‘You used to be married to Tristan Hart, or Tristan Savage.’
Her face falls, all its sunny animation gone. Muir wonders if he’s misjudged her age; she looks older now than she did moments before.
‘Ah. My past is here to haunt me. Is this about the attack on him? I can assure you it was nothing to do with me. Is he going to be OK?’
‘I think at this stage there seems no reason he couldn’t make a complete recovery,’ says Muir. ‘But I have to say we are treating the case as a serious assault.’
‘Do you have any idea who attacked him?’
‘Our enquiries are ongoing, which is why we’ve come to you. We’re wondering if you can suggest anyone in Tristan’s background who might wish him harm.’
‘Apart from me?’ The words slip from Dolly’s mouth before she’s considered them, and she blushes. ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that. Of course I don’t wish him harm. I haven’t seen him in years. That chapter of my life is over, finished.’
Down on the street, a Japanese tourist is taking a photograph of the shop’s frontage.
‘Look,’ says Golding, ‘why don’t you start from the beginning, tell us about your relationship with Tristan? This is all in strictest confidence. We’re not asking you to make a statement at this stage, we’re just trying to get a rounded picture of Tristan’s life. Where did you and he meet?’
‘A trip down memory lane, then?’ Dolly sighs. ‘We were both living in London, making our way in the world of entertainment. You’ll think it a cliché, but we met in the BBC canteen. I was an actress at the time – sorry, we have to say actor now, don’t we? I was doing all right, lots of little things and bit parts, kids’ TV, the odd sitcom. I was in Inspector Morse a couple of times. I never got a speaking part, though they said I made a beautiful corpse. Basically I’d take anything I could get, always hoping for that big breakthrough that never came.’
‘And was Tristan acting at that time?’ asks Golding.
‘No. Tris was never an actor. He wanted to be a journalist, and he was beginning to make a bit of a name for himself as a news reporter, someone they could send to the far-flung corners of the kingdom in a crisis, floods in Cornwall, that kind of thing. He was angling for a foreign posting – you know, our Washington correspondent, or Paris or Moscow – but it never came off. He didn’t have the education for it, bluntly. For a job like that, they wouldn’t look at anyone without a degree. That didn’t matter, though, in the long run. He went in other directions, and it hasn’t worked out so badly for him. Anyway, he was behind me in the lunch queue one day and we got talking. He asked me to go for a drink, and that was it.’
‘What year was that?’ asks Golding. ‘Can you remember?’
Dolly shakes her head. ‘I don’t know. Bailey’s twenty-two now, so it must be nearly twenty-five years. Gosh, is it really so long ago? I must be getting old.’
‘Who’s Bailey?’ asks Muir.
‘Sorry, I should have said. He’s our son, mine and Tris’s. He doesn’t have anything to do with Tris, though. He hasn’t seen him or spoken to him since he was at primary school.’
‘Are you sure about that?’ asks Muir.
‘Absolutely certain.’
‘So your son is estranged from his father? Why is that?’
Dolly sighs. ‘Do I have your word this is in confidence?’
‘If it has no bearing on the case, there’s no reason it would be made public,’ says Muir.
‘Tris wasn’t the easiest person to live with,’ says Dolly. ‘To be frank, he had issues. The day came when I gave up trying to deal with his problems, and Bailey’s never seen any good reason to reconnect with a man he believes failed him as a father.’
‘What were these issues, Dolly?’ asks Golding.
‘Alcohol issues. I don’t know whether you’ve ever experienced life with an alcoholic – I’m guessing probably not – but you can take it from me, it isn’t easy. We were happy in the beginning, but after a while everything he wanted to do revolved around drinking, and that wasn’t who I was. So he left me behind and went on benders, disappearing for days at a time. Of course I’d be out of my mind with worry, but as time went by, my attitude hardened. He spent time in rehab, more than once, and would come home promising he’d changed. And he did change, for a while, until the next time he didn’t come home.’
Dolly lapses into reflective silence.
‘We’re sorry to put you through this,’ says Golding. ‘But this is important information, information we don’t have.’
