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Lacey’s heart went out to the mother. What a horrific thing to have to do. But then her cop brain kicked in and she started turning this new information over in her mind. An ID was powerful, because now they had somewhere to start. This also added more humanity to their search. They now had an actual name and a previous life to put to this nameless body.
Nico continued, “As far as we know, Zoya had no enemies. She lived alone in a one-bedroom flat on the outskirts of Burnie. Her mother told us that she only moved out a few months ago. She’d been working as a gymnastics coach over at the Somerset Gymnastics Club for the past year and a half and decided she’d enough money saved up to become independent. I believe the father died in a car accident around five years ago, and there are no other siblings. The mother is distraught, as you can well imagine, and cannot comprehend why anyone would want to kill her daughter.”
Lacey digested this news thoughtfully. From the outside, it looked as if Zoya had a perfectly normal life. A young woman just starting out on her journey. Such a shame. She wondered if this young lady was related to the second body. Or were they complete strangers, merely victims of the same crazed killer? So many threads to untangle.
“Hickey, can you take Lawson and search the victim’s flat?” Nico asked, and Lacey snapped her attention back to the room.
“Yes, sir.” Hickey sat straighter in his chair, obviously pleased with being given such an important task. Lacey wondered at Nico’s reasoning in splitting Hickey and Gorman up, as they usually worked together. He must have his reasons. She also wondered what stories they might uncover in their search of the young girl’s things. It always seemed like such an invasion of privacy. But without it, the police had no hope of piecing together a victim’s life.
“Good,” Nico replied, then his gaze flicked to Hickey’s normal partner. “Gorman, I’d like you and Senior Constable Smith to concentrate on getting as much detail on the charm as you can. See if anyone in Burnie sells anything like it, that sort of thing.” Gorman looked a little downcast by the task. He’d probably much rather be out on the street. “Sally-Ann is one of the best when it comes to the small details,” Nico went on. “You could learn a lot from her. And every little piece of the puzzle is equally important.” It was true; Sally-Ann was one of Nico’s best assets when it came to targeted research on a case. She was a whizz at finding little details that others missed. Perhaps Nico could see some similar traits in Gorman and hoped to train him up to be equally astute.
Nico switched his attention to the front of the room. “The mother has agreed to an interview, she’s desperate for us to catch whoever did this. Pederson and Saito, I’d like you to take this one, if you don’t mind.” Nico zeroed in on the two detectives. Saito nodded and quickly began to gather her notes. Pederson’s somber demeanor didn’t change, but Lacey thought she caught the flicker of gratification in his eyes.
Saito asked, “Anything in particular you want us to concentrate on?”
Nico considered the woman’s question. Lacey wished it’d been Pederson who’d asked, it might lessen the tension that seemed to be pulsating between him and Nico. But he just frowned at the murder board, as if committing Zoya’s face to memory, and ignored Nico.
“Ask about the bracelet charm, of course,” Nico said. If it belonged to Zoya, then they could finally admit it to evidence as a solid clue. “We also need to get a feel for Zoya’s life. Who her friends were. What she did for fun. Dig into her past if you can. See if there’s anything there that might raise a red flag.” Nico followed Pederson’s gaze and also considered the new photo of Zoya. “We need to look at the mother’s life as well. Does she have any enemies? Could this murder have been something to do with someone wanting to get at the mother, and they used the daughter as a scapegoat or a form of punishment? With a second, seemingly unrelated body, I don’t think this is much of a possibility, but we still need to ask.”
“Sure,” Saito said, and they stood as one, waiting for the briefing to be over. A low buzz of chatter filled the room as the rest of the officers prepared to receive their allocated tasks.
“Carmichael, you’re with me.” It took Lacey a second to comprehend that Nico meant her. He rarely ever called her by her last name, but having these two detectives in the room, he was obviously putting on his most professional front. “We’re going to check out Zoya’s place of work, see what her colleagues have to say.” A thrum of excitement went through Lacey. Not only was she getting to partner with Nico, which was unusual and she’d jump at the chance to work alongside him, but they might well find something of value at this gymnastics club. But then a sliver of doubt tempered her delight when she wondered what other ulterior motives Nico had for taking her as his partner.
“Yes, sir,” she replied, hiding her grin. She could see Sally-Ann was also hiding a smirk as they all got ready to file out of the operations room.
“Thanks, everyone,” Nico called over the increasing hum of conversation. “We’ll have another briefing same time tomorrow morning.”
CHAPTER SIX
SOMERSET GYMNASTICS CLUB was housed in a modern building, all sharp angles and glass faces. There was money here, Nico mused. Most gymnastics clubs he knew of—he had to admit, his knowledge was limited, he’d been more into soccer back in the day—occupied in some dingy old building, bequeathed by the city council decades ago, with no money or work going into the infrastructure as it slowly fell to pieces.
