by Franklin, JJ
‘Yes. She’ll be fine.’
There was quiet for a moment. Eppie realised this meant Fluff wasn’t a threat to her and Matt. She had been silly to think about it. She broke the silence. ‘You’ll need something to eat.’
‘Don’t worry. I’ll have a slice of toast or something.’
‘I’ve messed up your date, so let me throw something together while you relax and have a shower. It’s the least I can do.’
‘You really enjoy this cooking lark don’t you?’
‘Yes. Yes, I think I do. Wasn’t sure at first, but I like it.’
‘The ideal wife. You will be giving the rest of us a bad name,’ Fluff laughed.
‘Hardly. And I’m sure Matt wouldn’t agree.’
‘Not upsetting him already are you?’
‘He’s a bit old fashioned I suppose.’
‘Aren’t they all? What they really want is a replacement mother.’
‘I hope not,’ said Eppie, appalled at the thought.
Fluff laughed at the face Eppie was pulling before saying, ‘If you’re sure, think I might grab that shower.’
While Fluff was showering, Eppie opened every drawer in the kitchen. It was well equipped but needed stocking up on grocery items. She had a hard time deciding what to prepare but in the end opted for simple pasta with a sauce made from limp mushrooms and squashy tomatoes, topped with grated cheddar from which she had scraped off the mould. By the time Fluff joined her, the meal was waiting and smelt really appetising.
‘Now I could get used to this,’ Fluff said, as she sat down at the kitchen table.
It wasn’t much later that Eppie opted for turning in. Jane was on the phone to her partner and Eppie felt a pang of guilt for upsetting their plans. As she got ready for bed, she realised how tired she was. All the tension of the day was taking its toll.
Placing her mobile on the bedside table, she lay wondering if she should call Matt but decided against it as he could still be working. Then, just as she was drifting into a troubled sleep, the phone rang and she was talking to Matt. His voice sounded tired, but lightened as they exchanged brief words of love.
CHAPTER 43
The flat seemed darker and emptier than ever before. Matt wandered from room to room, as if hoping to find Eppie, but also knowing that he needed to check to see if it was safe. Not that this type of murderer was going to put himself face-to-face with anyone who would be a match for him, just unsuspecting young women. Was McRay right? Did this man know him? His first thought was that it must be something to do with Gracie, but he soon ruled this out. Gracie’s Mother had died just two years after her daughter, and her father had remarried. So it must be something to do with this case. Someone they had interviewed already. They had interviewed so many people, and he began reviewing them all in his head while moving through the flat.
After checking everywhere, he went into the kitchen. The faint aroma of apple brought back vivid memories of what had happened earlier. Matt opened the oven and took the crumble out. Always his favourite, it was still slightly warm and made him feel close to Eppie.
He had arrived home many times late at night, but never before had it felt as if there was something missing—a warmth and loving. Three weeks living with Eppie, and she had only been gone a few hours, leaving him feeling lost and lonely.
Matt thought again of Tom Graham and wondered if he was alone tonight. He and Sandi would never be together again, never have their wedding or the chance of a life together.
He had the sudden impulse to call Eppie, to hear her voice. She sounded sleepy.
‘I didn’t wake you, did I?’
‘No. Just dozing. It’s hard in a strange bed. Besides, I miss you.’
‘Me too. I’m just about to tuck into the crumble. Made me think of you,’ Matt said wistfully.
‘So it’s all cupboard love then?’
‘Damn. You’ve sussed me out. Fluff looking after you?’
‘Yes. I like her,’ Eppie said, her voice sounding light.
‘That’s not hard.’
‘It is when she works with your husband. How about you? Where are you?’
‘At home.’
‘Is that safe?’
‘Yes,’ Matt assured her. ‘Believe me, this sort of pervert wouldn’t want to face me, not unless he was backed into a corner.’
‘I hope you’re right. Please take care, Matt.’
‘You too. Do everything Fluff says.’
‘Will do. Love you.’
