Lee Weeks - Frozen Grave

‘I’m looking into it now,’ answered Pam. ‘But not so far.’

‘If Ellerman has paid someone or is our murderer, what is the motive?’ asked Tucker.

‘Money,’ answered Carter. ‘He has claimed to be buying Spanish property for renovation and he gets the women to invest. They wise up and ask for their money back.’ He passed Tucker a photo of Ellerman with a yacht behind him. ‘Why do these women find Ellerman so attractive? I don’t get it.’ Carter shook his head. ‘These women could do so much better than him – he’s just an ageing bullshitter who likes to flash the cash and sponges off women when it dries up.’

‘So far, the only thing we know for certain that these women have in common is JJ Ellerman,’ said Robbo.

‘We don’t know if they knew one another.’

‘No. But it’s unlikely,’ said Carter. ‘Pam?’

‘Yes. I have talked to all of the women now and, out of every one on the list, only Dr Harding says she knew one of the others and that was Olivia Grantham. None of the others were on that sex site. I can’t see how they would have met.’

‘Unless through Ellerman,’ said Tucker.

‘We have requested phone records for the dead women. They should be through to us soon and then we’ll be able to answer that,’ replied Robbo.

‘I still don’t understand how Ellerman manages to con all these women,’ said Carter.

‘Because he’s good at giving them what they want,’ said Tucker. ‘He researches them before he meets them. After all, he knows exactly what they’re looking for from the dating sites. He just becomes that.’

‘Plus, he keeps them hanging on,’ Pam chipped in. ‘If your whole relationship is based on a once-a-week meeting, of course it can last for a year or more because you’re never going to get to the point where it’s boring or where it’s confrontational.’ Tucker studied the photos of Ellerman.

Pam continued: ‘He makes it clear from the start that he is married, so none of the women can complain about that.’

‘And he uses his son as a con,’ said Tucker. ‘His dead son.’

‘Yeah…’ said Carter. ‘That’s macabre. To keep your son alive just so that you can cheat women into bed and out of money.’

‘Ruthless, inhuman and a life built on lies – not easy to juggle so many balls in the air without dropping the lot,’ said Tucker.

‘I agree. It’s an indication of someone who can step outside social and moral normalities without flinching,’ said Robbo. ‘We know he’s an accomplished liar. He’s a dangerous man. It’s hard to know what would mean anything to him.’

‘His wife,’ said Carter. ‘Whatever bubble he exists in, she’s in the same one. All this is for her as well as him. Keeping up appearances, maintaining that massive house for just the two of them. If they sold that, they could start again somewhere, but that would signal a defeat, a failure.’

‘Plus,’ added Pam, ‘the mortgage, the remortgage – they won’t come out with a lot. But what kind of woman stays in that situation, knowing that her husband is a complete charlatan?’

‘Willis and I went to see her and she seemed almost numb, depressed. She is one of those people who’s built a wall around herself.’ Willis nodded her agreement.

‘Is she on a lot of medication?’ asked Tucker.

‘My thoughts exactly. Her pupils were black pinpoints, she was puffy around the eyes. She must be on some doctor’s repeat prescription list,’ Carter said.

‘If she’s gone too far down the medication road, she will find it hard to change her circumstances or leave.’

‘They have just the threads of a relationship left. They’re like a rotten tooth hanging on by the roots,’ Carter said.

‘So, it’s all about the money.’ Robbo went over to Pam – she handed him a folder. Robbo spread the content out on the desk.

‘Here we have the only three properties that we think Ellerman has purchased. We have some deeds that Carter found in Ellerman’s office.’

‘Good work.’ Tucker winked. ‘Is “found” a loose term?’

‘His wife left us alone in there – we took photos,’ said Willis. ‘But we needed more time to go through it all.’

‘Two of these properties are located in the centre of a large town and the other is on its outskirts. Bearing in mind that Ellerman is supposed to specialize in renovating rural farmhouses, these purchased buildings are nothing like that. One is a commercial property right in the middle of Málaga, the second is a flat in a block on the beach and the third is a large property in a touristy area towards Marbella. As far as I can see, there is no renovation to be done.’

‘You said there were texts to Olivia and Harding from a number without a contact name?’ said Tucker. ‘When you were in Ellerman’s office, did you see any evidence of spare phones?’

‘No, but he could have a wallet full of SIM cards, couldn’t he?’

‘Pam, you have the list of women narrowed down now?’

‘Yes; if we start with these then widen the net. These are the women he sees regularly. The list is getting smaller now. It did include Olivia, Gillian and Lisa. Now I have added Dr Harding because she has come back into it. Or rather, she is in both camps – the ones he sees once in a blue moon and the ones who are of interest now. We still don’t know who wrote the letter but it’s being analysed for typeface and printer-ink type. We’re waiting for the results. We have an expert looking at the language used, the length of sentences and so on. They have asked us to get a voice recording of all the women who it could possibly be, as much as we can, and then they will compare the language.’

‘Yeah – I’ve made a start on that,’ said Willis.

‘Have you dug anything up on any of the women?’ asked Tucker.

‘Yes,’ answered Pam. ‘Paula has some convictions in her past. There is some interesting history on Megan Penarth. You went to see her, didn’t you?’

‘Yes. She looks a lot like she stepped out of the cast of a King Arthur film – masses of black and silver hair. I made some enquiries at the local pub after I left her that afternoon. You know – how great it must be to have an artist living in their village, that kind of thing. They didn’t seem too keen on her. They liked her husband better, by the sound of it. He died of cancer. It was a long battle, I think. There was talk of assisted suicide.’

‘We need to go back to the village and find out more,’ said Carter. ‘We’ll go and talk to her again, and the other women. Pam, keep looking into all their pasts.’

‘I still don’t get why the killer chose the hostel to pick Toffee from. It’s got to be an area he knows well. People would have noticed a stranger hanging around, talking to the men there. He must be someone they see all the time. Did you confiscate the PCs from the hostel?’

‘Yes, they’re being examined now.’

‘When does Toffee come round?’ asked Tucker.

‘It will take a few more days, the doctors say,’ answered Carter.

‘Better double the guard on his room,’ said Robbo. ‘The gang are becoming a real problem now. Ever since the dog chewed up Balik’s grandfather.’

When they finished their meeting with Robbo and the team, Tucker, Carter and Willis headed to the canteen to get some lunch.

‘You know, Tucker, this woman can eat me and you under the table,’ Carter said as they walked.

She shook her head. ‘It’s not true.’

‘You must burn it off,’ said Tucker. ‘There’s nothing on you.’

‘Athletic genes,’ she answered, and Carter looked at her and then raised an eyebrow, stopped walking. She shook her head.

‘We’ll get some lunch then hit the road,’ said Carter. ‘We have Emily Porter to see first, in Taunton, then we’ll head down to see what Megan Penarth has to say and come back up to Reading for Paula Seymour again.’