The Kate Fletcher Series

by Heleyne Hammersley

  ‘Ring the bell for Flat One,’ she instructed Hollis as they marched up the path to the front door. ‘If there’s nobody in, try number two.’

  Hollis pressed the buzzer at the top of the row of buttons and they waited. Nothing. He leaned in and tried the next one down. This time they heard a noise inside and the door was opened by a woman who appeared to be trying to apply lipstick with one hand and hold a conversation on her mobile phone with the other.

  ‘What?’ she asked, tapping her thumb on the phone screen and lowering her hand from her ear. Kate showed her ID and the woman looked startled. ‘I haven’t done nowt!’ she squawked.

  ‘We need access,’ Kate said. ‘It’s not you, it’s somebody upstairs.’ Hollis was already pushing past them both into the hallway as the woman opened the door wider with a shrug of disinterest.

  Hollis jogged up the stairs ahead of Kate and pounded on the door of Flat 4 which was already opening by the time Kate arrived on the landing. Harrington peered around the door jamb looking baffled.

  ‘Let us in, Josh,’ Hollis advised. ‘We don’t want to do this out here.’

  Harrington looked at Kate and then back at Hollis. ‘What the fuck’s—’

  ‘Josh. We need to talk to you. Either you let us in or we arrest you,’ Kate said. ‘It’s your choice.’

  ‘Arrest me for what?’

  Kate glanced down at the spliff nestling between his right index and middle fingers. ‘Possession of cannabis, to start with.’

  ‘Fuck off, you can’t do me for a bit of skunk,’ Harrington said and started to close the door. Hollis stopped him by lodging one of his huge feet next to the frame.

  ‘We can if you’ve already had a warning and a PND,’ Kate said with a smile. ‘South Yorkshire police keep very accurate records of anybody they find with class B drugs. You’re on your last strike and you’ve got a joint in your hand. I’d say that’s possession, wouldn’t you, DC Hollis?’

  Hollis grinned. ‘Seems fairly straightforward to me.’

  ‘Let us in, Josh. We need to talk to you.’

  Harrington’s shoulders sagged as he took a last drag of his spliff. He turned and walked down the hallway towards the sitting room.

  The place was exactly as Kate remembered, cramped and grubby. A small bag sat next to the ashtray and Kate couldn’t quite believe their luck when Harrington grabbed it and stuck it in the pocket of his jeans before collapsing onto the sofa. He really was clueless.

  Kate remained standing and Hollis strode over to one of the dining chairs under the window where he sat down without being invited and leaned forwards, forearms on his knees. ‘We need to ask you some more questions about Chloe,’ Hollis said. ‘You weren’t telling us the truth when we spoke to you last time, were you?’

  Harrington mumbled something that Kate didn’t quite hear.

  ‘What?’

  He frowned up at her, his face defiant. ‘I said I’m not telling you anything else about Chloe. I’ve got to get to work so if you’ll just do what you came here to do, we can all get on with our day.’ His words were brave but his voice trembled slightly. He was obviously expecting a slap on the wrist and the confiscation of his drugs but he was clearly intimidated by their presence.

  ‘It’s not that easy, Josh,’ Kate said. ‘We need you to come down to the police station and look at some new evidence that we’ve uncovered. You said you hadn’t seen Chloe in months. That’s not true, is it?’

  Silence.

  ‘We know you saw her on the night she died. You were in the same wine bar and then you were both in X-Ray at the same time.’

  ‘So?’

  ‘You didn’t mention this the last time we spoke. You said that you’d seen Chloe in a pub a while ago.’

  ‘I did. She was with a bunch of her friends.’

  ‘And last Friday?’

  ‘What about last Friday? So I was in Madrigal’s and X-Ray at the same time as Chloe. There aren’t that many places to have a drink in Doncaster. I’m bound to run into her sometimes.’

  Kate considered their options. She could see from the set of Harrington’s shoulders that he wasn’t going to co-operate. She could arrest him on suspicion of murder but she didn’t want to play that hand yet – he seemed like the type to clam up if he was scared. But she knew that he wouldn’t come with them voluntarily. They had to get him back to Doncaster Central and get him on record.

