Chapter 10
Boyd was waiting outside Cameron Healy’s office on Hallblack Lane when Lottie arrived.
‘You took your time getting to work today,’ she said with a cursory glance.
‘Don’t start, Lottie. I honestly can’t take it this morning.’
‘You’re late. I’m your boss. I’m entitled to know what is going on with you.’
‘Nothing is going on. I had things to do for Sergio for school.’
‘Huh? That’s all you have to say? Anyhow, we have three people dead. All from the same family. Found in their own home. We have a murder investigation, which will be formalised as soon as I get the post-mortem and forensics reports.’
‘No need to be like that.’
‘Like what?’
‘All official. I’d have been here if I’d known in advance that three people were going to be killed and that I’d be needed at godawful o’clock this morning.’
‘Now who’s “like that”?’ She did the air quotes without thinking and then raged with herself for being so bitchy.
He shook his head slowly, tiredness etched in the rings around his eyes, the hazel within dimmed. ‘Lottie, I put my son first and if you don’t like that, then tough.’
She swallowed a retort. This spurt of anger was so unlike Boyd that she couldn’t find the right words to use in reply. Instead she concentrated on the task at hand.
‘Work mode for the rest of the day. Agreed?’
‘Agreed. Fill me in why we’re here.’
‘Cameron Healy, thirty-nine years old, married with one child. New house. A car that looks like it cost the guts of a mortgage. He is currently our person of interest.’
‘How come? He’s dead, isn’t he?’
‘Yes, he is. But we need to investigate him as a suspect until we have definitive reports on the sequence of events.’
‘If this is his office, it doesn’t match the persona of him having a new house and a flash car.’
‘My mother used to say, mind the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves.’
‘You mean perhaps he saved on office space so that he could splurge on a fancy car?’
‘Something like that.’
She studied the small terraced house in a line of five, situated on a narrow street at the back of the town, up from Cafferty’s pub. Once they were done here, she intended crossing over to the pub for a bowl of soup and a house special sandwich. It might be the last food she’d get for a while.
Wet chip bags and empty plastic curry containers swirled in the breeze. A few drink cans had taken up residence in one corner of the minuscule concrete space. The small building was set behind iron railings in a low wall. One-way traffic snaked past their two cars parked on the double yellow lines.
Inside, the ground floor was given over to the reception space. A wooden staircase led upwards behind a thin young man, the sole member of staff present. He stood to greet them as Lottie introduced herself and Boyd.
‘Liam Scanlan. I can’t believe what happened. I just heard.’ He pushed steel-framed spectacles back up his long nose. He could be aged anywhere between thirty and fifty. His suit was cheap and wrinkled, his skin smooth.
‘How long have you worked with Cameron?’
‘A few years. I’m not an accountant. Failed my finals.’ He laughed nervously. ‘But I’m a good assistant. Cam is… was a gentleman to work for.’
‘Any other staff?’
‘No, just the two of us. I double up on reception. Most of my work is via email and phone, and once we take on a client then the paperwork arrives.’
‘Is business good?’
‘Very good.’
‘There’s a rumour Cameron might be in debt.’
‘News to me. He was even talking about renting a larger space and hiring more staff.’
‘Did he work on any big accounts?’
‘A few, nothing contentious that I know of. Most of our work is for sole traders, small businesses and such. I’ve been racking my brain since I heard the awful news this morning and can’t think of anyone who would want to harm Cam or his family. I don’t know what to do.’
Lottie thought he was overcompensating with all the talk. Shock, probably. ‘What do you mean?’
‘Whether I should keep working today or shut up shop.’
‘Up to you. Did you go to the party yesterday?’
He rolled his eyes as if this was the stupidest question ever. ‘It was a kids’ party. Cam’s daughter. Not the place for the likes of me.’
‘Did he have a business partner? Someone else to take over?’
‘No one else works here.’
She felt sorry for the man. He was in limbo. ‘We need a quick look around his office.’
‘Sure. Up the stairs.’ He sat down and stared at his computer screen.
Lottie left him to his thoughts and indicated for Boyd to follow her.
Cameron Healy’s office was built into the eaves. She had to duck her head. The space was small but neat. One filing cabinet and a desk with a computer and a jar of pens.
‘What do you think you’ll find?’ Boyd asked.
She sat on the chair and began opening desk drawers. ‘Won’t know until I find it.’
‘Back to your sarcastic self, I see.’
She glanced up, ready to bite, but caught the grin at the edge of his lips. Good. ‘Shut up, Boyd, and try the cabinet. See who his clients were and if any are on our radar.’
‘You think the Healy family were murdered because of or by one of his clients?’
‘I don’t know what to think at this stage.’ Finding nothing of interest in the desk, she turned her attention to the Mac. As she shifted the mouse, the screen burst to life. Password-protected.
She shouted down the stairs, ‘Liam, what’s Cameron’s password?’
‘He changed it recently to FREYA12*. All capitals.’
‘Thanks.’ She keyed it in and began opening the tabs lining the bottom of the screen. Mainly files for client accounts, but one seemed a bit obscure. She hovered the cursor and clicked.
‘Jesus, Boyd.’
‘My mother named me Mark, but I also answer to Jesus.’
She kept her gaze on the screen. ‘Look at this.’
He peered over her shoulder. ‘Some family man he was, keeping these photos on his work computer.’
‘Boyd, for feck’s sake.’
‘Okay, it’s gross but it’s not a crime.’
‘It’s porn.’
‘So?’
‘It’s just that Sadie Clarke, Caroline’s friend, told me that she’d bet he was into porn. Did she know about it? Or was it a wild guess?’
‘We can ask her.’
‘This is some serious stuff.’
‘I agree,’ Boyd said. ‘But is it a reason for him to kill his family then himself?’
‘What if his wife found out?’
‘And what? They had a row over it and he killed her and their daughter before taking a knife to himself?’ He shook his head and rubbed his chin. ‘I don’t buy that.’
‘If Cameron Healy marketed himself as an upstanding citizen, he wouldn’t like this getting out. These pillars-of-the-community sorts can’t handle anything tarnishing their name.’
Lottie recalled that in familicide cases the perpetrator almost always had something to hide, usually to do with money, or an affair. Did they never hear of divorce?
‘Organise SOCOs to come in here. The tech crowd need to analyse all phones and computer equipment, including anything belonging to the daughter. We have to build up a picture of this family. Friends can be too partisan, siding with one or the other camp, unable to see the big picture. Families aren’t much better but they might give a more accurate view of what Cameron Healy was really like. ’
‘You mean Caroline’s family?’
‘Yes. Cameron has no living relatives that we know of so far. Caroline has a mother. Kirby has gone to talk to her, so let’s see what he finds out.’