Chapter Fifty-four
It was approaching mid-day when Gardener and Reilly stepped back into the incident room, shocked by Summerby’s revelation.
“What’s up with you two?” Briggs asked Gardener.
“We’ve just been wrong-footed,” replied Gardener, placing his file on the table, glancing around the room to take note of who was in. Most of the team was present, judging from what he could see.
“Why?”
“We’ve interviewed Sally Summerby. Turns out Barry Morrison is Chloe’s father.”
“Morrison?” shouted Briggs. “How the hell did that happen?”
Gardener briefly took him through the details.
“Which gives her a prime motive, especially if Morrison has been blackmailing her.”
“Except for the fact that she has an alibi, and we could quite clearly see that it was a man who dumped him on the butcher’s doorstep.”
“She could have arranged it. What if they’re in it together?”
“Husband and wife, you mean?” Reilly asked.
“Why not?”
“Well, that’s the other fly in the ointment,” said Gardener. “We’ve interviewed him, and he claims to know about the birth certificate.”
“Do you believe him?”
“I’m not sure what to believe anymore.”
“So, if he knows about the certificate, then there’s even more reason to suspect that the pair of them have cooked something up.”
“But where’s the girl?” asked Gardener.
“And what’s their motive for killing the other three?”
Gardener could tell Briggs wasn’t happy by his expression. What he’d suggested didn’t really add up; but then again, neither did anything else.
“Keep digging,” said Briggs. “The pressure’s on. We have to find an answer soon, before there’s two more.”
Briggs wasn’t telling Gardener anything he didn’t know. The DCI left the room, leaving Gardener and Reilly to come up with other ideas.
“The problem we have is the amount of people in the frame. Billy Morrison knows three of them, but he’s maintained all along that he doesn’t know Nicola Stapleton.”
“Sally Summerby knows one of them,” said Reilly, “but not the others.”
“No proof of that. We need something more on her.”
“Gareth Summerby doesn’t know any of them, but has the best reason.”
“If he’s telling us the truth,” said Gardener.
“You think he was lying about the birth certificate?”
“It got him out of the room, didn’t it?”
Reilly finished his coffee. “Maybe he didn’t know anything about Barry Morrison fathering his child, but he’s kept a lid on it to us.”