Close to Home (A DI Mitchell Yorkshire Crime Thriller Book 4)

by Oliver Davies

  I was gone for half an hour or more, but Stephen was still waiting outside the closed door when I got back. He looked up as I came over.

  “Any success? Whatever it was you wanted to do.”

  Taking a seat next to him, I cracked open the thermos and took a scalding sip before answering. “I wanted to ask some of the staff about whether they’d seen Isabel around the hospital. We know from Keira that Isabel came here to get that cut sewn up, but I wondered whether she’d been hanging around otherwise.”

  “Like the time you saw her down the corridor.” Stephen nodded.

  “Exactly,” I agreed, before shrugging. “None of the people I could speak to recognised her picture, though. But it’s a big hospital and the staff work shifts. I thought it was worth a shot, anyway.”

  “Did you ask them to keep a lookout?”

  “Aye, of course. I told the reception staff, and one of the security guards, that if she turns up at the entrance, we want her for questioning. They’ll call us.”

  “Good.”

  I continued to drink my coffee, which Sam had made as strong as I liked it, and imagined that I could feel the energy from it thrumming through me as it settled warmly in my stomach. I opened up the tin foil package and found a cheese and pickle sandwich, cut into neat triangles, and smiled. She must have raided my fridge to find the cheese and put it together, and I took a bite. Stephen was giving me puppy dog eyes, so I gave him a triangle too, and we ate as we waited.

  I’d just finished texting Sam to thank her for the sandwiches when the door to Maddie’s room opened. I shoved my phone away and stood up, as did Stephen.

  “Ms Packham, Mr Packham,” I said politely.

  Annabel looked shaken and was holding onto Dan’s arm, but her shoulders were back, and she seemed stronger than when we’d gone to visit her at her house. Then, she’d seemed folded over by resignation and barely holding up under the weight of the burden. Coming out of Maddie’s room, she had her chin up, and there was more light in her light-brown eyes. Dan was stoic by her side, though his eyes were rimmed with red and his hair was rumpled, like he’d been dragging his hands through it repeatedly.

  “You’re here to see her?” Annabel asked, her voice quiet but steady. “Or to talk to us?”

  “I- we’d like to see Maddie, if possible,” I said.

  Annabel nodded and turned to Dan, who leaned down to kiss her on the cheek before letting her go.

  “I have to go,” she told us. “My niece is ill. But Dan will be here.”

  “Thank you,” Stephen told her.

  Annabel gave us a nod and a small smile before she stepped away, the small heels of her boots clicking on the hospital floor.

  Dan turned back to Maddie’s room and gestured us forwards. “Come on in.”

  I’d been in a hurry this morning and hadn’t thought to pick up anything for Maddie, not even flowers, and I regretted it now. I reassured myself with the thought that we could always come back with something tomorrow.

  My gaze went immediately to the young, still woman lying on the bed as Stephen and I stepped into the room, which smelled faintly of antiseptic. Maddie seemed to be asleep, but there was more colour in her cheeks and, though it was likely my imagination, I thought she seemed more real and present, with awareness hovering just under her closed eyelids.

  “Has she spoken yet?” I quietly asked Dan, who had taken a seat beside Maddie. There were only two chairs and so Stephen and I stood.

  He shook his head. “Not properly,” he said softly. “She called for her mum, Annabel, once in the night, but she wasn’t really awake.”

  There were dark rings under his eyes, and he looked at Maddie with poorly concealed urgency, willing her to return fully to herself with an intensity that was almost physical.

  “What did the doctor say?” I said, after Dan didn’t elaborate. I felt badly for asking the man questions during what was clearly a difficult and personal time for the family, but I was also desperate to hear how Maddie was.

  “They’ve been talking about a coma scale,” he said evenly, his eyes on Maddie as he spoke. “She’s been opening her eyes on and off, and she responds to being asked to squeeze her hand sometimes. They say she’s improving.”

  I released a breath. “Good. That’s good.”

  Dan leaned forwards, pulling his chair closer to Maddie’s side, and took her hand in his.

