The Secrets of the Shadows (The Annie Graham series - Book 2)

by Helen Phifer

  ‘Well anything at all, if I can help give me a shout.’ She climbed down the side of the boat onto the jetty and began to briskly walk back up towards the church and the irate motorists.

  Tom looked at Lily. ‘Do you think that is the lovely Annie who has my son in such a fluster? There can’t be that many policewomen called Annie. She reminds me so much of Elizabeth, similar features. It would figure that Will would fall in love with a woman who reminded him of his mum.’

  Lily wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged him tight. ‘Do you think we should do some digging, find some reason to speak to your Inspector friend and get the background. I hope she is the same one, she seems so nice and down to earth. I can feel a spot of matchmaking coming on.’

  Tom turned and kissed her, ‘Regardless of whether she is Will’s Annie if she isn’t we should let them meet anyway. There is something about her I really like, I just can’t put my finger on it.’

  ‘Well as long as we don’t interfere too much it should be okay. Maybe we should invite Will up for a barbeque and ask Annie, as well as some of our other friends. That way we can gauge their relationship, see if they know each other.’

  Tom laughed, ‘Lily you are a hopeless romantic but I love you.’

  Lily picked up the tray of empty glasses, ‘You can take me home now I have some planning to do and then you can sail around the lake.’

  ‘Your wish is my command.’

  Chapter 16

  Will and the DI followed the black Mondeo estate that carried Laura’s body up to the mortuary when it was finally moved from the crime scene. Will wouldn’t put any of his staff through watching their friend and colleague’s post mortem, he couldn’t do it to them. He didn’t want to do it but the feeling of guilt which had settled in his stomach told his brain it might be eased a little if he did as much for Laura as possible. Matt had said he would wait for them and do the PM straight away, Will had thanked him profusely, glad that Matt was one of the good guys. He didn’t act like a pathologist; well he didn’t act like the last two he had worked with. Matt was down to earth and didn’t think he was better than everyone else and he’d been in the pub with the rest of them last night for Stu’s birthday. Buying the drinks and having a laugh. He had been as shocked as the rest of them when he got to the crime scene. He hadn’t made them wait he had come down as soon as he’d got the call and Will would be eternally grateful to him for that. They arrived at the rear of the hospital and there standing at the metal door which led into the mortuary were a grim-faced Matt and Lisa, along with two technician and two CSIs. No-one spoke, they didn’t know what to say. They just began to do what they did all the time with no fuss or drama, just an unspoken agreement that they would do everything they could to find Laura’s killer.

  ***

  Annie soothed her irate motorists and left the scene with an ice-cold white chocolate and raspberry milk shake, courtesy of the manager of one of the local coffee shops. It had taken an hour for recovery to come and she’d spent the whole time directing traffic. She felt a bit cheeky but she was dehydrated, the day was so warm and she was overheating. Who was she to say no to a free drink, so she shoved it down inside her body armour between her cleavage – one advantage of having a decent size bust because in her opinion there weren’t many. It was freezing and she had to walk slowly to make sure that she didn’t dribble raspberry sauce everywhere. Finally she got back to the station and coaxed the drink out, she placed it on the desk and unzipped her body armour, throwing it onto the floor. She took a big slurp of the drink and immediately thought of Jake, he would be missing her like crazy. Maybe she should convince him to transfer up here if another opening occurred, although it would probably be a bit tame for him, he liked the rough and tumble of a good old fight on a Saturday night outside the clubs. She missed him though, it was quite lonely and she was often left to her own devices which she liked but she did miss the banter. The door slammed and a voice echoed, ‘Only me, anyone home?’

  ‘Yep, just me, did you want something?’

  Cathy walked into the office and smiled at Annie, her eyes lingered on the milkshake. ‘Ah I see you’ve been acquainted with Gustav. He makes a cracking milkshake but just be prepared for him to try and get into your knickers.’

  ‘Pardon.’

