by Carol Wyer
‘You didn’t go too?’
‘I stayed at the club. It was heaving and one of us had to make sure everything was running smoothly. It didn’t need both of us to come back.’
It struck Natalie that neither man seemed stressed or upset by the news their home had burnt down. Shock came in many forms and it was possible they hadn’t fully comprehended the enormity of what had befallen them, but that idea seemed unlikely. ‘What time did you leave the club?’ Natalie looked at Kirk but Gavin spoke for his brother.
‘I rang Kirk when I got there, told him the place had been totalled and the fire brigade were trying to get the blaze under control. I said I’d wait around and sort out insurance, accommodation and so on, and to stay put at the club until closing time.’ Gavin crossed his legs, half the size of his brother’s meaty thighs, and cocked his head to one side, waiting for her response. It irked Natalie. She was trying to do her job. A body had been found in a house belonging to these two men, and yet she was under the impression they didn’t care.
‘And what time was that, Kirk?’
‘Not sure. I left the bar crew to lock up. Four thirty, I think.’ He casually lifted the coffee cup and slurped noisily at it.
Daisy cleared her throat. ‘Can I carry on? I’ve got to set out everything.’
‘Sure,’ Natalie replied.
Daisy beetled off back to her counter.
‘He joined me at four fifty,’ said Gavin.
‘You seem remarkably composed. I’d be distraught if I’d lost all my personal belongings in a house fire.’
Kirk put down his cup and said, ‘At the end of the day, it’s only stuff. Possessions can be replaced.’
‘But it wasn’t just stuff, was it? Somebody died in your house,’ said Natalie.
‘But we didn’t let them in and we don’t know who it was. Could have been a burglar or the stupid bastard who burnt the place down.’ Kirk’s icy glare made him look even more menacing. Of the two brothers, he looked like the one who was handy with his fists and who worked out regularly in the gym.
Murray glanced quickly at Natalie, who nodded briefly at him. He had something he wanted to ask Gavin.
‘You said you contacted the insurance company? How did you know their number?’
‘I keep all emergency numbers in my contact list,’ Gavin replied.
Murray spoke again. ‘What other emergency contact numbers do you have in your phone?’
‘Garage, dentist, doctors, plumber. The usual,’ he drawled.
Natalie waited in case Murray had anything else he wanted to add, but he appeared satisfied with the response so she continued. ‘I’d like to get back to the question of who might have had access to your house.’
Kirk glanced up over his cup. ‘No one else we can think of.’
‘Have you no thoughts as to who might have got into it?’
‘Like Kirk said, probably the shithead that burnt it down,’ said Gavin.
‘If that’s the case, can you think of anybody who might want to set fire to your house or wish you any harm?’
‘Plenty of jealous gits out there,’ Gavin muttered. ‘They don’t like to see anyone do well for themselves.’
‘Have you received any threats?’
Kirk gave a quiet snort but it was his brother who spoke. ‘We get threatened regularly by drunks or punters who think they’ve been unfairly turned away from our club. Look, I’ll level with you. We pissed off a load of people when we bought the warehouse and turned it into a nightclub. Plenty thought it had some historical value and should have been preserved instead. But we don’t give a shit what anyone else wants because clubbers love it and we do very nicely out of it. So… we’ve ruffled feathers. Need I say any more?’
Natalie understood his meaning. These brash young men had upset the locals and it was possible one or more of them had decided to retaliate – but why now? ‘How long have you been in Armston-on-Trent?’ she asked.
Gavin answered, ‘Just over two years. We moved from London to Birmingham in 2012 and then to Derby in 2014. We were hunting for the right place to set up our own club. When we heard the old indoor cattle market was coming up for sale, it seemed the perfect opportunity. We took it on in March 2015 and it opened in June 2016.’
‘And the house?’
‘We moved into it in February 2016.’
