The Monument Murders (Dorset Crime Book 4) by Rachel McLean

Author:Rachel McLean [McLean, Rachel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Ackroyd Publishing
Published: 2021-11-18T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Forty-Four

Johnny was standing outside Bella Phipps’s house when a text came through from Mike.

DCI wants u to see Bella Phipps ASAP. Can u get there 2nite?

Johnny smiled. He tapped out a response.

About to go in. Will let u know how I get on.

A thumbs up emoji came back.

Johnny pocketed his phone and walked to the front door. Bella lived in a narrow terraced house in Mortlake, about two miles from her firm’s office. He’d already tried the office and she hadn’t been there. Just a secretary insisting that he come back tomorrow.

But Johnny preferred not to wait; he had his own caseload to deal with. He wanted to get this done, report back to Mike, and put it behind him. Getting involved in Dorset’s cases made him uneasy.

He rang the doorbell and waited. A short woman with cropped blonde hair and enough makeup to sink a ship opened the door.

“Bella Phipps?” he asked, holding up his ID.

“Yeah. What d’you want?”

“I’m DC Chiles. I’ve been sent to ask you some questions about Paul Watson.”

Her face lost its tightness. “Paul.”

She backed away from the door. “Come in, I’ll get you a coffee.”

Johnny followed her into a narrow kitchen. She clattered around, opening doors, pulling out mugs, rattling teaspoons. She was shaking.

Johnny didn’t know much about the case, but he was intrigued by this woman’s reaction. From her body language, he wondered if she was more than a business partner.

He leaned against the wall. “You worked with Paul?”

“I did,” she replied, her back to him. She carried on banging around the kitchen.

“How long have the two of you worked together?”

She turned to him. “Twenty years. Twenty years next month.” She turned away.

“So the two of you knew each other well.”

The kettle flicked off. Bella poured water into two mugs and handed one to him. She leaned against the worktop opposite him, sipping her own.

“You think I was sleeping with him. I can tell it from your eyes. You think I killed him because I was jealous of his wife, or because we had an argument.”

“I’m not part of the investigating team,” he replied. “I don’t think anything.”

“So what are you doing here if you’re not part of the investigating team?”

“It’s customary when a witness lives in another part of the country to ask an officer from another force to do the interview.”

“That all sounds very official,” she said. “So they got you to knock on my door?”

“They did.”

“And you want to know if I was shagging Paul?”

Johnny felt his face twitch at the directness of her language. He held her gaze.

“So were you?”

“Not any more,” she said.

“How recently?”

“Eighteen years,” she replied. “Paul and I were an item when we first set up the business. We were engaged for a while, soon realised it was a bad idea. It was an amicable split. We carried on working together, became business partners. He’s my best mate. Was. Has been for years.”

“So if you split up from him eighteen years ago, when did he meet his wife?”

“About six months after we split,” she said.

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