Her Last Mistake - Detective Gina Harte Series 06 (2020)

by Kovach, Carla

  She checked her watch and her phone. No reply from Kerry. Her friend had seen the message an hour ago and nothing, not the simplest of replies. She grabbed her coat and left. Now that she and Kerry’s friendship had been rekindled, she wasn’t about to let it slide.

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  ‘Mrs Powell, we’re so sorry to disturb you. May we come in?’ Gina glanced at Jacob as Kerry Powell stared at their identification. The young woman’s face was smeared with mascara and several of her clipped in hair extensions were tangled in her own hair. Her enlarged pupils, red cheeks and the pungent smell of stale alcohol gave her away.

  ‘Why are you here?’ Kerry filled the doorway, swaying from side to side as she waited for an explanation.

  ‘It might be best if we come in.’

  Kerry stared and grinned before allowing the door to swing back. She led the way without telling them to follow.

  ‘I think that means enter,’ Jacob whispered.

  The large hallway screamed wealth. Gina now understood who Charlie Carter was referring to when he mentioned Francesca’s rich friends. She spotted the dying flowers under the stairs.

  The large double doors led to the hugest kitchen and dining room ever. A shot of Sambuca and an empty bottle of wine sat at one end of the table. Gina’s shoes clipped on the porcelain tiles, the sound echoing through the room as she took a few more steps closer to the table.

  ‘Sambuca? There’s plenty for all of us.’ Kerry smiled at them and gestured for them to sit.

  ‘Not while on duty,’ Jacob replied.

  ‘No, thank you.’ Gina had come to ask her questions but she wondered if Kerry was in any fit state to answer.

  ‘I’d offer you a coffee but,’ she shrugged, ‘I haven’t got any.’

  Her speech was a little drawn out but Gina understood her perfectly. ‘Are you okay?’

  ‘As okay as anyone is when their best friend was murdered at her wedding reception. I don’t know the meaning of okay. I have a husband now. Fat lot of good he is. Where is he? Who knows? My whole life is falling apart.’ Kerry leaned forward over the table and began to sob.

  Gina nodded to Jacob and he flicked to a new page in his notebook to write down that Edward Powell wasn’t at home, with the time next to it. ‘Have you been on your own all day?’

  She shook her head, rubbing a mixture of snot and tears into her straw-like hair. ‘My friend, Cass, came to see how I was a while ago. We had a drink.’

  ‘How about your husband?’

  ‘I don’t know. I never know. He said he was busy working then he was meeting with friends. He just left me here, like this, like he does all too often. If I go AWOL, he moans like mad. How could he leave me like this?’

  Gina passed her a packet of pocket tissues and the young woman removed one and blew her nose. ‘Do you have anyone who will come here and be with you?’

  Kerry passed her mobile phone to Gina. ‘My mum. Her number is under Mum. Can you tell her I need her? Her name’s Alison.’

  Gina could tell Kerry was the type of person who mostly got people to do things for her. Given what she was about to tell her, she’d let it slide and call her mum for her. She pressed the number and a woman answered. ‘Hello. This is DI Harte and I’m with your daughter, at her house. She’s asked me to call. Could you please come and be with her?’

  The woman agreed and ended the call after a few concerned words.

  ‘You look like you’ve got something to say, DI Harte.’

  Gina swallowed and cleared her throat. She knew O’Connor had since called Francesca’s family but given what had happened to Holly, Kerry needed to know about Francesca too. ‘Shall we wait until your mother arrives?’

  ‘No. I want to know what you have to say.’ Her brow scrunched, like that of a child about to have a tantrum.

  ‘I’m afraid I have some bad news.’

  Kerry shrugged. ‘I’ve had the worst so spill. There’s nothing up there,’ she held her hand above her head, ‘that could be worse than what happened to Holly. Nothing.’

  Gina doubted that. ‘I’m so sorry, Kerry. Francesca Carter, your friend, has been murdered this evening. I really am sorry.’

  Kerry’s bottom lip shook before she burst into tears. ‘No, she can’t—’

  ‘I know this is hard and you must be shocked, but someone out there did this to your friend and we need you to answer a few questions so that we can find who did it. Would you be able to do that?’

