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‘I see your point. But this isn’t proof. It’s a stutter, without doubt,’ she said, returning his phone. ‘But he could have just choked. And I’m sure that’s what he’d claim.’
‘Yeah, that’s where I’m at,’ he said miserably.
‘What’s his background?’ she asked, feeling the burn of a potential injustice.
He shrugged. ‘Not sure. Thought I’d best get back before I got in trouble.’
Stacey chuckled. As a sergeant, he was her senior and she couldn’t tell him what to do if she wanted to, but never had he made any kind of distinction between their ranks.
‘What’s his name?’
‘Peter Matheson.’
‘You googled him?’ she asked.
Penn shook his head.
Stacey shook her head. ‘Have you learned nothing from me? Google everyone.’
Stacey tapped a few keys, read a couple of articles and learned that although only thirty-four, he’d now retired from club football and focussed only on his full-time job as a planning officer for Dudley Council.
She started searching electoral records in a radius of ten miles from the council buildings.
‘Gotcha…ooh,’ she said. ‘Was the house in question on Orchard Lane in Pedmore?’
Penn nodded.
‘Oooh, this is smelling worse than a week-old fish pie.’
‘What?’ he asked, standing.
‘Your man lives there.’
‘What?’ he repeated, coming to her side of the desk.
She put the postcode into Google Maps and found the property. Without looking closely, she could see a couple of outbuildings and an acre or two.
‘On a planner’s salary?’ she questioned.
‘Bloody hell, Stace,’ he said, heading for the door.
‘Where are you going now?’
‘To buy whatever Betty’s got left in her cabinet – like, all of it.’
‘No time for that now. Sit yourself down. We need to sort this out. We need a plan.’
‘We?’ he questioned with a smile.
‘Too bloody right “we”. We need to work out how the hell we can put this right.’
FIFTY-SIX
‘Okay, you don’t really think Father George is our killer, do you?’ Bryant asked as they neared the outskirts of Worcester.
The postcode she’d given him was for the Halas Team Ministry for Worcester Diocese which covered the Halesowen area.
‘I’d be interested to know if his bosses know he has these incidents of violence.’
