Stop Dead (DI Geraldine Steel)

after all. Forming an effective team out of a disparate group of strangers was just a different kind of challenge to those faced by officers working out in the community. Even behind a desk he could make a difference. He turned his attention to what Geraldine was saying.
    ‘Apsley was irritated that the Mercedes had been left right outside his garage, so he checked it out. At first he thought the man in the driver’s seat was asleep, probably drunk, but after a while he realised something was wrong – he noticed blood outside the vehicle and wasn’t able to rouse the man, so he called it in. That seems to be the extent of his involvement.’

     
    ‘Why did it take him so long to call us?’ someone wanted to know.
    Geraldine shrugged.
    ‘That part of his statement’s not altogether clear. He claims he didn’t realise straight away that there was anything wrong. He didn’t notice the body in the morning.’
    ‘Didn’t notice it?’
    ‘Yes sir– Reg. The thing is, it’s possible, because the car’s got tinted windows. I believe him. He was in a hurry to get off to work and thought he could leave it till later to deal with. He was hoping someone would come and remove the car by the time he got home yesterday evening.’

     
    Samantha Haley shook her head impatiently and looked as though she was about to speak, but Reg turned to a detective constable who had been doing some research into the witness. He wanted to share some facts before listening to any more speculation about whether or not he was telling the truth.
    ‘Has he got form?’
    ‘No. There’s nothing on him or his wife. Both working, nothing on either of them.’

     
    Reg turned to another constable who had been looking into the victim’s background. It was similarly uneventful.
    ‘Not so much as a parking ticket, and that’s quite a feat considering they live in Hampstead. He wasn’t born to money. Grew up on a council estate in South London.’
    ‘So the money came from his wife?’
    The constable shook his head.
    ‘Patrick Henshaw was a self-made man. In his twenties he made some very lucrative investments – shrewd or lucky, maybe both. Anyway, he made himself a tidy packet. By the time he reached forty, he was worth millions. When he married Amy he was forty-five and she was just twenty. He retired from business when they married then five years ago he bought a swanky restaurant in Soho. God knows why, he didn’t need the money.’
    ‘Perhaps he was bored,’ Reg suggested. ‘So his wife’s twenty-five years younger than him which would make her forty. He was more than double her age when he married her.’
    ‘Yes, she’s forty. She must be a very wealthy woman now.’

     
    Sam broke in briskly.
    ‘Which makes it more likely it’s a crime of passion, something to do with his wife. Why else would the killer have been so violent? And if she’s inherited a fortune –’
    Reg turned to her with a nod to indicate he was listening.
    ‘I don’t think we should be writing Keith Apsley off just yet. I think he might somehow be involved in it.’
    Eagerly she outlined the reason for her suspicion, the body having arrived outside Keith Apsley’s house just when his wife was away.
    ‘It just seems a bit of a coincidence. It’s possible Keith Apsley was having an affair with Amy Henshaw. What if he killed her husband so they could get his money?’ she concluded triumphantly.

     
    ‘We’re not ruling anything out for now,’ Reg replied. ‘Not until we know more about what happened, but I agree it sounds as though Apsley might be implicated.’
    ‘You haven’t even spoken to him,’ Geraldine pointed out.
    ‘As I said, I’m not ruling anything out just yet,’ he repeated, a trifle sharply.

     
    He considered Sam’s suggestion. On the face of it, the idea seemed reasonable. It was certainly an odd coincidence, a man’s body appearing outside the Apsleys’ garage just when Keith’s wife was away. But Geraldine’s explanation was equally plausible. He had only worked with her on one case, but her gut feeling then had proved spot on. He wondered if that had just been luck, or if she was one of those rare officers who possessed an uncanny instinct for the truth. There was no doubt she had an impressive track record.
    ‘Well,’ he concluded. ‘We’ll keep our minds open and carry on. See what we can find out.’

CHAPTER 12
     
    G eraldine was annoyed that Reg had taken Sam’s theory seriously. Reg hadn’t