by Anne Lown
Nick stood in his hallway, still in his nightclothes. He looked like he hadn’t shaved in days. The stubble on his face was more than a five o’clock shadow, and Jenny could see why he hadn’t. The man was sporting a busted lip. The scab over the wound edged into a bruise on his chin, and that matched the mottled purple and brown around his left eye.
“Someone hit you?”
It was a stupid question. Of course someone had, but that wasn’t what she was really asking. She wanted to know why.
Nick stood back and made a gap for them to come in. “Go through to the kitchen.”
Jenny led the way along the short hallway that opened out into a farmhouse-style kitchen. She glanced about, taking in the room. He still had a Belfast sink, and it appeared to be decades old, not pristine like the ones being put into new builds. His cooker seemed like it had seen better days, and at the far end was an open fireplace. Nick clearly wasn’t into decorating as she was sure she’d had the same wallpaper in some of her baby pictures from the seventies.
“You want to tell me what happened?” She hoped he could sense the concern in her voice and that the attack had nothing to do with her.
Nick slid a chair out from under the table, scraping it along the tiled floor and making a screeching sound. Jenny flinched, the pitch of it grating on her nerves. There was an odour in the room, a slight bit fragrant. She’d smelt it somewhere before, but right then couldn’t put her finger on what it was. Both she and Dan followed suit and sat at the table, waiting for Nick to speak.
“I did what I said I’d do, enquired about those knives stolen from Harvey’s, and this was the result.” He waved his hand under his face to indicate what he meant.
“Who did you ask? You never told me who you thought acted differently.” Jenny wet her lips. At last she might start getting somewhere.
“Harvey. I thought we were friends. Clearly we’re not.”
“What?” She shook her head. Surely she’d heard wrong. “How did he behave any differently to how you expected?”
Nick shrugged. “He appeared upset, but instead of discussing it and trying to work out who’d broken in, he chucked us both out.”
Dan had been quiet so far, but now he had a question. “Who’s both of us?”
“Me and Les,” Nick said. “He was who we were showing them to.”
She glanced from one man to the other. “I don’t get it. Why would he hit you?”
“I asked if he’d killed the dealer to implicate Tom, you know, because he was having an affair with Chantal.”
She hadn’t realised her mouth had fallen open until she found Dan’s fingertips pressing upwards under her chin and making it close. She flinched, pulling herself away, and glared at him.
“Don’t want you catching flies.” He winked while he said it.
“But Harvey’s in a relationship of sorts with Colette, everyone knows it.”
Nick nodded. “That’s what he’d like you to think. Even she doesn’t know what he’s been up to. She’d crack if she found out.”
“Yeah, but she hasn’t, has she?” Jenny asked.
“I don’t know. If Tom found out about the affair then he’d probably tell her to get back at Harvey.”
He doesn’t know.
“Nick,” she said, sliding her hand across the table and taking hold of his, “Tom’s dead.”
The man leapt from his seat, the chair falling back behind him and crashing to the floor. He paced over to the cooker and back again.
“When?” Now he was still, Nick’s face belied his panic.
Is there something he’s not telling us?
Dan stepped in. “He was found early this morning. We think he was suffocated. Did you know if he was asthmatic?”
Nick nodded. “I always thought him a fool to smoke, but it’s his life. Was his life.”
So it was common knowledge, not just the few mates like Scott thought.
“What’s that smell? I’m sure I know it from somewhere.” Jenny sniffed the air, and recognition itched in her mind, but she just couldn’t grasp what it was.
“I don’t know, I can’t smell anything.”
She glanced at Dan. He shrugged in return.
“I’m sorry you’ve fallen out with Harvey, I really mean that,” Jenny said.
Nick waved it off. “Don’t you want to know why I thought the African connection was important?”
She’d forgotten about that. “Okay, let’s have it.”
“Chantal. She’s got South African parents. They moved here when she was small. That’s what made me think of Harvey.”
Jenny couldn’t see it herself, but then Nick’s mind worked on a whole different level to her own. She would just have to take his word for it.
Dan glanced from one to the other. “What’s the South African thing about?”
“The knives,” Nick said, “they were from Africa.”
Dan’s eyes narrowed. “That doesn’t make sense. Only the dealer was killed by a knife wound. How can where it’s from be significant?”
Nick sighed. “Because of the affair. It joins Harvey and Chantal together.”
Jenny was finding it easier to follow Dan’s train of thought, and she piped up. “What about the second knife? Was that near Tom’s body? Surely if he’d stolen it he’d have put it near him in the clearing?”
Dan shook his head. “It wasn’t there. Like I said, he was killed by the rock and someone standing on him. He couldn’t get to his inhaler because he was tied down. The bit I hadn’t told you was we found something else there, too.”
Jenny sat up. She’d been slouching in her chair, weary from all the stress the whole thing had caused her. “What was it?”
He rubbed the back of his neck and blew out a breath. “It was my knife.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
The news of a new weapon brought Jenny’s mind to a halt. She placed her fingertips on her temples and rubbed them against her skin in a circular motion. There was no way Dan’s knife could be connected. Maybe he or his friend had dropped it there without knowing, and that made it seem like they’d found it along with the body. To her, that had to be the explanation.
