I introduced both of us, before fixing Gerry with a firm look. “Have you had any contact with Abby Higson in the last month?”
Gerry’s face registered surprise at the mention of Abby’s name. “Abby?” he repeated. “In the last month? No. We broke up ages back, haven’t talked since.”
“Gerry?” A woman’s voice called from upstairs, and all three of us looked up towards the ceiling. “Who’s that?”
“Nobody!” Gerry yelled back, looked flustered. “Just a sec!” He turned back to us, his hands clenched together in his lap. “Look, whatever you’re here about, I haven’t done it. I’ve had nothing to do with Abby, okay? We split up, I was mad, but I haven’t been near her.”
Stephen and I shared a look. “Did she know about your record?” I asked pointedly. “Does she?” I gestured upstairs.
Gerry narrowed his eyes. “Abby didn’t,” he said stiffly. “But Stella does. I’ve not done anything like that recently, okay? I got help.”
Stephen made an unconvinced noise. “And where were you yesterday morning?”
Gerry shrugged. “What time? I was at work by half-eight.” I asked him where he worked and noted it down in my notebook.
“And before that?” Stephen asked, though his tone suggested he knew what Gerry would say.
“I was here, getting ready or whatever.” He looked unimpressed by our questions. “Stella was here.”
“Gerry?” As if summoned, Stella came into the room. She had big dark eyes, and fluffy brown hair, and looked alarmed to see us. “Gerry, what the hell?”
“I’ve done nothing!” he protested sharply. “They’re here about some ex, but I didn’t have anything to do with her!”
I had the feeling that we’d end up in the middle of an argument if we stayed much longer.
“Alright, alright,” I said, patting the air. “Stella, where was Gerry yesterday morning, please?”
She frowned at us. “He was here, had breakfast, went off to work at the shop. Why?”
“Just checking. Thank you for your time.”
“Wait!” Stella said. “Why’re you here after Gerry?”
I sighed. “We’re following up a possible lead, but we haven’t got a solid reason to think Gerry was involved in anything. We’re being thorough, that’s all. Thank you for answering our questions.”
I saw myself out before we could be asked anything else and Stephen trailed behind me.
“Well,” he said, before rubbing a hand over his face. He’d dropped the angry look and mostly looked tired again. “I don’t reckon he was involved, to be honest.”
I glanced over at him, curious about that broken nose of his and the way he’d been able to look so intimidating so quickly.
“Yeah,” I said, “I don’t think so either. Or he’s a good actor, if he did have anything to do with it.”
“But splitting up ages ago and only acting on it now is strange behaviour.”
“Precisely.”
Stephen sighed. “What now then, partner?”
I exhaled. “Back to the station, I guess.”
Back in the car, I flicked on the radio while Stephen drove. He had a tendency to swing us around the corners and brake at the traffic lights a little suddenly for my taste.
Stephen wanted lunch once we were back, so I picked up the sandwich and crisps Stephen wanted along with something for myself, though I wasn’t especially hungry. He was waiting at the entrance, perhaps worried that I’d run off with his cheese and ham baguette.
“Thanks.” He eyed his lunch like it was a Sunday dinner.
“Hungry?” I said wryly as he started to tuck in when we were still climbing the stairs, heading back to our desks.
“Maybe a little.”
We talked idly about the case over lunch but didn’t come to any major conclusions yet.
“I reckon we need to go back to the university,” I said. “Speak to Abby’s flatmates, and the dean, maybe, to see if any more of these kinds of incidents have been reported.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Stephen agreed, his mouth full of crisps.
My curiosity over Stephen was eating at me, so I finally said, “Can I ask a personal question?”
He looked at me in surprise. “Sure?”
“What happened there?” I said as I tapped my nose.
“Oh.” He chuckled, wiping his mouth on a tissue. “Rugby. Don’t worry. I don’t go getting into fights or anything. I played rugby a lot at uni and was thinking of going professional before I injured my knee.”
