Deadly Fallout (Detective Zoe Finch Book 6)

by Rachel McLean

  “I’ll get ya yer water, Lady Muck. Just don’t go expecting five star treatment, eh?”

  Chapter Seventy-Six

  It was half past four, and Nicholas still hadn’t returned. Zoe had texted, phoned, and pinged him on WhatsApp and Instagram.

  No response.

  She dialled Connie.

  “Boss. I’m so sorry about your mum.”

  “Thanks, Connie. That’s not what I’m calling about.”

  “If it’s the case, the sarge and DS Griffin are—”

  “It’s Nicholas.”

  “Oh.”

  “Can you find out if he’s with Zaf? He buggered off after I told him about his gran and he won’t return my calls and messages.”

  “No problem. Hold on for a moment.”

  Zoe stroked the cat as she waited for Connie to return. She’d moved from the hall floor to the sofa, but still felt numb. Worry about Nicholas cut through the blur.

  “Boss, he’s fine. He’s at ours.”

  “He’s at your mum’s house?”

  “Mum’s fed him. He’s pretty upset.”

  “Tell Zaf to pass on a message, will you?”

  “Course.”

  “Tell Nicholas I love him and that I’m sorry.”

  “No problem,” Connie replied. “You on your own?”

  “I’ll be fine.”

  “If you need company…”

  “It’s OK. I’m expecting Mo.”

  “He’s at the post-mortem.”

  “As he should be. I can wait. See you in the morning, Connie.”

  “You’re coming back in?”

  “Of course I am. Thanks for your help.”

  Zoe stood up. Hanging around here would do her no good. And she didn’t want to wait around for Mo.

  She called his number and got voicemail.

  “Mo, I’m heading to the Crown Court. Call me when you’re free, yeah?”

  She tossed some cat biscuits into a bowl and left the house. Twenty minutes later she was at the Crown Court.

  She got through security in record time – more people were leaving at this time of day than arriving – and hurried to the courtroom.

  This wasn’t about work. She was looking for Carl. His voice on the end of the phone wasn’t enough; she needed human contact.

  The court room was empty except for a woman cleaning the desks at the front.

  “You missed it, love.”

  “I can see that. When did it finish?”

  “Only half an hour ago.”

  Zoe considered asking the woman if anything interesting had happened. But she wouldn’t know.

  “Thanks.”

  She walked the corridors, searching for Carl. People were heading towards the exit, finishing formal business for the day. The lawyers would be going to their offices, to prepare for tomorrow. The accused – including Ian – would be in security vans on their way back to prison.

  She walked out to her car and threw herself inside. She stared out of the windscreen. She could call Carl. If she told him what had happened, their argument would be forgotten.

  But she wanted to do this face to face.

  A shape appeared by the passenger door. It was a man in a dark suit, his hand on the door handle.

  She flicked the central locking switch in the driver’s door. This wasn’t a rough part of town, but you couldn’t be too careful.

  The man tried the door handle, but it didn’t budge. Zoe leaned across. It might be Carl.

  He bent down just as she was putting her face up to the window. The two of them locked eyes. Zoe pulled in a tight breath.

  “Let me in, will you? We need to talk.”

  She shrank back, mind racing. After a moment’s thought, she disengaged the central locking. He jerked the door open and slid inside. His movements were fluid but his face was beaded with sweat.

  “Sir?” she said.

  Randle turned to her. “I need your help.”

  “What with?’

  “It’s unofficial.”

  “Sir, given the nature of what’s—”

  “Shut up, Zoe. I know what you’re like. I’ve seen you pursue investigations you were told to leave alone. You’re the only person I can trust.”

  David Randle, trust her?

  She swallowed her pride, along with the lump in her throat. He was still her senior officer. Although the way he was talking…

  She scanned the street.

  “There’s no one around,” he said. “At least, no one you know.”

  She nodded.

  Go along with it.

  “What do you need, sir?”

  Chapter Seventy-Seven

  “I really feel for the boss,” Connie told DC Solsby. They were hanging around in a street across the reservoir from where Jukes had been found, trailing two pairs of uniformed officers who were knocking on doors. The street was lined with modern houses that reminded her of those eco-living communities in Scandinavia. Most of them were uninhabited, many were still being built.

  “She close to her mum?” Solsby asked.

  “Not at all. But that doesn’t make it any easier.”

  “Can be harder, sometimes. You grieve all the things you missed, the relationship you wish you’d had.”

  She eyed him. She didn’t know this man well, but from the little she did, it wasn’t like him to be deep. “What’s your name?” she asked him.

  “DC Solsby.”

  “Your first name.”

  “Gordon. Stick with Solsby, if you don’t mind.”

  “Nice to meet you, Gordon.”

  He gave her a look of mock anger. “You too, Connie. Or should I call you Rita?”

  She laughed: the name he’d used at the gym. “Don’t get any ideas. I’m going out with a guy from the Forensics team.”

  “Good for you.” Solsby – Gordon – gave her a nudge. “Lucky guy.”

