Sleep Tight (28 page)

So I was out of options. I was going to have to sell the flat and move in with my parents, which was not in any way ideal, but what else could I do? Daily edicts to ‘buck up’ from my mum, or pronouncements such as ‘worse things happen at sea’ from my dad were going to drive me insane, and I knew it. I loved my parents dearly, but nothing bad had ever happened to them. They sailed through life on tranquil waters.

Once more my mistakes come back to haunt me. If I had been stronger then, the wheel of fortune which is my life would have spun again and stopped at a different place. But I was weak, and I took the easy option.

The flat sold the first day it went on the market.

The buyer was Robert Brookes.

43

It was getting towards the end of another day of sifting through information without reaching any conclusions, and Becky was becoming increasingly frustrated. There had been no sign of Robert Brookes, and she thought they had covered every base.

Given that he had left his car on the drive, he had to have had transport to somewhere. They should have known he was too smart to call a taxi on his home phone, but nevertheless they had tracked down the driver who had, of course, told them his passenger was a no-show.

Becky pressed her lips together and folded her arms. This man was beating them. She paced up and down in front of the evidence board, trying to find connections where there probably weren’t any. They knew Robert had made withdrawals on all his cards, but the ATMs he had used had been in the centre of Manchester. If he was still there, it would be like trying to find a needle in a haystack.

She was worried about Sophie Duncan too. The young army officer had insisted on staying at home on her own, and said she wasn’t in the least scared of Robert Brookes.

‘If he turns up at Mum’s, he’ll wonder what the fuck’s hit him by the time I’ve finished with him,’ was all she would say on the subject. Becky liked her style and confidence, but given the state her leg was in, she just had to hope Sophie had seen the last of Robert. She had asked a patrol car to do a drive-by from time to time, but wasn’t at all sure whether this would be any help or not. Last time Robert had paid a visit to the Duncan household, from the outside everything had seemed normal.

Ryan chose that moment to walk over to where Becky was pacing. She hoped he was going to brighten her day, but seriously doubted it.

‘I’ve looked at all the ways I can find to get to Alderney,’ he said, ‘but it’s not an exhaustive list because apparently boats turn up from all over the place all the time. It’s got a harbour and it’s well known for fishing – so what can you expect? If somebody chose to charter a boat…’ Ryan lifted his shoulders, and curled his top lip.

‘So what happens when people arrive on the island? Doesn’t anybody check their passports?’

‘You don’t need a passport from the UK, ma’am. I looked up the regulations.’ Ryan paused as if he expected praise from Becky for taking the initiative, and she could see the disappointment in his eyes when she failed to offer it. She had to try harder with this man.

‘What did you find?’

‘If you’re arriving from outside the Bailiwick – whatever that is – of Guernsey, you are supposed to go through customs. But I’ve also read there are other places to anchor outside of the main harbour. Perhaps Robert could use that to his advantage?’

Becky suppressed a groan. That was all they needed, but if Sophie was right and Robert was looking for Olivia, this might be their one chance of catching him.

‘Okay, Ryan. Contact all the advertised routes into Alderney from the UK and let them know who we’re looking for. We’ve no idea if he’s been able to track his wife down yet, but we can’t assume that just because Sophie Duncan didn’t tell him how to find Olivia, he’s not found out by some other means. Spread the net as wide as you can, please.’ Almost as an afterthought, she added, ‘And well done, Ryan. Some useful information there.’ From the way Ryan’s mouth tilted up at one corner, Becky couldn’t decide whether he was pleased, or saw straight through her attempts to mollify him. Oh well – what the hell.

An image of Peter Hunter flashed into her mind, and the day she had fallen under his spell. They had been working on a really tricky murder enquiry, and by scouring the evidence and picking up every tiny thread, she had uncovered a possible lead that had been missed. Peter had come across to where she was sitting and had spoken the exact words she had just used with Ryan. ‘Well done, Becky. Some useful information there.’ He had squeezed her shoulder as he’d walked away, but his thumb had lingered on the naked skin at the back of her neck, and she was sure he had stroked it gently. She had waited, then, for more small signs, flushing a little every time he entered a room, anxious to see if he would linger by her desk and maybe give her another sign.