“Sorry to hear it.”
“Yeah, doesn’t bother me too badly now. Broke my nose twice, once from some guy’s shoulder and then my own teammate’s elbow.” I winced. “Also managed to do my collarbone, that hurt like hell.” He was grinning as he said it.
“Rough sport,” I said, half-impressed and half-horrified. “You still do any?”
“I tutor a bit on the weekends at my son’s school, but that’s all. Think my wife would be pretty fed up with me if I went and broke anything else.”
I huffed a laugh. “Sounds fair.”
We headed back to the university after letting Gaskell know what we were doing and went to talk to faculty first.
“Other incidents?” the dean repeated, having shown us into his office and offered us a cup of tea. “No, nothing similar has been reported.”
“You’re certain?” I checked.
The older man nodded, his face solemn. “Yes, I checked. Such a nasty thing. Have you any idea who did it, or why?”
I held back a sigh. “We’re still investigating at the moment.” The dean didn’t seem to know anything more, and I nodded to Stephen. “My colleague can give you his card, please call us if you hear anything more,” I told him. Stephen shot me an unimpressed look but did as I asked.
“Get your own cards printed,” he grumbled. “You’re the DCI.”
“Alright, I know. I’ve only been on the job for two days.”
He grunted, giving me a nod.
It wasn’t too far from the dean’s office back over to Halifax college, so we walked across campus. It was a pleasant space, with several bridges crossing the lake and pools of water, and an abundance of geese making a racket about the place.
Stephen shuddered as one of the big birds flapped at him and squawked. “Grim creatures.”
I smirked. “Is the big rugby lad afraid of some geese?”
He glared at me. “It’s only sensible. You know they have teeth.”
He looked so horrified by the fact that I was still chuckling by the time we were crossing the playing fields towards the college.
“This is where we did rugby.” Stephen pointed over towards the rugby goal posts, which extended a good three metres up in the air.
“Your blood is probably on the field somewhere, feeding the grass.”
Stephen sent a frown my way. “Well, I guess. Thanks for that image, Mitchell.”
Over at Abby’s flat, it took even longer than the last time we were here for someone to answer the door. This time it was a skinny guy dressed in a university jumper who got the door and looked at us blankly for a moment.
I began to introduce us as he gestured for us to come in, and we stepped through into the kitchen. There were only a couple of students there today, but the kitchen was as much of a mess as it had been yesterday, with unwashed dishes and pans all over the counters and the bin overflowing.
“You here for Abby again?” the student asked. “Because I haven’t seen her today.”
“No, we were hoping to talk to her housemates, you guys, today,” I explained, getting out my notebook and flipping to a clean page. “Can you give me your name?”
There was a pause, and I frowned slightly, waiting for the guy to get himself together. He seemed either nervous or distracted or both.
“Er, Dan. It’s Dan Johnson.”
I nodded. “And where were you yesterday morning?”
He fidgeted. “This is about- about the birds o
utside Abby’s?”
I raised my eyebrows. “You saw them, then?”
“Yeah, I mean no, she told me about it. Told everyone about it.”
“Okay,” I said dubiously. “Where were you yesterday morning?”
“Oh, I overslept. I sleep a lot. Didn’t get up until, like, twelve.”
“You seen anything out of place recently? People hanging around, or anything like this happening before?”
“Nope, nothing like that.”
“Have any of your flatmates said anything against Abby?” Stephen put in.
Dan rolled his eyes like the question was ridiculous, and I noticed Stephen stiffen at Dan’s lack of respect. “I mean, look, she’s fine. Annoying, sure, but no-one in the building’s out to get her or anything.”
“Annoying how?” I said reluctantly, privately thinking that this bloke thought too much of his own opinion.
He shrugged. “You know, just patronising. Goody two shoes. Looking down on everyone, that kinda thing.”
I hummed. “Alright, Dan, thanks. Who else is home, do you know?”