‘Sleep well, Love.’
It was a brief call, but it made him feel better. When it was over, he loaded a dish with apple crumble and took it into the living room. Seated in his chair, he enjoyed the crumble and then sat back to let the details of the case wash over him, together with relaxing tiredness. In this half-asleep state, he began thinking of Sandi’s last phone call to Tom. Beyond the pathetic last words, was there anything there that would help him to catch her murderer?
As he drifted into a half sleep he began thinking of the squeak in the background and began running through all things he could remember that squeaked. Doors squeaked, cars sometimes developed an annoying squeak, pens, chalk on blackboards, and the lid of the photocopier. He had a bike once that squeaked, until his Granddad had showed him how to use an oilcan. A bike, now that might be it.
Matt sat upright. Could the murderer have come and gone by bike? Excited by the idea, Matt felt full of energy. He needed to do something now. Jumping to his feet, he reached for the phone. If Harry was on duty tonight, he would go and see him. Harry could tell him if any of the staff came or went by bike around that time of night.
Matt rang Harry, who said of course he could come round, he would be glad of the company. The policemen in the patrol car circling the grounds were not very talkative, although Harry had offered them a coffee.
Matt drove fast, needing to put on the blue light only in the built-up areas to ease his way through the few night owls. He drove past the dark bulk of Kenilworth Castle with its ruined towers reaching high into the night sky.
Harry was waiting to unlock as Matt drew up. He swung back the double doors and led Matt to the comfortable chairs near the desk, where two cups of coffee waited. Matt took a grateful sip. ‘Thanks, Harry. I needed that.’
‘It’s been a long, sad day, Sir. She was a lovely girl. I don’t know who would want to do that.’ Harry shook his head.
‘Harry, do many of the staff come to work by bike?’ Matt broke in before Harry could get into reminisces about Sandi. It seemed a little hard, but he had come for a reason.
‘Why, yes. I do myself, always have. Keeps me fit, it does,’ he said proudly. ‘Is that important, Sir?’
‘Well, it could be. Does your bike have a squeak, Harry?’
‘I should think not. I keep all my equipment in good order. Why my old sergeant would have me up on a charge…that he would. Here, you can see for yourself.’ Harry rose and moved to open the folding door of a room marked ‘Luggage Room’ to the left of Reception.
Matt could see that it was empty, except for a bike and what looked like an old wheelchair in the far corner. Harry paraded his bike before Matt.
‘There you go. Perfect working order. Wouldn’t have it any other way.’
Before Harry could get even more indignant, Matt clarified his thinking. ‘No one is saying it was yours, Harry. Sandi called her fiancée just before she was killed. In the background we can just about make out a squeak. Now, if we could find out what made that squeak, it could lead us to whoever murdered Sandi.’
‘That’s what I want right enough.’
‘So who else comes to work by bike?’
Harry wheeled his bike back into the luggage room and closed the doors before answering. ‘Fred. Over in maintenance. But he’ll only do one week of nights out of five, and there’s no way I’d let him bring his bike in here, that’s for sure. Then there was one of the early morning chefs. Used to have to tell him off for whistling. Guests c
ome here for a rest not to be woken up by his flaming racket.’
‘And the day staff?’
‘There’ll be quite a few of them, from the village, but I don’t see most of them, as I’m off home and straight to bed.’ Harry had a sudden thought. ‘There’re the bikes for the guests. They are here all the time.’
‘Where are they kept, Harry?’ Matt began to feel excited.
‘By the duck pond, in a special shelter. Locked up tighter than the CO’s wife.’
‘Can I see them?’
‘Well you can look from the small studio, but I can’t take you out there. All the alarms are on now. Besides, you couldn’t even move them an inch, not with the steel bar running through to keep em safe. Best wait till morning.’
Matt realised the sense in what Harry was saying but wondered if they had the luxury of waiting. Still, he couldn’t really go clomping around the grounds disturbing the remaining guests, those who had decided to be brave and chance their visit against the murderer striking again. Thanking Harry for his time, he gave him his card and said he would probably see him in the morning.
