[Kitt Hartley 04] - Death Awaits in Durham

by Helen Cox

  To Grace’s surprise, Kitt managed not to roll her eyes. ‘All right, Ruby, well, we’ll take what you’ve said into consideration. Can you put Evie back on?’

  There was a bit of shuffling as the phone was handed back to Evie. Evie’s face was red, probably from the strain of trying to hold in a lot of laughter.

  ‘Thank you for that. It was such a productive use of our time, especially as we just hit another dead end.’

  ‘I thought it best to convey this important information to you as soon as possible,’ Evie said with a grin.

  ‘You are in for it when I get back to York,’ Kitt hissed.

  ‘For all you know, you’ll be coming back to thank us for the important leads we’ve provided,’ Evie said, clearly confident enough to really push her luck, a confidence that was no doubt dependent on the fact that Kitt was seventy miles away.

  ‘I wouldn’t hold your breath on that score,’ said Kitt. ‘I’ll be back Thursday morning to have a word with you.’

  ‘All right, you take care, Kitt,’ Evie said with a chuckle before ending the call.

  ‘Oh dear me,’ said Kitt, putting her head in her hands. ‘Sometimes, between you, Ruby and Evie, I wonder how I cling to what little sanity I have left.’

  ‘Whoever said sanity was so great?’ Grace said, giving Kitt a playful nudge with her elbow.

  ‘I suppose I shouldn’t worry. If I’m not driven mad by you lot I’ll probably be driven mad by not being able to get at the chief suspect on this case. Maybe Mal will do us a favour and use his badge to bypass Selina’s security detail and encourage her to be a little bit more forthcoming, although I really would like to solve this case with minimal input from him. I’ve got to stand on my own two feet – can’t always be pulling in favours with the police if I want to run my own agency.’

  As Kitt said this, a plan started to hatch in Grace’s mind. It wasn’t the kind of plan you could share with a prim librarian turned PI who played by the rules, or her police detective boyfriend. But it might be the key to getting close to Selina Grant. If she mentioned it to Kitt she’d never hear the end of how risky it was, but if having a sit-down with Selina Grant was the most likely way of moving the case forward then surely it was worth a little bit of peril? Something told Grace that Kitt wouldn’t agree, so for this outing she’d have to find another accomplice.

  Twelve

  ‘You’re going to get me expelled,’ Patrick hissed as the pair scuttled down the corridor in the main reception building. Their footsteps echoed on the hard lino and at this time of day it was the only sound in the usually bustling hallway. ‘Do you know how frustrating that’s going to be given how close I am to completing my course? It hasn’t exactly been an easy ride getting to this point after all that’s happened, you know?’

  ‘I wouldn’t ask you to do something that I thought would get you into trouble. But even if you do get caught just act like you had no part in it. Like you wanted to make an appointment with Dean Berkeley about something else and just happened to be here while I was snooping around. I’ll take the fall and back up your story. It’s my plan and part of that plan is affording you plausible deniability,’ said Grace, flashing him her most impish smile. ‘Relax.’

  ‘You know I’m not going to let you take the blame like that,’ said Patrick.

  ‘Then, for the sake of your bright future, I guess I’m going to have to work doubly hard not to get caught.’

  The pair continued down the corridor towards Berkeley’s office. Like most interiors around the academy it was over-sanitized and painted from ceiling to floor in a depressing shade of grey. The windows ran the length of all the corridors on the exterior wall but as it was dark outside there wasn’t even the view of some shrubbery to take the edge off the otherwise dismal decor.

  Half an hour ago, Grace and Patrick had sat on a bench outside pretending to be engrossed in some reading for their respective courses. They had both watched the dean leave the building. Fifteen minutes after that, her secretary, Ms Smyth, left for the day and the office cleaners arrived ten minutes later. This was the final green light they had needed to go ahead with Grace’s plan.

  There was no doubt that Berkeley’s secretary would have locked her office door when she left. But the cleaners would have keys. A little bit of misdirection and a dash of luck and Grace’s cunning scheme should come off without a hitch.