There were eleven resident students altogether, and eight of them were in when we called. Abby was out, but we didn’t need to talk to her, so there were only two we missed. The other students all seemed fairly harmless and understandably creeped out by what had been left outside Abby’s room. None of them mentioned disliking Abby, who seemed to be well thought of by everyone except for Dan.
“All seem pretty normal kids, for uni students,” Stephen said as we left.
“Dan seemed kind of off, though,” I said. “I didn’t like the feeling he was giving off at all.”
Stephen ran a hand over his spiky hair, making it stick up in odd directions. “Yeah, he seemed petty and mean enough to do something like that, but it’s still a pretty out there option to take. These days, kids attack each other online or take the classic route of talking badly of people to their friends. They don’t usually decide that leaving dead birds outside people’s doors is a good option for- for petty revenge.”
“I agree. He doesn’t seem to have enough motive to do something so… creative.”
Stephen gave a short, grim laugh. “Precisely. On the other hand, it would make sense that it was a flatmate of Abby’s.”
We’d almost reached the car which I unlocked. “I’ll drive?” I offered, and Stephen waved for me to go ahead. I didn’t want to deal with his impatient, erratic driving right after lunch.
“It would make sense, since they’d have a key card to get into the flat,” I said, continuing the conversation where Stephen had left off.
Stephen clicked his fingers. “Right. Because there weren’t any signs of forced entry, and if it wasn’t a flatmate, it’d have to be someone more unlikely.”
“Like a caretaker or uni employee,” I said, nodding. I pulled out of the car park and took us back towards the station. “Or they’d have to steal a key card from somewhere instead.”
“It’s going to be near-impossible to prove though,” Stephen concluded glumly. “There are no fingerprints on the birds, no-one saw someone leaving them, and most of the students were in their rooms, which no-one can prove or not.”
I grunted. “Unfortunately true.” We drove a short while in silence, winding through York. It was a surprisingly bright day, with a baby blue sky and a chill in the air that wheedled its way down my collar when I cracked open the window. Stephen took a packet of soft mints out of his pocket and offered me one, making the car smell like toothpaste as he chewed.
“I didn’t see any cameras around the building, did you?” I asked as the thought occurred to me.
“Nope. Maybe there’s some somewhere else around the college, though?”
I inclined my head. “Maybe. It’s possible whoever did it was keeping the birds in their room, but more likely that they stashed them somewhere outside the flat, don’t you think? Much less likely to go smelly. Either way, we’ll check with campus security later.”
When I glanced over, Stephen looked undecided. “I don’t know,” he said. “They could’ve had the birds there overnight and put them outside Abby’s in the morning.”
I sighed, slowing down as we approached the station and turned in. “I’ll make some calls, anyway, see if there are any possible cameras. But it’s not looking promising.”
Four
I was staring at the pictures the university maintenance guy had taken of the dead birds when Stephen got a call.
“DI Huxley speaking,” I heard him say. I gestured to him, anticipating that the call would be case related, and he glared at me, before putting the call on speakerphone.
“Hello?” someone said. I frowned, not able to place the voice immediately. “It’s Abby?” Her tentative way of speaking made her sound like she was asking a question. “There’s a-” Her voice cracked, and it sounded like she was crying. Stephen and I shared a look.
“Abby?” I said gently. “I’m here too, DCI Mitchell. What’s happening right now? Can you talk to us?”
She sniffed on the end of the phone. “Sorry. It’s just… there’s more. It happened again. I don’t know why!” Her last words were plaintive.
“Alright, thanks for telling us. Have you called University Security yet?”
“No, I called you first.”
Stephen nodded. “Okay. Are you in your room?”
“Yeah. I don’t want to leave, not with- those things there.”
“How about we call University Security for you?” I offered. “We’ll get it sorted out as soon as possible and let you know when they’re gone, is that okay?”
“Yeah,” she said weakly. “Thanks. Just, can you be quick?”