  “Mads?” he said gently. His tone was so gently loving that I wanted to turn away. “Maddie, love. There are policemen here to see you. Can you squeeze my hand?”

  My gaze dropped to Maddie’s fingers, and my heart sped up sharply when they twitched, tightening briefly around Dan’s. Dan inhaled audibly and a smile split across his face.

  Maddie’s eyes flickered, and she made a soft noise in her throat, much like any other person struggling to wake up in the morning from a particularly deep sleep.

  “Maddie?” Dan leaned forwards, a hand on his daughter’s shoulder. I was leaning forwards, too, from where I was standing at the foot of her hospital bed. She was lying flat on her back, propped up on a stack of pillows, so that I was in her direct line of sight when her eyes opened fully.

  Her eyes were a dark brown and seemed large in her pale face as she stared at me, before looking over to her dad. Her head twitched towards Dan, but she seemed to find it difficult to turn her head completely, and I watched worriedly, hoping that it was stiffness and muscle atrophy and not some sort of paralysis.

  “Dad?” Maddie croaked.

  Stephen and I kept quiet, turning away as Dan broke into hitched crying at the sound of his daughter’s voice. He hugged her tightly and, in return, she clung to him as much as she could.

  “Where’s mum?” she whispered, her fingers still clutching the sleeve of Dan’s jacket as he pulled back.

  “She’s gone to see Bea,” he said, and I assumed that Bea was Anabel’s niece. Dan patted his pockets for his phone. “I’ll call her. She’ll be right here, okay?”

  “W-why’re there police?” Maddie wanted to know.

  I stepped forwards, but Dan held up a hand to me. He had his phone to his ear as he called Annabel, but he replied to Maddie, anyway.

  “They came to see how you were. They’ll want to talk to y-” Dan’s face changed when Annabel picked up, and he turned slightly away. “Hello, love. Maddie’s awake...”

  While he spoke to Maddie’s mother, I came over to the other side of Maddie’s bed. She looked up at me, her brows pulled together in an expression that seemed, to me, almost suspicious. After fearing that she’d never open her eyes again, seeing any expression from her was still a relief, and I smiled.

  “Hi, Maddie. You don’t know me, but me and my partner, Stephen here, have been hoping you’d be alright. I’m Darren, DCI Darren Mitchell.”

  Maddie looked at me for a long moment.

  “Why’re you here?” she said, her voice thin with disuse, but firm with determination all the same. I could well imagine the force of nature she’d be when she was up and recovered, just as single-minded and ambitious as her mum had described her as.

  I glanced over at Dan, who was off the phone and watching us closely. He didn’t seem displeased, though, that we were talking to Maddie, and I appreciated that. He had every right to want this to be a private moment for the family and, although accidentally, Stephen and I were intruding on that. Still, Maddie had asked a question and, if she was up to talk to us, I was more than willing to do so.

  “Me and my partner have been working on your case,” I answered Maddie. I didn’t want to patronise her at all, but I also wanted to keep it direct and simple, since she’d only just woken up and was no doubt still recovering. “We’ve been figuring out what led to you being injured.”

  Maddie stared at me. I couldn’t read the expression on her face except that she seemed to be turning over what I was saying. Her gaze flickered to her dad, who gave her a nod, of encouragement or permission.

  “I can tell you that,�
�� she said slowly. She blinked, and her resolve seemed to harden. “I know what happened.”

  I was already pulling out my notebook as she spoke. “You do?” I said, as surprised as I was pleased. “You remember it?”

  She tried to nod, but grimaced. She swallowed with an audible click and Dan was already moving towards the bedside table.

  “I need water,” she rasped.

  Dan carefully helped her sip from a plastic cup, and Maddie closed her eyes briefly, seeming to savour it. I wondered whether this might have been too much for her, and that she’d fall back to sleep now. Instead, she opened her eyes again once she’d finished drinking and there was stubborn resolve in the set of her jaw.

  “I was pushed,” she said firmly.

  Stephen and I shared a look. Dan flinched on the other side of Maddie’s bed and reached to take Maddie’s hand in his.