‘A lot of care’s been taken to keep it out of the press, a lot of care. You should talk to his agent, Duncan Painter. He’s the mastermind who made sure Tris’s reputation was never tarnished. And it was always Duncan who’d buy me expensive lunches and persuade me to stick by Tris whenever I was threatening to leave. Back then, a high-profile divorce would have done terminal damage to Tris’s image, and the networks were far more particular than they are these days. If word had got out, his career would have been over.’
‘But you left him in the end?’ suggests Muir.
‘In the end, yes. There was an accident, all Tris’s fault. He’d been drinking, of course, but it had made him manic, and he was behaving like an idiot, trying to persuade poor Bailey to play indoor cricket with Tris’s old school-team bat. As he was swinging the bat – warming up, he was calling it – I came through the door and he hit me in the face, broke some of the bones in my inner ear. I’m half-deaf to this day. Not to mention the mess he made of my face.
‘Things almost got ugly for him then. The ambulancemen called the police to attend, and they didn’t believe for a moment he hadn’t hit me deliberately. It seemed an unlikely story, I have to admit, but with no complaint from me, they couldn’t arrest him. When Duncan came to see me in hospital, he was truly shocked to see the state I was in. Tris paid for corrective surgery – Duncan got me the best surgeon in the business – and I was grateful for that.’ She turns the left side of her face to each of them in turn. ‘Look, no visible scars. But even Duncan knew the situation couldn’t go on. He found me a place to go – a flat in Pimlico – and Tris paid decent maintenance for me and Bailey. That was the end of it, really. He went back into rehab for a while, again hushed up by Duncan. Over time, I rebuilt my life and then I met my current partner, Eileen. We take care of each other, and with her I don’t have to worry where it will end if she has a glass of wine. I don’t get any money from Tris these days. I have no reason to. When Bailey turned eighteen, I decided to cut the ties, sold the flat, and Eileen and I bought this place, which doesn’t make us much, but it’s enough to squeeze by. Bailey’s working in the States and he sends me what he can. He’s a good son. Teetotal, as am I.’
Muir nods in sympathy. ‘Thank you for your honesty.’
‘I don’t think anything I’ve said will help you,’ says Dolly. ‘Tris and I are ancient history. Can I ask who suggested you speak to me?’
‘It was your sister-in-law, Fiona Roe,’ says Muir.
Dolly’s eyebrows lift. ‘Interesting.’
‘Which prompts me to ask, can you think of any reason why your brother would want to make contact with Tristan?’
‘Murray’s not my brother, he’s my step-brother. And no, I can’t think of any reason whatsoever. Did he make contact?’
‘It seems so. Were he and Tristan close while you and Tristan were married? Were they drinking buddies maybe, anything like that?’
‘We saw him and Fiona at Christmas. That was about it.’
‘So you’d think it unusual if Murray went out of his way to track Tristan down?’
‘I’d think it a bit odd, yes.’
‘Well, we’ll leave you in peace,’ says Muir. ‘Before we go, can you give me contact details for Duncan Painter?’
‘You can Google him. He’s still one of the top agents in London.’
Golding hands her a card. ‘If you think of anything else, please give us a call.’
‘One other thing I have to ask,’ says Muir, as he gets up from his chair, ‘and I’m sorry, it’s rather personal. Do you believe Tristan was faithful to you during your marriage?’
Dolly’s laugh this time is filled with genuine amusement. ‘Oh, God, no. I don’t honestly think Tristan has it in him to be faithful. Women queued up to be with him, and while we were together, there weren’t very many who went away disappointed.’
‘Well, I wasn’t expecting that,’ says Muir, as he and Golding walk back to the car. ‘Puts a different face on the investigation, wouldn’t you say? Because it makes me wonder whether his past behaviour might have given someone a motive we know nothing about. Did you believe her about the accident with the cricket bat?’
‘Not really,’ says Golding, ‘but I suppose it’s possible that’s how it was. And if she’s been financially persuaded to keep quiet, what can you do?’
