‘Okay, but not saying it isn’t gonna bring this poor fella back to life.’
Bryant had already pulled the car away from the home of Stephanie Lakehurst. Whether they were right outside her door or not, there was a body in the opposite direction.
‘Forty minutes, Keats. We’re on our way.’
FORTY-TWO
‘Yo, comrade,’ Penn said as Stacey came back into the squad room.
‘I’ve only been gone two hours,’ she said, removing her satchel.
‘Your presence has been sorely missed. Felt much longer.’
‘You don’t do so well stuck in here on your own, eh?’ she said, reaching for a muffin.
Penn didn’t have the heart to tell her the constant supply was in danger of drying up and that he’d had to almost beg his younger brother to bake with him.
‘What did you find out?’ he asked, eager to have another voice in the room. These days he seemed to be spending way too much time in his own head.
‘Found out that Gabe Denton was having an emotional affair at work and has most likely taken some time out to get his head straight.’
‘What exactly is an emotional affair?’ Penn asked, sitting back in his seat.
‘Everything except the sex, I think. Either way I don’t think his full attention was on his marriage. I’ve just got one call to make before shelving it,’ she said. ‘What you been up to?’
‘Well, on my long list of people and places to research, I’ve got a bit of history on the Change Clinic.’
‘Go on,’ Stacey said, leaning forward.
‘The organisation began in the fifties. You’ll be surprised to know that there are many of its ilk around the world. A lot of them have links to religious bodies, and some are privately owned businesses.’
‘This one?’ Stacey asked.
‘Is privately owned, and has been at that property since 1959. The whole thing was started by a baron who had three daughters and one son. There were rumours around town that Henry Balham, the baron’s son was—’
‘Baron Balham?’
‘Focus, Stace. So allegedly the baron’s son was gay despite having a string of girlfriends. He put on a great show because we were many years away from the legalisation of homosexuality.’
‘In ’67.’
‘Correct. So the rumours say that Balham Junior was caught having sex with a man and was reported to the police. Allegedly, he told his father and then took his own life by jumping off the roof of the building.’
‘Definitely suicide?’ Stacey queried.
Penn shrugged. ‘Either way he lost his life before the police could speak to him, so there’s no full scandal or court case associated with the name. The alleged suicide happened in ’57, and two years later the baron opened his doors to people who wanted to adopt a more savoury lifestyle. The details are sketchy as to what services were offered exactly. It was registered as a business in the mid-seventies. When the baron died in the early nineties, his three married daughters couldn’t offload it quickly enough. They sold the house and business to the first person interested, which happened to be Victor Gardner and his wife Celia, who have now been added to my ever-growing list of people needing background checks. Victor Gardner’s money came from a successful vitamin range launched by his grandfather.’
‘And?’
‘Well that’s about it so far,’ he defended.
‘You’ve pretty much spent the last couple of hours reading gossip?’
Penn thought for a second. ‘I suppose so, yeah. Although, I have got some financials.’
‘Ooh, go on,’ Stacey said.
‘Rest of the nineties was a bit of a disaster. It’s a good job Victor is minted because there was no profit in the business back then. The property needed a lot of work to bring it up to standard.