  Screaming out, she wrapped her arms around her front and bent over the table. ‘No! Who’s doing this to me?’

  ‘To you?’

  ‘They are my friends. It was my wedding.’

  Gina went to speak but then stopped, allowing Kerry to cry until her sobs subsided.

  ‘Can you please tell me more about you, Francesca and Holly? How you all met and how you know each other.’

  Kerry went to sip the shot of Sambuca but changed her mind and placed it back down. ‘I think I’ve had enough to drink. Fran and Holly, we met at primary school. We have been best friends through our childhood and our teens. We’ve always been close, meeting up for lunch regularly, speaking on the phone. We’ve helped each other get over bad boyfriends. We’ve held each other’s hair back in nightclub toilets when we had too much to drink. I love them both like they’re my sisters. There’s also Lilly, she’s the fourth one in our group – the Awesome Foursome – and the other bridesmaid at my wedding. We’ve always been friends. I thought we’d all be besties until the end and now two of them are gone. Who would do this?’

  ‘That’s what we’re trying to find out. Can you think back to your wedding in Crete?’

  Kerry scraped the chair on the tiles and hurried to the sink and poured a glass of water. ‘I can’t stand the stale taste of that stuff any more.’ She pointed to the bottle on the table as she dragged her feet on the floor and sat back in her chair. ‘What would any of this have to do with our wedding? Please don’t taint that memory too. It’s bad enough that Holly was murdered at my reception.’

  ‘We have to ask. When we interviewed Lilly at the reception, she told us that in Crete on the night of your wedding she went to bed early, leaving everyone at the bar celebrating. She heard Holly arguing with someone outside, by the pool. We don’t know who she was talking to. I know this is a long shot, but can you remember anyone being missing during that evening or during the early hours of the next day?’

  ‘I was pretty wasted.’

  ‘Or do you remember anyone seeming a little off or did Holly say anything to you?’

  ‘This has got something to do with her secret man, hasn’t it?’

  Gina crossed her ankles under the table. ‘Do you know who that was?’

  She shook her head. ‘She kept denying there was a man, but Lilly saw him through Holly’s letterbox. She wouldn’t let her in when she went over, even though she was in. I really don’t know who he was though.’

  Sighing, Gina pulled a photo from her notebook. ‘Do you know this man?’

  ‘Everyone knows him. That’s Phil the Pill.’

  ‘Phil the Pill?’

  ‘He’s got a pill for everything. I shouldn’t say any more.’

  Gina took the photo back. ‘We found drugs and money on him on the night of your reception. He was at the venue and he didn’t have an invite. We know why he was there.’

  ‘Okay. Everyone knows he dabbles and passes on a few light drugs, mostly pills and weed. Someone must have called him for some stuff or maybe he was chancing it by turning up.’

  ‘How about Holly? Did she know him?’ Gina already had reports of him being at her apartment block. If she could prove that Phillip Brighton knew her, then she’d have reasonable grounds for further questioning.

  ‘Definitely. We bought some weed off him once. He lives in Cleevesford. He drinks in the Angel Arms. Everyone knows him.’

  ‘He was seen outside her block of flats a few weeks ago. Do you know why he’d be there?’

&n
bsp; Kerry leaned back and wiped her nose once again. ‘Maybe this man in her life fancied a smoke. Holly didn’t smoke or do drugs. I don’t think it would be her putting in an order or maybe she was buying it for him.’

  Gina popped the photo back in her notebook.

  Kerry placed her palm on her forehead and began pressing. ‘My head isn’t good.’

  ‘You’re doing really well. Just one more thing—’

  The main door burst open bringing with it a light breeze through the large building. ‘Kerry, love. What’s happening? Oh my goodness, look at you.’ Alison Reed, the mother of the bride walked in. From the statements, Gina knew she was a little older than herself at forty-nine, but she looked much younger. Her sun-streaked straight hair flowed over her shoulders and down her back as she moved with elegance in her skinny jeans and calf length boots. Her svelte figure could have had her mistaken for a teenager from behind. Her light swing coat fell over her shoulders. On another day, Gina could have been convinced the two women were sisters. ‘What are you doing here?’ The woman stepped back, staring at Gina and Jacob.

