‘He could have taken it there some other time.’
‘But then he would have had to store the body somewhere, either in the back of his van or somewhere else. The police found absolutely no evidence in the van and despite looking very hard, they failed to turn up any proof that he had a lock-up somewhere else, or had used a friend’s place. They examined Sean’s house, his clothing and bedding and his garden but there was no evidence of any blood or body fluid, or anything to suggest that Jane had been killed at his house, or that her body had been there at any point. That’s why the prosecution came up with this stupid accomplice theory.’
He waved his hand in the air for emphasis and she sympathized with his frustration. The way he was spinning it, the case against Farrell seemed incredibly tenuous and she wondered why the police had been so persistent. There had to be something he wasn’t telling her.
She caught his eye. ‘You think the police fitted him up?’
‘They needed a conviction and they had nobody else. The prosecution certainly made a great deal of the jealousy motive. But I guess it was all they had. And Sean had done a couple of stupid things, like follow Jane to a bar when she went out for a drink with another man and he made quite a scene. He’d had a few drinks and said some stuff he shouldn’t have done. But there was nothing violent.’
‘Jane made a formal complaint to the police about his stalking her.’
‘It was followed up, but no action was taken.’
‘Why was he so angry?’
‘He felt unfairly treated. They went out for about three months. Apparently, she thought he was getting too heavy, and tried to cool things off.’
‘That’s code for possessive, isn’t it?’
‘Maybe from a female point of view.’
Eve picked up the bitterness in his tone and wondered if he was speaking from personal experience. ‘So Jane dumped him?’
Dan nodded. ‘Sean says it all happened out of the blue. One minute they’d been talking about going on holiday together, the next, she wanted nothing to do with him.’
‘This was when?’
‘A few months before she disappeared.’
Although a few months were often enough to get over somebody, feelings weren’t always so easily switched off. Some people could keep an obsession going for years. ‘What about at the time of the murder? Was he over her by then, do you think?’
He shrugged. ‘In my view, he’d come to terms with the fact that she was a lost cause. As I said, he’d started seeing somebody else and, by all accounts, it was going well. I questioned him hard about this, I assure you. He said he’d moved on and I believe him.’
He spoke emphatically, but she wasn’t convinced. He might know the ins and outs of the case better than most, he might also have a good journalist’s instincts for the truth, but after the length of time he had invested in supporting Farrell’s cause, he was hardly impartial and maybe he had allowed things to colour his judgement.
‘So what was the argument at the gym about?’ she asked.
‘Jane saw him come in and she flew off the handle. She made a real scene and accused him of stalking her. He says he wasn’t, that he didn’t know she was going to be there at that time and that it was stupid trying to avoid one another. He said he had every right to go to the gym. In fact, he’d been a member there longer than she had. This all took place just outside the changing rooms and a number of people witnessed the argument. Nobody disputes his version of what he said, but it was clear that Jane didn’t believe him. Nor did the police.’
Eve was silent for a moment. Even if Sean Farrell were innocent, it was likely Jane had been killed by someone she knew. The police hadn’t found anyone, so either it was somebody she had recently met, whom she hadn’t mentioned to her friends and work colleagues, or else it was someone she had come across casually, maybe in a bar, or a shop, or on the street as part of her daily life. Had she been abducted, or had she gone willingly with whoever it was? Without knowing more of her character and day-to-day patterns, it was impossible to make any assumptions. It felt like looking for a needle in a haystack and she was suddenly struck by the lack of information and backup, compared to what she was used to.
‘I have a copy here of her phone records,’ she said, opening her bag and pulling out the file Peters had given her. She took out the sheet of paper with the call log and list of names, and passed it to him. ‘Can you tell me who these people are?’
He studied it for a moment, then looked up at her. ‘Where did you get this?’
‘I can’t tell you, I’m afraid.’
He shook his head irritably and passed the sheet back to her. ‘Stuart Wade and Lorne Anderson both had several horses in training with Tim Michaels.’
‘Why would they be calling Jane?’
‘Trying to get hold of Michaels, probably. Or maybe something to do with the party.’
‘Was it normal for her to use her personal phone for work?’
‘Dunno. Holly Crowther’s the girl she shared the cottage with. She was one of the Michaels’ riders.’
‘Where’s she now?’
‘Again, I don’t know. She was sacked a few days before the party – no idea why.’
‘Well, according to this, she texted Jane on the Friday, asking to come over and collect her stuff.’
He sighed. ‘I imagine the police contacted her, but she wasn’t called as a witness at the trial.’
‘Even so, it would be good to talk to her. She must have known Jane relatively well, if they lived together. What about the other girl?’
‘Grace Byrne? She went back to Ireland. I’ve got one of my researchers looking for both her and Holly.’
The way he spoke, he gave the impression that he had a team of people behind him, but she remembered what Peters had said about the charity’s lack of resources.
‘Do you mean Zofia?’
‘No. She works here voluntarily. She’s a graduate law student, in the middle of her PhD. We employ a professional PI from time to time, to chase down leads.’
Good PIs didn’t come cheap and she wondered how he found the money to employ one, given the charity was short of funds. Speaking to Holly and Grace was a priority and she made a mental note to follow it up herself.
‘OK. So who was Jane close to? Did she have anybody else she might have confided in?’
He shrugged. ‘Apart from the girls she shared with, maybe someone in the office. But she was new to the area. I don’t think she knew many people.’
Eve looked down at the list of names on the call log. ‘Who is Kevin Stevens? He left a couple of messages asking her to call.’
‘He was a freelance reporter, did quite a lot of work for the Racing Post. Again, it’s another connection on the PI’s list of things to check out.’
‘You said he “was”?’
‘Kevin Stevens was the victim of a hit-and-run. It happened a couple of months after Jane died. There’s no evidence they ever actually met. I spoke to Kevin’s editor at the Post and he said it could be something quite routine, like his wanting to interview Tim Michaels. Jane looked after his diary and made all his appointments.’
‘But surely they’d ring the office phone, not her mobile?’
He offered another shrug in response.
‘Have you talked to Kevin’s family?’ she asked.