The double bed offered no comfort without Eppie, and Matt tossed and turned all night. By the time morning came, he was glad to be up and eager to get to work. The sooner the murderer was caught, the sooner he would have his Eppie back.
CHAPTER 44
It was early when Matt arrived, and only a few of the overnight team remained in CID. He was glad he was still working from his office and silently thanked Jenny for being so accommodating. She was already hard at work but looked up as he entered.
‘Morning, Ma’am,’ Matt couldn’t help teasing her. Her mind was on the job, and she didn’t acknowledge the joke. ‘Have you been here all night?’
‘More or less. Got the audio jerk to come in early so thought I had better be here too.’
Matt felt empathy with Nick in being bullied by this woman, who one minute seemed to be the old Jenny and the next a cross between Margaret Thatcher and Attila the Hun. But she did look tired, and Matt could see how she had acquired those hard lines. Good detectives pushed themselves hard during a case, and he wondered if his face also bore the brunt of the strain.
‘Did Nick come up with anything?’ Matt was wondering how to tell her that he went to see Harry last night.
‘As a starter, he thinks the noise probably came from a wheeled vehicle, but he is still working on it.’
‘Huh.’
She looked up abruptly and waited for him to continue.
‘I was thinking about a bike I had, as a kid. I kept riding it through every puddle I could find and it developed a squeak.’
Jenny was giving him the ‘get on with it’ look. ‘I kept thinking about it. Couldn’t sleep so went to see Harry, the night porter.’
‘And?’
Matt liked her directness. ‘He and one of the night maintenance men come in by bike. Several of the day staff too. No squeak on Harry’s. Maintenance works a rota so they do one week of nights out of every five. There are also bikes for the use of guests. They were under lock and key for the night.’
‘Well done. Except,’ she paused, looking up at him before turning away and continuing. ‘Don’t forget that this killer is targeting you, Matt. I’d prefer it if you had another member of the team with you from now on.’
‘I would have relished meeting this bastard.’
‘Thought you were more the cerebral type, Matt. Marriage made you go all macho?’
He decided to ignore her dig. ‘I’d like to check the rest of the bikes out this morning.’
‘We can get one of the foot soldiers to do that. I have been having a look at these interviews Grant was analysing.’ She reached forward to bring up a screen on the computer.
Matt wondered what Grant would say when he realised she had picked up his work midstream. Whatever their history, she wasn’t going to pussyfoot around him.
‘These people were at the scene of both murders. I want them all interviewed again. Today,’ she added, as Matt picked up the printout. ‘Twenty-nine names, twenty-five of them are staff. So one team at spa and one to chase up the other four.’
‘We still haven’t finished all the interviews at the spa.’ Matt hesitated, thinking of a diplomatic way to say he didn’t think that was the best way forward. Jenny sensed his unease.
‘Say it,’ she commanded, sitting back in her chair and looking up at him.
‘If we had the manpower, I’d agree with this plan, but it does mean taking some of the team away from working on other leads. Could I make a suggestion?’
She nodded.
‘We already have a team on site, catching up with those people we didn’t interview yesterday. Could we add these names to their list?’
‘OK. But put these people at the top of the list. You and DC Meadows can hit the other four. And I’ll add any more that come up during the day.’
Matt thought about arguing, making his case for some time for revision of the evidence and catching up with reports, but realised that was her job now, and he didn’t have a leg to stand on. He nodded and turned to leave the room when she spoke again.
‘We’ll have the briefing first.’ Matt opened the door for her and she led the way to stand in front of the incident board.
The chatter stopped as everyone turned towards her. Matt knew what it was like standing there in front of the team with everyone expecting you to be more intelligent, to lead, and show them the way. He had tried to make them realise that the DI’s job was only a small part of the whole, that it was everyone adding his or her skills together that made the difference. All were of equal value. She hadn’t asked him to introduce her but waited confidently for their full attention.
