The Dinner Party

by R. J. Parker

  ‘We’re here to see DI Renton.’ Ted’s throat felt dry.

  The male desk sergeant looked like a teenager and had the corresponding acne. ‘Um, I think he’s on,’ he checked his screen, ‘second floor, walk past the canteen and you’ll find him in the next office.’

  They climbed two flights of stairs, and the smell of fried food hit them as they made their way along the corridor. They walked into an expansive open-plan office, with faded water-stained navy carpets. Renton was tucked behind a computer screen on the far side of the room, behind four rows of unoccupied desks.

  ‘Thanks for coming in. And who’s this?’ Renton suddenly beamed at Georgie.

  The genuine warmth in the detective’s expression took Ted aback.

  ‘There’s a TV on in there.’ Renton swivelled to the small glass-walled office behind him. ‘And it’s got a big comfy chair where my boss usually sits, and he needs a deputy. Can you mind his chair for him while I talk to your parents?’

  Georgie nodded and Renton offered his hand. Georgie immediately took it and Renton led him in there, settled him in the swivel seat behind the desk and found the channel Georgie wanted.

  Renton came out and shut the door behind him with a grin. ‘I could drag you off in cuffs and he wouldn’t notice.’ The warmth had gone from his eyes.

  Renton went to his desk, leaned down and closed whichever document he was working on. ‘I’m waiting on the autopsy results for Mr and Mrs Eriksson but, in the meantime, I have some CCTV footage I’d like you to take a look at.’ He gestured them to join him in front of the screen. ‘Do either of you recognize this person?’

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

  Ted moved behind Renton’s left shoulder and Juliette leaned in the other side.

  On the screen a small window displayed a paused black-and-white clip. There was a blurry grey strip with a dark line in the top left of it. A time counter was frozen at the bottom.

  ‘Here they are.’ Renton hit the play button.

  The clip was activated, the counter started, and Ted realized he was looking at a patch of driveway. The dark line was an elongated shadow that quickly advanced across the screen. ‘Where is this?’

  ‘The Eriksson’s front drive.’

  ‘I didn’t know they had security cameras.’ Juliette bent closer.

  ‘Just at the front of the property.’ Renton exhaled. ‘Unfortunately.’

  The shadow reached the bottom of the screen and its owner appeared behind it wearing a dark hooded coat.

  ‘Looks like they might have known about the security.’ Renton observed. ‘Any ideas?’ He paused the clip so they could take in the figure.

  They were quite slim but from the camera’s angle it was difficult for Ted to get a sense of their height. ‘Not immediately. Do we see their face?’

  ‘Afraid not.’

  Ted glanced over at Juliette.

  She narrowed her eyes. ‘That could be Evie or Jakob.’

  ‘No. The camera recorded them both walking up the drive to the front door around one twenty. By the way, we spoke to their cab driver, Lithuanian fellah, Alex Simkus.’

  ‘I know him.’ He’d picked up Ted from the station on more than a few occasions. ‘He’s worked for Greenaway Cabs for a couple of years now. What did he say?’

  ‘Said they hardly uttered a word to each other on the drive home.’ Renton hit play again and the figure strode on.

  Somebody else had been at the house? Ted looked at the counter at the bottom of the screen. ‘At 4.12. That was after Evie called us.’

  The figure disappeared out of sight under the camera.

  Renton tapped his stubby finger against the screen. ‘They get in through the front door, which means two things: either they had a key, or they were let in.’

  ‘Evie might have thought it was us,’ Juliette suggested.

  ‘We wouldn’t have got there that quick though,’ Ted pointed out. ‘Ibbotson’s at least fifteen minutes from us.’

  Juliette didn’t respond but kept her attention on the screen.

  ‘If Evie opened the door.’ Renton sniffed. ‘It might have been Jakob. You found Evie on the back lawn thirty-four minutes after this; at least that’s when you said you needed the ambulance, and you said you think she’d been out there a while.’

  ‘She was freezing cold,’ Ted confirmed.

  Renton dragged the slider at the bottom of the clip, pushed it forward to 4.36 and played it.