Oh, he was good. She could see it now. He couldn’t make a move until he was one hundred per cent certain of her, of course, so he had teased her with a touch here, a smile there, once even brushing the back of his hand against her breasts as he passed her a pile of folders.

Sleazeball
.

With a small shudder and a sense of disbelief that she could think she was in love one minute and just a few short months later feel nothing more than revulsion, Becky pulled her mind back to the case.

She was waiting anxiously to hear back from the Alderney police. As an island almost free
from crime, she could see why they had such a small team and hoped they had something for her. Like Tom, she had been relieved that the blood found in the house wasn’t Olivia’s, although it seemed some poor soul must have died there. And Becky wouldn’t feel better until she knew the children were okay. She kept seeing that small, windowless room from Jasmine’s picture in her mind, with three children huddled in a corner, and each time she felt a chill. But they had found nothing. No other properties, and no other suspects.

Becky looked again at all the evidence, and so much of it seemed to lead back to Danush Jahander – from when he first went missing to his proposed meeting with Robert. They had checked with the hotel in Newcastle, and the manager had confirmed that a call from Sophie’s phone was put through to Robert’s bedroom. It lasted about two minutes. Did that explain why Robert drove back to the house from Newcastle? Was it to meet Dan?

Hearing her desk phone ringing, Becky turned round despondently, walked across and sat down. Forcing herself to sit up straight and get with it, she picked the phone up.

‘DI Robinson.’

‘Good afternoon, Detective Inspector Robinson. I’ve just received a message that you wish to speak to me. I’m sorry, but I have been in Iran and I’ve only just returned. What can I do for you?’

‘And you are…’ she said, already anticipating the answer. She felt a flicker of excitement.

‘Samir Jahander. How can I help you?’ he asked, in a polite and almost accent-free voice.

‘Dr Jahander, thank you for calling. We have a few questions about your brother, if you can spare the time?’

‘Which brother would that be? I have four – and two sisters,’ Samir answered. There was no inflection in his voice at all.

‘Your brother Danush, Dr Jahander. We were wondering if you have had any contact with him recently. We spoke to your wife, and she said you hadn’t heard from him in years. In fact, not since a year or so after he left the UK.’

Becky heard a whoosh of breath, as if Samir was blowing air between his teeth – the first sign of emotion.

‘Danush is no longer part of my family, DI Robinson. I’m afraid he forfeited that right when he refused to fulfil his obligations to our family.’

‘But I understood he left his English girlfriend and their baby. Did he not return to Iran?’

‘Their baby,’ Samir made the same sound with his breath. ‘How very convenient that was. Danush saw sense, I do believe. He left. But he was so disappointed with life – the fact that he had been tricked into fatherhood, the fact that he’d been unable to finish his PhD, and the fact that our parents were unlikely to forgive him for the choices he made – that I’m
afraid he took the coward’s way out.’

For a moment, Becky thought he meant Danush had committed suicide.

‘He went to Australia, DI Robinson. He stayed there for a couple of years, and then he finally returned to Iran, but not to my parents’ town. He wanted to find his own way.’

‘When did you last see your brother, Dr Jahander?’ Becky asked.

‘I hadn’t seen him for almost nine years – not since before the baby was born. His girl was certainly not pregnant when I arrived. I stayed with them for a month, trying to persuade him to do the right thing.’

‘So you’ve not seen him since, then?’

‘No, Inspector. I said I “hadn’t” seen him for nine years. And I didn’t expect to see him again, but about a year ago he came to ask if I would lend him some money. I didn’t tell my wife about this, because I was furious and I worried that she might mention it to my parents. Danush had ignored his family for all this time, and now he wanted
money
? But we had money that was rightfully his, so I gave it to him.’

‘What do you mean?’ Becky asked.