  ‘I’m not exactly in the habit of making light conversation with the custodial staff,’ said Patrick. ‘Won’t she wonder why a student is coming up to her out of the blue? What am I supposed to say to her?’

  ‘You’re smart, I’m sure you’ll think of something,’ Grace said, giving him a playful punch in the arm.

  ‘I think you overestimate my small-talk skills. It’s not my strong suit.’

  ‘Just . . . dazzle her with your charms,’ Grace said.

  ‘Very funny.’

  Grace laughed, even though she wasn’t exactly joking. If circumstances were different and Patrick stopped her to talk in the corridor, she would definitely want to listen to what he had to say. Of course she couldn’t let Patrick know that. She was trying to solve the case of his fiancée’s disappearance so it would be highly inappropriate for her to act on or even admit an attraction. Still, she couldn’t help the places her mind had wandered to since they’d met in the library the day before . . . could she? After all, it wasn’t like thinking about how Patrick’s hands would feel on her was hurting anyone, right?

  ‘Look,’ Patrick said, snapping her out of her thoughts.

  The cleaner, wearing a less-than-fetching lime green tabard, approached the secretary’s office and was toying with some keys. A moment later she started to unlock the door.

  ‘Now’s your chance,’ said Grace. ‘Walk her as far as possible in the opposite direction without rousing suspicion. I’ll be as quick as I can.’

  Taking a deep breath, Patrick strode towards the office while Grace crept further down the corridor where she could stand out of sight.

  ‘Excuse me,’ Patrick said, before the cleaner could enter Ms Smyth’s office.

  ‘Yes, sonny, what is it?’

  ‘Sorry to bother you, but . . . er, could you help me? I think I’ve got something in my eye. Can you just take a look under the light over here and tell me if there’s something there?’

  Something in his eye? Was that the best he could do? Patrick really wasn’t selling himself short when he said small talk wasn’t his strong suit.

  ‘Aye, all right,’ the cleaner said with a nod and followed him to the section of the corridor Patrick had indicated.

  The second the cleaner moved away from the door, Grace zipped inside the office. After a quick look around, she clocked the filing cabinet marked A–Z and headed straight to G. She spent an agonizing twenty seconds hastily flipping past names like Geller and Granger before she came to Grant.

  Glancing at the door to make sure she wasn’t going to be interrupted, she pulled out the file, opened it to the page that listed Selina Grant’s academic timetable and snapped a quick photo on her phone. She was just about to close the file when she noticed a blue tab sticking out of one of the pages. It was the same kind that had been stuck to the page about the early morning streaking in Kitt’s file. Perhaps Selina Grant wasn’t as pristine as Google would have everyone believe? That said, it didn’t seem too difficult to get into trouble here at Venerable Bede’s and it was likely that, even with her status as the daughter of a millionaire, Selina’s wild streak probably wasn’t a good match for the kind of rules people like Regina Berkeley liked to enforce.

  Any evidence that might draw Selina’s otherwise impeccable record into question would surely be of vital importance. Grace flicked to the page and gave it a quick scan, just to check it wasn’t some minor infraction like walking across the grass after Berkeley had just had it mowed. As she read the document, however, her eyes widened. It was a statement written by Selina describing a physical fight she had had with another
student. The other student was Jodie Perkins and the fight had taken place a week before she disappeared. In the statement, Selina admitted to starting the fight because Jodie had been taunting her about Patrick. Apparently Selina wanted Patrick for herself and Jodie had made it clear that was never going to happen. It seemed Selina Grant didn’t like being told she couldn’t have the things she wanted. Was wanting Patrick for herself enough to motivate Selina into making Jodie disappear? Certainly, this was the most solid motive she and Kitt had uncovered so far.

  As quickly as she could, Grace snapped a photo of that page too, closed the file, refiled the folder and pushed the drawer shut. It made a loud thundering as it closed. Oops. That wasn’t very smart. She stood stock-still for a moment, listening for any sounds outside that might indicate someone was on their way to investigate. If it really came to it she could probably hide until the coast was clear. After ten seconds or so, however, it became clear she’d got away with it. All she could hear was the cleaner laughing at something Patrick had said. It sounded like he had taken her literally when she told him to use his charms.