  ‘Has an eye for the ladies does Gustav and don’t get me wrong I’m all for a freebie but I think I’m a bit old for him, although I’m pretty sure I could teach him a thing or two about where to shove those ice cubes.’

  Annie managed to splatter milkshake all over her black tee shirt, ‘Yes, he was a bit of alright.’

  Cathy winked at her, ‘Well then maybe a fun, flirty, fling might just be the ticket for you Annie.’

  Annie felt her red cheeks burn even hotter. ‘No thank you, I’m over men for at least a year. Why don’t you go out with him?’

  ‘What and put him out of his misery, no I love to watch him fawn over my officers and me if I’m totally honest, and it wouldn’t be the same would it? The thought of it is always so much better than the reality, wouldn’t you agree?’

  Annie shook her head, ‘Sometimes the reality is even better.’

  Cathy nodded and changed the subject. ‘I have some bad news for you; there has been another murder down in Barrow.’

  Annie felt her heart skip a beat and held her breath without realising.

  ‘A primary school kid found a woman’s body in a churchyard this morning. One of ours as well.’

  Annie felt sick. Before Cathy could say the name she already knew, it had flashed into her mind as clear as day and a lead weight began to form in her stomach. ‘Who was it?’

  ‘Laura Bailiss, they found her naked just like the other one. Poor bugger – what a way to go, murdered and left on show for all your colleagues to find.’

  Annie shivered, a lump began to form in her throat and she didn’t even like Laura, especially not after the trouble she’d caused her and Will. But the woman didn’t deserve this, nobody did.

  Cathy walked over to her and put a hand on her shoulder, squeezing gently. ‘I’ve just come back from a meeting down in Barrow, afterwards Kav filled me in. I didn’t mean to pry but he was concerned for you and he thought I should have an idea about some of the stuff which could affect one of my officers. Kav’s a good man, we go back a long way. Remember what I said; if you need to talk I’m always here.’

  Annie smiled, ‘Thanks but I wouldn’t burden anyone with the crap that happens in my life.’ She kept thinking about Will and how terrible he must be feeling right now. She would give anything to be the one holding him, stroking his hair and telling him it would all be okay when he eventually finished work. He would be in a state and she couldn’t help thinking that she wished she’d never heard of Laura Bailiss.

  ***

  Cathy stuck her head into the ref’s room where Annie was sitting staring into space, her sandwiches unwrapped but untouched in front of her. ‘I’m going now, can you let the nightshift know to check the curfew folder and do some visits.’

  Annie nodded, ‘No problem, I’m going to have a wander around before I finish at ten.’

  ‘Up to you but you don’t need to, you can just wait here and take it easy.’

  ‘No I get bored, but thanks. Goodnight.’

  Cathy nodded, ‘Goodnight.’

  Annie stood up. She may as well have a wander around; there was nothing she could do. She left the station and heard the church clock chime seven. As she walked down the deserted street she couldn’t help but smile, she loved it when the shops were closed and the crowds of tourists had moved on to other villages or back to their hotels for evening meals. Of course the Lakes relied heavily on the tourists to keep the businesses afloat but on a day shift it was a steady flow of dealing with irate motorists or posing to have her picture taken and she hated having her picture taken. She walked past the Pandora shop and thought she might treat herself to a new charm for the bracelet Will had bought her for her birthda
y. When she’d left she did think about giving it back but then decided it was her little piece of him that would remind her of the good times. He had given it to her as a birthday present even though she’d never told him it was her birthday, Jake must have blabbed to him. It had brought a tear to her eye when she’d opened it; on the dark purple leather bracelet was a gold guardian angel charm, a gold love heart with a diamond in the middle and a ghost charm which had made her giggle. She had never taken it off since the day he gave it to her, the first time she had popped into the shop to price the charms she had nearly passed out with shock to find out the value of hers. It was worth eight hundred pounds. She wouldn’t have accepted it at the time if she had known that but because it didn’t look much she had let Will wrap the bracelet around her wrist and delicately close the clasp. He’d lifted her hand and kissed it telling her how much he loved her – Ha, he loved you so much he couldn’t wait to cheat on you with a super skinny blonde. Annie blinked away a tear, all those years with Mike and she had never felt about him the way she did about Will. Even now it disgusted her how her heart would beat faster and she would flush pink every time she heard his name mentioned. She missed him so much but her pride had been hurt and it was hard to swallow and forgive him, although if he begged hard enough she would find him impossible to resist, that was the main reason she had asked for the transfer to Windermere station. Will hadn’t chased her or bombarded her with calls and texts asking for forgiveness though, which hurt almost as much as finding him comatose next to Laura. She knew he was giving her time to get her head together and she was grateful, Annie had been through so much this past year a lesser woman would have been admitted to a mental hospital but she had soldiered on. Will had become her protector and lover and she had fallen so hard for him it had torn her apart when he had lived up to his reputation as a womaniser, and here she was. Alone, fed up and still seeing shadowy figures out of the corner of her eye whenever she didn’t expect it.

