Dead Secret

by Noelle Holten

  Kat and Bethany shrugged simultaneously. DI Rutherford had called a briefing at short notice. ‘Hey!’ she called into Nathan’s office. ‘Have you seen the email from the guv?’ Even Nathan looked confused and the shrugging of his shoulders confirmed he was also none the wiser. Part of her wondered if they’d be in for a bollocking because they were no further ahead in identifying any viable suspects or locating their missing DCI and his daughter. Maggie stood and followed her colleagues down the hall to the incident room.

  DI Rutherford walked to the front of the room with a man following close behind her. She stood talking to the mystery man as the remainder of the team found their seats. He looked like he was a throwback from the TV series Life on Mars. Triangular, bushy sideburns covered his face, and his sandy brown hair was almost feathered. He was handsome for his age and Maggie smiled to herself as she thought that all he needed was a long camel-coloured coat and he could almost pass as Gene Hunt – the foul-mouthed, crass DCI from the TV series. Maggie hoped his attitude didn’t match the dress sense – outdated.

  ‘Thank you all for coming at such short notice. I’d like to introduce you to DCI Aidan Meechan. He’ll be stepping in temporarily to oversee the investigation and cover while DCI Hastings is … erm … missing.’

  DCI Meechan touched the DI on the arm before speaking. Maggie thought she saw an awkwardness between the two. ‘Thank you, Abigail. I’ll take it from here.’ Rutherford stepped away and took a seat across from Maggie. She was rubbing her hands as the new DCI continued to talk to the team.

  ‘I want to assure you all that I haven’t made any judgements on how the investigation has been run so far or on the possibilities, okay? I’m not here to step on any toes, but I am here to make sure that we have all the resources available to us to make sure we get this case closed as quickly and efficiently as possible. I’m a hands-on DCI and I also expect my whole team to be hands on. Whatever targets we’ve been set, will get met, if we’re all doing our job. It’s as simple as that. We need manpower and we do have that – only problem has been that some people have been tied up with meetings, spreadsheets, and other shit that can either wait, or be worked on in other ways. What am I proposing?’ The DCI looked around the room and stopped at DI Rutherford. ‘Your DI will work closely with myself as well as with DS Nathan Wright. They will be more actively involved in working with you all.’

  There were murmurs around the room. It wasn’t because Nathan and DI Rutherford weren’t involved in cases, it was because they were more focused on the strategy while the rest of the team worked the operational side. How most police teams worked. Maggie wasn’t opposed to the new DCI’s way of working, as she knew Nathan missed being a full part of the investigation, but he’d still have the managerial side of things to juggle and the long hours he was already putting in would become much longer.

  ‘What I need from you all is to make sure the lines of communication are open and free flowing.’ He turned and looked at Maggie and she shifted in her seat. ‘No one here is more important, more senior or knows more than anyone else – understand?’ He paused. ‘DI Rutherford has brought me up to date on the case, so this is what I want to happen …’ He pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket. ‘PC Bethany Lambert.’

  Bethany held up her hand.

  ‘You’ll collate the timelines and CCTV footage and pass these on to myself and DI Rutherford. We’ll be looking deeper into Hastings’s movements in the time running up to his disappearance. We’ll also be looking deeper into his background. Have we missed something? If we have, this is the time we need to find it.’ He looked at his paper again.

  ‘DS Nathan Wright and DC Maggie Jamieson.’ Maggie and Nathan held up their hands. ‘You two will be re-interviewing Craig Nolan. I read the previous interview – I think you need to push harder. Something about this guy doesn’t feel right. Find out what that is. Curfews can be unreliable.’ Another look at his paper.

  ‘PC Lambert and DC Kat Everett.’

  Kat raised her hand.