  She looked across at Hollis and raised one eyebrow. The DC stood up and began the ritual.

  ‘Josh Harrington, I am arresting you for possession of a class B substance—’

  Harrington jumped up from the sofa. ‘Wait, hang on! I’ve done nothing wrong!’

  ‘The baggie of cannabis in your pocket says otherwise, Josh,’ Hollis said. He hadn’t given him the full caution so technically Harrington wasn’t under arrest. Kate waited to see what Harrington would do next. He slumped in his seat defeated. There was no way out for him. He could either be arrested and taken to Doncaster Central, or he could submit to an interview under caution leaving Kate the option to charge him with possession later – or murder.

  Kate sat next to him and sighed heavily. ‘You’re not giving us much choice, Josh. We need to talk to you about Chloe. We know you saw her last Friday and we know where. We have evidence. DC Hollis can arrest you for possession now and you’ll end up with a criminal record. We’ll take you to Doncaster Central, fingerprint you and charge you. It might only be another fine but this time it’s official. If you apply for another job, you’ll have to declare it.’

  Harrington shook his head. ‘This isn’t fair.’ He sounded like a small child who’d not been allowed to stay up past his bedtime.

  ‘If you’ve not got anything to hide then why not just come with us? We’ll do it all officially. You can have a solicitor present. Let’s get this cleared up.’

  ‘Can’t afford a solicitor,’ Harrington mumbled sulkily.

  ‘Don’t worry about that,’ Hollis said. ‘There are people available who do this all the time. We can find somebody.’

  ‘What if I refuse to say anything? I’ve seen on telly where folk just say “no comment” all the time.’

  ‘Then we charge you with possession,’ Hollis said mildly.

  ‘Got no choice then, have I?’ Harrington said, standing up.

  Not really, Kate thought. It felt dishonest in some way, like they’d tricked Harrington – which she supposed they had – but the ends justified the means and it wasn’t as though they’d beaten a confession out of him. She still wasn’t entirely comfortable though.

  It took three hours for Josh Harrington to be ready to answer their questions. The duty solicitor, a woman with the unlikely name of Sherry Pine, had spent some time in the interview room with him and she was happy that he was capable of answering their questions. Kate wasn’t sure what Sherry Pine had advised but she really hoped that it was to co-operate and avoid the minor charge. If she’d managed to convince Harrington that a record for possession wasn’t that big a deal, they were in trouble.

  Kate stood in the observation suite with Raymond and Hollis.

  ‘Do you fancy him for this?’ Raymond asked, squinting down at the dishevelled young man on the monitor. He’d been at Chloe Welsh’s post-mortem for most of the morning and seemed dispirited and downhearted. Kate sympathised. She’d attended enough post-mortems to understand the effects of watching what was once a living breathing person being cut open on a table.

  ‘Honestly? I have no idea. You said that Kailisa confirmed the same killer as Melissa so we need to push that angle. If it’s him there must be a link somewhere.’

  ‘Could be random,’ Hollis suggested. ‘What if he killed Melissa first to make it look like Chloe was the second victim of some deranged serial killer?’

  Kate shook her head. ‘I really don’t think he’s that clever. And the abdominal wounds are bugging me. They mean something to the killer but I can’t see what connection they might have to Harrington. I st
ill think we should be pushing the IVF angle. I’m going back to the clinic to interview anybody who had contact with Chloe. Sam contacted them and confirmed that Chloe had made an appointment.’

  Raymond opened his mouth to add to the discussion but his phone rang before he could comment further. He glanced at the screen and left the room to take the call. Less than thirty seconds later he was back and his mood had brightened.

  ‘That was Kailisa. He’s got potential DNA. Pubic hair. Caught in the hem of her blouse. Didn’t show up when I was there this morning’

  Raymond had already told Kate that there was no trace of semen or condom lubricant despite the evidence of rape. The similarities to Melissa Buckley’s murder were too pronounced for it to be a different killer. The only difference appeared to be the fact that lividity marks on Chloe’s body suggested that she’d been killed where she was found, or at least close by. She wasn’t kept somewhere else like Melissa Buckley had been.

