Page 119 of Making a Killing

‘Your mum and dad can come too,’ continues Ev, ‘and everyone will do their best to help you –’

‘Nothing happened,’ says Gary stolidly. ‘I told you. She went inside and I came home.’

Sargent turns to Jean. ‘Do you know what time Gary got back that day, Mrs Mann?’

She takes a little half-sob of a breath. ‘No – no – I don’t –’

But Phil is on his feet. A few moments later he’s back from the kitchen, holding a wall calendar out to her. ‘It must have been June 15th. That was the night the three of us went to Gusto – remember? The table was for seven.’

‘That’s right,’ says Jean, turning to Everett, ‘and you can check with them, can’t you? What time we arrived? Because there wouldn’t have been enough time, would there? If Gary last saw Daisy at around five, and then had to drive back from that place, wherever it is –’

‘Hescombe,’ says Sargent. ‘It’s about an hour and twenty minutes from here. Maybe an hour and a half in traffic.’

‘There you are, then, he must have come straight here or we wouldn’t have got to the restaurant on time.’

Sargent and Everett exchange a glance. But that alibi only holds up if it really was five o’clock when he lost sight of Daisy.What if it was four thirty or even four? That still wouldn’t have left enough time to dig a grave and bury a body, but what if he went back the following day? He’s young and strong and he has a van – a van with tools –

‘We can certainly check the bus timetable, Mrs Mann,’ says Sargent. ‘See if the timings tally.’

Jean’s about to speak but Sargent cuts across her. ‘But I’m afraid Gary’s still going to have to come in to give a statement. We’ll also need to take his phone. To corroborate what he just told us.’

‘I deleted them,’ he says dully, staring at the floor, ‘the messages with Melanie. They’re not there any more.’

‘But they may be backed up in the Cloud. Either way, I’m afraid we still need the phone.’ She turns to Jean and Phil. ‘We’ll also need fingerprints and DNA, to compare with any unidentified samples from the house in Hescombe.’

Jean looks confused. ‘But don’t you already have all that from Gary from – from – last time? Do you really need to put him through that again – he hasn’tdoneanything –’

‘Samples from witnesses are deleted from the system,’ says Ev gently. ‘We’re not allowed to keep them.’

‘Hang on a minute,’ says Phil, frowning. ‘Why’s this poxy house so important all of a sudden? No one mentioned that before – what difference does it make whether Gary went in there or not?’

‘It matters,’ says Stillwell, ‘because that’s where Robin Tierney died.’

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Date:Tue 11/06/2024 19:17

From:[email protected]

To:Tarek Osman

Subject: Re: Re: Re: Daisy Mason case

Well, it’s all popping off. For starters, I went to Coventry earlier. Apparently the Brits have a phrase about being ‘sent to Coventry’ like it’s some sort of punishment, and oh fuck I can see why. Cruel and unusual for sure. Anyway, this is where Barry Mason lives now. The pedo Pop (‘allegedly’). You couldn’t make it up. Though turns out he got let out of the slammer because Jamie – the shithead son by the first marriage – came forward and said it was Daisy who put the kiddie porn on daddy’s phone and they actually believed him. What a mensch.

Barry’s now living with a real operator called Linda Dunlop. You wouldn’t want to go 15 rounds with her, trust me. But it was the nasty little asshole Jamie who actually came up with the goods. Have a listen – wouldn’t want to spoil the surprise.

Needless to say I’ve already followed up. Speaking of which, any news on the money side before I meet with Kelsie? Do we know how much Nick is prepared to pony up? Given what I found out from Jamie, I think even he’ll agree it’s worth it.

Rob

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Computer-generated transcript

From voice recorder app on mobile phone belonging to Robin Tierney

Recorded 11.06.202411:22:03 BST

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