“Of course. Have you got a contact number on hand for them?” I’d be able to find it online or by calling the university, I was sure, but I thought it’d be faster to ask Abby directly.
She recited the number, and I thanked her.
“Abby,” I said as a thought occurred to me, “did you open the door just now or earlier today?” It was around nine, and I wanted to know how long this new ‘offering’ had been there for.
“Just now. I called straight away.”
“Good job. We’ll let you know as soon as they’re dealt with.”
“Thanks.”
I pressed the disconnect call button on Stephen’s phone and called security on my own mobile. Stephen hadn’t said much, but he nodded when I glanced at him.
“Hi,” I said to the man that answered. “This is DI- DCI Mitchell,” I corrected myself clumsily. Stephen gave me an amused look, and I rolled my eyes at him. “Is Michael there?” I thought it would be sensible to deal with the same person who got rid of the birds last time, especially since he’d taken decent pictures of the animals beforehand.
Ideally, Stephen and I would get over there to see what had been left there ourselves, but Abby’s well-being was most important. Since she felt she couldn’t leave with them there, then getting rid of them quickly was the best option.
“This is Michael speaking?”
“Hi,” I said, before explaining that Abby had had the same thing happen again. “We’re about to head over, but can you take some photos for us and get them moved ASAP? Abby doesn’t feel comfortable leaving her room while they’re there.”
“Yeah, of course, I’ll head over now.”
“Thanks, really appreciate it.”
I’d been getting my coat on as I spoke and Stephen was doing the same. “Better let Gaskell know what’s happening before we head off,” I said, after hanging up.
Stephen slid his phone back into his pocket and nodded. “Sure.”
Gaskell was doing paperwork in his office and looked almost relieved to have an interruption. “How’re you two getting on?”
“There’s been another incident with dead animals being left outside the York student’s room,” I said, my mouth tight with disgust at the thought of why anyone would be so horrible. “We’re going over there now.”
&
nbsp; Gaskell sighed. “Alright, keep me updated.”
Stephen offered to drive us over, and I regretted agreeing as he took us around a corner at breakneck speed.
“Stephen?” I said, holding onto the handle above the car window.
“Yeah?”
“Slow down a little, will you?”
He shot me a surprised look. “I’m going the speed limit.”
I snorted. “The speed limit is a suggestion, not a challenge. You don’t have to do sixty down an alleyway.”
He huffed, grumbling under his breath, but he did slow down and got us to the college in one piece at least.
We went straight over to Abby and caught the maintenance man, Michael, just as he was leaving the flats, a plastic bag in hand and a disgusted look on his face.
“All gone now?”
Michael pulled a face at me. “No, I’ve called in the cleaners. It was messy this time, really disgusting.”
“Messy?” I said, surprised. The last time had been anything but messy. In fact, I would have described it as neat and precise.
“Lots of blood,” Michael nodded. “Look, I’ve got pictures, but let me get out of these gloves and put these birds down.”
I quickly stepped back and waved for him to go ahead. The smell of blood was pervasive and turned my stomach somewhat.
“That’s odd,” Stephen noted, as we followed Michael towards the gardening area, where he left the birds, and then into reception.
“The completely different style?” I said, and Stephen nodded. “Yeah, I agree.”
Michael had stepped away to dispose of his gory gloves and wash his hands, and I borrowed Stephen’s phone to call Abby back.
“Hi Abby, it’s DCI Mitchell.”
“Hi,” she said quietly. Her voice sounded strained, like she’d been crying. “Are they gone?”
“They are, but I wouldn’t go out just yet, okay? The cleaners will be up in a minute. Then after that, you’ll be good.”
“T-thanks. There was- it was so gross.”
I cleared my throat. “Abby, try not to think about it too much, we’re handling it, I promise. Can you distract yourself with a movie or something?”
DI Mitchell Yorkshire Crime Thrillers: Book 1-3 Page 27