  She raced to the door and eased it open. The cleaner had her back to Grace so as long as she didn’t make any noise she could slip out unnoticed. Without any further hesitation, she flew out of the door and off down the corridor towards the main entrance. She heard Patrick make his excuses and started walking at a more casual pace so he could catch her up. He was just a few paces behind her, and Grace was just about to congratulate herself on pulling off the perfect stealth operation, when she happened to glance through the window and notice a figure walking down the adjoining corridor. There was no mistaking the figure, it was Berkeley’s secretary, Ms Smyth. She was going to round the corner any moment. They couldn’t be seen near the office after hours. Grace was ninety-five per cent sure she’d put everything back the way she found it but if the secretary noticed anything out of place and she was seen near the scene of the crime they would know she’d broken into the office and there was no question that would mean definite expulsion.

  ‘Oh God, quick, in here!’ Grace hissed.

  Patrick frowned but followed her. ‘Why are we hiding in the cleaning closet?’

  ‘Shh. Berkeley’s secretary is coming back. I don’t want her to be able to link me to a break-in if she notices anything different.’

  ‘Oooh, Ms Smyth,’ the pair heard the cleaner say on the other side. ‘I was just starting on your office. Did you forget something?’

  ‘My phone,’ said Ms Smyth. ‘I thought I’d put it in my handbag but I must have been distracted on my way out. I won’t be a minute, sorry to get in your way.’

  ‘No problem. I haven’t really started on your office yet. I’ll go get the hoover out and give you a few minutes to collect your things.’

  ‘Oh-oh,’ said Grace.

  ‘What?’

  Grace picked up the end of a hoover – there was just enough light coming through from the window above the door for Patrick to see it.

  His eyes widened. The pair fell silent. The sound of the cleaner’s footsteps on the hard lino grew closer and closer. Biting her lip, Grace tried to think quickly. What was a valid excuse for hiding in the cupboard? A game of hide and seek? No, that wouldn’t work. They weren’t twelve. Stock-taking cleaning products? But she didn’t know anything about the person in charge of facilities at the academy. Not even a name. There’s no way she could make that story fly. And besides, the cleaner had already seen Patrick so she might wonder why he hadn’t mentioned during their chat that he’d been sent over by a faculty member to stock-take cleaning products.

  Then, a thought came to her.

  ‘Er, why are you looking at me like that?’ Patrick murmured.

  ‘Patrick, kiss me.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘We’re young people. We do stupid things like kissing in closets. It’s less suspicious than just hiding here.’

  ‘You really think she’s going to buy that?’

  ‘It always works on TV,’ Grace said with a shrug.

  The cleaner’s footsteps were close now. Maybe only a couple of feet away. Nodding at each other, Patrick and Grace leaned in. Gently, Grace pressed her lips against his. They were soft and somehow tasted like citrus. Perhaps it was that delicious taste that prompted her to lightly suck on Patrick’s bottom lip. Who was she kidding? She had wanted to do that even before she knew what he tasted like. A small gasp escaped him as she did so. She scrunched her eyes shut, concerned that she had overstepped but the next thing she felt were Patrick’s arms wrapping tight around her. She was surprised by how firm they felt. How steady. She circled her arms around his waist, pulling him closer, and the kiss intensified. His hands gripped the back of her shirt as he pressed his body harder against hers until there was no space between them at all. A moment later their tongues met and Grace heard herself make a small, satisfied moan that only made Patrick kiss her deeper. It had been too long since she was last kissed and, by her own admission, Grace had never quite been kissed like this.

  ‘What’s going on in here then?’ a familiar voice said.

  Grace and Patrick parted with a start, both of them breathing heavily. Neither had heard the closet door open. Grace wondered if she was blushing, her face certainly felt very hot.

  ‘Sorry,’ Patrick sputtered. ‘My, er, girlfriend here surprised me and things got a bit out of control. Sorry. I’m very, very sorry.’

  ‘Yes, sorry,’ said Grace. ‘We didn’t know anyone would be going into this cupboard anytime soon. You probably could do without seeing stuff like this when you’re trying to do your job. We didn’t mean to get in the way.’

