narrowed. “Complete crap. They were just lies and rumours spread by the sort of scum who love to drag everyone else down to their level. If it happened today, they’d be like those faceless cowards on Twitter. What are they called? Trolls?”
“So you don’t think there was any connection between those tales and why Callum suddenly decided he didn’t want to visit his grandfather again?”
“No. Absolutely not.” Mackay’s tone was emphatic. He leant back with his arms folded.
“OK, Ian. Thanks for coming by.”
* * *
“They’re all hiding something.”
It was a statement that Warren couldn’t disagree with.
“If they didn’t know that Charles Michaelson was interfering with his grandson, then they at least had enough of a suspicion to take him out of reach.” Sutton leant back in his chair and took a slurp of his coffee, warming to his subject. “I mean Callum’s only seven years old. What sort of parent would let a kid that age decide: ‘no thanks, I don’t think I’ll visit Granddad any more. You’ll have to make alternate childcare arrangements’. They must have thought that there was something in it.” He snorted. “I can imagine my parents’ reaction if I’d said the same thing when I was his age. I’d have earned myself a tanned backside and been dragged by the hair, kicking and screaming.”
Again Warren couldn’t disagree. “I guess the question remains if this was a big enough motive to kill him?”
“And if that wasn’t enough, did the promise of some easy money and the opportunity to get rid of a massive stone around everyone’s neck tip the balance?”
“People have certainly killed for far less.”
“Any word on whether it was actually murder yet?”
Warren shook his head. “We’re still awaiting blood tests. But if it was a warfarin overdose, I’d like to know where they got it from. It’s a prescription drug, but it’s not as if you can go down Truman Street and hang around waiting for someone to sell it to you.”
“How about one of those online pharmacies? If my junk email folder is anything to go by, there’s plenty of choice.”
Warren shook his head again. “I’ve had financial crime look at everybody’s bank and credit card statements. No suspicious online purchases for any of them, not even PayPal. Speaking of which, Karen has been having another look at the Mackays’ bank statements. It looks as though Ian Mackay hasn’t withdrawn any cash and has only occasionally used his debit card since the day he was made redundant. Kathy Mackay’s spending habits remain unchanged, which figures since she apparently didn’t know her husband had been laid off.”
“So where is he getting his money from? He clearly had enough cash on him to buy booze in the off-licence and surely his wife would have noticed if he suddenly stopped putting his hand in his pocket?”
“Cash in hand? That would explain where he’s been going every night for the past month.”
“Yeah and if he was doing something less than legal he’d hardly be able to use them as an alibi.”
“Well unless we can pin him down for the early hours of Tuesday, he’s still my number one suspect.”
“What about Kathy Mackay? She’s got just as strong a motive as her husband, especially if she actually knew—or at least suspected—that her husband had lost his job.”
“Let’s keep them both on the whiteboard. They may even have worked together.”
* * *
“He was poisoned.”
Ryan Jordan’s American accent became more noticeable when he was excited.
“Warfarin?”
“Uh-uh. Better than that—rat poison.”
“Of course.” Warren felt like a fool. It was hardly a secret that warfarin was the key ingredient in rodenticides. In fact his grandmother had joked that as much as she disliked taking the little pills each day, at least she knew that any four-legged visitors would have to nibble on Granddad Jack, since she was toxic to them. “Clever bastard. I guess they
“So you don’t think there was any connection between those tales and why Callum suddenly decided he didn’t want to visit his grandfather again?”
“No. Absolutely not.” Mackay’s tone was emphatic. He leant back with his arms folded.
“OK, Ian. Thanks for coming by.”
* * *
“They’re all hiding something.”
It was a statement that Warren couldn’t disagree with.
“If they didn’t know that Charles Michaelson was interfering with his grandson, then they at least had enough of a suspicion to take him out of reach.” Sutton leant back in his chair and took a slurp of his coffee, warming to his subject. “I mean Callum’s only seven years old. What sort of parent would let a kid that age decide: ‘no thanks, I don’t think I’ll visit Granddad any more. You’ll have to make alternate childcare arrangements’. They must have thought that there was something in it.” He snorted. “I can imagine my parents’ reaction if I’d said the same thing when I was his age. I’d have earned myself a tanned backside and been dragged by the hair, kicking and screaming.”
Again Warren couldn’t disagree. “I guess the question remains if this was a big enough motive to kill him?”
“And if that wasn’t enough, did the promise of some easy money and the opportunity to get rid of a massive stone around everyone’s neck tip the balance?”
“People have certainly killed for far less.”
“Any word on whether it was actually murder yet?”
Warren shook his head. “We’re still awaiting blood tests. But if it was a warfarin overdose, I’d like to know where they got it from. It’s a prescription drug, but it’s not as if you can go down Truman Street and hang around waiting for someone to sell it to you.”
“How about one of those online pharmacies? If my junk email folder is anything to go by, there’s plenty of choice.”
Warren shook his head again. “I’ve had financial crime look at everybody’s bank and credit card statements. No suspicious online purchases for any of them, not even PayPal. Speaking of which, Karen has been having another look at the Mackays’ bank statements. It looks as though Ian Mackay hasn’t withdrawn any cash and has only occasionally used his debit card since the day he was made redundant. Kathy Mackay’s spending habits remain unchanged, which figures since she apparently didn’t know her husband had been laid off.”
“So where is he getting his money from? He clearly had enough cash on him to buy booze in the off-licence and surely his wife would have noticed if he suddenly stopped putting his hand in his pocket?”
“Cash in hand? That would explain where he’s been going every night for the past month.”
“Yeah and if he was doing something less than legal he’d hardly be able to use them as an alibi.”
“Well unless we can pin him down for the early hours of Tuesday, he’s still my number one suspect.”
“What about Kathy Mackay? She’s got just as strong a motive as her husband, especially if she actually knew—or at least suspected—that her husband had lost his job.”
“Let’s keep them both on the whiteboard. They may even have worked together.”
* * *
“He was poisoned.”
Ryan Jordan’s American accent became more noticeable when he was excited.
“Warfarin?”
“Uh-uh. Better than that—rat poison.”
“Of course.” Warren felt like a fool. It was hardly a secret that warfarin was the key ingredient in rodenticides. In fact his grandmother had joked that as much as she disliked taking the little pills each day, at least she knew that any four-legged visitors would have to nibble on Granddad Jack, since she was toxic to them. “Clever bastard. I guess they
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