“Nice place,” Nico commented as they strolled through the front door. Faced with an empty desk and a large reception area filled with plastic chairs, Nico rang the bell on the desk. While he waited, he perused the framed certificates on the wall behind reception, most of them stating the qualifications of the various coaches. One particular frame caught his eye, holding center stage in the middle and larger than the rest. It was a silver medal of some kind. Actually, it looked remarkably like an Olympic medal. He leaned in closer to get a better look.
Lacey was looking at the certificates as well, but then she turned and said, “You didn’t assign me to be your partner just so you could keep an eye on me, did you?” Lacey’s question caught him off guard. He should be used to it by now; he could always count on Lacey to ask the hard questions. She’d obviously been stewing on the idea all the way over in the police cruiser, as the air inside the cab had been tense. At least he now knew what was bugging her.
“No,” he replied patiently.
“Are you sure?” She narrowed her gorgeous hazel eyes and fixed him withthe look.The lookwas meant to make his stomach feel jittery, letting him know that she was onto him. He’d always been aware their road would be paved with pitfalls when Lacey decided to take a job in his police station. But he’d encouraged her anyway, knowing they were strong enough together to manage whatever troubles came their way. But he never dreamed it’d be the subtleties that’d catch him out. The way she could tell if he was spinning a white lie, or not telling her the complete truth. Everyone told white lies now and then, it was the grease that helped him avoid conflict or soothe someone’s ruffled feathers. But with Lacey, he always had to tell the truth.
“Yes,” he replied equally as patiently. He wanted to reach out to tuck a stray strand of blonde hair that’d escaped her ponytail behind her ear, but knew better than to attempt to touch her. While they were in work mode, and while Lacey was in this mood, she wouldn’t appreciate it. “You don’t have a partner at the moment, and I needed someone to accompany me.” Which was kind of true. He could have done this on his own, but this was a good learning process for Lacey; she was still on probation after all. “I could reassign you to help Gorman with the research, if you like?”
“No, I’d much rather be here, thank you,” she finally replied, but that sharp edge never left her eyes. She was way too clever for her own good sometimes. No way in hell was he going to admit there was even a small grain of truth in her question. Ever since Linc had been hit over the head, Nico found himself unaccountably worried about Lacey.
“I don’t think anyone heard the bell,” Lacey said, effectively ending the conversation. He hoped that’d be the last of it. Lacey wasn’t one to hold a grudge, and she also understood there needed to be separation between her and Nico at work. She’d never undermine his status as detective sergeant in public. In private, it was a different matter. But he had to hand it to her, most of the time she did a good job of leaving work stuff at work and not bringing their disagreements home.
She turned to the rear of the large atrium, where they could hear rhythmic thumping, punctuated by a voice raised in command. “Shall we?” she asked.
“Lead the way,” he replied gallantly, following her to the door. When they walked through, they found themselves in one of the largest gymnasiums Nico had ever seen. This cavernous room increased his belief this gymnastics club must have a rich benefactor. Either that, or some highly ranked gymnasts who brought in lots of sponsorship money. It was chock full to the brim with all kinds of gymnastic equipment. From those he recognized, like the three balance beams in the corner, a set of uneven bars, a pommel horse and some spring boards, lots and lots of crash mats, and a large blue area in the center where the gymnasts could perform their routines. To those he didn’t, such as the spiderweb of ropes in the corner, and the two complicated contraptions that reminded him of something you might find in the weights room of a gym.
“Wow,” Lacey mouthed as she turned a full circle to take in the huge room. “This almost makes me wish I’d taken gymnastics as a child.”
Nico spied two figures in the far corner. “Hello,” he called out a greeting. A girl of around thirteen was madly practicing with a jump rope while an older lady tapped out a beat with her foot, sometimes shouting a command at the top of her voice. The pair hadn’t seemed to have heard him, so he strode down the length of the large space until he was close enough to catch the woman’s eye. She raised a hand, and the girl stopped skipping with what Nico thought could only be called genuine relief.
“Can I help you?” The woman couldn’t keep the irritation out of her voice as she fixed them with a steely glare. “We’re not technically open right now. If you’d like to enroll your child, you can come back at three when Claire will be on the front—”
“I’m Detective Sergeant Favreau, and this is Probationary Constable Carmichael,” Nico interrupted, holding up his badge for the woman to see, while Lacey did the same beside him. She might be forgiven for not recognizing Nico as a cop because he was in civilian clothing, but how could she miss the fact Lacey was wearing the Tasmanian Police Department uniform?
She stared at them down her long nose for at least three seconds before she seemed to relent. “Take a break, Lily,” the woman said, indicating the girl head to the change rooms on the other side of the room. Lily did so with alacrity, casting a few curious glances over her shoulder as she went.