  When Maddie’s attention was back on me, I asked quietly, “Who was it?”

  Maddie looked me straight in the eye. “Isabel.” Her lip curled, and she looked past me. “Alec’s ex-wife. Her. She pushed me.”

  I pulled back slightly. We’d certainly been looking into Isabel as a suspect, and we’d planned to bring her in for questioning today in fact and might have already done so if we hadn’t heard about Maddie. Yet, somehow, it was still a surprise to hear Maddie accuse Isabel so straightforwardly.

  “Thank you for telling me,” I said, making a note on my pad, not just of what Maddie had said but her mannerisms whilst she’d said it, too. “Can you tell us how it happened? What happened beforehand?”

  Maddie closed her eyes for a second, and I looked at her in concern.

  “There was a fight,” she said weakly, looking tired of a sudden. “Alec and I…” she trailed off.

  Dan stood up, and I saw immediately in his face that he didn’t want us here anymore. I was already closing my notebook as he started to ask us to leave Maddie to rest, before he was interrupted by the door being thrown open. Everyone but Maddie turned sharply around. Annabel rushed inside, her eyes huge as she beelined for Maddie’s bed and I backed out of the way.

  Maddie’s eyes opened again, and she smiled wearily to see her mother, who hugged her tightly and broke into muffled sobs.

  “Time to go,” I said softly to Stephen. Dan looked up as we turned to leave them in peace and gave me a nod of approval.

  We saw ourselves out, closing the door gently after us, and we didn’t speak as we headed back to the car. Relief was huge inside me, and every minute or so it struck me afresh that Maddie was awake. That she was talking and aware and on the path to recovery. It was something I’d been hoping would happen for the last three weeks, and it would take a while to settle in.

  Beside that relief, there was the more analytical side of me that was working over what Maddie had told us. Isabel had pushed her, she’d said. It was certainly more than possible, what with the women’s footprints in the mud, Eloise’s accusation, and the unidentified blood in the kitchen.

  And yet, this case had been turned on its head once already as new evidence came up and I couldn’t help but look at Maddie’s statement with a certain cautiousness. Perhaps I shouldn’t have doubted her, and I’m not sure I could have explained precisely why I did. Maddie had no reason to lie, did she?

  “What now, boss?” Stephen said as we got into the car, interrupting my thoughts. There was one clear priority. We’d delayed it once today to see Maddie, but now it needed to be done.

  “Now we bring Isabel in.”

  Eighteen

  We had laid out a plan for finding and bringing Isabel to the station yesterday afternoon, so putting it into action didn’t take long. I’d checked with Gaskell and then secured a pair of DCs to back us up, though we weren’t expecting any trouble.

  Stephen gave the younger officers a call as we sat in the hospital car park, and they agreed to meet us just around the corner from Isabel’s. We didn’t want to park right out front and scare her into bolting, if she was going to run. There was a possibility, even a likelihood, that she wasn’t in the house and was out at work or elsewhere, but we’d decided to try the house first.

  It wasn’t long before all four of us had rendezvoused nearby and I checked that the DCs knew the plan.

  “Stephen and I will lead,” I reminded them. “You two are here in case she does a runner, or is armed, though we’re not expecting her to be. If she doesn’t respond, we’re not breaking in yet. Questions?”

  The DCs, a fiery-haired man and a petite woman in a hijab, didn’t have any questions, and we proceeded.

  Stephen and I crossed the gravel drive together, and I stepped forwards to knock on the door smartly. It took several bouts of knocking, including calling through the letterbox, for us to be convinced that she wasn’t home. There were no lights on inside, and I didn’t see or hear any movement.

  “Okay,” I sighed, turning back to Stephen and the DCs. “I want one of you to stay here and keep an eye on the place.” I pointed at the red-headed man as I spoke and he gave the nod. “In case she’s lying low inside and decides to run off, though I don’t think she’s home.” I looked over to Stephen and the other DC. “And we’re going to try her work.”

  It was agreed, and we split up to carry out the plan. The DC who was staying with Stephen and I got into the back of the car, since her partner was keeping the car in order to watch over Isabel’s house.

