by Emily Selby
Besides, of course, solving the mystery of Archie's death.
Before she’d parked the car and got the girls into the house, her mobile had rung five times. This must have been something related to the case. Katie used all the willpower she had left to suppress the urge to answer her phone.
'Come on girls,' she said, hurrying Julia and Ines along. 'What would you like to do this afternoon? Julia, didn't you say you wanted to fix some of the ornaments on the tree? Ines can help you,' she asked, hoping both girls would be interested.
'But can we do it in my bedroom, mum?' Julie asked.
'Under one condition, honey,' Katie smiled, happy she didn't have to argue about that. She preferred the kitchen to be her territory right then. 'You must promise to be extra careful with the glue. Can you be responsible for keeping the room reasonably tidy, Julia?'
'Of course, mum!' Julia gasped. 'I'm nearly eleven, remember?'
'I do, darling,' Katie added sweetly. 'But just in case, let's put a layer of old newspapers and a plastic tablecloth on top of your desk.'
She helped set up Julia's desk as a temporary paper craft hub. Fifteen minutes later, with everything ready and looking reasonably neat and tidy, Katie sneaked out to the kitchen.
Six missed calls on her phone, all of them from Emily Robbs. What the Father Christmas was going on? Was something wrong with Linda, Emily's mother? Katie tapped the call button and waited impatiently through the signals until Emily picked up.
'What did you tell the police?' Emily barked even before Katie finished her 'Hi, Emily' sentence. 'I know it's you.'
Katie froze.
'I-I am sorry. What are you talking about?'
'That letter of complaint!'
'What letter?'
'About my friend, Jackie Burns.'
'I didn't know anything about Jackie Burns. What happened?'
'Your questions earlier today, about directing a patient to see a different GP and a complaint. How did you know about it?'
It has to be about Archie Blackburn's letter? Jack must have talked to the doctor in case. What a coincidence it happened to be one of Emily's friends. During their telephone conversation, Emily mentioned one of her friends had an unpleasant situation with a patient. Darn it.
'I'm sorry, Emily. I can guess what you're referring to, but I'm not privy to the whole situation. I only know there was a letter addressed to the practice manager written by Archie Blackburn. I handed it over the police on Mrs Weatherspoon’s behalf.'
'Katie Redford...' Emily's voice took on a reproachful note. 'Why are you going around digging up dirt on people? Jackie is an awesome person. She hasn't done anything wrong. Archie misinterpreted Jackie's empathy as something else. She discussed with her supervisor and the practice manager and they all agreed he should see a different doctor the next time.'
Ah, the consultation, which went wrong...
'Is that what he wrote about in the letter?'
'Strangely enough, it's not what the letter was about,' Emily said reluctantly. 'He fell in love with Jackie and told her about it. He wrote her a love letter, and as a response, he received a reply from the Practice manager telling him his feelings were inappropriate. He got upset that the Practice Manager knew about his letter and was concerned it would reflect badly on Jackie. So, he decided to report himself to the management, explaining that it wasn't Jackie's fault he’d had fallen for her. This is what was in the letter the police have. Mr Blackburn also mentioned that maybe he should report himself to a regulatory body.'
Ouch. What a poor, poor man.
'He got it all wrong,' Emily carried on, her voice softer. 'He was a sick man, but Jackie's terrified. The letter suggested his feelings for her were reciprocated, which isn’t true. If the letter had been sent, she might have had to go through a disciplinary investigation. All that because she was nice to him. Thing is, Jackie’s nice to everybody. She didn't do anything wrong.'
Katie slid onto the chair. Collateral damage to her snooping... It was horrible. She never meant to bring anything bad onto anybody while conducting her little investigations. But then she didn't really do anything wrong. All she did was pass the letter from Mrs Weatherspoon to the police.
