by M A Comley
Sally nodded. “That’s why I only tend to deal with you, Georgia.” She gave the woman the details of both cases, emphasising the need to issue a warning to the other womenfolk in the immediate area about the dangers of going out at night alone.
“That’s fantastic. I’ll run it tonight on the evening news. What about the newspapers? Are you going down that route, too?”
“Yep, I’m just about to contact a journalist I know now. Thanks for your help, Georgia. I appreciate it.” Sally hung up and flicked through the pages of the contacts notebook she kept tucked safely in her desk drawer and prodded her finger at the name Phil Edmunds. She dialled his mobile and tapped her pen while she waited for him to answer the call.
“Yep.”
“Phil? It’s DI Sally Parker. Do you have a minute?”
“For you, darling, anytime.”
“Still practicing your charm-school chat-up lines, I see.” Sally laughed.
“I take it I’ve screwed up again. Seriously, what’s up, Sally?”
“Keep trying. One of these days I might bow to your pressure and let you buy me dinner.”
“Wow, really? Cool.”
“Back to business. I’ve got two cases that I need you to treat as high priority. Can you do that for me?”
“Of course. Let me grab a pen, and I’ll take down the details. I can probably get it in my column either today or tomorrow. Will that suit you?”
“That would be ace, Phil. You’re a star.” She ran through the details of both cases then ended the call with a satisfied smile.
“I take it that went well,” Jack asked from the doorway.
“I love it when things slot into place as intended. If only that could be said about solving Gemma’s murder and Julie’s attack. We should go and see Julie’s parents next. Any news of tracking down an office for Hew?”
“Not yet. As far as we know, he works from home. I chased up Stuart, no good there.”
“What about a contact number for Hew?”
“I’ll get on to Companies House, see what information I can get out of them.”
“Okay. The media are running the story—or should I say stories—over the next few days. Prepare the team for that, will you?”
“On it now.”
Jack left the office and returned a few minutes later, looking smug and waving a sheet of paper. “Got his phone number. Want me to give him a ring?”
Sally winked at him and held out her hand for the sheet. “I think this needs a woman’s touch.”
Jack left the room, chortling.
Sally cleared her throat and thrust back her shoulders, ready for action. Using the landline, she dialled Hew’s number. “Hello, is that Taylor Hew?”
“It is, and you are?”
“Sally Parker. I was talking to a friend about going into property development, and someone overheard me in the pub, and they mentioned your name.”
“I see. Yes, it’s my line of business. I’m always happy to share my experience with folks. What is it you’d like to know?”
“Any chance we can meet over a coffee? My treat.”
“Sure, I have some spare time around two this afternoon.”
“Wonderful. I live near Attleborough. What about the coffee shop in the high street? I’ll even stretch to a sticky bun.”
Hew laughed. “Deal. I’ll be there at two.”
Sally punched the air as she hung up. “Jack, in here a minute.”
“Yes, boss.”
“I have a coffee appointment at two with Taylor Hew.”
“Whoa, he agreed to meet you?” His eyes narrowed. “Did you tell him you’re a copper?”
Sally placed a finger to her lips. “Oh gosh, I knew I should have mentioned something.”
“Let’s hope the chief doesn’t find out about this.”
Sally pushed back her chair. “He won’t. Now that’s sorted, we should head out to see Julie’s next of kin, see what we can find out there before I meet up with Hew.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
“You just caught me. I’m on my way to the hospital to see my daughter.”
“We’ll only take five minutes of your time, Mrs. Smith. We’re truly sorry about what has happened to Julie. Can I ask where she was last night?”
The woman sat down on the black suede sofa, her hands visibly shaking in her lap as she chewed on her lip. “Julie went into town with her friend Roger. There’s nothing going on between them; they’re just friends. I rang him earlier to tell him that Julie is in hospital, and he’s beside himself. I asked him why he’d left her. He told me that he’d run into an old friend and that Julie insisted he should leave her and go to a nightclub with his friend. I told him off for leaving her alone. I know I shouldn’t have done that, but he should have stayed with Julie, not deserted her.”