‘Thank you. You probably all know by now that the murderer has targeted DI Turrell and he and his wife are at risk. Therefore, I am taking over this enquiry. My name is DI Hadden.’
‘What about DI Turrell?’ Sam called out.
‘DI Turrell will remain working on the case.’
Matt detected a small ripple of relief run through the room. It was nice to know that he had good support within the team, but the main thing now was catching the killer. He hoped Jenny would be able to harness the team’s different talents to full advantage and that she wouldn’t use too much of the harsh bullying he had heard last night.
She got straight down to business. ‘I have spoken to the pathologist who confirms that death was between eight p.m. and midnight last night and that the MO looks exactly the same as for the previous victim. He will give us more later. We have also received the preliminary audio report on the phone call made from the victim to her boyfriend at twenty-forty-seven hours on Sunday. It is believed the sound heard in the background is most likely from a wheeled object, such as a bike.’
Matt watched her as she ran the briefing effortlessly. It was strange to stand back, to watch and digest the information in another way. He didn’t have to allocate tasks, decide where the effort should go.
He felt himself tense involuntarily as Grant ambled in from the staff room with a mug of coffee, late as usual. Jenny waited as he stopped dead, looking from Matt to Jenny in shock. Then he shook his head as if bemused.
‘I have taken the work you were doing on the interviews, DI Grant,’ Jenny informed him as he reached his desk.
Grant put down his mug and looked up at her. ‘That’s all right, Sir,’ he replied emphasising the Sir.
Matt moved a step closer to Jenny who seemed to have frozen.
Grant pretended to realise his mistake and drawled. ‘Oh, sorry. How should I address you, DI Hadden?’
Jenny recovered and snapped. ‘DI Hadden will do fine, thank you.’
Whatever secrets their past held, it was obvious that it had affected Jenny badly. Matt watched as Grant sat down, shrugging his shoulders and grinning at those closest to him. The man acted as if he had won that round. Matt would have liked to know what he held over Jenny; that way he could forestall tro
uble, but it would be best if she felt able to come to him, and he resolved not to push her at this point.
He would have liked to work with Grant today, so he could keep an eye on him, but Jenny had decided Grant should head up the team at the spa with Sam. Sam would go to the Post Mortem on Sandi when Slim rang. That left him with Fluff.
At least Fluff would be able to fill him in on how Eppie was really coping. She had seemed cheerful on the phone, but Matt guessed that was because she didn’t want to add to his worries.
As Matt followed Fluff out of the room, they passed Grant’s desk. Grant smirked at Fluff.
‘You’ll be all right now. Be putting in for your sergeant’s exam I suppose?’ Grant sneered.
‘And why would that be any of your business?’ Fluff retorted.
Grant raised his hands as if backing off. ‘Just wanted to wish you luck, that’s all.’ He waited until they had just passed him before adding in a carrying voice. ‘Not that you would need it.’
Fluff went to turn back towards him, but Matt took her arm and propelled her towards the door. She shook his arm free in the corridor.
‘Whatever is going on, Fluff, we can’t waste time on it now. For a start, he isn’t worth the bother.’
Fluff nodded but remained tight-lipped.
She remained unusually quiet as they set out. He wondered if her altercation with Grant had upset her, but it wasn’t like Fluff. He’d seen her handle even McRay’s attempts at bullying with ease.
He left the silence sitting uneasily between them as they drove through Warwick and past the ancient Lord Leycester hospital. Its leaning, half-timbered walls had seen centuries go by and gave out a warm, comfortable sense of permanence. It was after they passed the Westgate that she broke the silence.
‘Matt, there is something you should know,’ she said, as if it had taken her a lot of effort to get the words out.
Matt couldn’t second-guess what was coming, so he gave a non-committal, ‘Yes?’
‘I know DI Hadden.’
The traffic was light, so Matt risked a quick glance at her face. It was flushed.
