‘You’re only jealous because your sex life went from cold to hot to cold again within the space of three months.’
‘It has not. Me and Chris are very hot, thank you. We just don’t want all and sundry to hear what we get up to.’
‘Unfortunately, all and sundry are listening to every word,’ Matilda said from the top of the room. ‘Now, when you’ve quite finished, Rory, I’d like to get this briefing started.’
He picked up a Snickers and jogged back to his desk, playfully throwing a small packet of Maltesers at Scott’s head as he went.
‘Thank you. Now, I’ve had a text from DC Devonport. Craig and Linda have positively identified the body as belonging to Keeley.’
‘How did they take it?’ Sian asked.
‘Ellen didn’t go into any details, but I think we can guess. The post-mortem is in about an hour’s time, so, where are we with the investigation? Any news on the whereabouts of Calvin Page?’
‘Not yet,’ Aaron Connolly chimed up, rifling through his untidy desk.
‘Do you know where Calvin’s living?’
‘Erm … no,’ he said, flicking frantically through his notebook.
‘Have you considered contacting his parole officer?’ Matilda asked. She looked at Aaron with a heavy frown.
‘No. I mean, yes. Yes, I will. I’ll look into it.’
‘Is everything all right, Aaron? You seem distracted.’
‘Yes. No, I’m sorry. Everything’s fine. Leave it with me.’
‘Aaron, we need to know where Calvin is. That is paramount. Not just in connection with Keeley Armitage but because he’s broken his parole conditions. I’m aware this is different to what Calvin has done in the past, and, thankfully, Keeley doesn’t seem to have been sexually assaulted, but he cannot be ruled out yet.’
‘Ok. I said leave it with me,’ Aaron almost snapped.
The room fell silent and all eyes turned to Aaron.
‘Where are we with house-to-house and finding out everything about the Armitage family?’ Matilda asked, bringing everyone back on topic.
‘I’ve found something interesting,’ Scott said. He flicked through his notebook. ‘Here we are: Julia Aspinall lives across the road and just a bit further up from the Armitages, and she used to work with Craig before he had his own business. He used to be a delivery driver for Parcelforce and Julia worked in the offices. Now, Craig was dismissed because of a large number of items going missing from the rounds he was on. Customers would call whoever they’d ordered from saying they hadn’t received their delivery, the company would investigate to see who the delivery bloke was, and Craig had a high percentage of so-called mislaid parcels.’
‘What happened?’
‘There was an internal inquiry and Craig left. Julia said it was all hushed up. However, Craig went on to set up his own business as a local courier, but he was bad-mouthed by a former colleague still working at Parcelforce. Craig had to change the name of his business several times before everything died down. But – and here’s the interesting part—’
‘About time,’ Rory interrupted.
‘Craig had a very public row with this colleague in a pub. Julia was there and overheard most of it. She heard the colleague say to Craig that if he ever went near his family again, he’d make him pay.’
‘So, Craig did something to this other guy’s family?’ Christian asked.
‘It sounds like it.’
‘Do you have the contact details of this colleague?’ Matilda asked.
‘Yes. A Dean Oliver. He lives at Gleadless.’
‘Great. Pay him a visit, Scott. See what you can dig up and find out where he was on the evening Keeley disappeared. Anything else?’
‘Yes,’ Sian said. ‘A few of the neighbours aren’t too complimentary about Linda.’
‘In what way?’
‘Some are saying she’s quite unhinged, volatile, quick to temper. They often hear her shouting, even when it’s only her and Riley at home.’
Matilda thought for a moment. ‘I suppose we have to be careful here. Linda is in a difficult position coping with Riley twenty-four hours a day. It’s going to get to her at some point. Maybe she cries and screams to let off a bit of steam.’
‘Or maybe she’s abusing Riley,’ Aaron said.
‘We don’t know that,’ Matilda castigated. ‘Sian, have a word with their family GP. Nothing definite, just get their take on the family.’
‘I found out something yesterday evening after the search,’ DC Finn Cotton said, tentatively raising his hand. Finn was incredibly shy and still a new-ish member of the team. Although he seemed to get on well with everyone and joined in with conversations and having a laugh, he found it difficult to raise his head above the parapet when the whole team was assembled.
‘Go on,’ Matilda prompted.
‘One of the neighbours, two doors along, Mrs Rita Clover, invited me in for a chat.’
‘Is she fit?’ Rory asked.
Finn blushed and cleared his throat before continuing. ‘At first she didn’t say anything bad about the Armitages. She was full of praise for how they raised the kids and the charity work Craig does, but then she threw doubt on the whole thing.’
‘In what way?’ Sian asked, hooked on his story.
‘She said she and a few of the other neighbours often wondered if all the money Craig raised went to charity. She pointed out that Craig changes his van every eighteen months, the girls wear designer gear and seem to have the latest phones, and, around Christmas time, there’s always loads of parcels delivered. Like Mrs Clover said, a courier can’t earn that much money, so where is it all coming from?’
‘So, what are they saying then, that he’s defrauding these charities?’ Scott asked.
‘It sounds like it?’
‘But is that a crime?’ he asked. ‘I mean, you run a marathon and collect donations and raise, say, two grand, but only hand over fifteen hundred to the charity. Is that fraud?’
‘It is if the charity has sponsored you,’ Matilda said. ‘I mean, we were told from the start that Craig raised money to pay for the things Riley needs to make his home life as stable as possible. Once he’d done that, he continued to raise money and donated it to the local hospital. From time to time I suppose Riley is going to need new things.’
‘In that case,’ Sian said, ‘the money should be going to buying Riley equipment, not designer gear for the girls and to make sure they all have a merry Christmas.’
‘Maybe they’re doing it for compensation,’ Christian said as he sipped his coffee. ‘Craig and Linda are going to spend a lot of their time and energy on Riley. The girls are going to feel left out. The only way they can think of to make it up to them is through material possessions. It keeps them quiet and happy at the end of the day.’
‘But they’re not happy,’ Sian said. ‘Look at the drawings and stories in Keeley’s sketch pad. She wanted a prince to come along and take her away from all this. It’s fine to wear designer clothes and have the latest Apple products, but a child of Keeley’s age needs a hug from time to time.’