'I'm so sorry this has happened to your friend,' Katie said quietly, 'but don't shoot the messenger. All I did was hand the letter to the police. I never meant to upset anyone. I didn't know the content of the letter, or the situation, which led to it. When I talked to you this morning, I was simply hypothesising.' Katie took a breath, preparing to say something about this being a murder investigation, but realised, this wasn't the case - not officially!
'This is a police matter,' she said eventually. 'Mr Blackburn died in suspicious circumstances, and I'm only trying to help.'
'Be careful, Katie,' Emily said, in a serious voice. 'Be careful not to hurt innocent people while you're doing it. Some things should remain secret. Let people save face.'
Katie disconnected and dropped the phone on the table. All her life she had taken care not to hurt other people's feelings. She generally agreed with Emily, but when it came to murder, secrets and face-saving became low priority. This was one of those bitter truths she had learnt over the previous few months of being involved in murder investigations.
On the other hand, having friends was one of the most important things in life. She had to find a way to balance the two key aspects of her life.
She took a few deep breaths and pushed herself off the chair. It was time to start preparing dinner. She could consider the importance of what she'd just heard while doing so.
Dr Jackie Burns. Katie remembered her - medium height, chestnut hair cut in a neat bob, full figure. She'd seen her with Emily in town several times, and on each occasion, Dr Jackie was laughing. She seemed like a nice, positive person. Yet, she was the first person Katie had come across who might have held a genuine grudge against Archie Blackburn. It was a long shot, Katie agreed, but at least she had something to start with.
She'd discuss it with Jack or Chris tomorrow. Katie couldn't wait to see Jack's face when she revealed she knew the content of the confidential letter.
Or maybe this was something she should keep to herself? With the lines between personal and professional blurring, everything was getting quite confusing. She definitely needed to get it right or she could end up in deep trouble.
14
'Only four days to Christmas, yippee!'
An excited scream a millimetre away from her right ear interrupted Katie's lovely dream during which she was about to brush her lips against the cheek of a swoon-worthy man in a blue jumper. She could even smell his musky aftershave.
Katie waved her hand and mumbled. 'Five, actually.'
'Mum, it's me, not a mosquito!' the voice insisted. 'Okay, five. Get up. We have to do Christmas shopping!'
Katie pulled her duvet, trying to cover her ear.
'It's not even 7 am. The shops are still closed,' she drawled through her teeth.
'But mum, I've made a list, and you promised me last night...'
'Alright, alright,' Katie said as calmly as she could. Staying up late last night to pack the presents and deliberating whether she should also get a little something for Jack or was it too early for that kind of closeness, had taken its toll on Katie. She rubbed her face and pulled herself up in bed.
She shouldn't have left the Christmas shopping to the last minute. Honestly, this was a stupid decision. She’d been too busy trying to catch criminals.
Katie clambered out of bed, throwing the bathrobe over her shoulders.
'Can we go and get some real fir branches today?' Julia asked, dancing around the room.
'Julia, be careful, don't knock anything over,' Katie warned automatically. 'We can't do it today. Remember, we have to bake a cake for the Club Christmas do tonight. I need to add the ingredients to the list,' she mumbled and shuffled to the kitchen.
Julia followed. 'Mum, please, don't ask me what I need these things for, alright? It's
a secret.'
Oh, ten-year-olds and their sweet secrets.
Katie smiled. 'I promise, baby. Now, let's have a cuppa and check what we need. I mean, I'll have a cuppa, and you check the ingredients.'
Having occupied Julia with a meaningful task, Katie focused on ensuring her foggy brain could absorb its first dose of caffeine. Steaming mug in hand, inhaling the refreshing aroma of the freshly brewed coffee, Katie sat at the table.
She had to find a way to get her Christmas shopping done, cake baked and still arrive at the crafts room early enough to orchestrate a completely accidental, casual chat with Ally Baker, or even better - Erin Blackburn herself.
Moreover, she had to find a smart way to ask all the right questions.
No more winging it!
Preparation was the key to good sleuthing.
