‘Enemies? What’s that got to do with him drowning?’ Grant and Hudson said nothing. ‘Are you implying Tony was murdered?’
‘We’re not implying anything, Terri…’
‘You are, aren’t you?’ Terri was incredulous, disbelieving. She seemed to be shaking. Hudson and Grant studied her carefully and couldn’t detect any artifice.
‘At the moment we’re looking at all angles,’ said Grant.
‘Then you’re making a mistake. Tony was a popular guy. Everybody liked him. Everybody. I can’t believe anyone would want to murder him.’ She stared into the distance and Grant fancied a sliver of doubt deformed her features for a second.
‘Nobody had a grudge or wished to harm him in any way? Think back. We could be talking about a couple of years ago.’
Terri shook her head, now unable to meet their gaze. ‘No one, I’m telling you.’
‘We’ll come back to that one,’ said Hudson quietly. ‘Do you know where your stepfather was staying in Brighton the night before he died?’ Again Terri shook her head. Hudson hunched down over his notebook as if checking a detail. ‘It was in a hotel in Waterloo Street. The Duchess. Bit of a pigsty actually. Not really your stepfather’s sort of place I would’ve said. Do you know it?’
He looked back up at her as she shook her head. Her colour was darkening slightly, but otherwise she retained her composure.
‘Any idea why he might check into that hotel under a false name?’ asked Grant. ‘Gordon Hall.’ She continued to look at Terri. ‘Actually the register says Mr and Mrs Gordon Hall. Did you know your stepfather had a lady friend?’
Terri’s lips were becoming tighter and tighter and the ability to speak had deserted her. She shook her head again.
Hudson had some sympathy but he also knew that the more he tightened the screw, the more detailed the confession when it came. ‘You see what he did there. That’s a play on the name of his company, you know. Hall Gordon Public Relations,’ he pointed out helpfully.
‘Any idea who Mrs Hall might have been?’ asked Grant.
‘No!’ croaked Terri, clearing her throat. ‘Can I have one of those cigarettes please?’
‘Of course.’ Hudson took two cigarettes from the packet, handing one to Terri and putting one in his mouth. He lit hers then his own.
‘Whoever she is, I’m afraid it’s now almost certain she was having a sexual relationship with your stepfather. I’m sorry to have to tell you that.’
After several long drags, Terri finally broke the silence. ‘How do you know?’ she croaked.
Not, I don’t believe it, Grant noted. ‘We found fresh semen on his jogging pants.’
‘And traces of female DNA. The lab’s working them up now. The semen is his, obviously. The other … well, it should help when we find out who she is.’ Terri nodded dumbly, tears welling up in her eyes
‘And the girl was quite young, according to the landlord. Maybe underage,’ added Grant.
‘It must be upsetting to discover what kind of man your stepfather was,’ said Hudson.
Terri bowed her head and now began to sob. Hudson felt guilty. He remembered how his own teenage daughter regressed when the adopted habits of adulthood bit too deep.
‘This must be difficult,’ said Grant, moving to sit next to the girl to offer some comfort.
Hudson quietly pulled out the CCTV image from the car park and placed it on the table in front of Terri. She barely glanced at it but the violence of her sobbing increased, and her head sought refuge and bobbed up and down in Grant’s arms.
Eventually a measure of calm returned and Terri was able to blow her nose and wipe her eyes. ‘I loved him,’ she said simply.
‘I believe you,’ answered Hudson, resisting the urge to be judgemental. ‘Tell us what happened at the weekend.’
Terri found such a simple question difficult, embarrassed to be discussing the sex life she had hidden from the world. ‘We … were together, you know, Saturday night. We were awake … most of the night.’ She glanced up at the two detectives to see if they’d cracked her simple code. Their expressions were unaltered. ‘Tone plays rugby … played rugby … and he wanted to go for a run. It was really early. Five o’clock.’
‘You didn’t go with him?’
‘God no! He was only going to be an hour, he said. I saw him walk to the seafront and turn towards the old pier and I never saw him again.’
Her lip began to wobble so Hudson piled in with the next question to keep her mind busy. ‘Did you see anyone else on the road?’
‘No one.’
‘Any cars pull away at the same time?’
‘Not that I noticed.’
Hudson nodded. ‘Go on.’
‘I went back to bed and woke up at about nine and Tone wasn’t back. I didn’t think anything of it. I showered and went out to get a coffee, thinking he’d be back when I got back, but he wasn’t. By half eleven I was frantic. I went for a walk along the front but I couldn’t see anything. I thought maybe he’d had an accident and was in hospital. So I packed up his stuff and took it to the car park, threw it all in the boot. I hung onto his wallet. I was going to drive the car but thought it might be better to leave it for Tone. The only problem was if I wanted to leave the car keys I couldn’t lock up. So I threw them in the boot. I figured it wouldn’t be a problem. Unless someone randomly tried the door, most people would assume it was locked. Then I came home.’
‘Was your mother here when you got back?’ asked Grant.
Terri nodded.
‘How long had your affair been going on?’ asked Hudson.
Terri bit her lip, recognising the relevance of the question. ‘Not long,’ she replied.
It was an obvious lie but Hudson decided there was little to gain by challenging it. The victim wasn’t pressing charges, the criminal was dead.
‘I loved him,’ she repeated in the softest whisper.
‘This is very important, Terri,’ said Grant. ‘Who else knew you were going to be at that hotel?’
Terri stared off into space to think. She shook her head. ‘Apart from the guy at the hotel, no one.’
‘Mr Sowerby?’
‘Mr Sowerby, yes.’
‘Would Tony have told anyone?’
‘I don’t think so. Why?’ She answered her own question immediately. ‘You think someone planned this. You think someone was waiting near the hotel, to kill him.’
‘It seems likely. Does your mother know about the affair?’ asked Hudson.
She looked down. When she looked up she had more moisture in her eyes. She blinked it away and shook her head. ‘As far as you know.’
‘As far as I know,’ she echoed into her lap. She lifted her head suddenly. ‘You’re not suggesting …?’
‘Hell hath no fury like a woman losing her husband to her daughter,’ observed Hudson with more cruelty than he’d intended.
‘Forget it,’ spat Terri. ‘My mother couldn’t hurt a fly.’
‘What about your father?’
‘My father?’
‘Your real father.’
Terri seemed momentarily nonplussed by the question.