Murder in a Watched Room by A. G. Barnett

Author:A. G. Barnett [Barnett, A. G.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Oddmoor Press
Published: 2019-07-05T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seventeen

Brock sighed and rubbed his face with his hands.

“I need coffee,” he said gruffly.

“You need to go home,” Poole said leaning back in his chair and swivelling towards him. “Sir,” he added, catching the look on his superior’s face.

Brock looked at his watch and thought of Laura. She would be at home now and he pictured her cuddling their dog Indy on the sofa, his head resting on her belly where their unborn child grew. He had taken to using her stomach as a cushion almost from the moment she had become pregnant; dogs seemed to be able to sense these things.

“Soon enough,” he said, shaking the image from his head, “let’s just go over everything again.”

Poole turned back to his desk and pulled up his notebook where he had jotted down the various points they had worked through since they had returned from the retreat.

“Let’s start with Matty Heck. When we first looked at her background, nothing jumped out in particular, but now we’ve gone into the company’s accounts a bit more deeply, things look fishy. Lots of small companies paying Heck’s web company a strangely large amount of money.”

Brock nodded thoughtfully, “so we think there may not be something entirely above board about these business arrangements?”

“Exactly,” Poole continued, “And the websites aren’t even much to look at, and the companies they’ve made them don’t even seem to have needed them. For instance, two of their customers were laundrettes.”

“Right,” Brock answered confidently, though, in truth, he still wasn’t sure what anyone used websites for. He avoided them like the plague.

“So we need to look into these other companies, see if they’re a front for something else. Pass it on to our colleagues in London, see what they come back with.”

Poole nodded. “Then there’s Olsen’s story about losing his job because he lost a load of money. Someone at the company confirmed it, but they told me to be discreet,” he said with a small smile.

“And what about the finances at the retreat?”

“Well, Nora Russell may have been economical with the truth when she was showing us the renovations. She said they were reviewing their financial commitment to the project, but I think that’s code for ‘we ran out of money’ as there’s not much in the bank account.

Nothing seems particularly off there though. I’ve reached out to their accountants to see if they can shed any further light but the person who handles their account is away on holiday. They gave us the basics, but until he’s back we won’t get much else.”

“So if we can’t find a next of kin for Lake the company will be sold off and Nora will get her 49% share. There’s still motive there.”

“Agreed, but with Matty suddenly vanishing, she’s got to be the prime suspect.”

“And Sanders and Davies are sure that no one left when they were with them other than Matty?”

“They are,” Poole nodded. “None of the others could have got to her, she must have run.”

“Ok, well I guess we better head home,” Brock said, rising from his desk.

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