‘When Liv sold the flat, half of the money legally belonged to Danush. She sent the money to me – to keep it safe for him. I never told him.’ There was silence for a moment at the other end of the phone, and Becky said nothing. ‘Perhaps that was wrong of me, but I didn’t want him thinking Liv was a better person than I believed her to be, and telling him about the money might have sent him rushing back. But it was a long time since he’d left her, so I assumed it was safe to tell him.’ There was a mirthless laugh from the other end of the phone. ‘Which proves how little I knew my brother. He’d apparently never got over her, and he wanted to contact her. He wanted her to come to Iran – to meet my parents and to introduce them to Jasmine.’

‘And did he contact Olivia?’ Becky didn’t really want to interrupt, but Samir had gone very quiet at the end of the last sentence, and Becky had a mental image of his anger building.

‘My parents had been hurt enough, Inspector. Taking Jasmine to see them would have opened up old wounds that had started to heal. I told him he could do what he liked; he could return to Olivia if he must, and if he wanted to show Jasmine our country that was fine. But he was to take neither of them near my parents, and unless he agreed I wouldn’t give him the money.’

‘Was that the last time you saw him, Dr Jahander.’

‘It was, but I’ve spoken to him since. He was very distressed to find Liv was married, but was confident the marriage was a sham. I told him he had no right to destroy somebody
else’s relationship, but he didn’t seem to care. The last time I spoke to him, he told me Liv was scared of what Robert would do if she left him. She’d been scared for some time, apparently – and he said she’d gone away to think in peace.’

‘And what was your brother planning to do about it, Dr Jahander?’

‘He was going to have it out with her husband. He was going to tell him that he and Liv were meant to be together, and it was time for the husband to step aside.’

‘And did it work?’ Becky was holding her breath. She was sure she knew what the answer was going to be.

‘I don’t know, Inspector. I haven’t heard from him since.’

*

Two hours with Philippa had done little to improve Tom’s mood, and he felt like he was back where he’d started that morning – grumpy.

Becky was looking at him, and he guessed she was trying to gauge whether to ask him how it went with the boss. He decided to save her the trouble.

‘Jumbo wants to bring in the ground radar to check over the terrace and the garden. That, amongst other things, is what we’ve been discussing, because Philippa agrees with him. I don’t. I think we should wait to see if we can get a match on the blood first.’

‘Why?’ Becky asked. ‘Surely we need to know if there are any bodies under there as soon as possible, especially given that the neighbours say that Robert Brookes has spent the entire spring building that terrace, and only finished it just before he buggered off to Newcastle.’

Tom scratched his head. ‘Yes, of course. I know that, but I can’t help thinking it might be a waste of time and money.’

‘On what basis? Look, I’m sorry to disagree with you, Tom, but we have no idea who died there. We don’t know if Olivia and the children are safe, and whoever
was
killed, we’ve no idea why.’

It seemed nobody agreed with him. The arguments that Philippa had put forward were perfectly valid. They shouldn’t automatically assume it was Robert who had killed somebody in that room; Olivia could be the culprit – she could have murdered somebody and run away. But they were wrong, and Tom knew it. When did gut instinct cease to have any validity?

Becky leaned forwards and rested her forearms on the desk. Her cheeks finally had some colour in them and her eyes were sparkling. She was totally engrossed in the case, and it seemed to have driven out the demons she had been carrying with her.

‘All we know is that somebody using Olivia’s email address made contact with Robert from somewhere on Alderney last week,’ she said, speaking quickly and quietly. ‘But we only have Robert’s word that it was Olivia on the other end of that call, and I don’t set much store by that. Do you? Robert could equally well have a mistress or an accomplice who picked up his call. We’ve no evidence that Olivia is there at all. Or anywhere else, for that matter. He could have killed her two weeks ago.
And
the children. Just because the blood in his study isn’t hers, it doesn’t actually mean she’s not already dead, does it?’

Tom held his hands up, palms outwards towards Becky.

‘Whoa, whoa – I believe you.’ Tom found himself smiling at her vehemence. ‘Even though the blood isn’t hers, her body could still be there somewhere – I know that – or the body of whichever poor bugger died there, for that matter. Robert could have killed her and possibly the children, and all this video footage and FaceTime nonsense could be part of his very elaborate cover-up. But if she’s already dead and we don’t have a bloody clue where Robert is, I just thought we could hang on until we’ve heard back from the Alderney police.’