Page 57 of Murder in the Family

PHYLLIS FRANKS

Oh, Phil, please. Everyone calls me Phil. So, you want to talk to me about Caroline and Luke.

LAILA FURNESS

You must have been asked about that night many times.

PHYLLIS FRANKS

(shaking her head and sighing)

Many, many times.

MITCHELL CLARKE

Do you mind talking us through it? If that’s OK?

PHYLLIS FRANKS

Of course. It was my husband’s birthday. His sixtieth. But he didn’t want a big sit-down thing – Jack was never one for fuss. Just drinks with friends. A ‘come as you are’ sort of thing. He liked that Penedès place and it was just down the road, so it made sense.

We hired the whole thing and we had canapés. They did the most wonderful seafood, it was such a shame when it closed. I remember one terribly nice young chap complimenting me on the cava.

(laughs)

It was actually Dom Pérignon.

LAILA FURNESS

I know there were a lot of people coming and going but you must have had some sort of guest list, mustn’t you?

PHYLLIS FRANKS

Oh yes, at least to start with. The police had a copy of that right from the start. But I’d made a point of saying people could bring friends and colleagues. It was all very relaxed. And Jack had such a wide circle – business associates, people from the golf club, old school friends, his peers at Cambridge. So it was a very mixed bunch – a lot of the guests wouldn’t have known that many people outside their own group.

MITCHELL CLARKE

But Caroline Howard was definitely there?

PHYLLIS FRANKS

Caroline Ryder, by then, of course. And yes, I definitely spoke to her at one point. She was very bubbly – very different from when she was married to Andrew. I remember saying to someone that if that was what a much younger husband did for you then I was going to put my name down for one.

(smiles)

I was only joking, of course.

MITCHELL CLARKE

Do you remember Caroline talking about anything in particular?

PHYLLIS FRANKS

Not really. It was just party chit-chat. I do recall her saying Luke was under the weather and that was why she was there alone, but I suspect the real reason was that he couldn’t be bothered with a bunch of old fogeys like us. I can’t say I blamed him—

(laughs)

—Jack was old enough to be his grandfather.

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