She was still distracted, rehearsing her cover story for the afternoon when she walked into the staff room. But not distracted enough to ignore the opportunity to wheedle an update on the case.
Jack was on the phone, and Chris was busy making coffee. Katie greeted her old friend with a curt nod and a head jerk in Jack's direction.
'Local media,' Chris replied quietly, obviously reading her unspoken question perfectly. 'We've identified one of the cars and are now asking for people who might have seen it to come forward.'
'I hope someone saw something,' Katie said. One of the biggest challenges of the previous case which happened not far from the house where Archie Blackburn died was the lack of eyewitnesses. 'What was the car like?'
'As we said: a small van, like a Peugeot Partner or a Citroen Berlingo. Petrol, dark colour, worn tires.'
'Any more information on the other car, the one no showing lights?'
Chris reached for a mug. 'Not much. The forensics team suspects it was probably a compact 4x4.'
Katie nodded and grabbed her favourite mug, too.
Jack hung up the phone. 'Morning, Katie. Any news?'
Katie flashed him what she hoped was a charming smile. 'How much is it worth?'
Jack gave a sharp laugh. 'What?'
'I can't be always supplying you with valuable information for free,' she replied, feeling her cheeks burning a little more than she wished. 'It's time for a little give and take.'
'Yeah, she's right, sir,' Chris chimed in. 'I think we need to keep her up to date if she’s going to help so much. Otherwise, she'd be looking for information we already know, or bring something of little use.
Katie glared at Chris. He could have put it a little less bluntly. But then again, he was absolutely right.
'So?' Katie asked and shifted her gaze back to Jack.
He pulled himself a chair and sat, crossing his legs.
'Let me start with what you'll certainly consider good news but gave me another heart-sinking moment. We are now officially treating this as a murder enquiry.'
Katie refrained from doing a little fist pump. After all, this was nothing to celebrate - yet another grim incident in their once-so-happy-and-peaceful town.
'What piece of evidence made you change your mind?' she asked simply.
Jack reached across his desk and pulled out a plastic bag. 'This little thing,' he said, waving an evidence bag.
Katie strode across the room to have a closer look.
'A tie? A black plastic zip tie that’s been cut?' she asked, studying the content of the bag.
'This piece of plastic was definitely cut. In light of this finding, the forensic team re-examined the one in the house, and now they are of the view someone made a tiny cut in that tie, sufficient to make it snap when enough pressure was applied.'
Katie swallowed the 'I told you so' that pushed onto her tongue. 'Pressure applied repeatedly?' she asked instead. “As in, someone used Archie's obsessions against him? Just as my hunch told me.'
He shoved his hands into his trouser pockets. 'Okay, you were right, but it wasn’t a hunch. It was a logical conclusion drawn from previously observed behaviour. You might not have seen the behaviour yourself, but you made the connection. By the way, closing doors repeatedly is a compulsion. Obsession is the thought to check if it's closed properly. That's what his doctor explained to me,' Jack said, his face relaxing.
'Jackie Burns?'
Jack's jaw dropped. 'How do you know that?'
'My own channels,' Katie replied, innocence itself. 'It looks like she was really upset.'
Jack's eyes glinted. He crossed his arms.
'What with?' he asked her, watching her carefully.
Was he testing her knowledge? Oh, the cheek!
'Both. The original incident with Archie Blackburn and your nosiness yesterday.'
'Touché.'
Chris's whisper broke the charged silence.
'Okay,' Jack said reluctantly. 'Maybe I could have handled it in a less confrontational manner. But this is a murder investigation, and my job is to find the killer.'
A-ha! So, once the m-word was allowed to be used, it could be used as an excuse for everything.
'Do you think the doctor had enough of a motive to want Archie Blackburn dead?' Katie blurted out.
'I see you've done with niceties and are calling a spade a spade, too,' Chris said.
Katie's and Jack's head jerked to look at Chris.
