Maggie had arrived earlier than planned at the restaurant and she was surprised to see Julie Noble already seated. She walked over to the table, removed her jacket, and hung it on the back of her chair before sitting. ‘I thought I’d be the first one here.’ She smiled.
‘To be fair, I thought you would be too! I’ve not been here before, so figured I’d leave home earlier in case of traffic or parking – but there weren’t any problems. Nice place.’ Julie tucked a lock of hair behind her ear.
Maggie looked around. ‘It is. This is my first time here too. Bethany – do you know her? She works with me at …’
‘Yeah, the small one, right?’
‘Don’t let her hear you say that; she’d rip you a new one. She mentioned she’d been here a few times, so I thought it would be worth checking out.’ Maggie shifted in her seat. She hated small talk but preferred not to get into anything serious with the journalist, as she was never sure what her intentions were.
The waiter arrived, placed a menu in front of them, and asked what they wanted to drink.
‘Sparkling water with lemon for me, please.’ Maggie noticed Julie’s eyebrow rise at her choice.
‘I’ll have the same.’ Julie fiddled with the cutlery on the table.
The waiter nodded and said he would return shortly with their drinks, ready to take their order.
‘Not drinking then?’ Julie snapped her napkin and placed it in her lap.
‘Not tonight. Just in case I have to go.’ Maggie regretted her choice of words instantly when she saw the look on Julie’s face. ‘I mean for work, of course.’
Julie laughed. ‘Makes sense. Let’s get our order in and then you can tell me all about yourself.’ Julie’s lip curled in a smile as she picked up the menu.
Once the waiter had brought their drinks and taken their order, Julie wasted no time in asking the questions she wanted answers to. Even in her downtime, she made it sound like she was interviewing rather than just having a chat.
Was this what people thought of her when she was speaking to them?
‘Tell me about your family. I know you live with your brother, but not much more beyond that. Any other siblings?’
‘No, just me and Andy. I’m the oldest. My parents live in Glasgow – it’s where my father is from. Once he retired, he wanted to move back to where he grew up. Mum and he love it there. I try and visit once a year and they come down here to visit their friends too. In fact, they were due to come down when all the Raven shit was happening, but I put them off because of Kate moving in.’ Maggie noticed Julie’s lip twitch. ‘What is it? Don’t you like Kate?’
Julie shrugged. ‘I don’t really know her. But you like her, don’t you and I’m talking about more than friends.’
Maggie’s eyes widened.
‘Why do you look so surprised? Was it supposed to be a secret or something?’
Maggie wasn’t sure how to respond to the question. ‘Erm. Well … Kate is straight, so we’re just friends.’
A smiled formed on Julie’s lips. ‘That’s good to know. I hate to think I’d have any competition for your attention.’
Maggie blushed.
‘So will your parents be down soon now that Kate’s left?’
‘I haven’t really spoken to them about a visit, but I guess I should. I think maybe once this investigation is over, and as long as nothing else comes up, they probably will be down – but I have to tell them about Andy first.’ Maggie bit her lip.
‘What about him?’
Maggie told Julie about her brother’s gambling addiction, borrowing money from their parents and the friction caused over the years. The meal had arrived, and Julie listened intently as she ate. Maggie had yet to let her parents know that Andy was living with her, was attending Gamblers Anonymous in Birmingham when he needed to and that she had paid off his last debts, in return for him doing up her house while working at the factory.
‘It’s his last chance really. He knows if he fucks up again, I won’t be helping him.’
‘Harsh but fair.’ Julie stuffed a spoonful of pasta into her mouth.
After dinner, the pair went to watch a film at a small theatre that had been due to close down but the locals had petitioned to keep open. It didn’t play any of the blockbusters, but it was a good atmosphere and Maggie enjoyed herself – she even enjoyed Julie’s company. At the end of the evening, they said their goodbyes and parted. Friendly. In fact, Maggie felt a little disappointed. She guessed a part of her had maybe hoped that they would have made plans for another evening. The Julie outside of work was a person that Maggie could see herself getting on with.