  ‘I’d like you to go back to the college and speak to that Mr Dodd again. Why is this guy being so evasive? Is there more in his background that we haven’t uncovered? What’s he hiding?’ He folded the paper and returned it to his front pocket. ‘Someone knows something – maybe they don’t realize the significance. Maybe they are deliberately trying to cover something up. Maybe they are involved. The field officers will continue to screen calls, speak to witnesses that come forward, and make sure we have all the up-to-date information as it comes in. I want everything recorded as it happens or immediately afterwards. The sooner you do it, the more accurate it will be and the less likely your methods can be called into question. If that means coming back to the station after your shift has ended – you do that. Last thing, I’m toying with the idea of doing a reconstruction, like Crimewatch. May jog some memories. We’ll leave that in our back pocket for now. I don’t want this case taken off us because the public or our colleagues lose confidence in our decisions. At the moment, the evidence against Hastings is quite damning – but it also leaves room for doubt. Right then, unless you have any questions, I suggest we all get a move on and solve these murders before we have another body to deal with.’ DCI Meechan didn’t even wait for a response from the team before walking out of the room.

  Maggie turned to Nathan. ‘Well, that was interesting. What do you make of this guy?’ But Nathan was distracted. He was looking at DI Rutherford; she was rubbing her eyes. ‘Nathan? Did you hear what I said?’ Maggie waved her hand in front of his face.

  ‘Sorry. Fuck, this is going to be interesting and maybe a bit awkward.’ Nathan turned to Maggie. ‘Do you not know who DCI Meechan is?’

  ‘No. Should I?’

  ‘He’s Rutherford’s first ex-husband and it wasn’t exactly an amicable split.’

  ‘Oh Jesus. No wonder she looks stressed.’

  ‘And I have to work with her.’ He took a deep breath. ‘Okay, best get to it. I hear Meechan is a decent boss, but he can be something else behind the scenes.’ Nathan stood and walked over to Rutherford.

  ‘Great.’ Maggie sighed. She knew her thoughts wouldn’t be welcome at the moment, but DCI Meechan made a lot of sense and having a fresh pair of eyes might just be what they all needed right now.

  Chapter Fifty-Two

  Back at her desk, Maggie was debating whether now was the time she should disclose what she and Kate had been discussing, when one of the field officers from downstairs walked over and handed her a message. Maggie read the message and headed directly to Nathan’s office.

  ‘Something just came in. Looks like while the forensics team were searching the allotment shed, they came across a diary. They believe it belonged to Sophia Hastings and are just running some tests on it now.’ Maggie handed the note to Nathan and watched him read it.

  ‘Why was this given to you? Have they sent over any copies of the diary yet?’ Nathan handed the piece of paper back to Maggie.

  ‘No idea and I’ve not received anything more that I’m aware of. Do you want me to call them and find out? I wasn’t sure if it was something you’d rather follow up first yourself?’

  ‘I’ll give Dr Blake a call now. Do me favour and let Rutherford know. I’m just going to pop outside after this; some fresh air would do me good. Banging headache.’ He rubbed his temple.

  ‘Sure thing, boss.’ Maggie left Nathan to it and walked down the hallway to Rutherford’s office. The door was open, so she tapped on the frame and waited for DI Rutherford to look up from her computer before speaking.

  ‘Just wanted to let you know we had a call come in about some possible evidence. Nathan’s just contacting the forensics team and we’ll update everyone when we know more.’

  DI Rutherford waved her hand and Maggie realized that was about all the response she was going to get from the guv. She bumped into Nathan as she headed back to her desk. ‘Guv seems distracted.’

  ‘She has a lot going on.’ Nathan was vague but
Maggie understood. He wasn’t one to gossip despite their friendship.

  ‘Well, she definitely looks like she’s on the edge. Big murder case with her boss as a suspect, ex-hubby coming in to oversee the investigation, currently going through what I heard is quite a messy divorce. Really feel for her and definitely makes you realize she’s bloody resilient to be in charge of such a highly sensitive case while dealing with all that shit in her personal life.’ Maggie had heard rumours within the office but made no judgements.

  Nathan’s eyes widened and one side of his lip curled. ‘Did you actually just compliment the guv? I’ve asked Dr Blake to send you what she has, by the way. Distribute it amongst the team if there’s anything of relevance.’

