Chapter 48 Chapter Forty Seven

On Tuesday morning, Becky felt as if the weight of the whole world was on her shoulders.The police in Alderney have been informed that they have been investigating, but so far nothing has been found.The officer said they had visited sales offices, hotels and family hotels.They've picked up a few names and investigated the individuals one by one, but they haven't tracked down Olivia's whereabouts - if she's still there.They have to accept the fact that she may never have been there, or that she may have left after the video call with Robert last week, which means she could be anywhere, including the possibility of being buried under the patio.

Although they were sure that Dhanash Jahand's body had been taken out of the house in Robert's car, Jumber acted.Now a team of people is using radar equipment to detect the ground in the garden. The reason for this is that if Robert kills someone once, they will check to see if there are other dead bodies. Tom had told Becky that he was pretty sure they would find nothing, but this had become a murder investigation, so they were going to explore every possibility.He was also pretty sure that if Robert had killed Olivia and the children, he wouldn't have buried them there.But until they're sure the family is safe, they can't take that risk.

Becky watched Tom from a distance.He had been quiet this morning, puzzled by something in a document, but hadn't given her the specifics yet. They also obtained last week's usage history of Robert's credit card.Tom deduced that he must have stopped for petrol on the way back from Newcastle to Manchester on Wednesday night, but he didn't use his credit card once, which is obviously not his usual practice, which shows that he doesn't want to leave any evidence to expose his identity. whereabouts.However, they do know he made some purchases at John Lewis in Newcastle on Tuesday and that store also investigated the specific items he purchased.He bought a knife that looked like it was on the kitchen knife rack.

That store helped them a lot, and they found the employee who was serving Robert.Becky had already called her. "Is he going to buy a specific type of knife?" Becky asked her, "or just a certain type of knife?" The clerk sounded out of breath, like he was running, but Becky knew it was a special thrill of being questioned by the police. "Oh no, he described it very precisely," she said, "even to the point of buying it with a part number. I remember him because he kept looking at his watch as if he was going somewhere. He Said he was running an event and rushed out during his lunch break. I tried to get him to compare two or three different styles of knives - you know, just to show that I didn't want to egg him on to buy our own brand thing."

"Isn't he interested in Sabatiers-brand knives?" asked Becky, remembering Jumbo's saying that all the remaining knives in Robert's house were of the same brand. "Not interested. They do look similar, but he said if he bought the wrong knife back, his wife would 'flay him alive'. But he laughed when he said that." "Did he write down the serial number of the knife, then?" "Yes, he wrote it on a piece of paper." Becky thought for a moment. "Can you tell if it's handwritten, or if it's typed out from an email, or if it's a printout from a web page, you know?"

"It's written in blue ink," said the salesman. "I know it because he asked me to hold the paper while he paid. The list on the paper is more than that, but in our department store That's the only thing I bought from the store. I think I glanced at the rest of the list, of course, just to see if there was anything else I could be of help." "And then?" Becky asked. "I think the only other item I remember is the bedding, no other kitchen stuff." "So someone wrote that list for him?" Becky said. "I don't think so. He must have written it himself because he looked concerned to check that he had written the numbers out of order. He couldn't read one of the numbers and said he had the paper on his lap. I was trying to keep the paper balanced as I was writing it. I guess someone read it and told him to write it."

Becky had no idea what clues these words would give them, but thanked the salesman and took notes. Tom looked like he was waiting for her to finish it. "Becky," he said, his brows wrinkled in concentration made his usually relaxed face look a few years older, "I've got something to tell you, can I hear your opinion?" "Of course, as long as it's something that gets my head going. Honestly right now I feel like I'm stuck in a quagmire. Come on, a little lightening up, please." "Ha, I'm not sure if I can offer you a reprieve, but something has been puzzling me and I'd really like your opinion. This has nothing to do with the death of Olivia Brooks' parents, Mr and Mrs Hunter Relevant. It's been almost nine years since this happened, but something felt wrong at the time. I couldn't figure out what it was, but I do now. I'm just not sure if it was just a wild fantasy on my part. "

Becky sat back in her chair, took a sip of the cold tea she had planned to drink half an hour ago, and shuddered, but it was better than nothing. "Go on, I'm all ears." "We were at the Hunters' home around two o'clock in the afternoon on the day they died. I've told you how they died and how Olivia found them. But for some reason, I Never fully convinced it was an accident, we didn't find any evidence to prove it. I wasn't confident enough to trust my intuition at the time, and there was absolutely no evidence for us to proceed with the investigation. Until last night I read the transcript carefully. "

Tom closed the folder and put it back on the desk. "I've read it so many times and I still remember some of it. When I was talking to Olivia — or trying to talk to her, she was pretty much out of control and the phone rang. Woke up and it was Robert Brooks. She was barely able to speak, so I took the phone and explained what happened. He said he would be right there." "Well, that's a touching thing to do for a guy who's just bought a house," said Becky, with a touch of awe at Robert's reliability in other people's misfortune. Most people just say, 'Let me know when things get sorted out.'”

"Well, he showed up half an hour later and I spoke to him. He seemed concerned about Olivia. It was hot in the house and she was shaking, and he took off his coat and put it on her body. When the female police officer who was looking after Jasmine brought the baby over and returned it to Olivia, she just ignored the baby, so Robert took it. We were very touched at the time. By the way, I also asked him Has he been in that house before so his fingerprints can be ruled out. He said he had never been there before." "And then?" said Becky, looking at Tom without knowing what it meant.

"I used Olivia's phone to talk to him. I just told him the basic situation of her parents and nothing else." Becky waited to hear what he had to say.Tom stared straight at her, obviously expecting her to figure out some connection, but whatever he was thinking eluded her.She just waits. "How the hell does he know where they live, Becky, if he's never been there?" Tom wondered how he had overlooked that at the time.It may be that Olivia was in such a bad state at the time, she screamed loudly that something was wrong, and then collapsed and collapsed on the ground crying.Not that there's anything weird about that, she's vulnerable and overwhelmed by everything that's happened to her, so that must have messed her up. But it was useless to blame himself now, and he was sure that if he had asked Robert then, he would have gotten an answer.Robert would most likely say that Olivia had left some papers in the apartment with her parents' addresses, or that she had mentioned where they lived in passing.He was bound to find an excuse, one that sounded perfectly plausible. But why did Brooks want to hurt the Hunters?How is he going to get into the house?The towel on the vent must have been taken out of the house, and if someone had taken the battery it must have been after her parents went to bed. For a while, the investigation focused on Olivia.First the boyfriend disappeared, then the parents died.If she had hurt them, her discovery of her parents' dead body should have been an Oscar-winning landmark performance. Robert was not identified as a person involved in the case.He was just a guy who bought a house, how could they give him an extra look? The truth is they really didn't give him a second look. But maybe they should.