‘You should know what it is. It’s what you gave to your patients. Those poor people who thought you were there to help them.’
For a fleeting moment there was clarity in Sian’s mind as she watched the man place the bottle carefully onto the floor.
‘What is it they say when you go to the hospital for a blood test?’ asked the man. He removed a syringe from his shirt pocket and pulled off the orange safety cap. ‘You’re going to feel a sharp scratch.’
Sian couldn’t move as the needle entered her neck and the cold, poisonous liquid was forced through her skin and absorbed into her bloodstream. She knew what was coming but she wasn’t ready for the violent convulsions as blood continued to fall into her eyes.
‘Not again. How many times do you need to take a bloody piss?’ Eric said to his West Highland terrier when she stopped at the bench and squatted.
‘As long as you’re not taking a shit because I’m out of bags.’ Fifteen seconds later his dog gave a satisfied yap, and he threw her a treat. As much as Eric moaned about being the one stuck walking the dog – that his kids had promised to walk – he enjoyed this time of the morning. He’d left the house at 6.30 a.m. with a freshly brewed cup of coffee, popped in his Airpods, pressed play on his favourite podcast and started his walk along the riverfront. He watched a flock of seagulls take flight across the sky which was a wash of purples and pinks as the sun slowly ascended. Eric raised his cup but it never met his lips. It slipped out of Eric’s hand and landed on the ground, causing the dog to yelp. Eric stepped closer to the railings to make sure that he wasn’t seeing things. Eric knew what he should do, but confusion and disbelief had him frozen. A woman, hanging from the pier, her body twisting slowly in the breeze, as a seagull pecked at her feet.
12
‘Are you saying you think that this doctor’s wife, Tabitha, may have had something to do with his attack?’ Henley asked as she put aside a disclosure request from the CPS and turned to Ramouter.
‘I mean I can’t say for certain that yes, she had something to do with her husband’s attack, but …’
‘Their behaviour is off,’ Henley concluded. ‘Have you tried to contact the wife yourself?’
‘No. I thought that if she is involved then having another officer from a completely different unit might spook her.’
‘Good point. What about anyone else? Family members. Friends.’
Ramouter shook his head.
Henley picked up markers from her desk and walked over to the whiteboard. She drew a vertical line in red down the middle of the blank whiteboard and wrote Graham Ashcroft’s name. ‘What do you know about him?’
‘He’s fifty-two years old and the director of a fertility clinic. Married to Tabitha Ashcroft. They have one daughter. Colette. twenty years old and studying at the University of Toronto. He has a clean criminal record now but there was a drink driving conviction seventeen years ago for which he got a twelve-month driving ban. He got his licence back and there’s a speeding ticket from three years ago.’
‘On the surface you can’t see why anyone would have it in for him?’
‘Not unless he owes someone money. I can ask Ezra to have a dig around and see what his personal finances are like, but I went on Companies House and from the accounts that they filed they’re doing more than all right.’
‘Fertility is a lucrative business. What about social media?’ said Henley.
‘He’s on Instagram and he’s … a bit annoying really. He runs marathons, volunteers for his local food bank, looks to be a good and very proud dad and even officiated a friend’s wedding last summer in San Francisco. He’s perfect.’
‘No one’s perfect, Ramouter,’ Henley said, tapping the marker against her palm. ‘Ok, if there’s nothing on the surface to explain why someone would want to take this man out, what about the wife?’
‘She’s not so perfect. Dr Tabitha Ashcroft. Owns an equally lucrative beauty clinic. Again, good financials. She’s forty-eight years old and has no presence on social media. Her clinic has an Instagram and TikTok page, but she personally doesn’t.’
‘Why is she a blackout on social media?’
‘Previous convictions.’ Ramouter handed her a printout.
Croydon Gazette
Monday 6 September 2021
Sharon Weaver and Kate Linton
Careless driver avoids prison after Thornton Heath schoolteacher’s death
A woman has narrowly avoided a prison sentence after pleading guilty to causing death by careless driving.
Tabitha Ashcroft, aged forty-eight, hit sixty-year-old Sherri Durant on Thornton Heath High Street.
The crash took place at around 7.30 p.m. on 16 April, lastyear, and Sherri Durant died later at Croydon University Hospital from a head injury.
