Deadly Lies

his finger down it so slowly it was like torture. Even Ruby wanted to jump up and snatch it out of his hand. The more the DCI stretched this out the more the tension ratcheted up. Ruby licked her lips. He was doing it deliberately – playing them to see if they made any slip-ups. Putting on the pressure to find out what or who would give. She’d seen him work like this before, cool and stealthy, and the DCI would keep squeezing until he was satisfied. There was a reason his nickname at the police station was the grey panther.
Jack clutched at his own knees. ‘For God’s sake, Inspector, shouldn’t you be out there!’
‘I see you’ve not put the host on your list of potential enemies.’
‘Of course not,’ Jack said, pursing his lips. ‘He and I get on well. Carmichael puts a lot of business my way and I do the same for him. I don’t want to have to assess all our friends as potential traitors, surely you’re not asking us to do that? How horrible. It would be like saying we can’t trust anyone.’
‘But can we?’ Alice said, narrowing her eyes.
‘And you told me you were both at the dinner party for the whole evening.’
‘Yes! How many times do we–’
‘What sort of business are you in?’ Grant asked.
Jack ran his fingers through his hair. ‘I run Hardman Construction for Alice’s father. We construct and renovate properties. My father-in-law built the company up from nothing.’
Jack was talking as if Grant was an idiot who needed things repeated several times – which was a mistake on Jack’s part. Ruby could see Alice was barely coping, and with her children taken and her father deceased on the same night, no wonder.
Alice’s green eyes were red-rimmed as she turned to Grant. ‘My father was what everyone calls a self-made man. When Dad retired he put Jack in charge.’ Alice started crying and Jack put his arm around her.
‘Where did the two of you meet?’ Grant asked.
‘Why the hell is that relevant? If you must know, at work,’ Jack said. ‘I was a manager at Hardman Construction and back then Alice worked in the office.’
Ah, Ruby thought, so Jack married the boss’s daughter. That was interesting.
‘I see you don’t have many enemies because you’ve only put three people on this list.’
‘Like I said we can’t scrutinise everyone we know – it would make us go crazy,’ Jack said. ‘I’ve probably pissed off a lot of people in the business and that’s normal. Bidding and winning on a big building project is competitive and Hardman Construction has an edge which I work hard to keep. There’s no one I know I’d think capable of abducting Lisa and Emily. Whoever it is that person’s got to be someone who’s plain mad.’
‘Have either of you had any strange encounters or noticed people hanging around the house? Has anything out of the ordinary happened?’
‘Nothing,’ Jack said.
Alice shook her head.
‘You told me your au pair left?’
‘I asked her to leave,’ Alice said. ‘You asked about who we can trust and well, we trusted her and she betrayed us.’
‘Don’t make it more than it was, darling,’ Jack said.
‘Perhaps you could tell us what happened,’ Grant said.
Alice made a half-hearted attempt to push her hair off her face. ‘I’m not exaggerating. She betrayed my trust and she lied. Basically, I found out Sylvie Delacourt had been leaving the children unsupervised. It happened in the changing rooms at the swimming pool which I know for a fact because one of my friends rang to tell me and it freaked me out. I mean, it was chance my friend was there and saw it. I’d had my suspicions about Sylvie and I don’t think it was the only time. I think Sylvie had a habit of sitting them down while she went to get a drink or a snack or went to the toilet, and not just at the pool, at the shopping centre too and at the park. She was strictly not allowed to leave them on their own. They’re too young. She promised me it wouldn’t happen again and then it did.’
‘I see,’ Grant said. ‘So you didn’t feel she was reliable?’
‘She was deceitful and she lied to me and I think she told the children not to tell me and I didn’t like that either.’
Grant nodded. His questioning was almost over and Alice and Jack Glover would stay under scrutiny. He wasn’t done with them yet, not by a long way, and he intended to post Ruby and Delaney at the house to keep an eye on them.
‘Right. Though nothing happened during the episodes the children were alone?’ Grant asked.
‘No, but it could have done!’ Alice said.
‘The children weren’t approached by anyone? They didn’t mention anything specific to you?’
Alice shrieked and shot her husband a dirty look. ‘See Jack! I told you it was dangerous.’
‘Mrs Glover, I’m not suggesting something actually happened, what I’m trying to find out is if anything did,’ Grant said.
‘The children didn’t mention anything,’ Jack said.
‘Of course they didn’t, she told them not to!’
‘Please, Mrs Glover, we need to stay factual. It’s the best way for me to get a clear picture.’
‘You need to know Sylvie made it difficult when I asked her to leave because she tried to argue her side rather than accept responsibility.’
Jack shook his head. ‘We can’t point the finger. Sylvie was a twenty-something young woman, how can she be involved? She came all the way from Australia and being asked to move on was a shock. After working with us, Sylvie was hoping to continue working in England.’
Alice cut Jack a cold look. ‘I told her there was no way in hell I’d give a reference and I doubt the au pair agency did either.’
‘Going back to your list of enemies, who are these three people?’ Grant said as he held the list in his hand.
‘They’re business competitors,’ Jack said. ‘It’s all I could come up with. They could