  ‘I’m afraid we’ve had more bad news. Francesca Carter has been murdered this evening and we needed to speak to Kerry.’

  ‘What for? Kerry wouldn’t have had anything to do with that.’

  ‘I’m not suggesting that she did but both Holly Long and Francesca Carter were bridesmaids at your daughter’s wedding.’ Witness statements had clearly placed Kerry in the main reception room at the time of Holly’s murder.

  A pale Kerry nestled into her mother’s arms and began to weep quietly.

  ‘I think she’s had enough of a shock tonight. Is my daughter safe when there’s some crazed murderer on the loose?’

  Gina didn’t know. She hoped that Kerry was safe. ‘As she’s alone, it might be best if someone stays with her.’

  ‘Where’s Ed?’

  Gina wanted the answer to that question too but Kerry simply shrugged.

  ‘Come on, baby girl. I’m taking you home with me tonight. I think she’s had enough for now.’ With that, Alison Reed helped her daughter up. Taking her coat off, she placed it around Kerry’s shoulders. ‘It might be best if you call her tomorrow.’ The woman picked up the Sambuca bottle. ‘Looks like she’s had a few too many. Yes, tomorrow would be best. Come on. Follow me out, I’m locking up.’

  ‘Can you set the alarm, Mummy?’

  ‘Of course. Come on. Dad’s making you some food. Looks like you need something to soak up the alcohol.’

  Gina rolled her eyes at Jacob as the woman led her exhausted drunken daughter towards the door. Within minutes, they were standing on the winding drive, listening to Alison’s performance car whizzing off down the road.

  As the breeze picked up, the trees in the garden rustled.

  ‘Did you hear that?’

  ‘What?’ Jacob looked across the lamplit lawn.

  ‘I thought I heard a twig cracking.’ She walked over to the dense clump of trees and listened carefully. Not a sound came from them. She pulled her torch out of her bag and shone it through the gap. ‘I think I’m cracking up. Lack of food probably.’

  Jacob smirked as he walked towards the car. ‘I know how you feel. I’m hallucinating pizza.’

  Jacob’s phone beeped at the same time as Gina’s. She read the message from O’Connor.

  We found a receipt in Francesca Carter’s bag, dated the 11th April. One for the cash purchase of a meal at Piccolo’s, an Italian restaurant on the edge of town. Her husband has no idea who she had this meal with. He didn’t even know she’d had a meal there without him. It is apparently their special place. It’s where he proposed to her.

  ‘Not another spanner in this investigation. Who on earth was Francesca out having dinner with? This gets more confusing by the minute.’ Gina opened the car door and slumped in the seat. ‘Right, back to the station.’

  ‘I’ve just read the email that has followed. No one has managed to locate Samuel Avery or Phillip Brighton. Both of them weren’t where we’d expect them to be when Francesca was murdered.’ Jacob scrolled down to the end of the email, his phone lighting up the car’s dark interior.

  Gina pressed send on a quick message to Hannah. She needed to know if Avery was with her.

  ‘We can add our groom to that list, Edward Powell. I want to know where he’s been.’

  Chapter Forty

  Tuesday, 12 May 2020

  Gina threw her keys on the kitchen table and glanced at the kitchen clock. Two in the morning. After the initial briefing and updating the boards, uniform had been tasked with door to doors and the team were on the lookout for Samuel Avery and Phillip Brighton. There had been no word from Edward Powell, their missing groom.

  She glanced at her phone. There was still no word from Hannah either. After driving by the bed and breakfast on the way home she had made a mental note that Hannah’s car hadn’t been parked around the front. Gina felt her stomach sink and her body weaken a little as she imagined her daughter being away somewhere with one of the very men in the town she despised. Avery couldn’t be her future too. In her mind, they’d already had the wedding and Gracie was calling him Daddy Sam. No, that couldn’t happen. Her heart thumped as she tried Hannah’s number again and it rang. Within seconds the call was cut off. Not good enough. She called again, then again.

