Web of Lies by Sally Rigby (best book club books of all time .txt) 📕

‘Yes, you're right. That's definitely it,’ Dunkley said, sitting back in his chair, appearing relaxed.

‘So you overheard a conversation on Monday, 29 March, and then decided that you were going to go and sort Donald Witherspoon out?’

‘Yes.’

‘What did sorting him out mean?’

‘I phoned him up, pretending to be a client and asked to meet him. He suggested the Foxton Locks pub.’

‘When you went did you intend to kill him?’

‘I was just gonna warn him off but he was acting like a right prick showing me all these investments and making out he was something special and better than me. I told him I was going to invest a hundred grand and made out it was illegal money. He didn’t care, all he had was pound signs in his eyes.’ The solicitor tapped him on the arm and he turned to her. ‘What?’

‘There’s no need for you to be saying all this. Wait until it gets to court.’

Birdie held her breath hoping he wouldn’t listen.

‘I don't care. I'm gonna to tell them what happened. I told Witherspoon that I'd parked in the top car park and asked for a lift up there, which he was quite happy to do. When we got up there, I told him I knew about the blackmail and it should stop or he’d be sorry. The bastard laughed in my face. I took out my gun and pointed it at him. He stopped laughing then. He was shitting himself. I made him write a suicide note to his wife, then I forced him out of the car and onto the wasteland. Then …’ he held out two fingers. ‘Bang.’

Birdie flinched.

‘Why did you move his car to the village?’

‘So he wouldn’t be found straight away.’

‘And you say that Andrea knew nothing about this,’ Birdie said.

In her peripheral vision she saw Sarge looking puzzled.

‘Why do you keep going back to that? I keep telling you, I overheard a phone conversation on Monday, March, whatever date it was. And after that I decided to sort him out.’

‘What you say is very interesting because I have Donald Witherspoon's phone records here.’ She held out the pages. ‘He didn't speak to Andrea, on Monday, as you said. He spoke to her on Sunday, the day before. You and Andrea should have got your stories straight. She said Friday, you said Monday, and it was actually Sunday. That’s crucial because we know she wasn’t in London that particular weekend. So you couldn’t possibly have overheard the conversation.’

‘That’s it. I'm not saying anything else,’ Dunkley said, his lips set in a flat line.’

‘You don't need to. We have enough to convict the pair of you.’

Chapter 44

21 May

‘Well done, Birdie,’ Sarge said slapping her on the back. ‘Brilliant work. I'm proud of you.’

Warmth rushed up her cheeks. He rarely gave out praise, most of the time it was the opposite.

‘It was teamwork. Donald’s phone was found, and Tim in forensics rushed through getting the call log for me. All I had to do was check them against what Dunkley had said.’

‘You got forensics to rush it through? Well, that’s some feat in itself. I’ve no idea how you managed it.’

‘Oh, well, you know what they say, Sarge. It’s not what you know, but who you know.’ she grinned.

‘Right. Fun time over. It’s time to question Andrea Wood. I had a text while we were in with Dunkley to let me know she’s arrived with her solicitor and they’re waiting in interview room four. I'm going to let you take the lead if you’d like to.’

‘You bet I would. Thanks, Sarge. I really appreciate the chance.’

Birdie had been involved in loads of interviews in the past but she hadn’t led in a murder investigation before.

‘Don’t let me down.’

She led the way into the interview room and after starting the recording equipment sat opposite Andrea. ‘Interview on 21 May, those present Detective Constable Bird, Detective Sergeant Weston, and please state your names for the recording.’ She looked across the table.

‘Andrea Wood.’

‘Kim Jones, solicitor for Ms Wood.’

‘Thank you for coming back in to see us, Andrea,’ Birdie said, deciding to take a less formal approach, because it often lead to a suspect being less on their guard and then they’d let things slip.

‘Well, yet again, I didn't have much choice.’ Andrea said.

‘As you know, we’ve arrested Aaron Dunkley for the murder of Donald Witherspoon.’

‘It’s dreadful. I had no idea that he would do anything like that.’

‘Yes, that's what he told us, too. He said he acted off his own bat. The trouble is, it doesn’t quite add up and that’s what I'd like to discuss with you.’

‘I fail to see how I’ll be able to assist,’ Andrea said, a tremor in her voice.

‘We believe you might have known what Dunkley had planned to do. In fact, you might have asked him to do it.’

‘You've already asked me this and my answer hasn’t changed. It was nothing to do with me.’

‘I’m asking you again.’

Andrea’s solicitor leant in and whispered something which Birdie couldn't hear.

‘No comment.’

‘That’s your prerogative, but you might find that cooperating will help you in the long run. We’ll put that to one side for the moment and return to the blackmail. You told us that Donald Witherspoon, having blackmailed you once, approached you again at the end of March, with a view to getting more money from you.’

‘Yes, that’s correct and I told him there was no more.’

She hadn’t said that earlier.

‘You also told us that Dunkley must have overheard you on the phone and took matters into his own hands.’

‘That is also correct,’ Andrea said, sounding much more relaxed.

‘According to you, there was one conversation with Witherspoon in March and prior to that one early in the year when he blackmailed you for the first time.’

‘Yes,’ Andrea said, nodding.

‘So the only way Dunkley would have known was from that one phone conversation in your car when he was driving you to the station for your journey back to Market Harborough, where you stayed