Maybe it was best they just leave it as is …
Chapter Forty-Two
When the team met for the morning briefing, Bethany had some updates she wanted to share. Nathan welcomed the team before handing the floor over.
‘I’ve searched the bank and phone records of the Hastings family and it looks like £800 was withdrawn in total from three separate cash machines. The card has a daily withdrawal limit of £300 so this happened over a few days. However, none of them had working CCTV but we did manage to get this image. Unfortunately, the quality is very poor and the person – who could be anyone really – is wearing a cap, so we can’t even get a good look at the face. We were also able to triangulate the location of the daughter’s missing mobile and field officers located it dumped in a bin not far from the Hastings’s home. It’s with the digital forensics team now.’
‘Is there any way to uh … tidy up the image? Or get an image from another angle?’ Maggie squinted to see if she could define any of the features to no avail.
‘I tried. No luck. I also tracked the sat nav in Hastings’s car and the coordinates indicate that the car was used to go to the allotment but was then returned to the family home. After some digging, I learned that Sophia Hastings had a small runaround vehicle – a VW Golf – but that hasn’t been located yet.’
‘What about Tim Griffiths’s crime scene? Was Hastings’s car there?’ Maggie hoped the answer would be no, as it could just be a coincidence that the car went to the allotment.
‘Yes. The backstreet you and Kat mentioned to me, the one that leads into the woods, is where it was parked. One of the houses on the street has a security camera, grainy images, but the car was seen with at least two passengers, but maybe more. It was really hard to tell.’
‘Are you saying Tim Griffiths possibly got in the car with Hastings? Maybe he’d offered Tim a lift home? They fought after Tim confronted him about what he knew and then he needed to take care of it,’ Kat piped in.
‘Well, we know Sophia was killed before Tim, so you might be on to something. Maybe Tim didn’t know about Sophia but came around to visit Olivia and witnessed something. Can you tell anything more about the passengers in the car?’ Maggie leaned forwards and strained her eyes to see if the images gave any details away.
Bethany enlarged the image on the screen, but it was too dark and once again, the camera quality was poor. ‘I’m afraid not. We tried various things, but this is as clear as it gets.’ Bethany then pulled out some papers. ‘We have all their phone records and are working through these at the moment. So far, nothing unusual except with Tim Griffiths’s records. There are repeated calls from an unknown number. I’m thinking it may be a burner phone, but we’re still waiting on more information.’
‘All the calls from that number – what is the time frame?’ Maggie was curious as to why all the other numbers could be accounted for.
Was Tim involved?
‘Starts the week before Hastings and his family went missing.’
‘That seems a bit odd, doesn’t it? If Hastings is to be taken seriously as a suspect, do we really believe he’s likely to get someone else involved in his plan? How would that benefit him other than to get him caught?’ Maggie tapped her pen on the table.
‘No, you’re right. We know Tim was often used by some of the older drug dealers on his estate to deliver
for them. It’s more than likely this is what those phone calls are about. Scrolling through Tim’s phone records show there is a history of similar … bursts of calls all from various unknown numbers and spanning a short period before silence again. But we’ll dig a bit deeper and see if anything else can be uncovered.’
‘Excellent work, Bethany. Anyone else have anything to add?’ Nathan eyed the room.
‘Just one more thing to throw onto the con list …’ Maggie pointed at the sheet listing the pros and cons of Hastings as a person of interest. ‘The blood found on the back window at Hastings’s was Tim Griffiths’s. Tim’s not the killer, but he could have seen what was happening to Olivia and her family and broke in to try and stop it. The killer forced him into Hastings’s car, drove him to the area where we found his body and then returned to the Hastings’s home to finish what he had started. This would explain the car trips, as that never made sense to me and that perhaps there was more than one person involved – the organized crime link – payback – Craig Nolan … all seems to fit more than Hastings himself.’ Maggie waited as Nathan stood back and looked at what he had just noted on the sheet.