If the fire had been started because of some hate campaign against the pair for buying what was now the nightclub, then it was strange it had occurred now and not sooner. Something must have triggered it. Of more concern to Natalie was the body in the house. She needed it identified quickly and then to work out why that person had been inside a burning house. The fire had started in the entrance and yet the body had been discovered in a room at the back of the house. To her mind that meant it was unlikely to be the arsonist unless there had been two or more intending to set the fire and one had been left trapped inside. They were questions she couldn’t answer for the time being. At present, they only had the contact details for a cleaning company, a girlfriend who’d claimed not to have seen anything and two unperturbed victims of arson.
The door opened and Gavin’s head snapped up at the sight of the person striding towards them. Lucy always made an impression. It was due to a mixture of rock-chic elegance – even in the black trousers, white blouse and jacket she wore today – and an air of confidence. She introduced herself, pulled a chair from the adjacent table across and dropped lightly onto it, then pushed away the blue-black fringe that hung low over her forehead, revealing the scar that ran across the bridge of her nose. She looked at Natalie, who continued talking to the two men. Gavin’s eyes were now on Lucy and he studied her like she was a tasty morsel on a plate in front of him. Kirk, less interested in her, put his elbows on the table and waited for more questions.
‘Have you ever received any hate mail?’
Kirk shook his head.
‘Is there anyone you can think of who might have wanted to set your home alight?’
‘Nobody at all. If I could think of somebody, I’d have probably already hauled them in to the police by now.’ His jaw flexed and Natalie believed he’d be more likely to bash the truth out of the arsonist first.
‘And apart from Daisy and the cleaning company, nobody else could have gained access to your house?’
‘No one,’ Kirk answered again.
Natalie looked at Gavin, who agreed. ‘Can’t think of anyone.’
‘You didn’t leave your house keys anywhere?’ Natalie asked.
Gavin said, ‘They were on me all the time.’
‘Mine were in my jacket pocket hanging behind the office door,’ said Kirk.
‘Was the office unlocked?’
Kirk nodded.
‘Do you share it with anyone?’
‘Only Gavin. Hardly anybody comes in unless they’re looking for us, but mostly we’re mingling out front.’
‘Is there any CCTV there?’
Gavin took over again. ‘Not in the office. There’s nothing worth stealing, only the computer, and nobody’s likely to try and walk out over the dance floor with it shoved up their jumper.’ His flippant remark made his brother smirk.
Natalie ignored him. ‘Can the office be accessed from the rear of the building?’
‘There’s a fire door and it only opens outwards, so no.’
‘Can anyone reach your office via the dance floor or do you have security preventing them?’
‘They can pretty much go where they like: the party room upstairs, the bars, anywhere apart from the VIP rooms.’
‘Why not the VIP rooms?’
‘They’re only for private parties and are locked unless in use, and then we keep a bouncer on the doors.’
‘Did you have any private parties last night?’
‘Yes. One.’
‘What about the toilets?’
‘They’re in the same corridor as the office,’ said Kirk.
‘Even for the private partygoers?’
/>
‘There are facilities in the VIP rooms. Everyone else uses the toilets downstairs.’
‘And your office was unlocked?’
‘Yes.’
‘Then there’s a chance your keys could have been taken from your jacket and replaced later, and you wouldn’t have known.’
Kirk pulled a face – a sneer that contradicted his words. ‘I suppose so. I didn’t spend any time in the office last night but I definitely had the keys when I left the club.’
‘Okay, let’s back up a bit. What time did you arrive at the club?’
Gavin answered, ‘Eight forty or thereabouts.’
‘Is that usual?’
‘Yes. We open at nine every night.’
‘How many employees were working last night?’
‘One on reception, four working behind the bars, four hostesses, two hostesses in the VIP lounge, two bouncers and the deejays – DJ Crush, and upstairs in the party room, Dimension. Fifteen in total.’
Natalie nodded. ‘We’ll need the names and contact details of everyone who works for you.’
