AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘Anna won’t want us to turn up and ask,’ Jen says. They’ve talked about whether to bring Anna in again, or to visit her for an interview, but decided against it, for now. She hasn’t expressed unhappiness with her circumstances, so there’s no action theycan take without her cooperation. Hal’s decided it’s a watch and wait situation.
‘It might be easier to speak to her now she’s moving into the Barn,’ Hal says. ‘Though presumably she doesn’t want Nicole Booth to know about her past. Unless she’s confided in her.’ He remembers the two women holding hands during his last interview. They’re either close already or moving that way.
Jen considers this. ‘Do you think Olly and Sasha are planning to make the same move on Nicole Booth that they made on Anna?’
‘They could be.’
‘And if you follow that logic, we need to continue to consider whether they murdered Tom. Their only alibis for that morning are the ones they’ve given each other.’
‘And they’ve got holes in them. How you keep track of someone else if you’re in the Manor House, I don’t know. One or other of them could easily have slipped out undetected for a short time.’ He sighs. ‘I don’t think I’ve ever worked a case where we have so many potential suspects, and I think it’s the money that has them circling. Patrick Young being a case in point. He’s a piece of work. Which reminds me. His alibi.’
‘I can make some calls to check on it.’
‘I’ll get someone else to. We’ve got enough on today.’
She waits while he messages a colleague. When he puts his phone down, she says, ‘What do you make of Patrick?’
‘He strikes me as a coward behind all that bluff. And cowards often flee with their tails between their legs. Except when they’re cornered. It depends how desperate he is. To be honest, I’d be happier if Nicole was in a hotel. Even if Anna Creed moves inwith her, that doesn’t exactly fill me with confidence from a security point of view. I wonder if we should send some officers to the Barn overnight.’ He winces at this. It’ll be expensive. ‘If Patrick didn’t have this history of assault, I wouldn’t be so worried, but he does. Actually, I want to see exactly what happened with that.’
He opens his laptop and logs in. Jen shifts her chair so she can see the screen. Hal accesses the PNC database. There are a few Patrick Youngs to sift through, but they find him.
Hal reads from the screen: ‘Section 18 Offences Against the Person Act 1861. GBH with intent. Twelve years ago.’
‘That’s not pretty,’ Jen says.
‘He could have got a substantial sentence if they’d convicted him, but it says the charge was dropped.’
‘I’d like to know why.’
‘We’ll find out,’ Hal says. He stands, looks out of the window. ‘Patrick’s clearly capable of beating someone to a pulp and our Olly and Sasha are capable of coercing someone into becoming a maid in her own home and changing her name. What a lovely bunch of people.’
‘We also still have the possibility of it being a stranger,’ Jen says. ‘Robbery gone wrong, maybe. Don’t forget the camper or vagrant guy. We’ve had three reports of someone on the peninsula, two from the last week, one from the last month. These properties aren’t as insulated from the outside world as they feel.’ If this is what happened, they both know it’ll be almost impossible to find the perpetrator.
‘And then there’s Nicole, our widow,’ Hal says. ‘Did she do it? So many persons of interest.’
‘We can do this, boss.’
‘Yes. We’ll get there.’ He sighs. ‘Any other leads on finding the original Kitty?’
‘Nothing so far. The team is turning over as many stones as they can. If there’s something to find, they’ll find it.’
Jen checks her watch. ‘We should go.’ They have a lead on the business card found in Tom’s pocket and they need to drive to Bristol to check it out. The trip will make it a very long day but neither of them mentions it. Both have empty homes waiting for them and both understand that an investigation like this requires dedication.
Sat nav guides them into the heart of the city, to Stokes Croft, where signs of gentrification contrast with the street life. They park on a side street near a small triangle of wasteland where men and women are gathered, drinking, perched on a filthy mattress. A dog sleeps on a bed of cardboard. Jen spots an original Banksy amongst the graffiti smothering the buildings. Rubbish has collected in the gutters. The energy couldn’t be more different from Lancaut Peninsula. From what she knows of Tom Booth, she can’t imagine him here. But people surprise you. If you don’t learn that as a detective, you’re never going to learn anything.
The place they’re looking for is across the street; access is via a metal door. ‘Are you sure this is right?’ Jen asks. Sadie’s business card suggested somewhere classier.
‘I hope so,’ Hal says. He presses the buzzer.
A woman lets them in after a delay. Jen steels herself. The last thing a place like this wants is a pair of detectives walking in. The door opens to a short, dark hallway and astaircase, leading up. They climb, Hal first. The stair carpet is crimson, and filthy. A woman opens a door at the top.
She’s young, maybe mid-twenties, possibly younger, and tall, dressed in a short skirt and barely there top. Hal shakes her hand. He’s good with people, Jen thinks. There are detectives she’s worked with who would talk down to a woman like this, but Hal will treat her as a person, as she deserves.
‘Thank you for speaking with us,’ he says. He introduces Jen.
‘You were lucky it was me that picked up the phone when your officer called,’ she says. ‘No one else knows me as Sadie here. I go by Poppy. Follow me.’
Poppy takes them up another flight of stairs to a small attic room, built into the eaves. Unlike the rest of the establishment, it’s brightly lit with natural light falling from two skylights. ‘Staff room,’ she says and laughs. ‘I know this place doesn’t look nice from the outside but it’s alright.’
