A Body in the Lakes by Graham Smith (great books of all time .TXT) 📕

Beth winced inwards at how simpering they sounded. While she didn’t want Forster thinking she was too smart, her pride prevented her from wanting to be taken for an idiot. ‘Why did you sell the company? It sounds to me like you’d have a business for life.’

‘I got an offer from a competitor that I really couldn’t turn down.’

‘What about your employees? Were any of them upset at losing their jobs?’

‘They were all a bit sad that the company was being taken over, but in the terms of the sale contract I put in a clause stating that my employees all had to be retained by the new company for a minimum of two years, working out of our old office. I also made all four of them directors of the company and gave them each a 1 per cent share. After tax, they’d all have cleared something in the region of a quarter of a million.’

Beth took a minute to consider this act of generosity. While it was a wonderful gesture from an employer to look after his staff in this way, the fact that he’d mentioned the staff each got around £250,000 after tax gave her an idea of the figures involved. Allowing for a 50 per cent tax rate meant that the 1 per cent share was worth £500,000 and the company £50 million.

Those kinds of numbers boggled Beth’s mind, but when you factored in office politics, they also gave a possible motive for the campaign that was being conducted against the mayor. If one of the former employees believed that Forster had made millions from their hard work, and had passed out just a paltry 1 per cent to each of the people whose hard work had earned him the payday, then there was a breeding ground for resentment. Especially when you factored in the sums of money involved. The problem was, if that theory was correct, it meant that one of his former employees was the murderer.

‘That’s very generous of you. As you’re out of that industry, I’d like to speak to your former employees to see if someone from that industry bears a grudge against you. For all you know, another competitor may have been wanting to sell their business to the same company you did, only for the deal to fall through because your sale happened first.’

Forster removed a piece of paper from the printer behind him and wrote down four names and addresses.

Beth was surprised he could remember his ex-employees’ addresses so readily until she thought about her own memory. While she was rubbish at remembering things like family birthdays, she could bring to mind the names of every suspect she’d ever interviewed, where they’d been picked up and how they’d looked and dressed.

She knew that recollection had a lot to do with interest, French lessons at school had taught her little more than oui, non and je suis, but she could sing every word to the songs she’d listened to at the time. If something was important to her, even if only for a fleeting time, it lodged itself into her brain for eternity, whereas the details she found irrelevant tumbled straight from her mind.

‘What about any employees you had to dismiss? Were there many of those?’

‘None actually.’ A proud look overtook Forster. ‘My hiring process was extremely rigorous and the people I hired were all good workers.’

‘What about people who left your company to go and work elsewhere? Is it possible they felt they were forced out?’

‘I only had one such employee and she only left because she wanted to start up her own company. She calls me from time to time to pick my brain, and where I can, I help her out. She was always more interested in the workings of the PMS systems than the integration, so that’s what her company does. As her business and mine were complementary, we’d recommend each other to our customers. Check them out if you have time; EdenData is growing nicely and she’s won awards for her entrepreneurship.’

‘What’s her name?’

‘Donna Waddington.’ Forster checked his phone then reeled off her number.

Beth added the details to the list Forster had provided as she thought about how best to deal with the elephant in the room. Not finding a subtle way, she opted for being direct.

‘These five people, they’re all programmers, are they?’

‘Yes, that’s right. What of it?’

‘Forgive my terminology, they’re all programmers, computer geeks if you like. To my mind, that means they’d all have the skills or abilities to hack into your computer and leave some incriminating evidence. Say, a thousand images of child pornography.’ Beth gave a self-deprecating shrug. ‘I’m fairly tech savvy when it comes to using systems others have built, but I wouldn’t know where to start with regards to hacking into your computer. To my mind, they would be able to do it with ease. I’m sure the same thought has already crossed your mind. I mean, according to Digital Forensics, your computer was loaded with the best malware and antivirus software available. That means whomever put those images on your computer was no ordinary person who was a bit tech savvy; in my book it means they were a major computer geek. And lo and behold, you used to employ five such people.’

When Beth looked into Forster’s eyes she could see that he was battling the news. From his point of view he’d been betrayed by someone he trusted. Knifed in the back by someone he probably counted as a friend.

There was little doubt in her mind that’s how he thought of his ex-employees: gifting them a share of his windfall had proved that he thought highly of them. That one of them may be a serial rapist and murderer would make their betrayal even worse for him.

Forster shook his head as he tried to get his brain round the idea. To Beth it had been an obvious leap, but he’d been unable to see the possibility because of his closeness to the