  ‘He thinks it’s from her attacker?’

  ‘He’s hopeful. Obviously there’s a lot of tests to be done but even if there’s nothing on the DNA database we’ll have it for comparison.’

  It was good news. Even if their murderer wasn’t known to the police and his DNA wasn’t on file, it meant that, if they had a firm suspect, they could get a DNA sample and they’d have something to compare it with. Kate couldn’t help but wonder if Josh Harington would be a match.

  Chapter 24

  Hollis read Josh the caution and then confirmed the identities of everybody present, his voice monotone as he went through the routine. Kate studied Sherry Pine as Hollis was speaking. She’d never met the solicitor before –hadn’t even heard of her – and she was nervous about having an unknown presence in the room. The woman sitting next to Harrington was in her mid- to late thirties which suggested experience. She was dressed tidily and appropriately but not expensively and her shoes and handbag looked more M&S than D&G. Not flashy then, Kate thought. Very business-like and understated.

  ‘You understand why you’re here, Josh?’ Kate began.

  Harrington nodded.

  ‘Please state your answers to our questions clearly, for the recording.’

  Harrington glanced at the double tape recorder and then at his solicitor. She raised one eyebrow in a ‘go ahead’ gesture.

  ‘Yes. I know why I’m here.’

  ‘And you understand that you’ve not been charged with an offence but that you are being interviewed under caution?’

  ‘Yes.’

  Kate opened the folder that she’d brought into the interview room with her. The three hours that it had taken to set up the conversation had given her time to plan a strategy and she’d decided that, after their earlier antics, it would probably be best to be direct with Harrington. He would already be on guard and looking for potential traps and tricks and she didn’t think that would be conducive to getting some straight answers. ‘Okay. So, Josh, DC Hollis and I spoke to you on Saturday morning about the death of your ex-girlfriend Chloe Welsh. You remember the conversation?’

  Harrington nodded again and then seemed to remember that he had to speak. ‘Yes, I remember.’

  Kate slid a piece of paper across the table, stating the evidence number of the document for the recording. ‘This is a copy of DC Hollis’s daybook with a record of your responses. At the time you said that you’d last seen Chloe a couple of months ago.’

  ‘Yes.’

  Kate took out the next piece of paper. It was a still from the CCTV footage from outside Madrigal’s wine bar. She stated the exhibit number for the tape as she passed the photograph across the table.

  ‘It looks like Chloe,’ Harrington said.

  Kate passed him the next image. ‘The time stamp on the previous image was 8.07pm. This next one is from 8.17. Is that you, Josh?’

  This time Harrington didn’t bother to look. ‘Probably,’ he said, miserably.

  ‘Please confirm,’ Hollis interrupted. ‘We need you to be clear.’

  Harrington glanced down at the picture. ‘It’s me.’

  Next to him Sherry Pine was starting to look uncomfortable.

  ‘So,’ Kate said. ‘You just happened to be in the same wine bar as Chloe last Friday?’

  ‘I didn’t know that she’d be there. I didn’t speak to her or anything.’

  ‘And you didn’t follow her when she left?’

  His face contorted with what Kate knew was fake outrage. ‘Course not! I’m not a bloody stalker.’

  ‘So it’s just coincidence that you left less than five minutes after Chloe and headed in the same direction?’

  She passed him two stills from two hours later clearly showing Chloe leaving at 10.22 and Josh exiting the bar just over four minutes later.

  This time he seemed genuinely puzzled. ‘I don’t remember leaving Madrigal’s. Honest, I don’t. I was really pissed that night. I barely remember getting there.’

  Kate didn’t believe him despite the tottering figure she’d seen when she’d watched the footage earlier. ‘So you won’t remember following Chloe to X-Ray?’

  He shook his head despite the photographic evidence that Kate placed in front of him.

  ‘You got there thirty seconds after Chloe but you weren’t following her?’

  ‘I… I don’t…’

  ‘My client has already said that he doesn’t remember,’ Pine interjected. ‘He’s answering your questions to the best of his knowledge.’