  It showed Ted and Juliette arriving and tentatively walking up the driveway to the door.

  After they pressed the doorbell and silently banged on the panel Ted watched himself step back and look up at the windows oblivious to the camera, his expression grave. Juliette called Evie and he left the message for Jakob. Soon after they both disappeared from sight as they headed around the side of the house.

  ‘So, they’re still there …’ Juliette said with dread.

  Renton nodded. ‘Nothing until this at 4.41.’ He dragged the slider forward again.

  They waited while the counter ticked over until they saw the hooded figure dash from the front door across the driveway.

  Renton hit pause so the fleeing figure was suspended mid-step. ‘Then there’s nobody in or out until the patrol car arrives.’

  ‘We were stood at the front door then,’ Juliette recalled. ‘We just missed them as they ran out. We thought it was Jakob.’

  Ted scrutinized the hazy figure. ‘We heard them upstairs. That’s where they came from.’

  Renton pushed his swivel chair back and rested his hands in his lap. ‘And you’ve no idea why they’d be up there? After all, Mrs Eriksson is lying on the lawn at this point and according to your statement, there was nobody else upstairs.’

  ‘The rooms were all empty.’ Ted knew they’d checked.

  ‘Because the rear of the house isn’t covered by cameras, and there’s no sign of Mr Eriksson on this footage after he entered the property at one twenty, we have to assume that he left via the gate in the back fence. That would appear to fit with the story he gave you about waking up in Nine Beeches, directly behind their home.’

  Juliette straightened. ‘Maybe they were robbing the place and we disturbed them.’

  ‘Odd they’d walk up to the front door and either let themselves in or be admitted if they were a thief.’ Renton wound the clip back to their first appearance and started playing it again. ‘Look, their body language isn’t remotely furtive. The hood is their only concession to that. From their pace it looks like they’re in something of a hurry.’

  ‘So you think they might have attacked Evie?’

  ‘Or been some part of it. It’s unlikely that somebody chose to rob the house at exactly the same time as Mr and Mrs Eriksson’s domestic.’ Renton indicated the screen. ‘So, no clues. They’re a stranger to you both?’

  Ted squinted at the figure as it disappeared under the picture again. Renton was right: it was impossible to work out if they’d been admitted or let themselves in. Who had they encountered when they first got inside?

  ‘I don’t know who that is,’ Juliette said definitively.

  Ted wasn’t sure how she could have made such a declaration, because it really could have been anyone.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

  When they got home Ted and Juliette settled Georgie in front of the TV in the back lounge.

  ‘Do you need any other forms of pleasure, scout?’

  Georgie had his blue plastic tray on his lap that contained a plate of chicken bites, a bowl of fruit segments, a tub of popcorn and a big glass of milk. He shook his head at Ted and smirked a little. He knew he was being spoilt.

  It was good to see him smile again, and Ted closed the door quietly and walked out to join Juliette at the kitchen counter.

  She opened the cupboard. ‘You hungry yet?’

  ‘We should eat something other than pancakes.’

  ‘Crackers and cheese?’

  ‘That’ll be enough.’ He watched her hunt them ou
t. After their meeting with Renton they should both have been feeling at least a slight sense of relief. The detective’s focus was clearly now aimed at the mysterious caller at Evie and Jakob’s and not on the dinner party. But the footage threw up even more questions about what exactly had happened before and during their arrival at their friends’ home. The recording exactly corroborated their statement, but Ted couldn’t shake the image of the figure striding to the front door. Juliette had been very distracted during the drive home.

  ‘How are you holding up?’

  She turned from the cupboard and placed a new pack of crackers on the board. ‘I just want our participation over for Georgie’s sake.’

  ‘I know but, even though we don’t like him, we have to help Renton work this out.’

  ‘And we will.’ Juliette took a knife from the block.

  ‘It’s just you seemed quick to dismiss the person the camera picked up.’

  Juliette cut the packet in half with the knife. ‘I didn’t dismiss them; I just didn’t recognize them.’

  ‘Nor did I, but it could have been anyone.’