'I'm just saying,' he said, waving his free hand. 'Ignore me, if you wish. I'm a little voice making a running commentary on the side.' He turned around to pour himself some coffee.
'Am I imagining things or is everybody getting a bit cheekier this morning?' Jack asked.
'I think honest communication is the basis of good teamwork,' Katie said.
It was a good line, she congratulated himself.
'And I agree with that, sir,' Chris chimed in.
Jack pursed his lips.
'Coffee?' Chris asked, promptly reaching to the shelf above the coffee machine for another mug.
Jack sat back in his chair, uncrossing his arms. 'No harm in a cup of coffee. Yes, please,' he said, his voice sounding a little wooden but probably less tense than a minute earlier.
Katie rolled shoulders back and forth a few times. There was some tension in the banter, she could sense it. She didn't like tense situations. But Jack was right, the dynamics within the Sunnyvale team had changed. And maybe, indeed, Chris and she had been a little bit too direct and informal with Jack. After all, he was a senior detective.
'Going back to teamwork,' Katie said, keen to have the potential issues out in the open. 'Would you like to hear the info I've collected?'
'Keen as always,' Jack said, crossing to the coffee machine to collect the mug from Chris.
Katie gave him a brief summary of what she'd learned from Dorothy. Jack listened in silence, sipping his coffee.
'I heard about this fire from Mrs Weatherspoon. Interestingly, Archie Blackburn's daughter didn't volunteer that information. And when I asked her about it, she tried to shrug it off. She played it down, I would say.'
'I can imagine she wouldn’t like the incident being mentioned,' Katie said. 'The local grapevine had a theory that could explain it,' she added and shared the speculations regarding Erin's guilt.
'It's an awfully long time to feel guilty about something you couldn't have prevented anyway,' Jack commented.
That was exactly what Katie thought. Hopefully, she would be able to shed some light on that after the Club meeting later that night.
'What are your next steps?' Katie asked.
'I hope to identify at least one of the vehicles.'
Katie pushed on with her questions. 'Did you find anything else besides that broken cable tie at the scene?'
'Not really. The Medical Examiner believes Mr Blackburn died immediately, or almost.'
'Whoever set the hatch up to fail knew how to do it,' Katie observed.
'I agree,' Jack said nodding. 'I still have no idea who might have done it or why.'
'So, it still looks as though nobody benefited from his death?' Katie asked
'Th
at’s right.'
Katie poured herself a coffee. Maybe that would help clear her thinking? 'If not for money, what other common reasons do people kill for?' she asked, breathing in the refreshing aroma.
Chris and Jack look at each other.
'You can boil down to the four Ls,' Jack said. 'Love, lust, loathing and loot.'
Katie smiled. 'I guess we can exclude the last one, and probably the second one, too,' she said. 'It does not look like a sexual crime.'
'In my opinion, it was either someone hated him badly or someone who felt sorry for him and wanted to put him out of his misery,' Jack explained.
The last comment hit Katie right in the chest. The cruelty of it was chilling. Yet she could see the logic behind it. Someone might have taken a pity on Archie Blackburn, once a great building inspector no longer able to live or work normally because of his debilitating obsessions and compulsions.
Katie shivered. 'But who could have hated or loved him so much? His ex-wife is dead. His daughter? His long lost friend? His landlady?' Katie rattled off, twirling a rogue strand of her hair on her finger.
'We have a statement from Mrs Weatherspoon's sister confirming that Irene Weatherspoon spent the entire weekend with her and stayed until Tuesday, 28th. It couldn't have been her.'
'She couldn't have done it herself, either. She's too frail,' Katie added. 'She could have hired someone, although I don't think she's capable of murder or causing harm to anyone,' she carried on, suddenly remembering something she read in her new book. 'And I've based my statement on previously observed behaviour and her overall attitude. What about his daughter?'
'She was away, in the Lake District, apparently organising her own wedding.'
'But the town grapevine says the wedding has been cancelled,' Katie was more than happy to supply.
