Roxanne, p.21
Roxanne, page 21
Freeman said, ‘True. But maybe he wasn’t taking much of a chance. Maybe someone told him where she was.’
Serena nodded and said, ‘That’s what I was wondering. Roxanne could have told him they were at home. Even so, what does Riley gain by dragging Melanie into it? And why would she have lied about it to us if she did go? They’re not exactly coy about what they do, are they?’
The question was to Waters and Murray. Murray said, ‘No. Coy’s not a word I’d use about Melanie Haines. Perhaps it’s a client confidentiality thing. Maybe, as soon as she knows he’s told us, she’ll confirm it.’
Denise Sterling said, ‘But that still leaves too many questions. If Roxanne was supposed to go to Riley’s place, why didn’t she? Where did she go instead? And if Melanie did go there, how did she know there was a client waiting?’
Serena said, ‘Roxanne told her. She had a better offer, sent Melanie in her place.’
Clive Betts said, ‘You’re all forgetting something. We know Roxanne went to Marborough. The satnav?’
‘No. We don’t know that, not for certain.’
Now all eyes were upon Waters. He went on, ‘We know the Mini went there. We know it was in Marborough for about an hour, between nine and ten pm. We can also be fairly certain that Roxanne’s mobile was not there. At that point, it still pings in South Wood. What time did Riley tell you Melanie Haines arrived that Saturday? About nine?’
Serena nodded and said, ‘There’ll be a date-stamp on the security footage. You’re saying Melanie drove Roxanne’s car?’
With a precision and a timing that some in the room might have recognised, Waters said, ‘No, I’m not saying that. I’m putting it forward as a possibility. We shouldn’t disregard it. None of this is straightforward.’
DI Greene was often quiet in these meetings, but now he said to Waters, ‘At their first interview with you, Melanie Haines and Trudi Mercer said Roxanne left the house at around seven pm. Up to this point, we’ve all assumed she left in her car. But she couldn’t have done, if someone else drove it to Marborough at nine.’
Waters nodded, seeing in Greene’s expression a recognition that the two of them were beginning to see this in a new light. Clive Betts said, ‘Right. We’ve assumed it. Maybe she got a taxi, or someone picked her up from South Wood.’
Greene said, ‘Yes. Maybe.’ But behind the rather bland and anonymous face of the detective inspector, Waters read a thought that echoed his own – Melanie Haines telling the police she had not visited a client that night was one sort of lie; telling the police Roxanne Prescott had left the house when she had not, was another sort of lie altogether.
Superintendent Allen said, ‘As DS Waters has pointed out, this is not at all straightforward. Plenty of good work has already been done. However, it’s my job to look at the bigger picture, at the politics, you could say… Brian Riley is still under arrest. Do we have sufficient cause to continue holding him?’
There was no immediate response but someone had just bet Waters a fiver that the executive director of Ward and Co wouldn’t be spending a night in the cells. Allen went on, ‘You have no proof as yet that the victim – if indeed she was a victim – was ever with him on Saturday the 6th, and you have some evidence to suggest she was not. I’m referring to her mobile phone. As regards Mr Riley’s phone in her car, as DS Waters has pointed out, this doesn’t prove the owner of the phone was ever in that car. You are also about to interview two people of, shall we say, dubious reputation – one of them has convictions?’
Allen paused and looked at DI Greene, who nodded, and then Allen continued, ‘Two people who, one way or another, seem not to have told you the entire truth about their own part in whatever took place that evening. I understand that Brian Riley has a spotless record – in other words, he doesn’t have one as far as we are concerned. One thing he does have is a very able solicitor.’
Waters’ father was a golfer, though not, thank goodness, a member of the West Heath club. But these clubs, the ones with long waiting lists and exclusive memberships, take on some of the characteristics of a masonic lodge. No secret signs and symbols, no hidden handshakes, but certain assumptions are made, certain expectations are in play. Of course, they also do a lot for charity.
