He nodded for her to go ahead.
Carefully, she wrote out the note received by Vanessa Walker, and the note received by Jack Miller.
I tried to get help, but that was a huge mistake.
He’s still here, sometimes, but he doesn’t want to be.
‘Look at this.’ She pointed at the first note. ‘We know Miriam Hall went to Robert Walker for help with her depression.’ Inwardly Judith cringed. She still hadn’t told Rocky the truth about that encounter and she wasn’t sure she was going to. She pointed at the second note. ‘And in his interview with you, Jack said that he was the one who let Miriam down, that he didn’t help her in her depression, that he stopped coming home.’
Rocky stared back at her blankly.
‘Don’t you think these read like notes from Miriam? She tried to get help... Jack doesn’t want to be there...’ She let her voice trail off. Rocky looked bemused.
‘I mean, it’s possible. These notes could mean ten different things, or nothing. But what you’re saying is that you think that Miriam Hall’s little sister came to you, calling herself Alexis Turner, claiming to have been assaulted by Walker? Ten years after her sister’s death? Why?’
‘For revenge. It’s not so different from your theory that Jack Miller killed Walker for not saving Miriam. My theory—if I’m right and Alexis really is Ruth Hall—is that she wanted revenge on Robert Walker, wanted to destroy his life before she killed him, and then pin the blame on Jack for not being a better partner to her sister.’
‘Well, yeah. But I figured Miller was triggered by the reporting of the assault allegations. Whereas your theory is that this young woman Alexis, or Ruth, whatever we’re calling her, that she started the allegations in the first place, that she kicked all of this off. And then you think what, that she stole the gun from the Giffords, and killed Walker? You think Jack Miller is entirely innocent?’
‘It’s possible.’
‘What age would she be now?’
‘Twenty-five.’
Rocky grimaced.
‘What? You don’t think a twenty-five-year-old woman could kill one man and set another one up?’ Judith believed she could do it. She was building up an image of Ruth Hall in her mind and that image was of someone dangerous. Someone who could put together a complicated and utterly brutal plan and then carry that plan out without hesitation or misstep.
‘No, Jude, that’s not what I’m saying,’ Rocky said, with slightly exaggerated patience. ‘I’ve been a cop longer than you have, remember? But it’s a lot... Seems to me it’s equally likely—morelikely—that they’re working together. We just got the blood results back. The stain on Miller’s shirt is definitely Walker’s blood. The dirt in his boots has traces of fertiliser used in Walker’s garden. Right now, every concrete piece of evidence we have points to Jack Miller.’
‘How secure is Jack Miller’s place?’
‘Not secure at all,’ Rocky said. ‘It’s a converted garage at the back of his landlady’s place. Looks like everything was done on the cheap.’
‘Well then. Ruth could have planted the bloody shirt. If I’m right about the kind of person she is, if she’s going to set someone up, she’s not going to do it by half measures.’
They stared at each other, neither one of them willing to back down.
‘I need to talk to Jack Miller,’ Judith said. She braced herself for an argument.
‘This isn’t your case, Jude.’
‘It’s connected with my case, I’m sure of it.’
‘Your case is over and done with. Your suspect is dead.’
Judith took a breath. ‘Rocky, I promise you, every instinct I’ve got is telling me that there’s something deeper going on here. I’m asking you to trust me. Give me a little bit of room to work. Let me prove to you that I’m right. Because if I’m right, Jack Miller is innocent. We can’t take a risk with that. We need to be sure.’
Rocky thought about it for a long moment, his eyes on her face, then he nodded briskly. ‘All right, Jude. Let’s see what you can find. Confirm the basics of your theory first, and try and track down Ruth Hall. You can start by sending me that file request. I don’t know if your theory about Ruth and Miriam being Charlie Palmer’s kids will hold water, or if it even matters, but we’d better run it to ground.’
She moved to the door, then paused. ‘Any news on Luke Fraser?’
He shook his head, his face grave.
‘There was nothing about him in the papers today,’ she said.
‘No. But it’s coming. No doubt about it.’