  Juliette turned her back to him to get the cheese. ‘Exactly. Who would we know that would want to break into houses?’

  ‘As Renton said, they could have had a key or been let in.’

  She put the tub of cheese on the board. ‘Or barged their way in when they opened the door.’

  ‘But Renton was right. It looked like they were there on a mission.’

  ‘Or an opportunist who was in the neighbourhood and saw them come home. Their house is all on its own.’

  ‘So you’re saying they might have attacked Evie?’

  ‘Maybe,’ Juliette replied eventually. She opened the tub.

  Ted knew she had to be thinking the same thought. Was Jakob innocent? ‘Jakob said he woke on the lawn next to Evie.’

  Juliette dumped the lid and her shoulders tensed. ‘So why did Jakob hang himself?’

  ‘Because he believed he murdered her.’

  ‘After he blacked out,’ Juliette said dubiously.

  ‘I told you, Jakob was acting like he was on something.’

  ‘What are you saying? That the man in the clip force-fed him drugs?’

  ‘No.’ What was he saying? ‘But it looks like a lot more went on between them getting home and us arriving there.’

  ‘You’re right but I don’t think we should assume that Jakob is suddenly innocent. Maybe the guy was a friend helping him get rid of Evie.’

  That had occurred to Ted. ‘So where was Jakob when we arrived?’

  ‘Well, he wasn’t lying on the lawn when we looked out of the window,’ she said sceptically. ‘Maybe Jakob fled out of the back when we rang the bell. He might not have known Evie called us.’

  ‘And what was the other person doing upstairs?’

  ‘Hiding from us?’ Juliette crossed her arms.

  ‘Until we went to the station today, we thought there was nobody left who could tell us what happened. Now there is and they’re still out there. Doesn’t that make you uneasy? What if it’s somebody we know?

  ‘Somebody we know who disposes of bodies?’

  ‘Don’t act like that. There’s clearly much more going on than we thought.’

  ‘Then let’s leave it to Renton.’ Juliette looked down at the board. ‘There’s nothing more we can do, and I have to start thinking about my friend’s funeral.’

  ‘There’ll be two funerals.’

  Juliette concentrated on slicing the cheese. ‘Don’t forget you’ve got a call to make.’

  CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

  Ted reached into his back jeans pocket and took out the piece of paper with Jakob’s sister’s number on it. Renton had given it to him and asked him if he minded contacting her. She’d been into the station that morning and the detective said she knew nobody in the UK. But what would he say to her?

  ‘Mrs Olsen?’ All Jakob had told Ted about his sister was that she was quite a few years older than him and ran a recruiting business with her husband in Bergen.

  ‘Yes?’ Her reply was flat.

  Ted thought he could hear a shower running in the background. He closed the door to the front lounge. Juliette was in the next room keeping Georgie company. ‘I’m so sorry to bother you at a time like this but Detective Renton gave me your number and suggested I give you a ring. My name’s Ted Middleton. I was a friend of your brother’s.’

  The water switched off. ‘Yes?’

  Ted was slightly at a loss for words. ‘Uh … is this a bad moment?’ He flinched. What a crass thing to say.

  ‘No. Just a minute, please.’ Her tone remained strident.

  Ted waited and the sound of the atmosphere changed as if she’d walked into a different room.

  ‘Detective Renton said you were the last person to see my brother.’ Her accent was softer than her manner.

  Ted heard her sniff. It was the first indication she was grieving. ‘Yes.’ Ted wondered how much Renton had told her about the meeting in Roath Park. ‘I’m so sorry for your loss.’ He cringed again.

  ‘It’s difficult to … accept what’s happened.’

  ‘We’re all so shocked,’ Ted continued when she didn’t.

  ‘I wanted to see him for myself.’ She let the implications of that hang between them.

  Ted imagined her in the mint green room where he’d been and the woman unzipping Jakob’s purple face. He shuddered.

  ‘Were you a close friend?’

  Ted wasn’t sure how to answer. He’d only seen Jakob twice in the last year. ‘We lost touch for a while because of Evie’s treatment. I’ve known him for about a decade though.’

