Chapter 63 Chapter 62

Tom spent the night thinking about everything he knew and suspected.He didn't meet Leo, just sat in the kitchen with a bottle of wine, a plate of pasta, a pen and a piece of paper.But he wrote nothing down. Early on Thursday morning Tom decided that he was going to see Philippa. When he entered Philippa's room, she stood up with a big smile on her face, and reached over from behind her desk to shake his hand. "Well done, Tom. It's been an excellent case, and I'll have Inspector Robinson here just to tell her so. Please pass on my congratulations to the team." "Thanks, Philippa. But before we get too excited, do you have time to hear something from me?"

"Of course, please sit down. Why so gloomy, Tom? You should be happy." Tom didn't know where to start. "Robert Brooks claims he had nothing to do with Jahand's death, you know that, don't you? He swore he didn't leave the hotel that night, someone must have driven his car back to Manchester to set him up. And We haven't found the body yet." Philippa shrugged. "And probably not, if, as you suspect, the body was hidden under the sink. Of course he would claim his innocence, and we can't infer otherwise, can we? Who else would want Jia Hand died?"

Tom shook his head.He felt that this matter was not that simple. "Robert asked us to find out if the spare keys for his Jaguar were still in a drawer at home. The keys were missing - but we only have his testimony that they were there." "Tom, the case is clear. Jarhand called Robert Brooks in Newcastle and they made an appointment to meet and Brooks went home. He was seen not by one but by two. We were at his Blood was found in the house and in the car, which was returned to Newcastle the next morning. A knife was missing and replaced later, Robert did it. And Jahand is missing, from above. No one has seen him since Wednesday, and no one has heard from him."

"I know, Philippa, but something isn't quite right. Robert bought a replacement knife, but we don't know what happened to the original one, and it's odd that although he wrote a clear number, but it was the wrong one. Yes, someone called Robert on Sophie Duncan's phone, but they could have said anything. We have no proof, only Sophie's testimony that it was Danash on the appointment Robert, but that was just one of the things that didn't seem right. I tried to write all the questions down, but couldn't come to any meaningful conclusions other than jotting down the clutter in my head."

"Well, whatever you're worrying about, just talk about your jumbled thoughts and I'll write them down and see if we can sort things out." "I think Olivia Brooks played a very clever game," Tom said. "As far as we know, she's managed to convince her husband at least three times that she was somewhere when she wasn't." There. With the help of Sophie Duncan, of course." "And who can blame her? From all we have, Robert's obsession seems to be growing out of control. Olivia is a smart and quick-witted woman, and I am very grateful for that." Philippa nodded , as if paying tribute.

"She is. But I'm pretty sure Olivia must be the one who tampered with Robert's computer video." Philippa frowned at Tom in bewilderment. "Why did she do that, to trick Robert into thinking she was home all the time?" "Possibly. But she's not planning to come back, so what does it matter what Robert thinks? We're supposed to find out they're all fake, but think Robert tampered with them. Of course, that's what we're talking about." made." Philippa picked up a pen and tapped on the table. "It's hard for me to see why it matters, Tom."

"Well, why did we search that house?" Tom didn't wait for her to answer, "because we feel that Robert has repeatedly lied to us. If he didn't run away, we would check his computer next. We will find these videos , analyzed them, and found that they were all fake, like that calendar on the kitchen wall. Once we know this, we will be sure where Robert is at Olivia and her last Lied to us about the time of being in the house once and then would have called the scene inspectors in. I think the evidence was left on purpose so we would eventually get the forensic team involved , search the house and find the blood."

Tom wasn't making any progress, he understood why, he hadn't been able to figure the whole thing out, but it must have been close to the truth. "There were also some small things, like the emergency light suddenly being knocked out of the way, shining into the neighbor's house and waking her up. Too many coincidences." Philippa was flipping through the papers on her desk. "Tell me about the folder you found among Robert Brooks' belongings." Tom sighed.This made everything worse. "We think it's something he's stashed in the back of the bookcase. It has a hidden compartment in the back with a space in it that looks like it's been opened recently. The folder looks like it fits that location, but we Will never know for sure. Anyway, there are hundreds of pictures of Olivia in the folder, and a key."

"What did you infer from this?" "Those pictures from when Olivia was a college student, apparently taken without her knowledge, are kind of blurry, like they were taken with a not-so-good telephoto lens. Olivia, Olivia doing charity pole dancing, Olivia laughing, dancing, studying in the library - hundreds of pictures like this - all in Olivia Before meeting Robert Brooks. My guess is he's had a crush on her for a long time, and maybe he thought he had a chance until she got pregnant." Philippa nodded, seeming to think that such an infatuation was normal.But of course, that only makes Tom's clueless point less convincing.

"What about the key?" she asked. "I'll probably never be able to prove it, but I doubt it's the keys to Olivia's parents' house. If Robert was as smart as I think he was, he'd have put those keys in when he bought Olivia's apartment. Change the locks, just in case. This is his souvenir." Philippa leaned back in the chair. "Wow, you think Robert killed Olivia's parents?" "I'm sure of that, but there's no proof. At some point during his inspection of the apartment—I don't know, maybe measuring the space for the TV or something—he must have stolen Olivia's key and honed one. From what we know of him now, he probably copied the whole bunch of keys just in case they came in handy. He knew that if he lost his parents, Olivia would be completely alone Alone, you can only rely on him. This is the best way to make her completely dependent on him during the most difficult time in her life."

"You seem to be saying that you think Olivia framed Robert Brooks. Then let me get this straight, you think Robert killed Olivia's parents but you don't think he killed Danash Jahand .” Tom shook his head. "No, that's not it. I'm pretty sure he killed Jahand." Philippa raised her arms and lowered them again with a confused look on her face. "But not last week. I think he killed Danash Jahand nine years ago."