“Could that mean Tom did kill the dealer and he’d tried to implicate Harvey, but his killer didn’t know there was a second knife to use? Where could Tom have left it?”
Nick had finally parked himself back in his chair. He didn’t appear pleased his theory had been blown out of the water, but that didn’t stop him discussing the issue. “How did your knife end up there?”
Dan shook his head. “I have no idea. I remember last seeing it when I was with Shane in the afternoon before he ran off, and never again after that. Maybe I left it at the camp and someone must’ve taken it.”
Jenny’s eyes widened. “You don’t think Pete’s involved, do you? He was at the camp, but it’s a bit far-fetched to consider him to be a killer.”
Nick laughed. “No chance.”
“No,” Dan said, “it’s got to be someone with a bit of foresight to pick it up and use it at a later date. That takes planning. Whoever did the first murder could’ve left it with the body then. Obviously they didn’t need to, or they didn’t want to ruin their set-up. Maybe Harvey was meant to be the fall guy after all.”
“Or Harvey was the killer and planned to make it seem that way. What happened to the first knife, did the police find it?” Nick looked at Jenny, clearly expecting her to know that bit of information.
“No, they didn’t,” Dan said. “There was a map on the body to lead them to it, but I found that with Shane and followed it to where the knife was buried. The whole thing screams set-up. I’d be surprised if the police took it at face value.”
Jenny snorted. “Then you don’t know DS George. He’s not the brightest down at the local station. Anyway, I still think it was Tom. He’s the one with two motives to get rid of the man—Ed, I think Scott called him.”
“You think he was having an affair with Chantal as well?”
Nick pulled his pondering expression. He liked to go into himself while he thought things through. The other two waited until he resurfaced. “That makes three people Chantal was supposed to be having an affair with. Crikey, the woman’s popular.”
“That would be funny except she’s too ill to go out from what I hear. She can hardly be in Colette’s league when it comes to picking up the men.” Jenny realised she was being a bit snide, but she knew no one who put the effort into dating like Harvey’s pretend girlfriend did.
“So where do we go from here?” Nick asked.
Jenny cringed. He wouldn’t like the answer, but it was the obvious choice. “We go see Harvey and talk to him. If he’s innocent of Tom’s death, he must be worrying himself sick right now.”
She was right. Nick’s complexion drained of colour. It was clear he wouldn’t be coming with her, so she only had Dan to rely on. She tapped him on the elbow and stood. They’d found out all they could, and it was time to move on.
“If anything else happens, let me know.” She recited her phone number for Nick to press into his mobile and waited for a text in response. She might know where he lived now, but it would be quicker to get hold of him if the need should arise.
*******
Jenny brushed the stray hairs from blowing in front of her eyes. She hadn’t bothered to look at the message Nick had sent her until she was already out in the street. He’d given her Harvey’s address, and that was where she’d planned to go with Dan, but when she opened the messages she’d found another she hadn’t noticed arrive. It was from Les.
She prickled at the sight of his name. She pressed her lips tighter into a thin line and inhaled through her nose.
Damn that man. What does he want now?
Another picture popped up on her screen. She stared at it, not quite sure what she was supposed to infer from the image. Then it hit her. The picture was of Nick leaving her house a couple of days earlier. So, someone was watching the house. Jenny closed her eyes. He was telling her he was stalking her every move. Even though she was on her own time, he was going to be hanging around.
Is that what he did to Adam and how he burnt his sofa?
The thought brought on a shiver. He could come by at any time and do what he liked. That must’ve been who’d made the phone calls before and after Nick had been with her. The fact the man had broken in and was obviously the one who’d written in blood in her bath hadn’t escaped her.
Why the hell did I move here?
Jenny closed the message and opened the one Nick had sent her. She showed Dan the address, and they set off in that direction. People were still milling around in the streets. She didn’t bother to take notice of any of them, her mind full of fear at what Les was going to do next. She couldn’t keep on dropping drugs through people’s letterboxes with the post. The longer it went on, the more involved she’d be. Maybe it was time to get some outside advice, to listen to someone who wasn’t invested in the status quo like Scott was.
The walk to Harvey’s place was swift. He lived on the same side of the village, and with the chill wind, the pair of them hadn’t hung about. Now she was here, Jenny felt a slight bit of trepidation. Her last conversation with the man hadn’t gone well, and it was likely this one would be the same. Still, if he was being implicated, surely he’d want to know.
She stood a few paces back while Dan rapped on the door. The flutter in her stomach had her feeling sick. Jenny pulled out the mobile from her pocket and tried to distract herself. In the millisecond it took for her screen to light up, she wished she hadn’t bothered. There was another text from Les, but this one was all words. She read the message and swallowed. He was coming to see her later that day.
The front door opened, and Harvey stood there filling the empty space. His eyes narrowed—he clearly wasn’t happy to see her. Jenny tried to find her voice, but nothing came out. To her relief, Dan stepped in and took over.
“Harvey, isn’t it?” He thrust out a hand for Harvey to shake, the gesture appearing to throw the man off his first reaction, and he reached out to do the same. “Can we come in? We need to talk, and you’ll want to hear this.”