  Connie blushed. She’d only been seeing Rav for a couple of weeks, but she had a good feeling about it. They’d met on a case, processing DNA samples after a student had been murdered at Birmingham University.

  One of the PCs on door-to-door duty beckoned them over and they hurried to join her and her colleague. They were talking to a middle-aged woman who stood in her doorway dressed in her pyjamas.

  “This lady says there’s cameras on the industrial building over that way.”

  The woman pointed past the officers. “That building there, the one that looks like an old warehouse. They use it for events and stuff. I’ve seen cameras on it.”

  Connie followed the woman’s hand. She doubted the building would have a view of the reservoir, but it didn’t hurt to try. “Who do I need to speak to for access?”

  “There’s a sales office. Turn right onto Rotton Park Street. Can’t miss it, flags outside.”

  “Thanks.” Connie exchanged glances with Solsby.

  “What we waiting for?”

  She grinned at him and they hurried in the direction of the sales office. A young woman with afro hair piled on top of her head sat behind a vast white desk.

  Connie showed her ID. “We’re investigating an incident in the area. One of your residents said there are CCTV cameras on the warehouse building over there.”

  “You mean Tubeworks. Yeah, there’s cameras on all sides.”

  “Can we have a copy of the recordings?” Connie hoped this was the kind of outfit that didn’t delete its CCTV every morning.

  “You can. Do I need to be worried?”

  “We pulled a body out of the reservoir,” Solsby said.

  The woman wrinkled her nose. “Edgbaston Reservoir?”

  He nodded.

  “Shit. Who?”

  “Not one of your residents,” Connie said.

  “I didn’t think it was. At least, I hoped not…” The woman leaned into her screen. “Here. What date d’you want the recordings from?”

  “From three weeks ago to two weeks ago,” Connie told her.

  The woman nodded. �
��You want to watch it here?”

  “Can you email it to me?”

  “Course.”

  Connie handed the woman her card. “Can we take a quick look at where the cameras are?”

  The woman shuffled out of her seat and rounded the desk. “I was about to finish up. I’ll show you.”

  “Thanks.”

  Connie and Solsby followed the woman past more of the Scandinavian-style houses towards an area of open land. It had been recently landscaped, and was flanked on the far side by a large industrial building.

  The woman pointed towards the far corner. “Up there.”

  Connie approached the building and looked up. There were cameras fixed on the corner of the building, just below the roofline. One pointed towards the estate, the other out over the canal that separated these houses from the reservoir.

  “That could work,” she said to Solsby.

  “It could.” He gave the woman a nod. “Cheers.”

  She gave them a thumbs-up and walked to her car.

  “You want to go back to the office and check these?” Connie said.

  “Why don’t you head back? I’ll stay here, follow Uniform around like a good dog.”

  “Er… I don’t have a car.”

  “I’ve got my kit in my car,” Solsby said. “We can watch the video there.”

  “Fine.” Connie didn’t fancy their chances of seeing much inside a car, but she didn’t have much choice. Maybe the boss was right; she needed a car.

  They sat inside his car and she forwarded the email to him. He opened up a bag he’d taken from the boot and pulled out a laptop. After a few moments the camera feed was onscreen.

  “Those are expensive cameras,” Connie said. The picture was clear, the view towards the reservoir excellent.

  “It’s a bit far away, though.”

  “Yeah.”

  “Still… when should I start?”

  “We need to get this back to the office. Get a team on it.”

  “Let’s take a look first, just in case.”

  “In that case, start two weeks ago today. Late evening.”

  He searched through the email attachments. The woman had sent them twenty-one files, three for each day covered.

  “This is going to take forever,” he said.

  “We can speed it up.” Connie reached over his shoulder, pointing towards a button on the screen.

  “I know.” He slapped her hand away.

  She gave him a mock hurt look. “Oi.”

  “You’re fine.”

  “Play it, then.”

  He hit play. The view took in more of the site between the canal and the reservoir, which looked like it had been cleared for building work. It gave them an uninterrupted view.

  “What’s that?” Connie asked.

  “I’ll slow it down.”

  A car entered the shot. It crawled along the road leading to the reservoir then stopped.

  “Ten thirty-five pm,” said Connie. “Nothing to be here for at that time.”

  “Nope.”

  A figure got out of the car. Connie leaned over Solsby’s shoulder to get a better view. He leaned back for her.

  The figure was joined by another, emerging from the passenger door. The second person went to the boot and opened it.

  Connie watched, her heart racing. Surely they hadn’t found the right section of footage this easily?

  The man leaned into the boot and seemed to rummage around in it. After a few moments, he closed the boot again. The driver, who’d been watching him, got into the car. The passenger closed the boot and got back in the car, which drove off.

  “False alarm,” said Solsby.

  “It would have been too good to be true,” said Connie.

  “I’ll drop you back at the station. You can make a start on these.”

  “Cheers.” She was relieved to be able to get to work. What they had seen had raised her hopes.

  “Come on, then,” she said. “We haven’t got all day.”

  He stuck his tongue out at her and started the car.

  Chapter Seventy-Eight

  “Just drive,” Randle said.

