstep.”

  Gus stood on the doorstep and turned around.

  “The trees and bushes screening the property from the road will have matured in the past six years. The road was more visible back then. There were very few places for that chap to park that obscured any motorcycle from view.”

  Luke rang the bell.

  “I wonder if that’s the same ring,” said Gus. “A pint on Friday night says she bought a new one.”

  “No contest, guv,” said Luke. “Do you think Rachel will open the door in her lycra outfit?”

  “Odd place to have a door, Luke,” said Gus.

  Luke groaned.

  “I’ve waited years to say that again,” said Gus.

  Rachel Cummins opened the front door wearing a fitted white blouse, high-waisted black trousers, and flat patent leather shoes. There wasn’t a pair of trainers in sight, let alone lycra.

  “You must be the police officers I’m expecting. Do come in. I’ve got coffee on the go in the kitchen. If you go straight through, you’ll find the sunroom. It’s lovely there in the mornings. I’ll be with you in a minute.”

  Gus and Luke did as instructed.
The sunroom furniture was top-of-the-range, as expected. Everything about the property oozed quality. Gus wondered why Rachel Cummins didn’t sell up and move into a smaller place in Bath. Something must make her want to stay out here in the sticks.

  A door opened to their left, and Rachel Cummins reappeared with a tray.

  “What does everybody want?” she asked.

  Luke answered for both him and Gus. Rachel smiled.

  “You know who I am,” she said, “so, which of you is Detective Sergeant Sherman?”

  “I’m DS Sherman, and this is Gus Freeman, a consultant with Wiltshire Police.”

  “How can I help?” asked Rachel.

  “As Luke will have explained when he phoned you, Ms Cummins,” said Gus. “We’re taking a fresh look into the murder of your partner, Gerry Hogan. It might be six years, and the original investigation didn’t reach any firm conclusions, but no murder file is ever closed. We hope to find Gerry’s killer this time around.”

  “It made little sense,” said Rachel. “Gerry didn’t have an enemy in the world. It had to be random. The police went over this ground six years ago. I can’t see how it will be any different.”

  “If we ask the same questions, we’ll get the same answers, Ms Cummins,” said Gus. “My team has had a fair bit of success in the past few months by listening to what people say and then asking a different question. Perhaps one that that person didn’t expect. Their answers can be revealing.”

  “If I were guilty of any crime, that comment would put me on my guard, Mr Freeman,” said Rachel, “but no matter what questions you ask, you will only ever get the truth. I had nothing to hide six years ago. Nothing’s changed.”

  “You were born in Surrey in 1982, I believe,” said Gus.

  “My parents lived in Haslemere. Dad worked on the buses, and Mum worked part time in a flower shop before I started school.”

  “Their marriage ended when you were eighteen months old,” said Gus. “What do you remember of that time?”

  “Not much,” said Rachel.

  “Did they argue? Can you remember them shouting? Was your father violent towards your mother? Did nothing register?”

  “I remember Mum crying,” said Rachel. “I didn’t understand why. I still don’t. She hasn’t spoken to me about it. After Dad left, it was just the two of us. I never saw or heard from him again. You need to ask Mum. Not that it’s got anything to do with Gerry’s murder. It was hardly front-page news; lots of marriages break down.”

  “Your mother didn’t look for another man?” asked Gus.

  “No, it was the two of us against the world. Mum started full time in the flower shop once I started school. We were never flush with money, but we always got by. Mum and I holidayed in this country: Great Yarmouth, Southend, Bognor Regis, places like that. We usually stayed on a caravan site. Cheap and cheerful. My grandfather died when I was seventeen, and my gran had passed a couple of years earlier. Mum used the small windfall from Granddad’s will to pay for me to go through college,”

  “You wanted to get the right health, fitness, and exercise diplomas to enable you to teach, I suppose,” said Gus.

  “More than wanted, Mr Freeman,” said Rachel Cummins, “it was what I’d set my heart on ever since I was a young girl.”

  “At twenty, you carved out a career as a personal trainer. I imagine that was hard work?”

  “It involved hours of preparation and miles of driving to and from village halls, gyms and fitness centres in a twenty-mile radius of Haslemere. I had the drive and determination necessary to be successful. After three years, I felt I’d cracked it.”

  “Your comment suggests that something threatened that success,” said Gus.

  “Was that when your mother found someone?” asked Luke.

  “Lawrence Wallace, yes,” said Rachel. “Mum knew him first when they were in secondary school. They went out together for three months. When my Dad moved to Haslemere from Guildford to live, that changed. Dad swept Mum off her feet, or so she said. What happened next was my fault. I bought a computer for my accounts and saw the potential for Facebook to help my business. Mum wanted to know what it was all about, and I showed her where several of my school friends had got in touch. The next thing I knew, Mum had an account and ten friends. Most were girls from her schooldays or work. Then she found her old boyfriend online. The next thing I know, he’s on the settee when I get home from a job.”

  “You didn’t like him, is that fair?” asked Luke.

