Grace and Branson looked at each other in utter astonishment.

‘That’s why she changed her will?’ Grace asked.

‘There’s more to it than that.’ She gave both Grace and Branson a hesitant look. ‘When she came to see me back in March’ – she glanced down then looked up again – ‘March the twentieth, she was in an agitated state.’

‘For what reason?’ Grace asked. ‘If she gave one?’

The solicitor hesitated, as if wondering if she should say any more. Finally, she nodded. ‘Yes, she did. One night, while her husband was out doing his taxi work, she’d looked at his computer. Perhaps, she told me, he didn’t realize that text messages were stored on that as well as his phone. Whatever, she found a string of messages between him and some other woman. The last one said that he had a plan to “get rid of” Eden. Such a clever plan, he boasted, no one would ever be able to prove a thing.’

‘Was it serious, do you think?’ Grace asked.

‘I asked her about this. She said there were times when he’d been violent before, where he threatened to kill her – particularly around the time his business went bust. She said his mood swings frightened her.’

Branson said, ‘So he was in turmoil. Perhaps he saw her doing well in her career and resented that she was now the bread-winner? That’s ugly.’

‘When we interviewed him, he struck us as being pretty macho, the kind of man who might resent the little woman doing better than himself. A big ego?’ Grace probed.

She gave a thawing smile. ‘From what Eden told me, that’s a pretty accurate assessment.’

‘How frightened was she by these mood swings?’ Grace asked.

‘She was scared – very scared.’

‘But she was never scared enough to go to the police?’ he continued.

Jill Riddle looked at each officer in turn, then laid her palms flat on the surface of her desk. ‘All too often in my experience, officers, it isn’t that people in abusive relationships, both male and female, are not scared enough to go to the police,’ she said. ‘It’s that they are too scared to go.’

97

Monday 9 September

Back outside on the pavement in the bright sunshine, the lunchtime crowds out on the streets, enjoying the last few weeks of the summer rays, Glenn Branson said, ‘That’s something I seriously was not expecting – that she’s in – or was in – a relationship with her boss.’ He pulled his shades out of his jacket pocket and put them on.

Roy Grace looked nonplussed. ‘In this job, always expect the unexpected.’

‘Indeed.’

‘Remember that and you’ll seldom be disappointed.’

Branson pursed his lips thoughtfully. ‘And didn’t your old mate Nick Sloan once say, “No matter what happens, at the end of each month the golden goose will shit into your bank account”?’

Grace grinned. ‘I miss his humour.’ Instantly, he looked serious again. ‘Eden’s in a relationship with her boss and her boss is in a relationship with her husband. It’s all a bit Jeremy Kyle, don’t you think?’