‘Regardless of deliberate intent, sounds like there’s plenty of dirt hidden in Tristan’s past, and maybe Murray Roe’s hard up enough to be thinking about blackmail,’ says Muir. ‘When we get back, put Roe’s financial situation to the top of the priorities list. I’ll ask Kirstie to make enquiries of Isobel Savage, see if she knows anything about Roe, and I’ll get someone to have a closer look into Tristan Savage’s past. If he’s got an arrest record, it’s time we knew about it, though it sounds like his agent probably kept the slate clean. Gooch can do that, under your supervision. You’d never know there was a problem, would you, when you see him on the telly?’
But Golding doesn’t agree. ‘Nothing would surprise me these days. Maybe it’s just an act, playing the nice guy.’
‘Maybe so,’ says Muir. ‘But wouldn’t it be interesting if someone he’s upset in the past just happened to be on the guest list of that wedding?’
Twenty-six
In the Burnt Common conference room, the heat’s intense. The fans someone’s set running are doing no more than blowing hot air from one end of the room to the other.
‘Sorry to do this to you,’ says Muir. ‘We’ll be as quick as we can getting everyone up to speed with case developments so we can all get out of this hell-hole. Firstly, I’m sorry to report the news from the hospital is not the best on Tristan’s condition, since there’s been no change. Plainly this is bad news for us in terms of the investigation, because the sooner we’re able to speak to him and get his version of events, the sooner we can clear this one up and move on to other things. I don’t want anything regarding his condition to be shared at this stage, and it goes without saying that it’s not for discussion or release to the press – understood, Brad?’ He looks squarely at Brad Sherman, but Sherman appears to be busy with his phone. ‘Any leaks will be dealt with as a disciplinary matter. So, where are we up to? Let me go first.
‘Nate and I interviewed Murray Roe, the guy you’ll remember from the car-park video where he was talking to Tristan. He turns out to be an ex-relative of Tristan’s, in that Tristan used to be married to his step-sister. They divorced some years ago. Roe claims he was having a friendly catch-up with Tristan and we have no evidence thus far to the contrary. We’ve taken a formal statement, and Nate and I are of the opinion that Roe has money issues, so it’s possible he was hassling Tristan for money and didn’t take it well when he was refused. Nate’s going to be looking into Roe’s financial situation. In the interests of thoroughness, let’s also check with Tristan’s phone records that he had no calls from Roe’s number or the Stroud area in general during the weeks preceding the wedding. Roe says there’s been no contact but I think it would be prudent to make sure that’s true.’ He looks across at a young detective constable. ‘Sterling, I’m giving that to you. And one final thing of interest. Mr Roe knows that the weapon used in the assault was a champagne bottle, so he knows more than he should. He’s definitely on our list.’
‘Can I add something?’ asks Weld.
‘Go ahead.’
‘When we interviewed Gail Clements, mother-of-the-bride, she told us Fiona Roe pretty much invited herself and Murray to the wedding after Fiona saw on Facebook Tristan was going to be there. Which seems to suggest a plan to bump into him. We got screenshots of the Messenger chat.’
‘So certainly not the whole truth from Mr Roe,’ says Muir. ‘Sterling, make those phone records a priority, and Kirstie, can you make contact with Mrs Savage, ask her if she knows anything about him? I’m wondering whether Fiona Roe was coerced into asking for that invitation. On our way out, she gave me the address of Roe’s step-sister, Tristan’s ex-wife Dolly Blythe, and we made a detour to pay her a visit. She told a story which may be relevant, namely that Tristan has long-standing issues with alcohol, which was what ended the marriage. She also suggests he has form as a serial womaniser. I want to know if there’s any record of arrests for Tristan, any incidents which might have been recorded while he was under the influence, anything of interest at all. Amber, can you look into that? Check with Nate on how to get started, and he’ll keep you on track. Ms Blythe also suggested we speak to Tristan’s agent regarding his past behaviour – apparently the guy is a master of keeping damaging news out of the press – so I’ll make the trip to London to see him. Kirstie, why don’t you join me for that?’
Weld nods her agreement. ‘No problem. But what you’ve just said about Tristan’s drink problem doesn’t fit with what Isobel Savage told me at the hospital. She says she’s never known him drink.’
