‘Ex-husband, Charlie. No. Absolutely not,’ Keith clarified. ‘Sian only kept his surname because she wanted to punish him for not supporting her. Linda was trying to convince him to let Sian see the kids, but he point-blank refused.’
‘You last saw Sian on Tuesday morning. What about Monday, when she came home from court?’
‘We were told at 11.15 a.m. that the court had the bail money. We thought she was going to come straight home, but she didn’t. She went back to her solicitor’s office because theNewsnightpeople were interviewing her there. Her solicitor then brought her home at around 4 p.m.. But she went out again almost immediately and came back home a few minutes before her curfew started. She had a bath, something to eat and stayed in her room until the Soteria people turned up just after ten. They fitted her tag, and she went back upstairs to her room.’
‘Did she have any visitors? Had there been any trouble?’
‘No one knew she’d been bailed here. We moved into this house after the first trial, and we keep ourselves to ourselves. We didn’t go around broadcasting that we were the parents of Sian Fox-Carnell who was in prison for killing her patients, for trying to kill a kid.’
Keith took hold of Linda’s hand as she looked at him expectantly. ‘Wrongly convicted of course,’ he added.
Henley looked across at Ramouter, wondering if the same thought had also crossed his mind, that Keith hadn’t answered the question: had there been any trouble?
‘Keith, why have you got the blinds and curtains closed?’ Ramouter asked.
‘No one was supposed to know that Sian was here,’ Keith said. He stood up and rubbed the base of his back. ‘We told no one. We didn’t even tell Charlie that she’d been bailed here in case he stopped us seeing the grandkids.’ Keith sat back down, and lowered his voice, as though he was worried that someone was listening.
‘But on Tuesday morning, I came downstairs to put the coffee on, but I didn’t even make it to the kitchen because there was a smell in the air. I could smell it as soon as I stepped out of the bedroom.’
‘What was the smell?’
‘It smelt like shit and when I turned on the hallway light, I could see it.’ Keith wrinkled his nose as though the smell was still in the room. ‘And it wasn’t dog shit either. It was disgusting.’
‘Has anything like that ever happened before?’
Keith shook his head. ‘Never. Not even when we had Sandy, our dog. She knew that she had to do her business outside. It was revolting. I cleaned it up as best as I could. Washed the door down, threw the door mat out. Bleached out the entire hallway. Of course, I had to explain to Linda why the entire downstairs stank of Domestos and why I had to go and buy a new doormat.’
‘Did you tell Sian what had happened?’ asked Henley. ‘To warn her? Did she say anything about the smell of bleach?’
Keith shook his head. ‘I was going to tell her, but she was angry and out the door as soon as the clock struck seven. She didn’t look back,’ Keith said sadly. ‘But that wasn’t all.’ He took a deep breath. ‘On Wednesday morning, something else happened. I saw drops of red paint on the floor outside the front door. I thought it was blood at first, but then I stepped back and looked at the door and there was paint everywhere and all our plants had been destroyed.’
‘Do you have any idea who might have done it?’ Henley asked. ‘The damage I mean.’
‘Ain’t got a clue. But whoever it was knew that Sian was staying here. Which doesn’t make sense because no one was supposed to know.’ Keith pulled out his phone and handed it to Henley.
Henley felt the breath constrict in her throat at the photo on Keith’s phone: an image painted on the front window. A noose.
15
Ezra plopped himself down in the chair next to Henley’s desk and turned around so that he had his back to the whiteboard.
Henley looked up from her computer screen on which she’d been updating the CRIS – the crime reporting information system that was used by every police force in the country to record every development in an investigation. ‘What are you doing up here?’ she asked. ‘You never want to be in this room.’
‘True, but I’m making a run to the bakery, and you weren’t picking up your phone. Do you want anything?’ Ezra asked.
‘No, I’m good.’
‘If you’re sure, but on your head be it when I walk in with cinnamon rolls,’ Ezra said dramatically as he jumped up from the chair.
‘I’m sure I’ll survive, but before you go, I wanted to ask you about—’ Henley lowered her voice as she scanned the room. Ramouter was with Pellacia in his office, Eastwood had her headphones on and Stanford had walked out of the office five minutes ago with his phone pinned to his ear.
‘Are you asking about?’ Ezra whispered.
Henley nodded.
‘Ok, cool. Yeah, there is stuff. Do you want to come to my room later?’
Henley shook her head, ignoring the voice in her head telling her that keeping Stanford and Eastwood in the dark was wrong. ‘Can you come to my house? Tonight. Is that ok?’
