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Chapter 13
Friday 5th February
Cheltenham Central Police Station
‘Everyone happy to start?’
DCI Steph Warden angles her big monitor so that everyone in the room can see it clearly. On the screen, DCIs Priya Thomson and Linda Lake both nod, and DCI Bryn Lewis raises a thumb.
‘Happy as always,’ he says, although he sounds rather morose.
‘Right, good. OK, so as it’s Friday morning and I’m hoping at least some of us are going to try and take some time off over the weekend, shall we try and make this as brief as possible? I believe it’s just you, Priya, who said you had something to share today? Has there been a development in the Holland case?’
Priya nods, tucking a loose strand of dark hair behind her right ear.
‘Maybe,’ she says. ‘We’ve been doing a little more research into Jane’s background, her family and so on. And there’s something … well, it was actually one of our Detective Constables, Frankie Tanner, who spotted a possible connection between Jane, Lisa, and Mary. Let me bring her in.’
She shuffles off to one side, so she’s only partially in shot, and another woman slides her chair into the vacated spot. She’s young, with a striking white-blonde pixie haircut, and she smiles and clears her throat.
‘Right, well …’
She sounds nervous, and she pauses for a second or two, then swallows and starts again, her voice a little stronger now.
‘It may be nothing at all, just a coincidence. But when I pointed it out to DCI Thomson, she thought it was worth a closer look, as it’s the only even vaguely possible connection we’ve found to date.’
She pauses again, looking down at some notes in front of her.
‘It started when I took a closer look at Jane Holland’s father. He died some years ago, but when he was alive he was … well, I supposenotoriousis a good word. His name was John Holland, but he was always known as Big Johnny. It was him who opened the original casino, the one here in the city. Jane opened the second one in Coventry when she took over the family business about twelve years ago. But Big Johnny was rumoured to have had a lot of other business interests over the years, and shall we just say that not all of them were exactly legit, if the rumours are to be believed anyway.’
‘Oooh,’ says Linda Lake in Oxford. ‘This sounds interesting. What sort of stuff are we talking about?’
‘Well, this is where it gets tricky,’ says Frankie. ‘He was never actually done foranything. It was all just rumour and supposition. But I’ve spoken to a number of senior officers who were around at the time and they all say the same thing. Big Johnny was rumoured to be involved in all sorts, using his law-abiding casino as a front. Drugs, a bit of people smuggling, even a few pretty lucrative armed robberies. The only problem was, nobody could ever pin anything on him, even though it sounds like they tried pretty hard from time to time. He was, apparently, very, very good at staying one step ahead of the law. He always had an absolutely water-tight alibi, and there was never any actual evidence to link him to any of the crimes he was suspected of being involved in. The man never got so much as a parking fine. When he died – suddenly, of a heart attack, I believe – he left everything to Jane, his only daughter. His wife, Jane’s mother, had died some years before. And at that point, when Jane took over, all the rumours just started to fade away. If hewasinvolved in organised crime, she clearly decided not to go down the same road. As far as we can make out, she was all completely above board. And as we know, charity work was incredibly important to her. Making up for the sins of her father, maybe, although of course I’m just speculating now, as nothing was ever proven.’
There’s silence for few moments.
‘Ohh-kaay,’ says Linda slowly, dragging out the word. ‘But I don’t really see how this gets us anywhere. There’s no suggestion that Mary Ellis or Lisa Turner have possible criminal elements in their families, is there? Quite the opposite in Lisa’s case; her mother was a prominent judge, remember.’
Frankie nods.
‘Yes, and that’s the thing.Prominent.Look, as I said this is just guesswork. But all three of the victims – and I’m including Mary Ellis here, as a potentialfuturevictim – had at least one famous, prominent, whatever you want to call it, parent. And all connected – or rumoured to be connected – tocrimein some way. Jane Holland’s father was, as I said, notorious here in Birmingham, even if nobody could ever prove he was a criminal. Lisa Turner’s mother was a renowned and outspoken judge. And Mary Ellis’s father was Gregor Ellis, one of the most famous crime authors of the 90s. Now, as I said, I don’t know yet if all this is just a coincidence. I’m looking into it a bit more, and also trying to work out if any of these parents knew each other or had any dealings with each other in any capacity. Who knows? Maybe Gregor Ellis contacted Alice Turner with some questions about the British legal system while researching a book at some point. I don’t think he ever wrote about a casino in any of his novels but maybe he knew Big Johnny in some way too. Maybe Big Johnny and Alice Turner had some dealings with one another – maybe he needed to consult a lawyer at some point. I have no idea, and as I said there’s a lot more work to be done here. But, well, it’s something, isn’t it?’
She shrugs, and glances to her left, and Priya Thompson moves back into the shot, so the two of them fill the frame now, sitting close together.
‘I think Frankie just might have something,’ she says. ‘Gregor Ellis died fourteen years ago. Lisa’s mother was already a successful lawyer at that time, and John Holland – Big Johnny – would have been at the height of his notoriety. The Ellis family moved around quite a lot but they were definitely living in the Cotswolds for a while before Gregor died, so not that far from either Oxford or Birmingham. So maybe these three did meet at some point, who knows? It’s worth looking into a bit more, don’t you think? And maybe it can help you out a bit down there in Cardiff, Bryn. I mean, not a lot, at this stage, maybe, but it’ssomething, right?’
Bryn is nodding slowly.
‘Maybe. OK, so we’re saying we could now be looking for a potential victim called David who has at least one well-known parent with some sort of crime connection, then? I mean, it’s a still a bloody ridiculously common name. But yes, it’s something. We’ll get our thinking caps on.’
‘And remember, it doesn’t have to be a living parent. All three so far are actually well-known butdeadparents,’ says Frankie.
Bryn nods.
‘True, yes. Thanks.’
Then he sighs.
‘Oh bugger it, I don’t know, guys. It seems a bit far-fetched, really, doesn’t it? Why would someone be going round killing the adult offspring of long dead, well-known people? There’s no logic there really, is there? Yes, the crime connection is interesting. But they’re all in such different fields. We need to find out more, as quickly as we can. Mary Ellis might know, possibly, if her late father did any research that might have brought him into contact with either of the others, eh? And Linda and Priya, you’ll go back to Lisa’s and Jane’s families and see if they know of any possible connection between the parents? All with the utmost discretion of course.’