‘Interesting,’ says Muir. ‘Maybe he’s a reformed character since Roe knew him. Has anyone got anything we haven’t covered?’
‘The interviews with the two teenagers who reported the assault – Darren Ferris and Rosie Stainforth – went off OK,’ says Weld. ‘Pretty straightforward, no bombshells. They were in the pool area thinking they’d go skinny-dipping, but that idea lost its appeal when they found Tristan. Rosie did say she felt there might be someone hiding behind the building, but she couldn’t swear to it. Neither of them saw anyone or heard anything definite.’
‘Amber?’ Muir looks at Gooch, who blushes at being the centre of attention.
‘I interviewed a number of staff at the hotel,’ she says. ‘I got the details of those who were on shift that day but not present this morning, and I’ve made arrangements to speak to them. None of the ones I’ve spoken to already came up with anything of interest. Nate suggested I take a photo of Murray Roe to see if anyone recognised him, but no one remembered seeing him, though the manager . . .’ She glances down at her notes. ‘Craig Dalton. He recalled a man acting oddly in the lobby, but definitely not Roe. The guy he noticed was younger, well built, very short hair. Not much to go on, sorry.’
‘Good work,’ says Muir. ‘Make sure you follow up with the rest of the staff there, and find out if anyone else noticed Roe or this other guy.’ He turns to Davis, who’s heading up the guest list enquiries. ‘How’s it going, Andy?’
‘Getting through them, Boss, but nothing to report so far.’
‘Is that it?’ asks Muir, looking round the room. ‘Have we really come up all blanks?’
‘Amber and I spoke to the nanny,’ says Weld dispiritedly. ‘Not much there, either.’
‘Not much meaning . . .?’
‘Just a gut feel the working relationship might not have been as rosy as it looked from the outside. Hard to pin down. I wouldn’t go so far as to call it malice. Just that she didn’t seem particularly enamoured of her boss.’
‘Interesting. Anyone else? Don’t be shy.’
‘What about Tristan’s bank records?’ asks Weld. ‘Mrs Savage wasn’t keen to give the go-ahead on those without his permission, which plainly she isn’t going to get any time soon, so we’ll need a production order if we think there might be any value in looking at them.’
‘I’m not sure,’ says Muir. ‘We’ll prob
ably just find out he’s a wealthy man. It’s a lot of hassle for that.’
‘But if I’m already doing Roe’s,’ puts in Golding. ‘Same case, I can get them both signed at the same time.’
‘For thoroughness then, let’s do it. Anything else? No? Looks like another slow news day for you then, Brad. OK, people, let’s get back to it.’
Weld makes contacting Izzy her first priority, and puts in a call as soon as she returns to her desk. When Izzy answers, Weld can hear cars driving by in the background.
‘Hi, Izzy, it’s DS Weld from West Mercia CID.’
‘Hi.’ Izzy sounds listless, downbeat.
‘Is now a good time to talk?’
Another car drives by.
‘Yes, it’s fine. I’m just outside getting some fresh air. Sitting in that hospital room all day makes me claustrophobic.’
‘How’s he doing? Has there been any change?’
There’s a short pause where Weld suspects Izzy is shaking her head.
‘We keep talking to him. I played him some music today but he didn’t react.’
‘You have to give it time.’
‘That’s what the doctors say.’
‘Anyway, I won’t keep you, but I have a question for you, regarding a man named Murray Roe. Does that name mean anything to you?’
Another pause while Izzy considers. ‘I don’t think so.’
‘If I send you a photo of him, would you have a look and see if he’s at all familiar to you? We’re wondering whether Tristan may have had any recent contact with him.’
‘Of course.’
‘I’ll ping it through now. Have a good look at it and I’ll call you back shortly.’
But a minute later, she receives a text from Izzy: Don’t know him.
Weld texts back: Thx. Will be in touch, and ticks the task off her list.
When Izzy goes back to the ward, she mentions to Steph and Eamon that the police are asking about someone called Murray Roe.
Innocent Page 15
