Holker said. ‘You’re here to help us determine if he had anything to do with his wife’s murder. How do you suppose you’re going to do that if you let him out of your sight?’
‘Softly softly catchy monkey,’ I said, and received an incredulous squint from Holker. Perhaps he was unfamiliar with the saying. ‘If I’m constantly in his pocket, Clayton will be more guarded. He’s more likely to trip himself up if I keep some distance between us.’
‘That isn’t the way I’d do things,’ Holker grumbled.
‘Good job it’s not you staying here then, Detective,’ I remarked. ‘What would you do: shoot him and have done?’
Holker gave me the stink eye. I turned my back on him, joining Bryony as we began walking towards the house. I didn’t need a heightened sixth sense to tell Holker’s gaze was boring between my shoulder blades. I nudged Bryony’s elbow, saying sotto voce , ‘You told him why I’m here?’
‘He’s my partner, Joe. What did you expect?’
‘Fair enough.’ I expected a worse reaction from Holker than I’d received. Not only did he despise my tactics, he wasn’t hugely impressed that Bryony had been intimate with me. I believed he held a candle for his beautiful partner, but had never had the nerve to show her his true feelings. Perhaps he was frightened that she’d turn him down flat, or worse, his wife would find out and trim his wick. I glanced back at him, and he was tight-lipped as he followed us.
‘So you shared with Holker, how about you share a little more with me?’ I asked.
‘What do you mean?’ Bryony asked innocently.
‘I need to know if there’s any progression in the case. If I’m going to wrangle some kind of confession from Clayton, I need to know the pertinent facts, otherwise how will I know if he’s tripped himself up?’
‘We’re still concentrating on identifying the home invasion crew. We’ve some leads we’re following up on before we can start affecting arrests.’
‘I’m not talking about the robbers, and you know it, Bryony. You know there’s something wrong here; details that just don’t fit with their M.O. and probably never will. You don’t think the ones who killed Ella are the same people, do you?’
‘I don’t,’ Bryony said, ‘but you already knew that. But we’ve also investigated Clayton thoroughly, and we can’t find any evidence to say he organised the hit. We’ve checked his phone records, his email accounts, all the usual routes, but haven’t found anything suspicious. No big payments going out of his bank accounts, nothing to indicate he paid anyone for their services.’
‘Maybe payment was made in what they were allowed to carry away with them,’ I said, though it was a poor theory. I recalled what Clayton had said about Ella’s ring being stolen from her finger, and I doubted he’d have agreed to that. ‘Or maybe he’s totally innocent.’
‘That’s what we have to find out,’ she said.
‘What about other suspects?’
‘Other suspects?’
I nodded at the bagged glove. ‘The guy who left that has something to do with Ella’s murder.’
‘Or he’s just a crazy guy who gets a kick out of being so close to a murder scene. There are plenty nut jobs like him.’
Holker had caught up as we slowed to speak. He surprised me by saying, ‘You tell him about the emails, Bryony?’
‘Not yet,’ she said, and shrugged as if the messages were unimportant. ‘We’ve been receiving anonymous messages criticizing us for our failure to catch the killer. The killer accused us of clearing Andrew Clayton, and concentrating on the unconnected home invasions, more or less stating that we were being racist, because Clayton is a successful white guy while the crew’s obviously a bunch of underprivileged blacks. His words not mine. You ask me, he’s the racist when jumping to conclusions like that.’
‘Sounds as if he might have some insider knowledge,’ I said.
‘We’ve wondered the same,’
‘Softly softly catchy monkey,’ I said, and received an incredulous squint from Holker. Perhaps he was unfamiliar with the saying. ‘If I’m constantly in his pocket, Clayton will be more guarded. He’s more likely to trip himself up if I keep some distance between us.’
‘That isn’t the way I’d do things,’ Holker grumbled.
‘Good job it’s not you staying here then, Detective,’ I remarked. ‘What would you do: shoot him and have done?’
Holker gave me the stink eye. I turned my back on him, joining Bryony as we began walking towards the house. I didn’t need a heightened sixth sense to tell Holker’s gaze was boring between my shoulder blades. I nudged Bryony’s elbow, saying sotto voce , ‘You told him why I’m here?’
‘He’s my partner, Joe. What did you expect?’
‘Fair enough.’ I expected a worse reaction from Holker than I’d received. Not only did he despise my tactics, he wasn’t hugely impressed that Bryony had been intimate with me. I believed he held a candle for his beautiful partner, but had never had the nerve to show her his true feelings. Perhaps he was frightened that she’d turn him down flat, or worse, his wife would find out and trim his wick. I glanced back at him, and he was tight-lipped as he followed us.
‘So you shared with Holker, how about you share a little more with me?’ I asked.
‘What do you mean?’ Bryony asked innocently.
‘I need to know if there’s any progression in the case. If I’m going to wrangle some kind of confession from Clayton, I need to know the pertinent facts, otherwise how will I know if he’s tripped himself up?’
‘We’re still concentrating on identifying the home invasion crew. We’ve some leads we’re following up on before we can start affecting arrests.’
‘I’m not talking about the robbers, and you know it, Bryony. You know there’s something wrong here; details that just don’t fit with their M.O. and probably never will. You don’t think the ones who killed Ella are the same people, do you?’
‘I don’t,’ Bryony said, ‘but you already knew that. But we’ve also investigated Clayton thoroughly, and we can’t find any evidence to say he organised the hit. We’ve checked his phone records, his email accounts, all the usual routes, but haven’t found anything suspicious. No big payments going out of his bank accounts, nothing to indicate he paid anyone for their services.’
‘Maybe payment was made in what they were allowed to carry away with them,’ I said, though it was a poor theory. I recalled what Clayton had said about Ella’s ring being stolen from her finger, and I doubted he’d have agreed to that. ‘Or maybe he’s totally innocent.’
‘That’s what we have to find out,’ she said.
‘What about other suspects?’
‘Other suspects?’
I nodded at the bagged glove. ‘The guy who left that has something to do with Ella’s murder.’
‘Or he’s just a crazy guy who gets a kick out of being so close to a murder scene. There are plenty nut jobs like him.’
Holker had caught up as we slowed to speak. He surprised me by saying, ‘You tell him about the emails, Bryony?’
‘Not yet,’ she said, and shrugged as if the messages were unimportant. ‘We’ve been receiving anonymous messages criticizing us for our failure to catch the killer. The killer accused us of clearing Andrew Clayton, and concentrating on the unconnected home invasions, more or less stating that we were being racist, because Clayton is a successful white guy while the crew’s obviously a bunch of underprivileged blacks. His words not mine. You ask me, he’s the racist when jumping to conclusions like that.’
‘Sounds as if he might have some insider knowledge,’ I said.
‘We’ve wondered the same,’
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