Gavin tapped his phone and began reeling off the information to Murray. There were twenty-five names in total. They’d have to interview all of them to determine if any of them had a grudge against the two men. It was likely those who’d worked the night before would be in bed by now, but the neighbours would be waking up and she needed to determine if any of them had seen any suspicious activity near the Langs’ house. The sooner they got started the better. With all contact details now written down, she terminated the interview with a final question. ‘Where will you be staying?’
‘Here in Daisy’s flat,’ Gavin replied.
‘Both of you?’
‘Just for the short-term. Obviously, we’ll need to make other arrangements as soon as possible. Place isn’t big enough for all of us,’ said Gavin.
Natalie picked up on a swift look that passed between Daisy and Kirk. She didn’t know what it meant but they made eye contact and broke it almost immediately. Daisy lowered her gaze and continued setting cupcakes onto a stand.
‘Okay. We’ll be in touch as soon as we have any news,’ said Natalie.
As the team stood up, Gavin eased his hands behind his head, stretched and released a heavy sigh before asking, ‘Any idea when we can get into the house and have it assessed for damage?’
‘You’ll have to ask the fire investigator. We’re concentrating on the death of the person found inside your house.’
Gavin blinked lazily. ‘Yeah, sure.’
Daisy still had her head down behind the counter and quietly acknowledged Natalie’s goodbye as the team headed for the door.
Once away from the shop and out of hearing, Murray was the first to speak up. ‘Am I the only one to think it’s odd that Daisy went to bed so early at ten thirty? She’s only in her late twenties and it was Saturday night – she ought to be out clubbing with friends, especially since her boyfriend runs a nightclub. I was always out on the razz at her age.’
Lucy agreed with him. ‘Unless she’d been out the night before and was knackered.’
‘Nah. She said she’d been busy all week and was tired,’ said Natalie.
Murray continued, ‘There was a weird vibe going on in there too.’
‘I noticed that when I came in,’ said Lucy. ‘Daisy kept looking over at Gavin.’
‘She’s his girlfriend,’ Murray explained.
‘No. It was a cautious look – almost nervous – and she dropped the cupcakes not once but twice. She was edgy and not just because we were there. I think she’s hiding something.’
Natalie agreed. ‘She was certainly nervy about something. I picked up on a few signs.’
‘Like her shuffling the tray when you were asking her questions about the fire,’ said Murray.
Natalie nodded in agreement. ‘Yes, she seemed pretty anxious then, didn’t she? We should try and talk to her again alone. She might even have had something to do with the fire.’
‘The brothers are certainly playing it cool,’ said Lucy.
Murray snorted. ‘Aren’t they just? And that whole insurance business. I don’t have contact details for my insurance company on my phone. They’re in a file on my computer. If I needed to contact them, I’d have to look up the number. They might have deliberately set fire to their own place for insurance purposes.’
Natalie had already considered the possibility. ‘That’s something we definitely should look into. Ask Ian to get hold of the nightclub finances. See if they’re doing as well as they make out they are. There’s one more thing that’s bugging me. Those guys weren’t the least bit concerned that a body’s been found in their house, and I can’t ignore the possibility it’s because they put it there and then set fire to the place to eradicate all traces.’
Murray nodded. ‘It would certainly account for their offhand attitude.’
‘Okay, we’ll discuss this later. Best to wait for the body to be identified. Let’s start by canvassing the street.’ She turned back towards the café and watched as Gavin leant in close to Kirk. He was talking quickly, hands waving. They were definitely acting suspiciously. They might be from London and think they were in some little backwater, but they were no match for her or her team. If they were guilty of any crime, she would find out.
Four
Sunday, 1 July – Morning
Natalie thanked the woman she’d been talking to and returned to the pavement, where she waited under one of the many lime trees offering dappled shade along the street. Finches chattered noisily above her head, an avian argument that she was not party to. Natalie had drawn blanks. Most of the people she’d spoken to had either been in bed or inside with their curtains drawn at the time of the fire, and nobody had seen any unusual activity leading up to it. Moreover, no one had expressed any sorrow. She’d sensed the brothers were unpopular.