  ‘Mum, do you know what time it is?’

  ‘Why didn’t you answer my message earlier, Hannah?’

  There was a pause. Gina heard a crashing of objects hitting the ground.

  ‘Bloody hell! I’ve knocked a glass of water over now.’

  ‘Where are you? You weren’t at the Cleaver when I passed it an hour ago.’

  ‘Last time I looked, I’m a grown adult who can do as she pleases. If you really must know, I’m not staying there tonight.’

  Gina took a deep breath and furrowed her brow. ‘Is he with you?’

  ‘Who?’

  ‘Samuel Avery. Is he with you now?’

  ‘Of course he isn’t.’

  Steadying herself against the worktop, Gina gazed down at her feet. He wasn’t with her; that meant he was out there somewhere but not at his pub, where he also lived. The images of Hannah and Avery’s wedding were vanishing. Maybe she’d jumped to the worst possible conclusion. Hannah was having a little bad patch in her relationship and maybe she had been seeking a little comfort in Avery, the expert manipulator, but he wasn’t with her now.

  ‘Where are you?’

  ‘At Nanny Hetty’s. Gracie wasn’t feeling too well so I came over a couple of hours ago and said I’d stay for a bit. I fell asleep on the couch.’

  ‘Is she okay?’

  ‘It’s nothing, just a bit of a sniffle. Apart from that, she’s having a lovely time catching up with family and they love her being here.’

  Gina’s shoulders dropped. ‘Hannah, it’s really important that you answer my next question as honestly as possible. Were you with Samuel Avery this evening?’

  There was a long pause. ‘He came over to the bed and breakfast about ten. He said he was checking that I was okay. It was a bit random.’

  ‘Why would he be checking that you were okay? Is something the matter?’

  There was a tap at the front door. She crept across the dark lounge and peered out of her front window. Briggs’s car was parked next to hers. She unlocked the door and pointed to her phone. He smiled, came in and sat on the sofa in front of the log burner. Gina hurried back into the kitchen, closing the door behind her. Whatever Hannah had to say, she didn’t want Briggs to hear for the time being.

  ‘Hannah. What’s going on with you and Greg?’

  ‘I don’t want to talk about it but I will tell you something, Sam hasn’t done anything wrong.’

  Gina wondered why he’d turned up to see Hannah at ten in the evening. What had he been doing before? ‘How did Sam seem when he turned up?’

  ‘A little distant, if I’m honest. Don’t freak out, Mum. He seemed a bit lost so I
walked outside with him for a while. Then he went on with this stupid little spiel about how beautiful I was as he stroked my hair.’

  Stomach tightening, Gina waited patiently for Hannah to continue. One wrong word could lead to Hannah dropping the call and turning her phone off.

  ‘It’s not that I can’t handle that type of thing. It’s just—’

  Gina felt her teeth clenching together. After the accusation from Francesca about the assault, her mind flashed to an image of Hannah fighting him off, getting in her car and hurrying over to Gina’s dead ex-husband’s mother’s house to be with Gracie.

  ‘His hands were getting a bit spaghetti man. That’s all. I told him to go home and said we’d talk in the morning.’

  ‘And?’ Had that one word ended Hannah’s flow?

  ‘And what? That was it. He held his hands up, smiled and said sorry. He said he’d call in the morning and went on about how he shouldn’t have come to see me. He seemed a bit, I don’t know, depressed, then he said he had to get back to the pub. You know, Mum, he’s not that bad, I think he’s just a little lost.’

  A little lost – Gina hoped that her daughter wasn’t falling for that act. Samuel Avery had just changed his strategy. Gina knew he hadn’t been at the Angel all night and he hadn’t gone back to the Angel later either, so where had he been and who had he been with? Or had he been stalking Francesca, waiting for her to come home before seizing his opportunity to kill her. So far, her theory didn’t contain enough evidence to arrest him, not after already questioning him. She needed to dig deeper or, she knew for sure, he’d kick up a huge stink.

  ‘Mum, I can hear stirring in the other rooms. I think I’ve woken the others up. I could do without Gracie waking up too. Can we speak tomorrow?’