‘The question,’ Allen said, ‘is whether you think you will, by midday tomorrow, have enough to charge Mr Riley. If not, you must then release him. If you think now that you are unlikely to have enough, it is better to release him today.’
Arrests are often made with the primary aim of formally questioning an individual who might otherwise not cooperate; being arrested doesn’t necessarily mean the police think you are guilty. Even so, senior investigating officers have a certain reluctance when it comes to unarresting you, like anglers who’ve caught a sizable fish and then have to put it back and watch it swim away. But on balance, Waters had to agree with the superintendent – they didn’t have enough to keep Brian Riley in custody.
Freeman had yet to be convinced but Allen wasn’t done.
‘Is Mr Riley, in your view, a flight risk?’
Freeman said, ‘We know he has a property in Spain, sir.’
‘What successful businessman doesn’t these days?’
Allen looked around the room but his light-hearted bon mot seemed unappreciated by the assembled detectives. He continued, ‘If it comes to that, we could suggest a voluntary surrender of his passport. Any other concerns?’
And in the ensuing silence, Brian Riley, executive director of Ward and Co, chair of the West Heath Golf Club social committee, regained his freedom. But his rescuer hadn’t quite finished. He said, ‘The material you have obtained from the escort agency is potentially sensitive, as I’m sure you are all aware. It needs to be handled with the utmost care and discretion.’
Freeman said it would be, and thanked the superintendent for his input into the meeting. If this was a hint, Allen probably didn’t get it but his work here was done anyway, and he left the room. In the moments that followed, Waters said to John Murray, ‘We’d better have a good look at the client list. I hope there aren’t too many Mr A’s…’
It had been a joke but Murray didn’t smile – he simply stared back.
Waters said, ‘Tell me.’
Murray said, ‘There are seven Mr A’s – I already checked.’
‘OK. Now stop telling me.’
Murray shrugged as if he intended to comply but then said, ‘It’s all right. No matching initials. But he’d use a different name anyway, wouldn’t he?’
‘John, this really isn’t funny.’
Murray said quietly, because other ears were beginning to listen, ‘And do you know why it really isn’t funny?’
Waters shook his head and Murray said, ‘Because I’m not really joking.’
Freeman had said, ‘No. Let’s go for continuity. They’ve already met you and John, and you two know exactly what they said and how in the first interview. You interview both of them this afternoon, consecutively. That way you can start testing what the first one tells you with the second. Which way round? That’s the question.’
Waters and Murray talked it over briefly and came to the same conclusion; let Trudi Mercer sit and wait to be interviewed. Let her sit for an hour and wonder what we’re asking Melanie. If lies have been told, it’s the nervous, dark-haired girl who is most likely to make a mistake remembering what they were, especially if we’ve given her time to panic.
Freeman handed Waters an earpiece, and he wondered whether it was the same one Denise Sterling had used. He might even have asked but the DCI gave him no opportunity.
‘Used one of these before?’
‘No, ma’am.’
‘All the rage in Norwich. If I don’t say anything, it either means you’re doing so well I’ve got nothing to add, or you’re doing so badly I don’t know what to say. Or I’ve got bored and gone to speak to Tom. Just pretend it’s not there and carry on as normal. What do you think of her body language?’
Freeman had been watching the screen throughout the conversation. Melanie Haines was seated where Brian Riley had been an hour and a half ago. The chair Christine Archer had used had been moved back to the wall behind her. A uniformed female police officer stood inside the doorway but there had been no attempt at communication from the young woman. She was leaning back in the chair, dressed in jeans, trainers and a short denim jacket open over a cream blouse. One ankle rested above the opposite knee, and her fingers were interlaced across her stomach. She stared ahead as if another screen hung on the wall in front of her and a boring film was showing. All she lacked was chewing gum.
Waters said, ‘It’s been a while but she has done this sort of thing before, ma’am.’
Freeman could be curiously unabashed at times and you almost never saw those times coming. She said then, ‘Yes, I know… But I find them fascinating.’
