Dead Drop by Eva Maclean

Author:Eva Maclean [Maclean, Eva]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-12-19T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter thirty-five

‘Tom Fraser works somewhere round here,’ said Wilcox. ‘Perhaps we can arrange to have a chat with him.’

‘Yes, give him a ring,’ said Murphy. ‘I’d rather see him without the wife in attendance; he might be a bit more forthcoming on his own.’

‘He’ll meet us in the reception at one pm,’ said Wilcox, leading the way to another tall building just off Cabot Square.

Tom Fraser appeared at the appointed time with a ready smile and a firm handshake. Quite an attractive man, Murphy thought. So why had his wife been sleeping with Justin Beattie? He led the way to a cluster of seats situated at some distance from the reception desk. Probably didn’t want to be overheard, Murphy decided, although in such a vast space there wasn’t much danger of that.

‘Thank you for seeing us, Mr Fraser,’ she began. ‘As you will know, we’re talking to everybody who knew Justin Beattie.’

He nodded. ‘Of course. Terrible shock.’

‘Perhaps we can begin by asking you how long you knew him for?’

‘About four years, I think. Since they moved in.’

‘And relations have always been good?’

He hesitated. ‘Of course, you’ll know about our little fracas, won’t you?’

‘Bit more than a fracas, wasn’t it?’ said Wilcox. ‘You ended up in hospital.’

‘Well, yes, just for observation. Nothing serious.’ He smiled.

‘And can you tell us what brought it about?’

He sighed. ‘Justin was under the impression that I had given Stanley – that’s his stepfather – some dubious investment advice.’

‘And had you?’

‘Not as far as I was aware. It was at a party at Christmas. We’d all had a few drinks. I probably did make some observations to Stanley, but I never expected him to act upon them. It wasn’t investment advice as far as I was concerned.’

‘In that case, you must have been pretty angry when he attacked you.’

‘I wasn’t angry at the time because I was unconscious. When I came round, I was pretty shocked. My wife had witnessed the immediate aftermath and she was convinced that Justin had not intended to seriously injure me. So, I didn’t press charges.’

‘That was very magnanimous of you,’ said Murphy. ‘If somebody had put me in hospital, I would be tempted to press charges.’

‘But these are my next-door neighbours. We have to go on living next door to each other. And who the hell wants to get involved in litigation?’

‘That makes sense,’ Murphy conceded. ‘But you must have harboured some sort of … residual grudge.’

‘Which led me to kill him a couple of weeks later? No, absolutely not.’

Murphy looked at him for a moment. ‘Did you know anything about Justin Beattie’s financial situation?’

‘No, none of my business. He was working for Watson Fullerton, so I assume he was well rewarded.’

‘So, if a man in his position did have financial problems, what would that be due to?’

He shrugged. ‘I don’t know. An expensive mistress? A drug or gambling habit? Too many fast cars? Any of the above, or none of them, or something else entirely. None of those apply to Justin, by the way.

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