Nine Lives

by Anita Waller

  Flick went through the double doors leading into the gym, and looked around her. It was busy with both men and women working on the assorted pieces of equipment, and she decided there and then that unless they needed to infiltrate, she would never step foot inside these premises again. It had a massive resemblance to hard work.

  ‘You can, of course, use any of the pieces of equipment, and if you want to book a personal trainer please check what time your preference is available. Anybody will talk you through the various sections of the gym, but I’m sure you must already know this, you look as though you’ve been working out before.’

  Flick almost choked. ‘Yes,’ she lied, ‘but I need a change of venue. I think you get stale by going to the same place all the time.’

  ‘Oh, definitely,’ the still-unnamed receptionist said.

  They walked around for a further ten minutes, Flick having some pieces of equipment explained to her that sounded more like items of mediaeval torture. She was relieved when they headed for the exit doors, and she found herself back in the reception area.

  ‘And that,’ Flick said, pointing to The Coffee Pot, ‘is presumably where most people have a drink after their session. Can I get one now?’

  ‘Yes of course. Thank you for joining, and we’ll see you tomorrow?’

  ‘Definitely,’ Flick said, and moved towards the signing-in book.

  ‘Oh no,’ the receptionist said, ‘if you’re only visiting the coffee shop, we don’t ask you to sign in.’

  ‘Really? I’m surprised. As you said, health and safety…’

  ‘The Coffee Pot is a franchise. They have their own regulations. It’s well used, and I would say ninety per cent of our visitors go in before heading home. A couple of romances have blossomed in there.’ She giggled.

  ‘Thank you,’ Flick responded, and walked through the double doors of the coffee shop.

  Flick ordered a flat white and took out her notebook. She didn’t want to forget anything of this strange afternoon, especially the bit about anybody visiting the coffee shop only, didn’t have to sign in. Their killer could easily have got to know her victims simply by going for a coffee. She wouldn’t have been on any attendance list, wouldn’t necessarily have to be on the membership list. A perfect set-up.

  She glanced around – eight customers, including herself, and this was mid-afternoon. Two people were tapping away on laptops, a man was reading a newspaper while enjoying a panini with his drink, and most of the others either had books or eReaders to occupy their minds. Flick liked to people-watch and spent a pleasant half hour in The Coffee Pot, before following the man with the newspaper out of the doors.

  ‘My first time in that coffee shop,’ she said chattily, ‘seems nice. The coffee was good anyway.’

  ‘It’s excellent,’ he responded. ‘I use it most days, my office is only five minutes away. It seems to attract a lot of people who return to it, rather than first-timers. I bet you go back again.’

  ‘Certainly will. I’ve joined the gym.’

  He laughed. ‘I’ve heard it’s not the best of gyms, but it’s certainly one of the better coffee shops. Maybe I’ll see you again,’ he said, as they reached the car park, and she took out her keys.

  ‘That would be nice. My name’s Flick.’

  ‘Robert. I’m in most days.’

  The smile was still on her face as she unlocked her car, but by the time she had driven out of the car park, Robert had disappeared.

  Flick and Erica arrived back at the station at the same time. Flick was about to go through the doors when she spotted Erica’s car. She waited until Erica sorted herself out and got out of the car, then waved.

  Erica waved back, and inwardly thought how much she was getting used to working with Flick. She remembered she’d been to join Starlite Gym, and grinned. Flick didn’t even like climbing the seven steps to get to the doors, she tended to take the disabled ramp, so the idea of her doing exercise in a gym was almost laughable. No, extremely laughable, she corrected herself. ‘You don’t look any slimmer,’ she said as she reached Flick.

  ‘Oy, I don’t need to look any slimmer. Met a nice feller though.’

  ‘In police time? That allowed?’

  ‘No idea. He’s probably married anyway. But I have got stuff to tell you. How’s Beth?’

  ‘Battered head to toe, but much livelier. She’s sent her mum and dad back home, and she’ll have been moved to her new ward by now. They came to do that, so I left. She’s talking about being home in a couple of days, but maybe that’s her talking and not her consultant. I don’t know.’