  “He was a creep,” said Rachel. “I dressed in a way that suited the work I did. I still do. He undressed me with his eyes. I couldn’t stay in the house once he’d moved in, nor could I explain to Mum why I needed to find a place of my own. She was happy, and I didn’t want to spoil things for her. I just knew he was the sort of bloke to try it on if I was ever alone with him.”

  “You experienced similar unwanted advances on home visits,” said Gus.

  “The old ones were the worst,” said Rachel. “They couldn’t touch their toes, but their hands found a breast or my bottom in a millisecond. They never scared me. I always knew I was strong enough and fast enough to control the situation before it got out of hand.”

  “Why did you choose to move to Bath?” asked Gus.

  “Most people have seen photographs of Bath,” said Rachel. “It’s a beautiful city. No way was I moving to London. A huge impersonal place with far too much competition in my line of business. I thought the average age of people in and around Bath would suit my approach to exercise. I knew it would take hard graft to create as good a circuit as I had in Surrey. The primary reason was that Bath was far enough away from Lawrence Wallace to dissuade him from popping round to try his luck.”

  “You moved home only after you had done your utmost to get your existing clients fixed up with an alternative trainer,” said Gus. “I find that commendable.”

  “I couldn’t leave them in the lurch. Some had been with me from the beginning.”

  “How did you avoid the clutches of your mother’s new partner?” asked Luke.

  “My evenings were spent working or visiting other trainers’ sessions to see if they were willing to take on new clients. I didn’t run any session on Sundays, so I drove to Bath, searching for a flat to rent and venues I could hire. I advertised in local papers and newsagents windows. Anything to get the message out. It was slow to take off, but I got there.”

  “How long had you been working here before you met Gerry Hogan?” asked Gus.

  “Two years. One of the first places I had on my list of venues was that place in Bradford-on-Avon. Every Thursday night, rain or shine. I still run sessions there now if you’re interested.”

  “I play squash most weeks with my partner,” said Luke, “and Mr Freeman spends several hours a week on his allotment. We’re fine. Thank you. There is one thing you’ve not mentioned when you covered the first twenty-three years of your life. Was there nobody in your life other than your mother? No boyfriends or girlfriends. No significant other. You are an attractive woman, Ms Cummins. I’m sure that it wasn’t only old men and lecherous male friends of your mother who took an interest.”

  “I had boyfriends while I was at school and college, DS Sherman, but my focus was always on my career. Nothing was going to distract me from achieving my goal. I must admit that there was always the thought that I didn’t want to make the same mistake as my mother in the back of my mind. From the age of twenty, when I started work as a personal trainer, I was too busy to stop and look for anyone.”

  “You must have socialised in that first two years when you lived in Bath,” said Gus. “There’s no shortage of places to go to meet new people. Would you have us believe you were too busy ever to take a break?”

  “I didn’t know anyone when I moved from Haslemere,” said Rachel. “The only friends I had were among the new people that signed up for my fitness classes. Of course, most of them were women. Many were far older than me, but in a university city, I foun
d plenty of students and lecturers who needed to keep fit and healthy. I can honestly say that although I enjoyed their company whenever we met up away from the classroom, I didn’t meet a man that sparked my interest. Perhaps I wasn’t looking hard enough in the right bars and clubs. I visited the theatre, went to concerts and film shows in the Royal Crescent. It might sound boring, but I can assure you, I was happy with my lot.”

  “Then, one Thursday evening in Bradford-on-Avon, a forty-nine-year-old man signed up for you to get him fit again,” said Luke. “Gerry Hogan walked into your life, and suddenly everything changed.”

  “Your line of questioning suggests that you have me marked down as a man-hater,” said Rachel. “Because I was unhappy getting fondled on home visits; and imagined that Lawrence Wallace planned to attack me. That’s rubbish. I should be able to visit men in their homes for an exercise class without them invading my personal space. Men like Wallace should understand the boundaries and respect them. He was dating my mother, for heaven’s sake.”

  “I’m not sure that our line of questioning was contentious,” said Gus. “Gerry Hogan died outside his front door six years ago. You lived with him here for four years. If DI Kirkpatrick didn’t dig deep into your history and relationships, then that was remiss of him. If the killer didn’t come from Gerry’s distant past, then it had to relate to someone he’d met recently. DS Sherman was within his rights to ask why, after several years of celibacy, you changed.”

  “People say they don’t believe in love at first sight, Mr Freeman,” said Rachel. “All I can say is they’ve never experienced a night such as that. After the session ended, I wanted to have a brief chat to learn what Gerry wanted from the course. That’s standard practice; I always want my clients to get the most out of the time they spend with me. As soon as we talked, there was an instant attraction. That had never happened with any other man I’d met during my working life. I couldn’t wait for the following Thursday night to see him again. Gerry was vulnerable. He told me what had happened to his wife and how he’d brought up his sons alone. I told him about my home life and my career. Conversation flowed with such ease that it felt as if we’d known one another for years.”