Waters caught Murray’s eye as he said, ‘Them, ma’am?’
‘Sex workers.’
‘Oh.’
An uncomfortable pause followed. Then Freeman said, ‘Well we do, don’t we? Women find them just as interesting as men, only for different reasons. Don’t we, Priti?’
Poor, polite, mild-mannered Mrs Hussain jumped a little as if she’d received an electrostatic shock from wearing the wrong sort of shoes on this type of carpet; she managed a weak smile for the two detectives who both towered above her, but made no answer to the detective chief inspector who had already forgotten she’d asked such an extraordinary question.
Freeman said, ‘So, DS Waters, you’ve got a free hand. But if it were me, I’d start by going over…’
She stopped, looked up and slapped herself lightly on the wrist.
Waters finished the sentence – ‘Go over what she told us last Friday. Then she has no easy escape when we disclose what we think we know now but didn’t then.’
Freeman pulled a face as if she was thinking that over, and then she said, ‘Sounds like a plan. Why are we standing here talking about it?’
With simple prompts from Waters, Melanie Haines confirmed the details she had already given about the evening of Saturday the 6th. She didn’t hurry any answers, she didn’t look concerned at all but she kept her eyes on his much of time – he became aware that she was reading his face as much as he was reading hers.
When the moment arrived, he said to her, ‘So, Roxanne left at seven or maybe a few minutes after. How did she leave?’
This time the blue eyes went to Murray and back before she answered, ‘Through the door?’
Waters smiled, and she noted that too, he saw it.
He said, ‘OK! What I meant was, did she take her car, her Mini?’
She said, ‘Yeah. Course she did.’
‘You saw her drive away in the Mini? At about seven o’clock?’
Melanie Haines hesitated, and then said, ‘Not with my own eyes, no. Didn’t actually witness her departure, if that’s what you mean.’
‘Where was Roxanne’s car parked that evening?’
She uncrossed her legs and sat up a little straighter.
‘On the drive, usual place. You’ve seen it for yourselves. We can get all three cars in front of the house.’
Murray was sketching on the pad in front of him – it was a rough plan of the house in South Wood. When Waters left a space, Murray said to her, ‘Your lounge is at the rear of the house, overlooking the garden. You can’t see the drive from it, so obviously if you stayed in the room you wouldn’t have seen Roxanne drive away. Did you look out from the front of the house later at all? Or go out into the drive for any reason?’
She said, ‘Don’t think so… Why all the questions about the Mini?’
Murray said, ‘What about Trudi?’
‘What about her? You mean, did she look out of the front of the house? No idea!’
Waters glanced at Murray and said to make a note that they needed to ask Trudi the same question, and Murray dutifully wrote it down as Melanie watched. When she looked back at the younger of the two detectives he smiled again but he had sent her a message, and she had received it.
Waters said, ‘Sorry if this doesn’t make sense yet. We have to ask a lot of questions. You’ve told us when Roxanne left the house but we’re not sure she used her car. The satnav is telling us she didn’t, not at around seven o’clock. It’s possible that someone picked her up outside the house, isn’t it? And you and Trudi wouldn’t have known if they did, from where you were?’
Melanie frowned and thought this through, before, ‘Yeah. I suppose it’s possible. But it wasn’t there Sunday morning. That’s when we realised she was on an all-night job. So… I don’t know. She drove it away at some point, that’s all I do know.’
Waters said, ‘We know when the car was driven away, Melanie. From the satnav again. From that and her phone, we’re starting to get a picture of where Roxanne went that night.’
Was he being too subtle? She didn’t flinch and returned his look. Waters noticed again how strange the blue of her eyes was, how the pupils were smaller than they ought to be and fixed, as if she didn’t respond to light the way most of us do.
He said, ‘We’re also looking into clients from the agency. We want to speak to anyone who might have had contact with Roxanne over the weekend. We know she’d continued to see some former clients after she left Elite Escorts. Can you tell us anything about that?’