  ‘That’s good. She capable of being on her own?’

  ‘She says she is, so we’ll have to hope she’s right. Let’s get a coffee, and you can fill me in on all this activity, and tell me when you’re going again, to actually do some exercising.’

  29

  Erica stared out of her tiny office window while Flick made them coffees. She turned towards the younger woman and smiled. ‘You’re doing well.’

  ‘What do you mean? I’m getting your coffee right?’

  ‘No, I meant in general. You’ve stepped up to the plate under difficult circumstances, because Beth is extremely well liked. And you think outside the box. You came up with going to the gym, I didn’t, and by the sound of it, it’s paid off. You want a KitKat?’

  ‘Thanks. I’d love one.’ Flick reached across the desk, and slowly took off the wrappings. ‘It’s ages since I’ve had one of these.’

  ‘I like them because I can fool myself into thinking they’re low in calories, so it doesn’t count. So, tell me about this feller, and about the gym.’

  ‘The girl on reception, who shall be unnamed because she didn’t have a badge on, was most helpful, possibly because she’s not used to being on reception and hadn’t been trained in being polite but reticent. I filled in a form, put accountant down as my employment – but put my proper name and address in case they checked. I somehow don’t think they will, it’s all about numbers there, I suspect. She then took me through those big double doors at the end of the reception desk.’ Flick shuddered and Erica laughed.

  ‘It was that bad?’

  ‘Worse! There must have been ten people in the room, all beavering away at high speed on these machines, or laid on their backs picking up weights. Honest, boss, it took my breath away, the thought of actually doing any of it. And I had to get all enthusiastic about it, to keep her thinking I was ready to take my clothes off there and then and get stuck in. Never in a million years will I buy workout clothes. I would say it was about fifty–fifty, the ratio of men to women. I walked around with her, watching them all, and most of them looked in pain. What’s that all about then? Why would you do that to yourself?’

  Erica laughed. ‘And this unnamed receptionist never suspected you were a blatant fraud?’

  ‘Not for a minute. The more questions I asked, the more interest I showed, the more giddy she got at having hooked a new member. I was feeling fed up because it looked above board, everybody was there doing what they wanted to do to get fit, and, as you said, I was the only one who was a fraud.’

  Erica sipped at her coffee, knowing she felt exactly the same as Flick. She knew Frannie enjoyed a workout but it certainly had never developed into an obsession, it was more a way of filling in time if she went into work early, or she used the gym as a de-stresser at the end of the day. With this case, her own exercise had been a mixture of wading and stumbling through flooding river waters, clambering up riverbank sides, and walking endless stretches of the river, seeking inspiration.

  ‘So you’re going back?’

  ‘Possibly, but it might have to be more official because I don’t think I can get away with walking around that coffee shop pretending I’m not an idiot who simply wants to talk to people because I’m lonely.’ She grinned. ‘You see, I managed to prove today in one fell swoop that the attendance record meant absolutely nothing.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘It
seems that The Coffee Pot is a privately owned part of the gym, who pay rent to the gym I suspect, for the use of their premises. In other words, you have to sign in to go into the gym to comply with their strict health and safety rules, but obviously you don’t have to sign in anywhere to go for a cup of coffee. Anybody can wander through that reception area and go for a drink. I did. I went to sign in because she’d explained about the importance of signing the book that was always on the desk, and she said no. If all I wanted was a coffee I went and ordered one. So I did. And met the lovely Robert.’

  ‘Tell me more.’

  ‘Not much more to tell. I ordered a coffee, did some people-watching with the eight others who were there, and left at the same time as Robert. We chatted as we walked down towards the car park, and he was saying his office is about five minutes away. He carried on and I went to my car. I got the impression that more people who aren’t gym members use the coffee shop, than people who are, but this leaves it wide open, doesn’t it? Our first four victims are all gym members, but our killer doesn’t have to have any connection to the gym. She could have chatted to them in the coffee shop, and because she was a woman, possibly a personable woman who can put them at their ease, they grew to like her. And they’d get into her car without thinking twice about it.’

