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Chapters (70)
  1. Cover
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  3. Map of Rutland
  4. Map of Oakham
  5. 1
  6. 2
  7. 3
  8. 4
  9. 5
  10. 6
  11. 7
  12. 8
  13. 9
  14. 10
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  18. 14
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  36. 32
  37. 33
  38. 34
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  40. 36
  41. 37
  42. 38
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  45. 41
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  56. 52
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  60. 56
  61. 57
  62. 58
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  64. 60
  65. 61
  66. 62
  67. 63
  68. On Borrowed Time
  69. Acknowledgments
  70. Adam Croft

‘No. We argued, yes. But no, I didn’t kill him.’

‘Where were you on the night he died?’ Caroline asked.

‘Asleep. I was staying at the Wisteria, wasn’t I? I was in bed.’

‘From what time?’

Arthur sighed again. ‘I dunno. But it was a Saturday night. I was in the bar in the evening. I ate there and stayed for a few drinks, then went up. Look, why don’t you just check the CCTV? You’ll see me in the bar. Check the cameras on the front door. You’ll see exactly when I came in and exactly when I went back out again the next day. In fact, I’m pretty sure the next time I left was when I got the call to say he’d died. Check the cameras. You’ll see it all there.’

Caroline was seething, but she didn’t show it. If Arthur was telling the truth, this would be another dead-end. In any case, she still felt sure the Patrick Walsh avenue showed more promise. Alice Clifton had blown a gasket when she found out Arthur would inherit the company. She’d clearly at least half-expected to get it herself, so potentially had that motive. If no-one else knew Arthur was in line to inherit the company, how could he have known himself?

Her head pounding, she ended the interview and left the room, having decided there was only one option left. Arthur had to be bailed.

36

Once they got back to the incident room, Caroline took a few minutes to go through the evidence and information about Arthur Clifton with Aidan, then stepped out into the main incident room and briefed the rest of the team.

‘Either way,’ she said, ‘we need to gather as much as we can here. We can’t prove anything one way or another without more evidence. Aidan, get onto the Wisteria and pull the CCTV between Saturday evening and Sunday morning on the night Roger died. We need to track down his movements from when he came back into the country, too. We need CCTV from the airport. Find out if he gets into a cab, on a bus, train, whatever. From there, find out where he went. Trace his movements. Sara, I need you to get hold of the solicitor who’s been handling Roger’s business affairs. Find out for certain when Arthur first knew he was being left the company. If it’s before Roger died, we could be home and dry.’

‘Do you think it’s him?’ Sara asked.

‘Honestly? I don’t know. If it is, why the religious symbolism? Why go to all the effort of taking the body down to Normanton and placing it on the rocks?’

‘Diversion tactic? To be fair, it’s worked. We’ve spent a week and a half assuming it’s connected with religion somehow. What if it was all a massive red herring?’