“So why did the husband mention it?”
“He claims he knew nothing about the bruises we found on her, and the accident a couple of weeks back was the only thing he could think of.”
Bob Anderson threw his hand in the air and Gardener nodded.
“I’m thinking out loud here – about the burglary and everything that you’ve said. Was it a burglary gone wrong, or was it made to look like that? Was Jane Carter entertaining someone? Things not right in the marriage – her husband’s out of the
picture – she decides on a quiet night in with someone else.”
“Good point,” said Gardener. “But it wouldn’t explain the mess that’s consistent with the burglary.”
“You said yourself,” Anderson pointed out. “You didn’t think the burglar had made it upstairs. Yes, there was stuff on the bathroom floor but that could have been her. Maybe she was drunk, fell over, brought everything down.”
“We’ll have to wait for Fitz to confirm toxicity levels but I’m not so sure about the drunk bit,” said Gardener. “According to her husband she didn’t drink that much, and we found a bottle of tablets in the bathroom cupboard, which suggested to me a medical condition that meant she had to be careful with her diet.”
“What were they for?” asked Rawson.
“The husband doesn’t know.”
“He doesn’t know?”
“He knew she was taking them, but not why?”
“More evidence that the relationship wasn’t all it was cracked up to be,” said Gates.
“Does Fitz know what they are?” asked Sharp.
“Not on first glance. We need to find out who her GP is, talk to him and check her medical records.”
Gardener once again pointed to Victim. “So, lots of things to consider here: routine, vulnerability, lifestyle, associates, links to the scene, physical appearance, and relationship.”
Patrick Edwards raised his hand. “We need to check her social media status: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and any others.”
“Good thinking, Patrick. We have the computer. We’ll go through that with a fine toothcomb. I also want someone checking all the phones – landline and both mobiles. The other thing that worries us is the alarm system. When Robbie Carter came to the station to report the incident, his mobile phone pinged, alerting him that a motion sensor had been triggered and an intruder was on the premises. We will ask technical to lift the evidence from the phone and run it through our computers so we can see it more clearly.”
“Hold on a minute,” said Rawson. “His wife’s dead at home, he doesn’t call an ambulance but sets the alarm and comes to the police station to report it: what’s all that about?”
“He can’t remember setting the alarm,” said Reilly.
“Cobblers,” said Anderson.
“You mean he doesn’t want to,” offered Rawson.
“This whole thing isn’t adding up,” said Gates.
“There’s a lot that doesn’t add up, Sarah, but we’ve grilled him for two days and at the moment we can’t pin anything on him. He has a perfect alibi.”
“Where is he now?” asked Anderson.
“Still here but we can’t hold him much longer. We’ll let him go, but we’ll make life awkward for him. He can surrender his passport and make daily calls into the station while we continue our investigation.”
“What’s your take on Robbie Carter?” asked Paul Benson.
“Sean,” said Gardener, nodding to his partner.
“He’s a bit of a character,” said Reilly. “Because he’s a musician he thinks he’s God’s gift to the ladies: he wanted us to know there was no shortage of them. He has a bit of a temper: it flared up a couple of times with us. He’s a big lad and I don’t reckon he’d think twice about throwing his weight around. But is he a killer? I’m not sure.”
Gardener pointed to Offenders. “We only have two options at the moment. The burglar, or the husband. We’ll have our work cut out and from what I can see, both of them fall into most of the categories: motive; was it for some financial gain? If it was the husband we need to check out her financial status – get a copy of her will, if she made one. If it was the burglar then it’s certainly a financial gain to some degree. There are other motives: jealousy, revenge, sex, thrill, hate. Was it planned for any of those reasons? Could have been, so scene disguise is a big one here: what degree of scene arrangement or rearrangement has taken place? Sadly for us, quite a lot.”