  The cleaner stared at them for a moment and then shrugged. ‘I used to clean hotels. After that there’s not much that can shock you. But you better get out of here before Ms Smyth comes back. She tells Berkeley everything and between the pair of them they might not be so understanding.’

  ‘Right. Thanks,’ Grace said, adjusting her shirt which had ruffled during her kiss with Patrick. She stepped out of the closet. Patrick followed and the pair walked as quickly as they could without drawing too much attention to themselves, neither quite able to make direct eye contact after the kiss they had shared but also unable to stop themselves from smiling when they thought the other wasn’t looking.

  Thirteen

  ‘See, there she is now,’ Grace said, as Selina Grant walked out of the Sports Science faculty building and started towards the main reception block. Grace recognized her from the many YouTube videos Selina had uploaded onto her personalized channel. As those videos invariably depicted Selina doing some death-defying feat, however, she had adopted a totally different look for campus life. Gone were the racer back T-shirts and Lycra shorts. Instead, she wore a short pleated skirt that barely covered all it needed to and a denim jacket that you could tell from the cut hadn’t been bought off the rack at New Look. Her long blonde hair wasn’t tied up as it always was in the videos but fell loose about her shoulders, poker straight to the point that it looked like a salon job. Did millionaire’s daughters have their own in-house hairdressers? Looking at Selina’s perfectly tamed locks, Grace would have to say it was a sure bet.

  ‘I didn’t say your plan wouldn’t work,’ Kitt said, following after Selina Grant who, just as Patrick said she would, had a square-jawed, square-shouldered bodyguard in tow. ‘I said your method of obtaining the information to make the plan possible was both unethical and dangerous.’

  Grace walked along with Kitt, maintaining visual contact with Selina and her bodyguard while making sure to keep her distance. ‘Don’t exaggerate. I didn’t do anything mind-blowingly illegal.’

  ‘You broke into the dean’s office,’ Kitt said through her teeth.

  ‘Now, technically, I didn’t break in anywhere, the door was unlocked,’ Grace countered.

  This seemed to give Kitt pause. ‘Well, you broke data protection law then, by accessing Selina’s file.’

  ‘And who is ev
er going to know about it?’ said Grace. ‘I’m not going to sell her academic timetable to the tabloids; I’m going to delete the photos as soon as we’ve managed to make contact with her. Nobody is going to get hurt over it. If there’d been another way I would have taken it, but you’re only here until the end of today. It’s bad enough that Randy Hobbs is out of touch until the weekend without another suspect also eluding us. We need to talk to Selina before you leave. Time’s running out for us to make some headway here.’

  ‘I’m not going to give up the case just because I’m headed back to York,’ said Kitt.

  ‘No, but if we uncover something concrete before you go then I can start doing some of my world-class online research.’

  ‘Dubious cyber-stalking, you mean?’

  ‘Potato, potarto. If we don’t uncover something then it’s going to be at least the weekend before we can move things on. It’s already been a year. We don’t need the people who abducted Jodie to get any more of a head start on us than they already have.’

  ‘I’m aware of all this,’ said Kitt. ‘I still think there was a more ethical way of going about it.’

  ‘You know, being a PI is probably going to require some tough decisions between greater and lesser evils sometimes. In case you missed it, the lesser evil is me accessing Selina’s file; the greater evil is Selina possibly being responsible for Jodie’s disappearance and/or death.’

  ‘Yes, thank you, Grace, I got that.’

  ‘Anyroad, I only took photos of her timetable.’

  ‘That’s bad enough. It’s still personal information. And as for enlisting Patrick to help you, did you really have to jeopardize the investigation for the sake of a little crush?’

  Grace looked aghast. Not at the insinuation, per se, but at the fact Kitt had figured it out so quick. That’s what you get for making friends with a detective. Still, Grace had already made a pact with herself not to admit her attraction out loud so denial was the only logical course of action. ‘I do not have a crush on Patrick. I’m helping him find his missing fiancée. Developing a crush on the guy would be wildly inappropriate.’