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“And you believed them? Just like that?”
“Not really, no.”
“Why?” Gardener asked.
“Because it wasn’t Sonia. Well, yes it was her, it sounded like her, but...”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” asked Reilly.
Gardener didn’t give him the chance to answer before he asked. “Was her voice live, or recorded?”
“How do you mean?”
“Simple enough question. Did you have a conversation with Sonia Knight? Or did she say what she had to, and then cut it short?”
Pollard was thinking. “She only said what she had to.”
“Nothing else?”
“No.”
“You mean your phone rang, you answered, she told you she’d meet you outside the shop, and then ended the conversation?”
“Something like that. I can’t remember exactly.”
“Didn’t you try to phone her back?”
“No... yes... I don’t know, that was when you lot turned up.”
“Bullshit!” said Reilly. “You’ve told so many lies you don’t know what you’re saying.”
“Doesn’t it strike you as odd?” Gardener asked. “You plot to take over Hobson’s business with Sonia Knight, and then you don’t hear anything for a month, and then out of the blue she phones you and tells you to meet her at the shop?”
Pollard said nothing. He was obviously trying to calculate how much trouble he was in by having agreed to talk without his brief.
“Which leaves you with three options, Mr Pollard,” said Gardener. “Either Knight is setting you up, she’s changed her mind, or you got to her first and engineered the rest. Which is it?”
“I have not killed anyone!” Pollard screamed, slamming his fists on the table again. He ran his hands through his hair. He was obviously panicking, but Gardener still felt he hadn’t told them everything he knew.
Gardener stood up. “Try looking at this from our point of view. You want revenge on Hobson. You collude with Sonia Knight, but then she decides to go quiet and could very well be missing. Alex Wilson is dead, and you’re found at the scene. You’re the common denominator, the catalyst, shall we say? That leaves you in a whole stack of trouble. You’d better pray that Ronson doesn’t extend his vacation.”
Gardener glanced at the tapes. “You’ll be with us a lot longer than you thought, Mr Pollard. Interview terminated at 14:00 hours.”
Reilly switched the recorder off and collected the tapes. On his way out, Gardener stopped, then turned and walked back to the table.
“Just one more question. We were talking to Maurice Cragg earlier, and he made a comment that I didn’t pay too much attention to at the time. But in light of recent information, I’m now very curious.”
Pollard glanced at Gardener but said nothing.
“He said he hadn’t seen Lance Hobson for a while. So, when was the last time you saw him?”
Pollard didn’t answer, but something in his expression told Gardener that was one of the things he was still holding back on. The SIO suspected when they did find out, Pollard would be singing like a canary.
Chapter Eighteen
Iain Ross pulled his car to a halt outside 15 The Mount in Bramfield and switched off the engine. With perfect timing, his mobile rang. The display informed him that it was his secretary, Fiona Barton.
“Hello?” he answered.