Murray came into view, head high, shoulders swaying, like a heavyweight fighter approaching a boxing ring.
‘Anything?’ she asked as soon as he was within earshot.
He continued his stride until he was level with her. The birds fell silent at once. ‘Only a fair amount of hostility towards the Lang brothers, nothing of any use whatsoever on any of the security cameras in the area and one neighbour, Lincoln Wild, who said he wasn’t surprised the house had burnt down. Reckoned there were a fair number of comings and goings – mostly women. He said the guys often held random parties and even went so far as to speculate drugs were involved and suggested somebody had probably set fire to the place by accident when they were high.’
‘Did he have anything to back that up?’
‘Nothing whatsoever. In my opinion it was just idle speculation on his part. You want to talk to him?’
‘You think I’d get a different response?’
Murray cocked his head. ‘I don’t think he can tell us a lot more, and nobody else I spoke to mentioned women and parties. He could just be a bit of a shit-stirrer.’
Natalie knew what he meant. Some people used such opportunities to besmirch others, or maybe Lincoln had seen women going into the house once or twice and jumped to conclusions. It wouldn’t be abnormal for the brothers to have female visitors. ‘No one’s said anything to me about any parties or women. We’ll wait to see what Lucy’s uncovered. If there’s any cause to delve further, we’ll interview him again.’
Murray patted his pocket. ‘I wrote it all down anyway, even though I’m sure he was venting.’
‘Okay, let’s wind it up then and get back to Samford. Has Ian contacted you yet?’
‘Not heard from him.’
‘What the fuck’s he playing at? He ought to have picked up the message by now. It’s gone nine.’
‘Maybe he rang Lucy.’
Natalie cast about looking for any sign of Lucy but couldn’t spot her. ‘Perhaps he has. We could do with him turning up soon. Okay, you go back to the station and start by checking out the nightclub’s finances. Find out whatever you can
about Gavin and Kirk Lang. See if you can get hold of any of their staff too. I’d like to know what their employees think of them.’
‘Will do.’
Murray headed back to his car. Natalie marched back to the Langs’ property, where she checked in with the officer protecting the premises from intruders. She ducked underneath the cordon to stand in the entrance, turning a full 180 degrees to take everything in. The house was elevated and set well back from the road, hidden from view behind a brick wall. A security camera, blackened and cracked, had been set up above the main doors and overlooked the driveway. Any footage it might have taken would have been destroyed in the blaze. She tried to imagine what the house had been like before the fire. The front of the house had fared marginally better than the rear, with exterior brickwork surrounding the bay windows now charcoal-black. The back of the house was a different story. Frames had fallen around windows, devoid of glass, and brickwork crumbled beneath them. The roof had collapsed in part. A gentle breeze got up and flakes of ash fluttered about her like skeletal leaves. She took a step backwards away from any possible danger. Who had entered the Langs’ house and died there?
She made her way back down the slope. A car drove by and slowed down, the occupants craning their necks to see what had happened. She ignored the vehicle and, spotting Lucy, called out to her. Lucy spun on her heel, acknowledged Natalie and walked towards her.
‘The brothers don’t appear to have many friends on this street. No one saw a thing and I got the impression not one person I interviewed gave a damn about the fire. Not a single security camera fitted to the houses I visited picked up suspicious movement – nothing apart from the odd cat,’ said Lucy.
‘We got similar results and reactions. The brothers don’t seem to have won over the residents. Any of them mention parties or visitors?’
‘Funnily enough, the last bloke I just spoke to. He lives four houses down. Said the brothers kept themselves to themselves but he had heard loud music coming from their house on a couple of occasions when he was out walking his dog late at night.’
