“I was hoping you could help me. I’m at a loss as to what’s happened. I’ve spoken to David’s neighbour, Sheila Poskitt, and she said something about a car crash, but his car’s in the garage without a scratch on it.”
“There was an incident with a vehicle,” replied Gardener, “but it wasn’t his car. At the moment, we’re still trying to work out what happened ourselves.”
To help Roger Hunter understand, Gardener took him through what he so far knew, which wasn’t a great deal.
“So you think David was hit by a vehicle, but not Ann Marie?”
“That’s what the post-mortem suggested,” replied Gardener, “but we have a lot more ground to cover. Aside from yourself, is there any other family?”
“Sorry, no, they were never blessed with children.”
“Where did your brother and sister-in-law work?” Reilly asked Roger Hunter. “At the moment we only know from the neighbours that Roger worked for a bank, but we don’t know which one.”
“Trans Global on Merrion Street.”
“What did he do?”
“Strangely enough I’m not really sure. Finance director comes to mind.”
Gardener didn’t bother asking what that entailed. Now that he had the name and address of the bank he would find out from the horse’s mouth.
“When did you last see your brother?” Reilly asked.
“We’re not very close-knit. We phone each other perhaps once a month but I think the last time I actually saw him was perhaps a year ago.”
“What do you do, Roger?” asked Reilly.
Roger Hunter smiled, but it was pained. “Government work, very boring, but necessary.”
“What does that mean?” asked Reilly.
“If I told you I’d have to kill you, Mr Reilly.”
All three men laughed, especially Gardener, thinking how much easier said than done it would be with his partner.
“It was worth a try,” said Reilly.
“One of the things we’d like to try and find out is why they were both out around midnight. Are you aware of any family problems?”
“None that I can think of but I’m sure that neither of them told me everything.”
“Any financial problems?”
“It’s highly unlikely, given David’s position, and their status in life. He had a good pension, a good salary, and a number of sound investments. House was paid for, new car every three years.”
“How long had he worked for the bank?” Gardener asked.
“Pretty much all his life, since the eighties.”
“Obviously a trusted employee,” said Reilly.
“You’d think so,” said Roger Hunter, taking a mouthful of tea before reaching for the pistachio nuts. “People who can’t be trusted don’t get to work for a bank in the first place.”
“Would you say they had a sound marriage?”
“It was certainly very good; not perfect, but then, whose is?”
Good point, thought Gardener. Though Roger was David’s brother he probably wouldn’t gain much ground with his line of questioning if they never saw much of each other, but he had picked up some useful information.