Harvey glanced from one to the other then turned on the spot, leading them into his home. Jenny let Dan go first. There was no way she wanted to be stuck between them after what he’d done to his best friend. She was taken by how tidy the property was. Harvey seemed to have a knack for order, and the furniture was far superior in quality to anything in her own home.
I wonder how he affords all this?
The three of them stood in the middle of the living room. Harvey hadn’t invited them to sit, so it seemed like he was hoping for it to be over quickly. Jenny coughed, trying to clear her throat and get her voice back.
“I know you were upset with me the other night in the pub, but this is important. The first knife that went missing was used in the drug dealer’s murder. I think someone is trying to frame you.”
Harvey laughed, but not in merriment. He stared at her. Jenny’s cheeks flushed in response. The words sounded stupid, but he didn’t know what she did.
“I think it’s in your best interest to take this seriously.” The effect of Dan speaking meant the glare was now directed at him.
“And why should I listen to you?”
“Because I was the one who found the knife. The police don’t have it. Whoever killed that man planted a map on his body for some bizarre reason, and that lead to where they’d hidden it. It certainly stopped anyone passing by from picking it up and stealing it. I think someone’s trying to target you. Any chance you know who that is?”
Now Harvey sat on his leather armchair. Jenny took that to be a cue she could do the same. It was a relief to get off her trembling legs. Even with Dan by her side, the effects of Harvey’s anger from the other day still haunted her. Harvey slowly shook his head and stared out in front of him. Eventually, he glanced back to where Dan had joined her on the sofa, his eyes betraying a level of worry he’d not shown before.
“I haven’t a clue. The first I knew the knife was missing was when I came home from Vegas. The door had been damaged but left to look like it was still secure. Then the second disappeared, and there was no sign as to how they’d got it.”
Dan nodded. “What about a spare key? Could they have taken one on the first break-in?”
Harvey stood and walked over to a beautiful piece of furniture against the far wall. He slid out a drawer and rummaged inside, bending to get a better look underneath the paperwork stored in there. He straightened, clearly not happy with the result. “It’s gone. Someone’s taken it.”
Jenny flitted her gaze to Dan. Maybe he was right, and Harvey was being set up, but by who? She bit her lip, not sure if she should ask such a personal question. Once Dan turned to face her and gave a slight nod in Harvey’s direction, she knew there was no way out of it.
“Don’t get angry,” she said, “because I have to ask. Are you or have you been having an affair with Chantal?”
Harvey returned to his chair. He rubbed both hands over his face and blew out a breath. “Yes, but it’s already over. We finished it about a month ago. Tom was getting suspicious. I don’t think he knew it was me, but he was certainly acting strange. He was getting argumentative over nothing, and I’m sure he’d started to hit her again. I asked her to leave him, but she wouldn’t, so I stopped it.”
Jenny nodded. No wonder Colette had been sure another woman was after her man. She’d been right, but just didn’t know who. Maybe that explained why Harvey was starting to take notice of the woman again. He was making a bid to get over Chantal. So Colette’s suspicions had been right; she just had the wrong target and had come to the conclusion far too late.
“Does Colette know? Could Tom have worked it out and told her? She’s certainly been suspicious.”
“I don’t think so. I’m sure Tom didn’t work it out either. He was never that bright, not even at school, and smoking pot for decades hadn’t done him a
ny favours.”
“Who else could want to implicate you?”
Harvey shook his head again. “I’ve no idea. Nick, maybe. He’s been going on about stupid stuff. I tend to tune him out if he’s like that.”
Dan shifted his weight on the sofa. He’d clearly had the same thought Jenny had. “Why did you beat him up if it wasn’t about Chantal and him thinking you were a murderer?”
“What?” Harvey had the same reaction as Nick had done while they’d been with him in his kitchen, but his chair didn’t fall backwards. “I never touched the man.”
“That’s not what he said.”
“Absolute rubbish. I’ve not seen him since he left here the other night.”
“Then why would he say you hit him?” Jenny was getting confused. She seemed to be going one step forward and three steps back.
“You’ll have to ask him that. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got things to do.”
Dan and Jenny stood to leave. They were walking down his hallway when she thought of a final question. “Did you go searching for your knives once you found they were missing?”
Jenny and Dan stopped where they were.
“Yes,” Harvey said. “I kicked him and Les out, then went to ask Tom, but he wasn’t there. Your boyfriend was, though. Scott seemed very cosy answering Tom’s front door.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
“Now we know why Harvey behaved differently to how Nick expected. He thought Tom had stolen the knives to get back at him for treading on his turf,” Jenny said.
She handed Dan a cup of coffee. They’d returned to her house after their chat with Harvey and were mulling over what they’d learnt.
“Do you believe him? I mean, you know him, right?” Dan watched her.
She could feel his gaze following her movements.
“Yeah, a good six years now. He’d always struck me to be a straight-up guy.”
“Then who would want to incriminate someone like that?”
It certainly was a question she was having trouble with, but not as much as with what Nick had said. He’d blamed Harvey for the damage to his face, but Harvey had denied it. If he didn’t do it, then who did?