  The church loomed in the distance and she headed down the hill towards it to check the grounds and building. There had recently been a lot of metal plaque thefts from the cemetery in Barrow and she didn’t know whether there were any plaques in the church grounds so she would check. That was the problem with society these days; no-one had any respect for anyone, especially for the dead. What kind of person stole memorial plaques? Costa Coffee was all in darkness, her favourite coffee shop before she began working up here. On the rare occasion that she and Will were off together they would come up for coffee and read the papers. Bloody hell when am I going to have some memories that are mine alone and don’t make me want to throw myself into the lake under the first steam boat that comes along?

  As she neared the entrance to the church she saw the familiar figure of the little girl who she first saw standing on the steps to her house. The girl darted behind a gravestone and Annie’s breath caught in the back of her throat. The girl was wearing the same white lace dress and black lace up shoes as the last time, her hair was still in two plaits. Annie walked quicker, wanting to catch up to the girl. It was chilly now and she could see her breath plume out in front of her when she exhaled. ‘Hey, wait for me kid. What are you doing, I just want to say hello.’ Annie was greeted by silence. She walked into the churchyard and felt as if she had stepped back in time to the 1800s. The air was still and Annie walked towards the tall grave she had seen the girl disappear behind. She peered behind it but there wasn’t anyone there. Impossible if she’d been alive, the churchyard wasn’t so big she would have seen her leave. She felt tiny fingers tug on her jacket from behind and she turned but no-one was there, ‘Okay kid, it’s just me and you now, you have my attention, what can I do for you. I won’t hurt you, please come and talk to me.’ In the distance she saw a glimpse of white flicker for a second as if the girl was trying to appear but struggling. Annie knew the girl was long dead but needed to tell her something and she just hoped that whatever it was it wasn’t going to end with Annie fighting for her life again.

  Annie checked every inch of the graveyard, which had some of the most ornate gravestones and memorials she had ever seen, but no brass plaques. As she rounded the corner she had gasped, thinking there was a body on a grave but on closer inspection she realised it was a life-size stone angel and her heart rate slowed. There was no sign of the girl, not even a whisper in the air. She wanted something and there was no way she could ignore a kid who may be asking for her help, she couldn’t live with herself if she did. Her radio broke the silence as the mobile patrol requested a vehicle PNC for intelligence and Annie made her way out of the church yard closing the iron gate behind her. She continued her walk down to the Lakeside to check the piers and boats, the whole time thinking about the little girl, which at least was a change from thinking about Will.