“We’ll need to get a statement from Roger, Mrs. Smith. Would you mind giving us his full name and address?”
She crossed the room and picked up the address book sitting beside the telephone. Jack jotted down the friend’s details, and Mrs. Smith returned to her seat.
“I don’t suppose Roger mentioned if Julie had a conversation with someone else during the course of the evening? Or whether someone was watching her?” Sally asked.
“I did ask him if anything strange had happened, but he said no. They had a good time and parted quite early.”
“Has Julie got a boyfriend?”
“No. Not since she dumped that German fella, Hans.”
“Hans? Does he live nearby?”
“No. He was on a foreign-exchange scheme at her work. As soon as she found out he had a regular girlfriend back in Germany, she dumped him. He left England not long after, probably because of the shame.” She ran a hand over her face. “Why would anyone hurt my sweet daughter? She goes out of her way to help people. Never falls out with friends and rarely says anything bad about anyone. She’s a good girl; she doesn’t deserve this. I’m sorry, I need to go now. I want to be there when she wakes up—if she wakes up,” she added sadly.
“I understand. We’ll have a word with Roger, see if he can shed any light on what went on last night. I hope Julie recovers soon.”
“So do I, Inspector. She’s all I’ve got since her father passed away last year. If I lose her…”
“Hopefully, it won’t come to that. Just keep thinking positively, Mrs. Smith. Do you need a lift to the hospital?”
“No, I have a car. Just promise me you’ll get the sick individual who did this. All we hear nowadays is the amount of unsolved crimes there are. Please don’t let Julie be added to those statistics.”
“We’re doing our best. Don’t give up on us, Mrs. Smith.”
Sally and Jack left the house. “Is it worth chasing up the ex?” Jack asked as they climbed into the car.
“I wouldn’t have thought so. I think we should drop by Roger’s place, however, and ask him what went on last night.”
Before Sally could start the engine, Jack’s mobile rang. He glanced her way and frowned. “It’s Donna.”
“Well, answer it. Don’t keep her waiting. You know she never disturbs you at work.”
“Hello, love.”
Sally saw Jack’s eyes widen. “What is it?” she mouthed.
Her partner shook his head and ran a hand through his short, greying hair. “All right. Calm down. Is the ambulance on its way? Okay, I’ll meet you at the hospital.” He hung up, looking distraught. “It’s Teresa. Donna thinks she’s gone into labour.”
“What? Crap, you better get over there.” Sally pulled away from the kerb and drove back to the station.
“It’s too soon, Sally. She’s only eight months gone.”
“It might be all right, love. Not that I know anything about this sort of thing, of course.”
“A sixteen-year-old going into prem labour—I can’t see there being a positive outcome to that.”
The rest of the journey was conducted in silence. She dropped Jack off at his car. “Good lu
ck, matey. Ring me later if you get the chance. Love to Donna and Teresa.”
“Thanks, boss.”
Sally locked the car then stood and watched her partner drive away, as the squeal of tyres accompanied his exit from the car park. “Please let both mother and child be okay,” she murmured, then went up to her office, where she decided to write down a plan of action for the day. At the top of the list, she put Roger Wilson’s name. She would get one of the other members of the team to track him down to get a statement. Time was marching on, and she needed to leave some time free so that she could make her rendezvous with Taylor Hew at two o’clock. She was aware that she would need to take a partner with her in case things kicked off there, too. Then she needed to return to the station at four for her arranged interview with Colin Whiting. With everything in place, in her mind at least, she walked into the incident room and relayed the plan of action to her team.
“Okay, listen up, folks. We’ll be a man down this afternoon as Jack received an urgent call from his wife. No point asking what it was about—that’s up to him to tell you, not me. Anyway, he’s left me with a pile of jobs to get through, so I’m going to delegate some of them out to you guys, all right?”
