Love. Always one of the strongest motifs. We would need to take her husband in for questioning. Mrs. Culver confessed her affair with her superior, Alistair Knell. Sometimes I wish that there would be something new to it, but most cases usually stuck to the average. We seldom got surprises and I wondered from time to time if that wasn't the reason for so many coppers to throw in the towel and demand to be relocated or quit completely. In the end this was just a job only with more unusual aspects.
I knew Lestrade had thought about quitting. More than once but it would have been a shame to lose someone like him.
Mrs. Culver also told us about a handful of phonecalls that had her boss left in restlessness afterwards. She just put them through to his office but was able to recall a name: Uirlis.
I wrote it down. Something rang a bell but I wasn't able to put a finger on it. That wasn't just a name and I had heard the word before. Probably related to another case.
"So you had an affair with Mr. Knell? Do you know if his wife knew about it?" Lestrade asked. For a second I felt uncomfortable. I knew he wouldn't let his mind wander right now, but he had his resentiments towards the affair I had with Dr. Anderson.
I can't blame him after what rumours I heard about the reasons for his divorce. Police lots' fate.
"God no! I had to tell my husband though." Now she looked guilty and I wondered what was wrong with me that I never regretted my own fling. Lestrade looked at me again. Mr. Culver became more and more interesting.
As I said, love was always one of the strongest motivators to do incredibly stupid things. I quietly left the room to run a first background check on the Culvers and to get his number.
The conversation was brief and he was not very happy about the topic. He would be around the next morning at eight. Little could I know that all plans would have to be cancelled by 6:30 the next morning.
"Sergeant Donovan?" It was DS Gunby. I learned a long while ago that it was useless to correct them. They'd always give you just half of your title, if you are called by a proper title at all. Often it was just my last name as if I was still a Constable, more often it was "Ma'am" or even "Ms."
"Yes, Detective Sergeant?" I asked back, well aware that I must have sounded a little acrid. At least he seemed to have respect. He looked a tiny bit afraid.
"Mrs. Knell made a statement. Just a few bits here and there but her mother gave us a call and passed it on. Apparently there had been an envelope. She assumed it was a delivery for her husband since the messenger guy asked for him by full name."
"But...there wasn't an envelope at the scene." I remarked and he just shrugged and dropped the transcript of the phoncall on my desk.
Uirlis. Envelope. Love affairs, half hidden.
It started to smell of something nasty and very rotten.