  ***

  Matt had finished summing up Laura’s post mortem; he carefully stitched her back together again. Not that he didn’t take care with all of his patients but he did this much neater because he knew her, he’d worked with her and because she shouldn’t be here on his table having her internal organs sewn back into her body cavity. Will hadn’t spoken since he’d arrived and it had been almost three hours. There had been no discernible marks on Laura’s body. No defence injuries and, judging by her bloodshot eyes, Matt’s initial report concluded that she had died by suffocation or, to be medically correct, asphyxiation. But he wouldn’t confirm it until the blood results were back, it was hard to say whether she’d been drugged or not until the samples were tested, the same for the amount of alcohol in her system. They hadn’t found one scrap of forensic evidence on her, no hair or fibres, no skin or DNA. Whoever had killed her was good, he knew exactly what he was doing and this worried Will more than anything because if he was so good at this there was a chance he wouldn’t stop killing. Why should he, he liked it. There hadn’t been a single drop of blood and Will had formed the impression that the killer probably wasn’t very fond of it, there hadn’t been scratch on either of the bodies. Two dead women and not a drop of blood spilt which was pretty unusual. The DI had left to go back to the station and finish up what he could; he would leave it in Will’s capable hands until he got back late Sunday. Will and Matt left the sterile room as the technician was wheeling Laura across to the big bank of fridges. Will had to turn away; he would never get rid of the image of Laura being zipped into a black body bag and being pushed into one of the fridges. It was like something out of his worst nightmare.

  They stripped off their boot covers, scrubs and gloves in complete silence. Matt was the one to break it. ‘Coffee? I know I need something a lot stronger than bloody coffee but it’s all I’ve got.’

  Will nodded, his head was banging and he couldn’t remember the last time he’d had a drink of anything, it had been hours ago. He followed Matt into his office and slumped down on the small black leather two-seater sofa at the back of the room. Matt made two mugs of strong coffee and took a packet of chocolate digestives from his desk drawer. ‘I’m not hungry but my stomach’s empty and I feel sick and I don’t know if it’s the shock of Laura or the lack of food.’

  ‘I know what you mean, what the fuck is happening Matt? I can’t have another murderer running around killing women and to make it worse this one is personal. Why kill a copper?’

  ‘Do you think it was that big guy she left with?’

  ‘I don’t know, I’ve never seen him before. I’ve had Stu go back to the pub to collect all the CCTV footage from last night to see if anyone in there knows who he is or where he lives.’

  Matt nodded. ‘He won’t be that hard to identify, all you need is a couple of PCSOs armed with stills of the guy to visit all the gyms in Barrow, Dalton and Ulverston to see if he works out in any of them. Fingers crossed he will and you’ll have a name and address for him before the morning.’

  Will finished his coffee and took two more biscuits from the packet. ‘I hope so mate, it would be nice to end this now before anyone else has to die. What’s w
rong with people, why do they feel the need to kill others and why the church? It’s all so weird.’

  ‘If I knew that I’d be doing your job Will, not slicing and dicing dead bodies. I was never that good at puzzles when I was a kid, but I used to love that game Operation, no-one could beat me at that, I was the school champion.’

  Will laughed and dragged himself up off the sofa. ‘You sad git, don’t go admitting that to anyone. It doesn’t do much for that cool image you like to portray.’

  Matt laughed, ‘It could be worse; I could have been captain of the spelling team.’

  Will shook his head and walked out of the door. He paused and turned back, ‘I don’t care how much it costs, rush those samples through. I’ll pay for it myself if I have to. Don’t let anyone moan about the cost, I want them as soon as humanly possible.’

  ‘Will I’d pay for them myself if anyone had the audacity to moan about the cost implications. As soon as I have the results I’ll ring you, whether you’re at work or not.’

  Will walked from the pathology lab to the main entrance of the hospital to get some fresh air, it was still warm outside and it felt so good to feel the sun on his face. He pulled his phone out and rang Stu. ‘Get someone to pick me up if you’re busy, I’m at the main entrance.’ He ended the call before he got barraged with questions, he needed to think about the man who had been with Laura and he was distinctive because of his size. Surely someone would remember him or know him. He looked around at the people coming and going to visit sick relatives, his eyes began to water. No-one would be visiting Laura ever again. His hands curled into tight fists and he kicked an empty can which skittered across the pavement and bounced off the wheel of an ambulance. An old woman in a wheelchair smoking a cigarette looked at him. ‘Bad day?’