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She realized she’d been in a state of low level anxiety ever since he’d told her.
She drew in a deep breath, held it, blew it out, and then began writing a chatty letter to her mother. She hadn’t told her about James, so she decided to do that in this letter.
Then she grinned.
That should give her mother a whole new thing to worry about. Maybe it would keep her mind off what was happening with Gabriella’s father.
chapter
seven
“Do you think the daughter killed the man in her house and has legged it?” Hartridge asked as they left the Yard the next day.
“I don’t know. She may well have heard about her father’s death, found the body in her house, and realized she was in serious danger. I wouldn’t blame her for making herself scarce.” James hoped that was all it was, and that he wasn’t going to find Sarah Bicton dead somewhere, with a bullet of the same caliber in her head.
“I wonder who our dead man is?” Hartridge wondered.
“Could be Harry Fingers’ apprentice, could be someone the crew who pulled off the heist put in the house to watch Sarah Bicton to keep her father in line, could be someone her father hired to keep her safe. It’s useless to speculate at this point.” James needed more information, and the only way he could see to get it was to inform the press, which Layman did not want to do.
There was already enough sensational stories in the papers about the diamond heist and the death of Harry Fingers as it was.
James thought it would be worth it, though. They needed someone to come forward and identify the man, and until they had that, they were flying blind, but Layman outranked him.
The autopsy had ended late yesterday evening, and he’d gone home, wishing Gabriella had a telephone in her flat so he could ring and ask if he could come round.
He considered doing it anyway, but he had a feeling if something broke on DI Layman’s side of the case and he wasn’t home to take the call, it would look bad.
Still, it might have been worth it, he considered as he and Hartridge drove back to the Bicton house.
Now they knew who Harold Bicton really was, the house might yield more useful information.
DI Layman wanted to meet him there, and they had only just pulled up and let themselves into the house when he arrived.
“Who’d have thought the old man would present such an ordinary facade,” Layman said as he looked around the ground floor rooms. “It’s nice, but it’s not over the top.”
“Was he known for over the top?” James asked.
“He was known for having a certain flare,” Layman said. “Word is he accumulated a lot of money through his career. I thought his house would be a little more luxurious.”
“Maybe his family didn’t know how he made his living, so he had to keep things normal?” Hartridge said.
“If he managed that, he’s a master of deception,” Layman said.
They went through the rooms with fresh eyes, and the lack of work-related paperwork in the home office now looked like a deliberate choice.
“Looks like his work office will be the better bet when it comes to finding out who he was dealing with,” James said. “Was there a lot in there?”
Layman shook his head. “No, but I think the heist crew probably went back to his office and cleared it out. It looked like it had been stripped and I’m guessing it was by the people who killed him.”
“And if they’re also responsible for the body upstairs, they might have done the same thing here,” James said. “And given that Jandicott thinks the same gun killed Harry Fingers and the man we found in the spare room, that’s probably a good bet.”
“We’ve been on the back foot from the start,” Layman said quietly. “Can you show me where the other body was?”
They took him upstairs and after he studied the spare room, he took a long look around Harry’s bedroom, but there was nothing to find.
“Frustrating,” he admitted. “Why don’t you come join our progress meeting this afternoon. I can let everyone know how our two investigations merge and that we’re cooperating.”
They went into Sarah Bicton’s room, and James flipped through her post again. He was reminded about the letters from the shop in Chelsea. He would need to chase that down. “I know you got assigned your case first, Layman. Do you want me and Hartridge to take a step back and hand this one over to you?” he asked.
