Page 38

Chapter 19

Poewas soon touching ninety on the A1. His mind was a jumble, the two cases bleeding into each other.

‘Cases,’ he muttered. ‘I wonder …’

He called Flynn through the car’s Bluetooth connection.

‘Poe, what’s up? You can’t be there already?’

‘I’ve been thinking, boss. You’ve seen the inside of Cummings’s flat, the type of things he likes. What was your impression of him?’

‘Awful. Textbook case of money not buying class. Everything was expensive, but there was no sense of personal taste, no theme. It was as if he were collecting things just because he had the money.’

‘I agree. He was a status-symbol magpie.’

‘What are you thinking?’

‘I’m thinking people so far up their own arses don’t go to Oddbins to buy their wine. I doubt he even went to Waitrose. Cummings will have been a collector, which means he was either part of some swanky wine club or—’

‘Or he had a wine merchant,’ Flynn finished for him.

‘Exactly. It’s probably nothing, but it might be worth bringing them in. Someone might have slipped a snide bottle into his delivery.’

‘Or it could have been sent as a gift?’

Poe considered this. ‘Possible,’ he said. ‘As long as he believed it came from someone he knew. People like Cummings don’t drink from bottles they’ve been gifted by strangers in case it’s piss.’

‘A gift from someone he knew, or the wine merchant then.’

Poe was silent a moment.

‘It’s a line of enquiry,’ he said. ‘May not come to anything, but at least we’re ruling things out.’

***

DCI Tai-young Lee had called Poe as soon as the custody sergeant had charged Doyle with her father’s murder. She told him she believed they’d passed the threshold test, the evidential standard that must be met before the case can be referred to the Crown Prosecution Service for a charging decision. The CPS had reviewed the evidence for less than thirty minutes before authorising a murder charge.

‘Face it, Poe,’ Lee had said, ‘we have more than enough.’

‘You don’t have a murder weapon,’ Poe had replied.

‘Shehashidden it well, but she didn’t leave the house so it’s either in there somewhere or within throwing distance of a window. I have dogs there now. It’s just a matter of time.’

‘I want to see her.’

‘Fine,’ she had sighed.

Tai-young Lee met Poe at the front desk and took him straight through to the custody suite. She told him he could see Estelle in her cell. He got the impression that now she’d been charged, Lee wasn’t bothered about secret conversations. Poe was the CPS’s problem now.

‘I’ll get you both a brew,’ she said. ‘Her cell’s unlocked.’

Poe knocked on the cell door then opened the Judas hatch, the vision panel that allowed custody officers to check they weren’t walking into an ambush. Doyle was lying on the thin mattress, her back to the door. Given what was happening, he doubted she was asleep. He opened the door and stepped inside.

‘Estelle?’

Doyle turned. Her eyes were red raw and sunken. ‘Poe,’ she said, her voice cracking. ‘You didn’t have to … you shouldn’t be …’

‘What? I shouldn’t be here supporting my friend? I hope that’s not what you were going to say, Estelle.’ He perched on the mattress and she sat up to make room. ‘Nice place you have,’ he said. ‘Minimalist.’