A shake of the head and ‘No. Like I said before. We share a house, not secrets. Roxy didn’t talk about the business much. Neither do I.’
It was a pointed remark.
Waters said, ‘I understand, but it’s a line of questioning we do have to follow. We visited the agency and they have cooperated. They’ve given us a lot of information.’
And you leave a space so the interviewee has time to wonder - how much is a lot and how much is about me? Melanie must have wondered but nothing showed on her face. Waters wondered himself about the silence in his left ear. Freeman hadn’t interfered at all.
He continued, ‘We know that Roxanne used the name Annaliese. Could you tell us the name you use, Melanie?’
This time, a different reaction. She didn’t like this question. Eventually she said, ‘What’s that got to do with the price of fish?’
Waters said, quite genuinely, ‘I’m sorry. The price of fish?’
‘I came here to answer some questions about the night Roxy left. That’s what they said, a few more questions and then sign a statement. Why d’you need to know about my business?’
Waters leaned back a little in his seat and Murray said, ‘Because we’re speaking to other people about that night, and another name has come up. We think it’s you. My colleague is giving you every opportunity to help yourself by helping us.’
She stared at Murray, perhaps remembering how he had intervened when she offered to show the younger, better-looking one Roxy’s bedroom, the big man getting to his feet and saying they’d both need to see it. Then she said to Waters, ‘What’s this about my name coming up?’
Waters said, ‘Your name at the agency, your professional name, is Celeste, isn’t it?’
No, she didn’t like that either, didn’t like him knowing it or saying it. She took her time before she said, ‘If you got stuff from Elite, you know it is, I should think.’
You need great patience and a willingness to annoy people – it comes to some more naturally than others. It had taken Christopher Waters a while but it didn’t bother him now. He said, ‘I need you to confirm it yourself, Melanie.’
There was for the first time an edge of irritation in her voice as she answered – ‘Yeah, my clients know me as Celeste. So?’
‘And one of your clients in the past has been a man called Brian Riley. Is that correct?’
It was a fraction of a second before she laughed, a jagged laugh like the edge of a newly-broken bottle. She nodded and said, ‘Brian? How’s he got mixed up in this?’
In his ear Waters heard, ‘She didn’t look surprised enough at hearing that name.’ He ignored the voice, and said, ‘Can you tell me when you last saw or spoke to Brian Riley?’
Melanie said, ‘Seriously? Christ… Months ago. Months and months. Middle of last year. Why, for God’s sake?’
A longer pause from Waters before he said, ‘Why, Melanie? Because Mr Riley has told us you were at his house in Marborough on Saturday the 6th of April.’
The same laughter, the same shake of the head.
‘In his dreams, maybe.’
Waters said, ‘We need to be clear on this, Melanie. You’re telling us you were not at Brian Riley’s house on the 6th of April this year?’
‘Yeah, that’s what I’m telling you. And I’m telling you I have no bloody idea why he would say I was there.’
He paused again, as if he needed time to process what she had told him, and she said, ‘And what’s this got to do with what happened to Roxy? Is he involved in that?’
You don’t mind them asking you questions, not at all. They’re engaging with you, and the thing you dislike most of all is the refusal to engage; sometimes the questions themselves can be revealing. Waters didn’t answer directly, of course, but said instead, ‘How well do you know Brian Riley, Melanie?’
She said, ‘I think you mean, how well did I know him. I told you, it was a long time ago.’
She wouldn’t go on until he had acknowledged this, and he did so with a nod.
‘So, all right. In some ways I’d say I knew him pretty well. I don’t know how much detail you want me to go into on that.’
Waters said, ‘Maybe later, Melanie. Did you know Brian was also a client of Roxanne’s?’
With controlled impatience, she said, ‘Like I’ve already said, we didn’t discuss who was doing what with who. Not in the house.’
Waters turned the dial one click towards tougher and said, ‘That’s not an answer to my question, though.’