  “I’m off duty, sir. I’d rather you told me—”

  He slapped the dashboard. “Drive. I’ll explain when we’re moving.”

  She started the car and headed towards Harborne. They drove in silence, Zoe occasionally muttering under her breath at other drivers. When they reached Five Ways, he shook his head.

  “Not that way. Head out of the city.”

  She took the turnoff for the Hagley Road.

  “Where are we going, sir?”

  Did she need to worry?

  “I’m just going to check in with my team,” she said. “They’ll be wondering where I am.”

  “You said you were off duty.”

  “My son will be expecting me.”

  “Your son is eighteen and living his own life, Zoe. You don’t need to have someone follow your movements. Drive.”

  She tightened her grip on the wheel and drove out of the city. At the motorway, he waved southwards. “Get on the M5.”

  She took the sliproad and joined the rush hour traffic. The speed restriction lights were illuminated on the gantry.

  “I need you to tell me what’s going on, sir.”

  He turned towards her, bringing his knee up to twist in the seat. “This is confidential, DI Finch.”

  “OK.”

  “When I tell you why, you’ll understand.”

  Zoe thought of Carl. Had he been watching Randle today, at the trial? Had he seen the Superintendent get in her car?

  “You can tell me, sir.”

  “I have to tell someone. Take the outside lane.”

  “The traffic here is—”

  “Just take it.”

  She indicated to pull out. She knew what he was doing; making it as hard as possible for her to leave the motorway.

  She only had to reach out to flick her phone on. She could have Mo tracking her.

  But Randle was watching her. And despite her fear, she wanted to know what he was up to.

  She forced herself not to prompt him. Let him tell you in his own time. He clearly had something he was aching to get off his chest.

  “My wife’s been taken.”

  She shot her head round to look at him. “What?”

  “Look at the road. Last night. She was taken from the house. My daughters were there, but they’re safe.”

  “How do you know she was taken? She could have…”

  “She didn’t leave me, if that’s what you’re thinking. I’m sure she’s thinking of it, after that photo came out in court. But Anita would never walk out on our girls.”

  “So who took her?”

  He stared out of the windscreen, his jaw clenched. “Hamm.”

  Zoe felt a hard ball form in her chest. “Why?”

  “Why d’you think? As leverage. He wanted to make sure I didn’t incriminate him, or myself, at the trial today.”

  “Were you planning on doing that?”

  “Ask your boyfriend. But I didn’t. I made damn sure to shift blame away from Hamm in my testimony. Alina acting alone. Adams and Fulmer acting alone. No evidence of a conspiracy.”

  “Did the CPS buy it?”

  “She kept asking about Hamm. She knew what was going on, alright, even if she didn’t know why. But she didn’t get me to admit to any of it.”

  “What about Ian?”

  “What about him?”

  “Did he plant that evidence?” she asked.

  “You’re the only person who knows that.”

  “I can’t be sure what I saw.”

  “That’s what you said in court. Were you protecting him?”

  “No.” She hit the brake as the car in front’s lights came on. The two of them jerked forward.

  “Easy, Zoe. Keep your mind on the road.”

  “It’s not that straightforward, sir. I’d be much happier if we could pull over.”

>   “I’m taking you somewhere.”

  “Where?”

  “You’ve been trying to track Hamm down.”

  “We haven’t been able to find him.”

  “There are two addresses you’ve been investigating. I believe my wife is at one of them.”

  “So why haven’t you gone to get her?”

  “It can’t be me, Zoe. If I magically track the man down, it makes it look like I knew what he was up to all along.”

  She hesitated. “And did you?”

  “I’m not answering that. What are the addresses you’ve been focusing on?”

  “A house outside Solihull, and a gym in Chelmsley Wood.”

  They were approaching the junction with the M42, which led around the south of the city. Zoe changed lanes.

  “What are you doing?” Randle asked.

  “We’ll need the M42 for both those locations,” she told him.

  “Fair enough. Stay in the outer lane, though.”

  She nodded and took the turnoff.

  “When we get there,” she asked him, “what are we expected to do? There’s no way the two of us can overpower Hamm’s men.”

  “I want you to call it in. Say you’ve seen him, and call for backup. Armed, if necessary.”

  “That’ll take time.”

  “I’ll make sure it’s authorised.”

  I bet you will.

  “I want to call DS Uddin,” she said. “He’s my best officer.”

  “Uddin is too clean.”

  She turned to him. “I’m clean.”

  “You’re not bent, Zoe. But you walk a fine line. You don’t always obey orders. There’s no way I’m bringing Uddin in.”

  She blew out a frustrated breath. “I’ll call it in to Harborne.”

  “You’ve worked with Force Response on this side of the city before. You know they’re good.”

  She nodded. They were nearing Solihull, crossing over the M40 two junctions away.

  “I’m not sure of the route to Hamm’s house,” she said.

  “Take the next junction.”

  They took the turnoff for the A34 and he told her to turn right, away from the city. He guided her through a series of turns and bends, along increasingly remote lanes. She doubted she’d remember this route if she did it again.

  “Pull over,” he said.

  She pulled onto the verge. They were in a quiet lane, no houses in sight.