The team nodded, each of them wearing a puzzled frown.
“Jordan, I’d like you to track down a Roger Wilson. He accompanied Julie Smith on her night out, but they separated earlier than expected. We need to get a statement from him ASAP. The priority needs to be if Roger saw anyone taking interest in Julie before they split up. Also, see if she had any admirers at work who we should be looking at.”
“Yes, boss. Is it all right to tell him what state the victim is in?”
Sally nodded. “Within reason. Just tell him that at present, she’s unconscious. I think he’ll probably know that fact by now from her mum.” Looking at Stuart, she said, “Stu, you’ll be joining me this afternoon. I’ve set up a meeting with Taylor Hew under the pretence of picking his brains about property development.”
“Wow, and he fell for that? I waited and waited outside his home but eventually returned to base empty-handed. Sorry to let you down, boss.”
“You haven’t let me down, Stu. There’s more than one way to flush out a rat from its sewer. Of course, he might be innocent in all this, so we still need to tread carefully. I’ve also been in touch with the media. Both cases will be on the TV news tonight and in the local paper either today or tomorrow, depending on whether Phil can write up the story before the deadline. So we need to be ready for an influx of calls over the next twenty-four to forty-eight hours. Joanna, I’ll leave you in charge of that. Can you also keep checking regularly with the hospital for me, to enquire about Julie? The sooner we can question her about the incident, the better. It might send the case off in a whole different direction.” Joanna smiled and bobbed her head. “Right, the other major thing clogging up my agenda today is the arrival of Colin Whiting at four o’clock, if he shows up. He better. Otherwise, I’ll yank his arse in here so quickly, he’ll burn the rubber off the soles of his shoes.”
Joanna chuckled while Jordan and Stuart let out full belly laughs.
Rarely did Sally say anything she wasn’t prepared to follow through on. “Okay, let’s get this show on the road. Ready, Stu?”
***
“Are you set?” Sally asked her temporary partner when they pulled into the parking space close to the arranged meeting place.
“Yep. There’s a guy sitting outside, messing about with his mobile. Do you think that’s him?”
“There’s only one way to find out. Just be ready to pounce on him if he tries to do a runner, okay?”
“Sure thing, boss.”
They exited the vehicle and casually walked over to the man. He took an age to look up at them, even though their frames cast a shadow over his phone as he was texting.
Sally coughed. “Mr. Hew?”
He completed his text and stabbed a button to send it on its way. “That’s right. Miss Parker, I take it.”
Sally flashed him a smile, along with her warrant card. “That’ll be Detective Inspector Sally Parker of the Norfolk Constabulary. You’re a hard man to track down, Mr. Hew. Mind if we take a seat? Oh, this is my partner, DC Stuart McBain.”
He shrugged, no significant expression showing on his face. “Be my guest. What’s this about?”
“First of all, I’d like to know where you were two nights ago.”
His head tilted, he picked up a pen from the table and tapped it against his chin. “Ah, yes, I remember. I went for a drink. Is that against the law, Inspector?” His gleaming smile displayed perfectly white, even teeth.
“Not at all. Can you tell us where?”
“The Red Lion. Why?”
“Did you speak to anyone that night?”
He tutted and inhaled a large breath. “I speak to people all the time. I don’t understand what the problem is.”
“Can you remember talking to any female friends that night?”
“No.”
“Really? We have CCTV footage which disputes that. Would you like to take a moment to rethink your answer, Mr. Hew?”
His mouth turned down at the sides. “No. Your question was: did I talk to any of my female friends that night. My answer remains the same. That’s a negative, Inspector.”
Sally’s eyes narrowed at his smart reply. I’ve got my work cut out with this one. “Okay, let me rephrase my question then. Do you recall speaking to a female two nights ago?”
