Chapter 59
Back at MIT, Sammy waved his phone at Thurstan and, knowing he wouldn’t have completed them yet, said, “I‘ll sort the forms out and you can sign them afterwards, Boss.”
Thurstan hit the drinks station then wandered back to his office. He’d not long sat down when Spud tapped on the door.
When she’d finished, she laid her papers on the table and leaned back. He took a sip of coffee and looked at her. “So, you’re telling me her mother is dead.”
She smiled gently. “Yes, Boss.”
“She had a heart attack just over twelve months ago and Mickey Fenton still doesn’t know?”
“Yes, Boss.”
“How the hell do you keep that secret?” he pondered.
She shrugged. “No idea but she’s done it.”
They stared at each other for several seconds before she continued, “Also she’s never approached any of the local estate agents about the house either and she’s had a visitor there. Used to be quite often the neighbours say. The problem is they can’t say who it is. They’ve never seen them, just another car parked in the drive. Unfortunately, they haven’t a clue about the make because they’ve only seen it at night from an angle and only the back of it.
“So, it could be Brannan?” He sat back, stroking his chin. “Didn’t you say Lizzie told you they’d discovered he’s got a place on the docks? So why not use that?”
“Yes, Boss, and he had some credit cards registered there. She should have sent you the email with the details by now. She told me she’d do it straight away.”
It was at times like this he knew he needed to spend more time clearing everything he was being sent. He’d only done it two days ago and already his inbox was overflowing. Three minutes later, he was reading Lizzie’s message.
“They say he’s used these credit cards to pay for several nights in various hotels, Alison. A couple in Liverpool but the rest out in Cheshire and Cumbria. Plus, at present, Lizzie’s found two places where Sharon Fenton used hers, in the hairdresser’s and at some sort of salon, same dates and locations. Looking at the dates, overall, I’d say they’ve been knocking each other off for about eight months.”
He leaned forward and rubbed his eyes and face slowly and firmly. With a sigh, he cupped his face with his hands and sat there, eyes closed.
Spud sat and watched him. The minutes sauntered away. After a while, it was beginning to feel awkward. She opened her mouth to make an excuse to leave when he suddenly sprang back to life.
“Right! I think there’s someone else involved in this somewhere. She’s kept her mum’s house on, seemingly no thought to have it listed for sale, yet as far as we can tell her affair with Brannan had been going on for eight months. I can’t see it happening before that because they weren’t spending any money trying to impress one another so why suddenly start? Besides, he had a place on the Docks they could use.
“No, I think this was for someone else. Someone who couldn’t spend time away whilst Sharon spent money on them. The thing is ...who? McAvoy? Time away wouldn’t have been an issue to him and I doubt he would ever have even considered spending money on Sharon or worrying about impressing her, given the circumstances. Who then?”
He ran his hand through his hair and shook his head. “I need to go back to the beginning.”