from some long-ago research she’d read. And they tended to be so-called ‘quiet’ killers, generally avoiding mutilating their victims’ bodies, less likely to abduct or torture them. Did that pattern fit with these murders? Maybe, she thought. And there were instances of female serial killers choosing male victims – Aileen Wuornos in the US, for example, although she’d shot her seven victims, not bashed them over the head or slashed them with a knife. But even so …
By the time Gemma O’Connor had arrived at the station, both Helena and Devon had been feeling twitchy. Once they were settled in the interview room, Gemma still refusing any legal assistance despite the offer of the services of the duty solicitor, Helena had begun with something that had come to light just an hour earlier.
‘Mrs O’Connor, you told us that you believed your husband was staying on at your Chiswick apartment for a week after you left, to finish up some work for his previous employer, Hanfield Solutions?’
Gemma nodded.
‘Yes, that’s right. That’s what he told me he was doing.’
‘Well, as we all know now, he didn’t stay on in the apartment after that Friday the first of February, as the keys were handed back to the landlord. So today we made a call to Hanfield Solutions to see if they could shed any light on this. And they said there was no work to finish up. Your husband’s final day in the office was Thursday, the thirty-first of January. Which makes sense, being the last day of the month, doesn’t it? They all said their goodbyes to him then and wished him well in his new life in Bristol. They didn’t see him again, or indeed hear from him. Anything to say about that?’
Gemma was listening, a frown furrowing her brow.
‘But … he told me he needed a week to finish a project. That’s why I moved down here first. He joined me the following week, and he said it was all done …’
She shook her head, her eyes darting from Devon to Helena and back again.
‘So that’s yet another thing. I’m sorry, no, I can’t explain that. Unless he was seeing someone else after all, someone he met on that app, and went to stay with … with her. That’s the only thing I’ve been able to think of.’
Helena waited a few moments, but Gemma had stopped talking, eyes still flitting from one of them to the other. Helena gave it another few seconds, then started again.
‘OK. Now I want to ask you about some specific dates. First, can you remember where you were on the evening of the third of March last year?’
She glanced down at her paperwork, checking she’d got the date of the Richmond Park murder correct. She had. She looked back at Gemma, who was frowning again.
‘The … the third of March?’
‘Yes. It was a Saturday evening.’
‘Well …’ Gemma paused, still frowning. ‘Well no, of course I don’t. That was over a year ago, and the date doesn’t ring any bells. Why are you asking me?’
She sounded faintly exasperated.
‘I just need you to answer the question, Gemma. Please try to think.’
‘Well …’ Gemma gave a small sigh. ‘Well, OK, we got married on the seventeenth, St Patrick’s Day. So that would have been two weekends before that, is that right?’
Helena flipped a page to the calendar she’d printed off earlier, checked the dates and nodded.
‘That’s right, yes.’
‘OK, well in that case, that was the evening Danny had his stag do. His dad had died just a few weeks before that and he was still pretty upset, so it wasn’t a wild night out or anything, just a few drinks with some of the guys from work and one of his cousins. He was home by midnight, and I just stayed in on my own that evening because I had some work to finish up for the Monday. I remember because I was still up when he got in, which was quite unusual for me. I’m normally crashed out by ten.’
Helena was making notes.
‘You’re sure about that? That date?’ she said.
‘Positive. Danny had his stag two weeks before the wedding, and I had my hen do one week before, so the following weekend.’
‘Right. And can anyone verify that you were at home alone on the evening of the third? Anyone come to the door, maybe a takeaway or something?’
Gemma was frowning again.
‘No, not that I can think of. It was over a year ago, so obviously I don’t