‘I see what you’re saying but it’s a bit tenuous at best, don’t you think? We’ll leave it up there for now – we may be able to make stronger links later. Anyone else?’ Nathan turned back to face the team. ‘No? Let’s start crossing some things off the boards so we can whittle the information down and identify a suspect. I think we’re close. Any day now we’ll find that missing link and be able to blow the case wide open.’
Maggie hoped Nathan was right. The team were deflated – long nights, no solid leads – morale down – they needed to catch a break.
While they waited for more information, Maggie spent the majority of her day chasing up the curfew company, cross-referencing the prison tattoos – which was proving to be a very tedious job – and chasing up Social Care.
While waiting on hold, she recalled a conversation she’d had with her brother about how funny she found it that a large majority of the public believed that everything in a murder investigation was so exciting and moved quickly because of the way that it was portrayed in movies and TV – however a big part of her job focused on calls, computer work, research, and reports. She wished it was the opposite!
She hadn’t heard from Lucy in a while, so during a short break, she sent her a text, to see if she could find out any more information about whatever had happened a few days ago. Lucy must have had her hands full, as she hadn’t responded.
By the end of the day, Maggie’s eyes were sore and a headache was looming – she couldn’t wait to get home and relax.
Chapter Forty-Three
Maggie was more than relieved to finally arrive home that evening. After her routine of feeding Scrappy and Salem and throwing together a quick sandwich, Maggie changed out of her work clothes and into her pjs, headed to her little office area and opened her laptop. Salem meowed as he strutted out of the kitchen and joined her, looping around Maggie’s legs. She scratched his head and laughed. ‘How did you know I’d be calling your mum? She’ll be so happy to see you.’ Maggie picked him up and placed him on her lap. He wasn’t as nervous as he had been when he first arrived and was quite independent.
She clicked on the Skype app. After two rings, Kate answered.
‘Wow! You look better every time I see you. Ireland is definitely treating you well.’ Maggie was genuinely pleased to see the smile on Kate’s face.
‘Ah sure, when you’re at home, all everyone wants to do is feed you and smother you with attention. Especially when you’ve been away from it all so long. Like a novelty. It’s grand, most of the time, but can get quite tiresome. I do feel much better, if I’m honest. Distancing myself has done me the world of good.’
Just then, Salem jumped up on the table and headbutted the laptop.
‘I think someone misses you.’ Maggie laughed but as she tried to pick him up, he smacked her hand away with his paw.
‘Aww Salem! Hope you’re being a good boy.’
Maggie noticed Kate’s eyes welling up.
‘He’s been an excellent guest. Even Scrappy’s getting used to having him here … sort of.’ Maggie used caution as she picked him up and placed him on the floor.
‘Well, he’d better not make himself too much at home. I’ll be wanting him back you know.’ Kate tilted her head and raised a brow.
‘Don’t worry, I’m sure he can’t wait to see you again and be glad to get his own space back. I don’t want to keep you too long, so why don’t I tell you what we have so far, and you can jump in at any time if something stands out to you?’ Maggie didn’t want to ask the question that had been on the tip of her tongue: When are you coming back, Kate? Talking about the case would be a welcome distraction and Maggie thought she saw a touch of relief in Kate’s eyes.
‘Fire away!’
‘First victim, Tim Griffiths, just shy of his nineteenth birthday, was found on Castle Bank Industrial Estate …’ Maggie went on to relay everything they knew about Griffiths and the crime scene.
‘The murder weapon was left behind. Hmmm. Either the killer was startled and accidentally left the weapon, or it was left on purpose, maybe to taunt the police?’
‘What I’m about to tell you next is of the strictest confidence. I know I can trust you to keep it to yourself, but I have to say it anyway.’
Kate leaned into the computer as if Maggie was going to whisper in her ear.