  Harrington shot her a grateful look.

  ‘So you won’t remember leaving X-Ray? Or what you did afterwards?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Josh, you left before Chloe did. At 1.02am to be precise.’

  Harrington looked relieved as though he’d just been the butt of a silly prank.

  ‘So I can’t have been following her can I? If I left first.’

  ‘No,’ Kate conceded. ‘But we spoke to your flatmate last Saturday. Jack? The one you said might remember you getting home. Funny how you knew that he was still up yet you can’t remember much else. He says it was after three when you got home. That’s over two hours unaccounted for. Where did you go, Josh? What did you do?’

  Harrington turned to his solicitor, obviously panicking. ‘I can’t remember,’ he said to Pine. ‘I don’t know where I went.’

  ‘As my client has told you,’ the solicitor said. ‘He obviously left before Chloe Welsh. You have no evidence that he had any contact with her on Friday night or Saturday morning.’

  ‘No,’ Kate conceded. ‘But he lied to us before when he said he hadn’t seen Chloe for a couple of months. Why should I think he’s telling the truth now?’

  Harrington looked at Kate and then Hollis. He seemed lost. They’d backed him into a corner and he didn’t seem able to think of a way out. Kate needed to capitalise on his uncertainty.

  ‘How do you know Melissa Buckley?’

  Harrington pulled back his head suddenly, he obviously hadn’t been expecting the change of tack. ‘Who’s she?’

  ‘You don’t know?’

  ‘I don’t think so. She might have come into the shop. So many people come in nowadays I don’t keep track of everybody who has my artwork.

  ‘So she’s a client?’ Kate pushed. That didn’t make sense. Melissa didn’t have tattoos.

  ‘I don’t know. You seem to think that I know her but I have no idea who she is.’

  Kate took a photograph of Melissa from her folder. ‘You don’t recognise her?’

  Harrington took the image from Kate, holding it carefully by the edge and studied it. ‘I honestly have no idea. I can’t remember ever seeing her before. Is she a friend of Chloe’s?’ His tone was hopeful as though he thought he might have stumbled across the correct answer to a quiz question.

  This was getting them nowhere.

  ‘Okay,’ Kate said. ‘Let’s go back to Friday night. Why did you follow Chloe to Madrigal’s? Had you seen her somewhere else and you decided to see where she was heading?’


  Harrington sighed. He mumbled something to Sherry Pine which Kate didn’t quite hear.

  ‘My client would like to take a break,’ Pine said.

  ‘No,’ Kate and Hollis said at the same time.

  ‘You can have a break when you tell us the truth, Josh.’ Kate tapped the pile of images on the table. ‘I think you’ve probably followed Chloe a few times since you broke up. So what happened? Did you finally snap after you saw her on yet another date? Couldn’t hack seeing her with another man?’

  Harrington leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes. For a second, Kate thought she’d lost him. She fully expected the next utterance out of his mouth to be ‘No comment’ so she was surprised when he said, ‘It wasn’t like that.’

  ‘So what was it like?’ she asked, keeping her voice low, encouraging him to speak.

  Another glance at his solicitor, clearly assessing whether or not he should risk getting into more trouble. Eventually Harrington focussed on Kate’s face and began to speak. ‘I cared about her. I couldn’t stand seeing her with a different man every few weeks. It’s not her. She’s not like that. She’s gentle and trusting and I just knew that they’d take advantage if they got the opportunity.’

  Kate sensed Hollis sitting up in his seat and knew he was about to interject. She tapped his ankle gently with her foot warning him to keep his mouth shut.

  ‘I saw her earlier this year with a funny-looking bloke in Fabrio’s. I was with a couple of mates – one of them had got a voucher for half-price main courses so we all piled in. She didn’t see me at first but, when she did, she smiled and gave me this look like she wanted rescuing. I wandered over and we had a bit of a chat. She was really nice to me, like she was pleased to see me and eventually the other fella left. Chloe was grateful, she said she’d met him on a dating app and she didn’t really click with him. She said she’d buy me a drink sometime and then she got chatting with some of the staff. She used to work there.’