  ‘He never mentioned you.’

  Did she sound suspicious? ‘Friday was the first time I’d seen him in eight months.’

  ‘And how was he?’

  ‘Honestly, he seemed like his old self. Which is why we’re still struggling to make sense of this.’

  ‘You and your wife?’

  ‘Yes.’ It felt like an interrogation.

  ‘Renton said you kept the meeting between my brother and yourself secret.’

  ‘Jakob asked me to. Mrs Olsen—’

  ‘Call me Brit.’ But it didn’t sound like the offer of someone who wanted to be friendly.

  ‘I realize you’re probably feeling very isolated.’ Ted wondered why he suddenly wanted the conversation over. ‘If there’s anything I can do, you have my number.’

  ‘Yes, I do,’ Brit said, as if she fully intended to use it. ‘What did Jakob say to you when you met him in the park?’

  Ted wasn’t expecting her to get into this now. But she obviously wanted answers as much as he did. ‘He was acting very strangely, as if he was …’

  ‘Drugged. Detective Renton said.’

  ‘Yes.’ Ted guessed she was clearly a person who didn’t need anything sugar-coated.

  ‘Was he taking drugs?’

  ‘Not that I knew of.’

  ‘And never in the past?’ There was incredulity in her voice.

  Ted considered whether to lie. ‘I remember smoking a joint with him a long time ago, but to be honest it wasn’t really either of our thing …’

  ‘He caused trouble at home when he was younger,’ Brit declared but didn’t clarify the comment.

  ‘Well …’ Ted didn’t know any more about Jakob’s family, ‘from what I know Jakob was a good husband to Evie and conscientious at work.’

  ‘It doesn’t sound like you were that close,’ she said dismissively.

  ‘Evie was a friend of my wife’s,’ Ted started to explain.

  ‘Don’t take it personally. Jakob didn’t let many people in. But he obviously valued your friendship enough to contact you instead of his family when he was in need.’

  Ted couldn’t detect any resentment. She was just stating the facts. ‘I do know that Jakob was always trying to get the money together for a trip home, but that he and Evie struggled financially.’

  ‘I’ve ju
st driven past the house. It didn’t look like they were struggling.’

  The statement startled Ted. ‘That was Evie’s inheritance.’ Why did he feel the need to explain? ‘Her mother passed away and left them the family home.’ It was clear Brit Olsen knew next to nothing about her brother’s life in the UK.

  ‘I think I have a lot of paperwork ahead,’ Brit sighed.

  Ted didn’t know how to respond. He hadn’t even speculated what would happen to the house. He knew Evie had no living relatives left, but had they made a will? After less than twenty-four hours in the UK – and having just seen Jakob’s body – why was his sister worrying about paperwork?

  ‘What did he say to you?’

  Ted was momentarily thrown. ‘In the park?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘That he didn’t kill Evie.’

  Silence.

  ‘He said he couldn’t remember what happened after they got home and that he woke on the lawn with Evie’s body beside him.’

  ‘So the detective said. And did you believe him?’

  Ted paused. ‘I’ve never seen Jakob raise a finger to Evie.’

  ‘That’s not what I asked.’

  Ted took a breath.

  She carried on. ‘Nobody knows what goes on between married people. I love my husband, but he struck me in anger once. Gave me a black eye for a couple of weeks and it was clear to everyone I worked with what had happened.’

  It was a very personal admission for someone he’d only been talking to for a matter of minutes.

  ‘But it wasn’t my fault and I wanted everyone to see it. When people asked me how I’d got the black eye, I didn’t make any excuses for him: I told the truth. That shame was hard for my husband to bear and it never happened again. Everyone’s capable of violence. I asked if you believed his story.’

  Ted felt like he was about to betray his friend. But even though he doubted Jakob’s version of events he recalled the figure in the security footage. ‘Has Detective Renton told you about the other person who arrived at the house?’

  She sighed as if disappointed to have her question answered with another. ‘Yes. I’ve seen the clip.’

  ‘I think we need to know who that is before any of us can draw any conclusions.’ Ted heard two knocks.