‘Okay. I’ll keep it to myself.’
‘Fingerprints on the hammer were identified as DCI Hastings’s. Skin under the victim’s nails was also identified as Hastings’s.’ Maggie heard Kate gasp.
‘Oh shit. What relationship did your DCI have with the victim?’
‘No direct relationship that we can find at the minute. Hastings’s daughter, Olivia, was friends with Tim, maybe even a girlfriend. But Tim’s parents didn’t know about her, so I’m assuming Olivia’s parents didn’t know about Tim. Do you think it was revenge or maybe he caught this kid doing something?’
‘What did your gut tell you at the scene? Talk me through it.’
‘Kat and I returned to the scene once forensics had released it. Someone from Hastings’s home, using his car, we assume it was Tim as the CCTV was too grainy to make out faces, drove to the site.’ Maggie paused and found a piece of paper. ‘On the victim’s face were four dots – like this.’ She held the paper up to the screen and let Kate take the image in before she continued. ‘We now believe those dots bear a similarity to a prison tattoo – but not the full tattoo. Maggie drew an image once again and held it up to the screen – the full five dots. ‘This is what we believe the full image looks like and, coincidentally, this image was found on Sophia Hastings’s body.’
‘Sophia was murdered first and the killer is leaving their mark. Clever. If it’s a prison tattoo, sounds like revenge could be the motive – I assume that you’ve found someone who may hold Hastings responsible for something? If not, that is definitely an avenue you need to explore.’
‘Yes. A lifer who was released a few months ago has always pleaded his innocence on the murder charge that Hastings brought against him. Claims our DCI – who was DS at the time – planted evidence in order to get himself a promotion.’
‘And was Hastings promoted after that case?’
Maggie looked down and fiddled with her notes before looking up at Kate again. ‘Yes. Something else you should know though – he has a pretty strong alibi … he’s tagged. We’re waiting to see if there are any violations – the bloody EMS is taking ages to come back to us, but Sarah says that’s common.’ Maggie tapped her pen on the table. ‘He’d need to have quite a few violations spanning over days, though, for all the evidence to fit.’
‘Well, if he has links to organized crime, why couldn’t he have someone else involved – helping him? They usually work in groups – have someone else do their dirty work.’
‘He could. We just haven’t
found anything yet to suggest he does. Phone records are clean. He doesn’t have a car, so ANPR and sat nav tracking came up with nothing. But we do have someone else in the frame.’
‘Other than Hastings you mean?’
‘Yes. A Mr Dodd. He’s the Deputy Chief Exec at the college where Hastings’s daughter attends.’
‘And how does he fit in?’
‘Some allegations were made about inappropriate behaviour towards Tim Griffiths. Hastings is on the board and he apparently had words with this guy, but no charges were ever made. There were previous allegations made against him – also found to have no substance. But if Hastings threatened him or he felt threatened, he could have snapped and sought revenge.’
‘Seems unlikely though, don’t you think? I mean maybe attacking Hastings, I could see that – but why Tim? Because he was the accuser? What purpose did it serve to kill Mrs Hastings? To prove what he could do? Hurt Hastings? And how does Olivia fit?’
‘You’re asking all the questions I asked myself.’
‘What answers did you come up with?’
Maggie liked the way Kate challenged her rather than pointing out the answers – she made Maggie work for it.
‘That so far, the two most likely suspects are the lifer and …’
‘Hastings himself. I know you all probably don’t want to hear it, but with his knowledge and even the fact that you’re all second-guessing it could be him, I think he is the stronger contender from what you’ve said.’
‘I was afraid you were going to say that. Thanks for talking everything through.’ Maggie looked at the time. ‘Best we call it a night and I’ll come back to you if I think of anything else. You’ve given me a lot of food for thought.’
Maggie closed her laptop and made sure Scrappy was in before making a herbal tea. She’d need to shut her brain down if she had any chance of sleeping tonight – easier said than done.
Dead Secret Page 16