  ‘Bugger off.’ She tapped his shoulder. ‘If you tell her, I may have to kill you. Will do.’ They ended the conversation there and Maggie returned to her desk. She looked out the window and wondered if taking the first step to working on her own personal life outside of work might be to get to know Rutherford a bit better, but she also didn’t want to cross any boundaries. The thought went as quickly as it came when Maggie heard her phone buzz. A text from Dr Blake.

  Sending over some pages to you now. It’s a fairly large file so might take a while. Happy reading. Fiona

  Chapter Fifty-Three

  Maggie tapped her pen on the desk while she waited for Dr Blake’s email. She seemed to still be in the pathologist’s bad books and couldn’t figure out how she would or if she could make things right between them again.

  She was so engrossed in her thoughts, she hadn’t heard Nathan creep up behind her. ‘Penny for your thoughts.’

  Maggie jumped. ‘You don’t want to know what darkness brews in this head of mine.’ She tapped her head with the pen.

  ‘You’re probably right. What are you waiting for?’

  ‘Email from Dr Blake.’ As if on cue, her computer pinged and she opened up the email. A brief message from the pathologist with several attachments. ‘Pull up a seat, we can look through these together if you want.’

  ‘Wish I could. I’ve got to go and speak to the Comms Department. You make a start and I’ll join you when I’m finished.’

  Maggie waved and her focus immediately returned to the screen. Nothing really caught her attention from the first few pages. But then she noted that Sophia Hastings had started to record dates. No pattern evident – they seemed random but left an impression that Maggie couldn’t ignore. As she scrolled through, a passage caught her eye:

  Sick of lying to Dr Ross. She’s probably already guessed anyway. Another broken rib. The pain is unbearable. Police were called and I had to lie again. Something needs to be done. I can’t take this any more.

  Shit! Maybe the dates she had seen earlier related to police call outs? ‘Bethany, do you have a minute?’

  ‘Sure, what do you need?’

  ‘This might be a long shot, but can you check these dates against any call outs to DCI Hastings’s home?’ Maggie scribbled the dates on a piece of paper and passed it to her colleague.

  ‘Will do.’

  Maggie returned to the journal pages.

  Still happening. I had to call in sick or they’d see the bruises and question me again. Why won’t he do something about it?

  Maggie’s stomach tightened. Was DCI Hastings hiding a darker side? She knew that despite the public’s general perception, domestic abuse wasn’t limited to those of a lower socio-economic background, as Lucy – a Probation Officer – had been a victim and she herself had come across a few people from various backgrounds: teachers, fellow officers, judges as both victims and perpetrators.

  ‘Maggie – you might want to come over and check these out,’ Bethany called across the room.

  Maggie wanted to keep reading but tore herself away from her own screen and headed to Bethany’s desk. She looked over her colleague’s shoulder. Five call outs recorded but no further action taken. The records were limited and although onscreen it looked like more information had been recorded, neither Bethany nor Maggie could access the details.

  ‘Well, I wasn’t expecting that!’ Maggie bit her nail. ‘DI Rutherford had sort of hinted at this, but these calls seem to come from the daughter and no visible injuries have been recorded. I think I’d better speak to Nathan. Thanks.’

  Maggie caught Nathan sneaking back into his office. His meeting with the Comms Department had been quick and he didn’t look very happy.

  Bethany closed the call out list down and returned to trawling the CCTV evidence. Maggie stopped at her desk and logged out of her computer before knocking on Nathan’s door.

  ‘Do you have a minute?’

  Nathan waved her in. ‘What’s up?’

  ‘It’s not looking good for Hastings, that’s for sure. The wife’s journal has random passages, talking about injuries, being afraid and then dates on various pages. When Bethany looked up the dates, they seem to correspond to police call outs that their daughter, Olivia, made. But no further action was taken, and no injuries were recorded by the police. Has Rutherford said anything to you?’

  Nathan shifted in his seat and cleared his throat. ‘It’s definitely … unusual. Have a seat, this might take a little while.’

  Maggie sat and waited for Nathan to continue.

  ‘The team will be told all this anyway; it’s why I had to meet with the Comms Department earlier, as we have now reached a point where we need to give the press something before they start making things up themselves.’

  Maggie knew all about that from the Raven case.