  Stephen made easy small talk with the DC, who he didn’t seem to have met before, while I drove in silence, focused on what would happen next. I was sure we could have found out where Isabel worked, or, if we couldn’t, Keira most certainly could have. But it had been the lucky coincidence of spotting Isabel at Sam’s gym that actually told us where she worked, and it was there that we were headed.

  I hoped that if we found Isabel there, she wouldn’t kick up much of a fuss, being as it would be a public place. If we’d confronted her at her own home, she might have been more inclined to make our lives difficult. All I wanted was for it to go smoothly, and for Isabel to give us some answers. But Maddie had told us in no uncertain terms that Isabel had pushed her down the stairs, an act of attempted murder or grievous harm at the least, so I had no intention of underestimating her.

  We pulled up outside the gym and climbed out, walking over to the doors together. The last time I’d been here, it had been with Sam, and the sight and smell of the place briefly brought that back before I focused back on what we were here to do.

  I left Stephen and the DC scanning the gym floor and guarding the door while I went to talk to the receptionist. He didn’t recognise Isabel’s name, but he did tell me that a woman matching Isabel’s description was teaching pilates in one of the back rooms. I thanked him and gestured for the other two officers to follow me.

  We headed down the corridor to the back, attracting curious looks from many of the gym-goers, who watched us walk past. It was quieter near the back rooms, and we walked in silence down the hallway, checking the first door. That room contained a class, but it was being led by a curvy, black-haired woman, and we moved on.

  There were noise and movement coming from the second room, and I looked in through the window. There was a class inside, each person standing on yoga mats that were spread out in neat rows, and at the head was Isabel herself.

  I pulled back from the door and gave Stephen a firm nod. He straightened up slightly, and I moved a few steps down the corridor, gesturing for them both to follow me.

  “We’ll wait until the class is done,” I decided. There was no need to make a huge scene of taking Isabel in if we could avoid it. Innocent until proven otherwise was something I took seriously and, if Isabel was somehow blameless in this whole mess, I didn’t want to ruin her business teaching pilates by marching her out in front of her customers. Also, I had no reason to believe that Isabel would be willing and able to do harm, but if we could avoid dragging a roomful of civilians into this, I thought that was worth waiting half an hour or more for.
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  I sent the DC off to ask the guy at the desk how long Isabel’s class would last and settled in to wait.

  “How do you think she’ll take it?” Stephen asked me quietly.

  “Angrily,” I guessed. “None of Alec’s stoic silence, I’m sure.”

  Stephen gave a humourless laugh. “Reckon you’re right there.” He was silent for a pause. “This is it, then. Davies did it, and Alec is innocent?” His words sounded more like a question than the statement he’d probably intended.

  “According to Maddie,” I said noncommittally.

  “You don’t believe her?”

  I grimaced. “I didn’t say that. I guess… so far in this case. No-one seems to have been straight with us. I probably see uncertainty where there is none.”

  Stephen grunted. “We’ll see what Isabel says, I guess.”

  The DC returned with the news that the class would be finished in a quarter of an hour. We kept a close eye on the door throughout, just in case the class ended early for some reason. It wasn’t a long wait, but I was still glad when the first of the class began to trail out of the door. The people coming out, who were mostly women, gave us startled looks as they saw us waiting there and hurried up slightly. They turned to look at us over their shoulders as they walked back towards the main gym, but I paid them no mind and waited for the rest of the class to filter out, leaving the room empty.

  Stephen glanced at me for confirmation, and then we pushed the door open and went inside. Isabel had her back to us as she rolled up her yoga mat.

  “Ms Davies?” I said.

  She turned around sharply, startled, and stood up when she saw us there. She narrowed her eyes at me, and then looked to Stephen, and recognition flared in her gaze. “You!” she said.

  Stephen stepped towards her. “You’re going to be coming with us. You’re under arrest for attempted murder,” he said, before going on to read her rights, even as she tried to interrupt him.

  “What?” She stared at us. “I’ve said I wouldn’t talk to-”