Did Jonathan Matthew find out there was no money? Did he confront Darius Roth, furious to find himself indebted to his sister’s killer? Maybe Roth had lorded it over him, as just another beneficiary of his patronage. But if so, he’d chosen the wrong person to patronise. The life of Jonathan’s sister had meant more to him than money or music.
But someone else had used Jonathan Matthew to target Darius. Was it another member of the group who got wind of the problem? Had their funding failed? It was interesting to speculate what might have happened next time the walking group met in that clubhouse in the old chapel.
‘You see, Darius inherited control of the businesses when his brother died six years ago,’ said Irvine. ‘In October.’
‘And the date of the Kinder walk was changed to mark the anniversary of Magnus’s death.’
‘Yes.’
‘So it’s some kind of memorial to his brother,’ said Villiers. ‘Perhaps they were very close.’
‘I think there’s more to it than that,’ said Irvine. ‘It was Magnus who quickly built up the business. As the older son, he took it over when their father died. By all accounts, he made a big success of it. That was when the money really started to roll in.’
‘But when Magnus was killed—’
‘Darius inherited.’
‘Yes, but it seems Darius wasn’t as good a businessman as his brother. He’s drained the companies of profit. There’s a massive mortgage on Trespass Lodge too, which he would have been defaulting on very soon.’
Cooper nodded. That made sense. Darius had failed to live up to his brother. And he lost all the money trying. The company he inherited had declined rapidly under Darius’s leadership. He’d made bad decisions, poor investments, trusted the wrong people, all while spending extravagantly on vanity projects.
He’d ruined the business Magnus and their father had built up, wrecked the Roth empire. He must have been glad that Magnus wasn’t around to see it.
Diane Fry called that afternoon. Ben Cooper wasn’t as surprised as he might have been at any other time. She’d wanted something from him, after all.
‘They’ve called off the disciplinary hearing,’ she said without any preamble or small talk.
Cooper breathed a sigh of relief. It had been weighing on his mind ever since his visit to Ripley.
‘Good,’ he said. ‘I’m pleased to hear it.’
‘They must have found out something that undermined the case they thought they had against me.’
‘Yes, I’m pretty sure that’s what happened,’ said Cooper.
‘I know you did something. But maybe I shouldn’t ask what it was.’
He laughed. ‘Well, whatever it was, I’m glad it helped.’
‘You know, I think they were watching me,’ said Fry. ‘They had me under surveillance. Can you believe it?’
‘How do you know that?’
‘I’ve seen them,’ she said. ‘Sitting in a black BMW watching for me to use my InPost locker at the service station by Clifton Bridge. They must know I use that terminal regularly to receive packages.’
‘Do you think they sent something to your locker and were waiting for you to pick it up?’
‘Yes. Something incriminating, I imagine. I bet they planned to catch me opening the locker and taking delivery.’
‘But you never went to your locker?’
‘No.’
‘Why not?’
‘Angie warned me not to.’
‘I guess she was the one who saved your bacon, then.’
‘Maybe.’
‘You said you receive regular packages at the InPost terminal,’ said Cooper. ‘Were they...?’ He left the question hanging.
Then it was Fry’s turn to begin laughing.
‘I order Whole Earth organic no-caffeine coffee alternative and vegetarian tofu ragout from Holland and Barrett,’ she said. ‘And occasionally some moringa powder and cacao nibs.’
Cooper laughed too. And it wasn’t just relief. It seemed so out of character with the Diane Fry he knew.
‘Well, I just never get time to go into Nottingham to visit their store,’ she said defensively.
‘I thought you were more of a chocolate and wine woman. What’s with all the healthy foodstuffs?’
‘They give me energy. That’s better than cocaine any day, Ben.’
Cooper was trying to readjust his mental image of Diane Fry to some kind of health-food fanatic. It wasn’t really working.
‘So nothing suspicious,’ he said.
‘People can see anything as suspicious,’ said Fry. ‘It depends on your perspective. It depends what you want to believe — or what you want others to believe.’
There was another important question on Ben Cooper’s mind. He called his brother as soon as he got home that night. He had just had one question to ask him after the previous evening.
‘So what do you reckon, Matt?’ he said.
Matt breathed noisily down the line for a moment. Ben pictured him looking round at Kate, seeking her approval or agreement. There was no doubt they would have discussed the subject at length after Ben and Chloe had left Bridge End Farm last night.
‘All right, we reckon,’ said Matt finally.
Ben breathed a sigh of relief. ‘Good.’
There was another pause, longer this time, then a deep breath from Matt.
‘And I think Mum would have approved too.’
35
Friday
Next morning, Ben Cooper had a copy of the post-mortem report on his desk. Chloe Young and her colleagues at the mortuary had worked overnight to conduct the examination so that he had the results in his hands first thing. And he was grateful for it. He must remember to tell her that. He suspected DCI Mackenzie wouldn’t.
Cooper looked through the report. It was pretty much as he’d expected. Roth had died from head injuries sustained in the fall. Much like Faith Matthew, in fact.
Then one apparently irrelevant detail caught his eye.
He picked up the phone. ‘Carol? Are you free? Can you pop in?’
Villiers pushed open the door a moment later. ‘What is it? I’m just on my way to Meadow Park Hospital.’
‘Do you remember what Elsa said was wrong with him?’ asked Cooper.
‘Sorry?’
‘Darius Roth. Why he was being treated at Meadow Park?’
‘She said he had appendicitis.’
‘Right. An appendectomy, then? That’s what they would have done, isn’t it?’
‘Of course. Why?’
Cooper tapped the post-mortem report on Roth.
‘This body in the mortuary. Dr Young says the dead man had an enlarged appendix.’
‘Interesting.’
‘It’s more than interesting. It makes all the difference. If this body was Darius Roth’s, he shouldn’t have an appendix at all.’
Elsa Roth was sitting in her enormous sitting room, a tiny figure in the midst of all that space and expensive furniture.
‘Mrs Roth, you told me your husband went into hospital for appendicitis,’ said Cooper.
‘What? What does that have to do—’
‘Bear with me, please. It was just before your marriage, wasn’t it? You had to postpone the wedding for six months.’
‘That’s right. I told you.’
‘Yes, you did tell me that. But it can’t be true. Mr Roth has never had an appendectomy. He never had appendicitis.’
‘How do you know something like that? Oh, I see. A post-mortem.’
‘I’m sorry,’ said Cooper. ‘I know it’s distressing. But the fact is, I think Darius went into Meadow Park Hospital for an entirely different reason. It doesn’t take six months to recover from an appendectomy anyway. I should have seen that straight away.’
‘I have no idea about these things,’ said Elsa. ‘Why should I have?’