“Why, yes. I certainly do recall that pleasant event.”
“Did you catch the lady’s name you were having a conversation with?”
“Let me think.” He clicked his fingers after a few moments’ pause. “Gemma. I’m pretty sure she said her name was Gemma.”
“Thank you for admitting that. Can you tell us what the conversation entailed?” Sally asked, her heart pounding against her ribs. She locked gazes with him.
“Life.”
“Is that it?”
“We chatted about life in general. Nothing major really. It was just to fill in the time. I was standing at the bar and watched her go outside. She was an intriguing character.”
“So your intention was to chat her up?”
“Hardly. She was wearing a wedding ring, not that it seems to count for much these days. In fact, married women can be worse than single girls for leading men on, in my humble opinion.”
“Thanks for that insight. So, you spoke about life. Can you give me some idea how the conversation went?”
“Well, when I followed her into the children’s play area, she appeared to be staring off into space. I startled her when I spoke; I didn’t mean to scare her. She seemed fine after the initial interruption. She told me that she’d recently lost a friend to breast cancer and was contemplating her life.”
Sally turned to Stuart. “Get this down, constable.” Her partner’s cheeks flared up, and he rummaged in his jacket pocket for his notebook and began to take notes. “Go on. Did she speak about her marriage at all?”
“Not really. I asked her what kind of career she had, and she informed me she was between jobs at present. The thing that puzzled me was she didn’t seem downbeat about that fact when she mentioned it. She said she used to be a PA to a local businessman before she had her daughter. Like I say, it was just an ordinary chat, and we went our separate ways soon after.”
“Why didn’t you proceed with chatting her up, if you already knew she was married? Was it because she told you she had a child?”
“No. There really was nothing in it, Inspector. She was a pretty lady. That’s about as far as I was willing to go with her at the end of the day.” He frowned, and his eyes widened. “Shit! Wait just a damn minute. Has she told you otherwise? Am I being accused of doing something perverse with this woman? Because I’m telling you now, I never laid a bloody finger on her. Jesus, what is it with these women? The second a man shows interest in them, they’re willing to scream ‘rape.’”
> Sally shook her head. “Now you’re putting words into my mouth. This is a general enquiry as to what occurred the night before last when you spoke to Gemma Whiting. If your guilty conscience is pricking you, then that’s your problem, not mine, Mr. Hew.”
“It’s not. I’m sorry for overreacting. It’s just you hear so many of these cases getting to court, only to be dismissed by the judge as being lies told by the women. So where is all this leading to then, Inspector?”
“One last line of questioning before I reveal that, if you don’t mind?”
He threw the pen down. It hit his coffee cup and bounced onto the floor. Ignoring it, he folded his arms. “Go on, let’s get this over with.”
“Okay, we’ve established where you were the night before last. Now I’d like you to tell me where you were last night. My constable was at your house first thing this morning, but received no reply. I’m assuming you stayed out all night. Is that correct?”
He unfolded his arms and applauded her. “Great deduction, Inspector. Don’t tell me—it’s an offence for a single man to stay out all night. Am I right?”
“I could do without the sarcasm, Mr. Hew. I’m investigating two very serious crimes, if you must know. Now, please just answer the question.”
He flung his arms out to the side. “All right. I got lucky.”
Sally’s interest was piqued, and she raised an inquisitive eyebrow. “Care to fill me in on your conquest?”
“No. Not until you tell me what all this is about. I’ve been more than fair with you so far. It wouldn’t hurt for you to let me know where this is leading, right?”
“I asked first. Just give me the name of the lady you spent the night with, and I’ll walk away from here without asking further questions.”
His eyes wandered the length of the busy road before he answered. He ran a hand under his collar and bit his lip nervously. “This is where it gets tricky.”
“Oh? How so?” The way he was hesitating caused Sally great concern.
He fidgeted in his seat before finally admitting, “I was a naughty boy.”
