The DCI consulted his own phone and began to read. ‘“I know what’s happening. He’s keeping you in the house again. It’s time you stopped that bastard ruining your life, and if you won’t I will. I’m coming straight round. I’m on my way.” That is one of the messages you sent, the last one, in fact. Perhaps you would like to save us all a lot of trouble and confirm that you sent this text?’
‘Look, OK, yes, that’s what I said,’ admitted Greg. ‘It doesn’t mean I actually went round though. It doesn’t mean anything.’
‘Perhaps not. It’s circumstantial evidence, of course. But coupled with your van being spotted by a witness, I think it’s reasonable to conclude that you were at your parents’ house on Saturday afternoon, is that not the case?’
Quinn shrugged again.
‘Greg, for your own sake you really should cooperate. There is more, of course. We have established that you phoned and texted your mother several times from just after eleven a.m.—’
‘I told you, I was worried,’ Quinn interrupted.
‘But after the two forty-five p.m. text, when you told your mother you were going around to the family house, you did not call or text her at all. Not once. And we couldn’t raise you until seven o’clock yesterday morning. It seems to me that something happened to stop you trying to call your mum. Perhaps to stop you worrying about her? Is that not so?’
‘Look, Mum texted me, from a borrowed phone. That’s what stopped me calling or messaging her again. She said she was with a friend from school, that she’d finally managed to get out of the house, and she’d be staying away from home until Dad had had time to cool down. She said not to call her phone again because he’d taken it from her. That wasn’t particularly unusual either. She said she’d call me when she could. And I wasn’t to worry.’
‘I see. Could I see your phone please, Greg.’
Quinn handed it over with a marked lack of enthusiasm.
Vogel scrolled down the list of messages, noticing the several Greg had sent to his mother during the course of the morning and early afternoon.
There was just one incoming message from an unnamed mobile number which indeed appeared to be from Gill, and its content was almost exactly as Greg had just recounted.
Vogel held up the phone towards Greg and pointed at it.
‘So this is the message from your mother, on a borrowed phone, yes?’
Greg agreed that it was.
‘Do you recognize the number?’
‘No.’
‘So you don’t know who your mother was with?’
‘No.’
Vogel made a quick note of the number.
‘OK, Greg,’ he continued. ‘This text was not sent until four forty-seven p.m. You’d been calling and texting your mother repeatedly...’ Vogel glanced at the phone again. ‘About every half hour until two forty-five p.m. But then you let more than two hours pass without trying to contact her. And, after she texted you from her friend’s phone, you then made no attempt to contact her again, perhaps to try to speak to her, even though you have already described how worried you were about her. Why was that?’
‘I didn’t want to make matters worse.’
‘But we couldn’t get in touch with you all night. Your phone seemed to be switched off. It wasn’t just that you weren’t picking up to an unknown number, or to us. Surely if you were so worried about your mother you would make sure you were able to answer her if she called again?’
‘Look, I was fed up and upset. I drove to my mate’s in Torrington, and we went out drinking. We got stuck in. I was bladdered. That’s why I stayed over with him. I didn’t even know my phone was switched off.’
‘Greg, our medical experts tell us that your father died between approximately three and five p.m. on Saturday. This fits in rather well with the visit you told your mother you were about to make. Wouldn’t you agree, Greg?’
‘I’m not agreeing with anything.’
‘I’m going to say this once more, Greg. I really would advise you to cooperate with us. We are building quite a case against you.’
This time Greg Quinn said nothing at all.
‘All right,’ said Vogel eventually. ‘I’m going to suspend this interview, and you are free to go, Greg. But we shall be continuing to investigate you. And I must warn you that we are likely to be in touch again very soon, and that we are now treating you as a person of interest in this inquiry.’
‘What does that mean?’
‘It means what it says. You are of interest to us in the pursuance of this inquiry.’
‘Right. But I can leave now, yes?’
‘Yes.’
‘I’ll get back to my mother, then, if that’s all right by you, Mr Vogel,’ said Greg. ‘I’m still more worried about her well-being than anything else. Only, that wouldn’t concern you, would it?’
‘Good morning, Greg,’ said Vogel.
The uniform on sentry duty escorted Greg from the room. As soon as he had gone Vogel turned to Saslow.
‘Get Perkins after him, Dawn, and arrange back up with DI Peters,’ he said. ‘I want to know that young man’s every movement.’
Vogel immediately dialled the number he had copied from Gregory Quinn’s phone. It appeared to be out of service. He then checked the phone number he had jotted down against a number saved to his own phone. They didn’t match. Saslow returned just as he finished doing so.
‘I thought the number Gill texted Greg from would probably turn out to be Helen Harris’,’ Vogel remarked. ‘That would further back up her alibi, too. But it isn’t. And there’s no response at all from it at the moment.’
‘Well, the phone could belong to someone else at the House, couldn’t it, boss?’ offered Saslow. ‘Another staff member, or one of the other people sheltering there. And it could be a burner that’s run out of juice.’
‘Yes, it could be all of those things. But clearly it was in service yesterday, and if Gill used a phone unconnected with someone at the House, that offers up all sorts of other possibilities. For a start it indicates that she may not have been there all day, after all. I think we should pay another visit to Helen’s House.’
‘I agree, boss. I mean, if Gill Quinn didn’t have that cast-iron alibi she would still be our principal suspect, wouldn’t she?’
‘Yes, probably. The attack on Thomas Quinn’s partner presents all sorts of intriguing possibilities and, at the very least, it looks like Greg has been lying to us. But yes, without that alibi Gill would still be first in the frame, particularly now we know about the terrible abuse she has suffered at Thomas’ hands. It’s certainly an alibi we need to be absolutely sure of.’
‘The evidence is stacking up against Greg, though, isn’t it? And he makes no secret of how much he loathed his father.’
‘Indeed. Although, from what we’ve learned today, Saslow, I don’t blame him.’
‘I thought you might arrest him, boss.’
‘Yeah. I considered it. But Quinn is quite right. Everything is circumstantial. And we certainly haven’t got enough to charge him. I’m actually hoping he may further incriminate himself. Assuming he’s guilty, of course.’
‘If you’d arrested him, though, we could search his home and his van.’
‘Yes. And taking a watching brief is always risky. But as long as we make sure he isn’t busily disposing of any evidence, I think it’s a risk worth taking. Meanwhile let’s see what Helen Harris has to say...’
Twenty-Eight
Lilian was almost hysterical when she arrived back at Kate and Charlie’s house. Shaking uncontrollably, she blurted out what had happened.
Charlie called the police at once. The lunch party ended abruptly. Two officers arrived to take statements. They introduced themselves as PCs Birch and McKeach, and treated Lilian with considerable sensitivity. It was in sharp contrast to the way she had been dealt with by the police in Bristol.