  ‘But for the time being, keep this between us, okay?’

  ‘Of course. Should I be worried?’

  ‘There have been previous call outs in the last two years to DCI Hastings’s property. Olivia has called the police claiming that DCI Hastings has assaulted her and her mother on a few occasions. However, when the police went to the property, Mrs Hastings did not support those claims and declined to press any charges. Olivia refused to speak to the police at all but did show cuts on her arm; her mother advised these were self-inflicted. Apparently, the daughter has a quite … traumatic background and has been prone to making false allegations in the past.’

  ‘Well, looks like all those decisions might come back and bite the police on the arse. I know from working in the DAHU that it can take up to seven years of abuse before a victim gets up the courage to call the police – and if the perp is a police officer? Jeez. Was he given preferential treatment because of his position in the force, Nathan? Because if he was, that’s going to open a whole other investigation surely? I’m kind of glad I left the DAHU now – even though it was probably out of their remit, I’m sure they are going to get some flak for this.’

  ‘I know. It’s a huge mess and we’re sort of in damage control mode. We’ve had no luck getting hold of relatives who may be able to shed some light on the situation; seems that the Hastings closed themselves off.’

  ‘Many domestic abusers cut off family and friends. I remember Lucy telling me that Patrick did that to her. Where do we go from here?’

  ‘I believe DCI Meechan is going to be sharing the new strategy for dealing with Tim’s murder, Mrs Hastings’s murder, and Olivia’s abduction. I think we are going to have to assume that she may be the next victim. We’re going to appeal to the public again for any information on sightings of DCI Hastings. We’ll give them as much information as we can without compromising the case. But some of the evidence in Tim’s case just doesn’t add up, so although Hastings is certainly looking good for it, we’re not going to rule out others at this time.’

  ‘Thanks for the update. I’m going to go back and finish reading the notes Dr Blake sent me and see if anything else comes to light. I can share that in the briefing later.’ Maggie stood. ‘I really hope we find something else.’

  ‘Me too, we don’t need any more shit on our doorstep.’

  Chapter Fifty-Four

  Maggie shook her head. After scanning through the documents s
ent from forensics, the evidence against DCI Hastings was damning – she couldn’t see anything other than his involvement in the murder of his wife and disappearance of his daughter. What was also curious was Sophia Hastings’s references to their daughter’s mental health deteriorating and wondering whether this was hereditary or not. Nathan tapped her shoulder.

  ‘You ready?’

  Maggie logged out and followed Nathan to the briefing. She sat beside Kat, who was writing something down in her notepad. She tried to see what it was before Kat looked up at her.

  ‘Just trying to tie up some of the loose ends in my head. I figured if I wrote them out, I’d have a better chance of picking up on something, but none of this case makes sense … well, except that Hastings is guilty as hell.’ A few officers turned her way and frowned. ‘Oops. Maybe I need to keep my mouth shut.’

  ‘Always feel free to share an opinion, but comments like that will need backing up. You might get some answers in a minute.’ Maggie pointed at DCI Meechan who walked into the room with confidence.

  ‘Right folks. I’m not going to sugar coat anything today. DI Rutherford and I have just spoken to Comms and there will be a press release sent out later today, so we wanted to let you all know what’s happening and look at where we go from here.’ DCI Meechan walked to the whiteboard, removed the picture of DCI Hastings and placed him on a separate board, circling the picture with a red marker and writing – ‘Suspect’. ‘Let’s stop dancing around the possibility and face the fact that we can no longer treat the case as a family abduction. Instead, DCI Hastings is wanted for questioning in the murder of Sophia Hastings, the abduction and possible murder of Olivia Hastings, and the murder of Tim Griffiths, based on the evidence we have so far. However,’ he turned and faced the room, ‘I’d like to investigate Tim’s murder independently of the family’s murder. Yes, the evidence connects Hastings to Tim’s murder, but it’s not definitive. The connection to Tim is thin – I’m just wary of accepting any scenarios without something more solid to back them up. Maggie, I understand you’ve had a quick look at Sophia Hastings’s journal. What have you learned?’