  ‘Shit,’ Erica said. ‘Shit, shit, shit. Just when things felt as though they were getting clearer…’

  ‘Sorry, boss.’

  ‘Brilliant job, Flick. And I think you’re reading it right. What time does the coffee shop close?’

  ‘Opens at eight for breakfasts, closes at eight at night.’

  Erica drifted into thought, and Flick finished her KitKat.

  ‘Talk me through the people who were there,’ Erica said, sitting higher in her chair as though she’d suddenly come alive. She brushed off a piece of chocolate from her white blouse.

  ‘There were eight, as I said. I made the ninth, but I sat at a table on my own. There were too many empty tables for me to justify sitting with someone and starting up a conversation.’ She took out her notebook before continuing. ‘Okay, nobody was with anybody else. They were all on individual tables. One woman and one man were working on laptops, and both seemed on really good terms with the staff so I’m assuming they maybe do a lot of work in there. Robert was reading a paper, possibly The Telegraph because it was big, and having his lunch. A panini, but I don’t know what was on it.’

  ‘Epic fail then,’ Erica said with a grin. ‘Carry on.’

  Three women were reading, one with a real book called Resistance – I’ve looked it up, it’s by Patricia Dixon – and two with Kindles. Other brands are available.’ She spluttered with laughter before returning to her notebook. ‘I don’t know what the Kindle readers were reading. The remaining two were men. One was on his own phone texting and sighing, and the other sat looking fed up and drinking his coffee. He left first, after about ten minutes. I had a coffee, but I promise my Kindle never left my bag.’

  ‘So you sat and surveyed them?’ Erica kept her face straight.

  ‘I did. Dragged my coffee out a bit, it was cold by the time I got up to follow Robert.’

  ‘Might have looked less suspicious if you’d taken out your Kindle. Only saying…’

  The report from Ivor referencing the autopsy performed on Victoria Urland was still waiting in Erica’s inbox, and she finally clicked on it to open it.

  It was much the same as the others; strangled by a ligature, once again a pair of tights being used for something they were never intended to be used for. Propofol was present, this time in a slightly larger quantity, and the deceased had given birth within the last four weeks. She thought of the tiny baby whose grandparents had brought him into the station to tell them his mummy hadn’t arrived home from a bonfire, and she felt grief. A little boy never knowing his mummy, grandparents having to start raising a child when they were at the age when they could expect to have the benefits of a grandchild, someone to love, play with, spoil rotten, and return home to his mummy at the end of it. Their lives would change immeasurably.

  Little Noah Urland would live with photographs of Victoria, and not her arms wrapped around him constantly.

  The time of death had been estimated at eight to ten o’clock that bonfire evening, and Erica wondered why she should be in the killer’s car at that time. Surely the bonfire wasn’t over? Even ten was an early hour for an adult attended bonfire to finish. It was a priority they tracked down the change of plan she had mentioned in the text to her mother.

  Erica pushed her chair away from her desk, but after checking her watch decided not to bother the Urlands with a visit; time was getting on, and with the responsibilities associated with a new baby, it wouldn’t be fair on them. She picked up the phone and checked in with Noah’s harassed-sounding grandmother, and arranged for a visit the following morning.

  Flick had gone home, Ian was still at his desk, and a couple of others were near the photocopier. Erica glanced around the large room, and told everybody to go home.

  ‘Ian, your wife will forget what you look like.’

  ‘She might do, boss,’ Ian said. ‘Her mum’s had a nasty fall, so she’s gone to look after her till she’s a bit more mobile. I’m okay, nothing to rush home for, and I’m picking up fish and chips for my tea. Besides, I’m ferreting around in the WEA class listings, and when I get to a point where I’m comfortable stopping, I promise I will. Now you go home.’

  ‘I am. I saw Beth today, she’s doing okay. Still on heavy medication for the headaches, but they’ve moved her from high dependency so she’s thinking in terms of getting home in a couple of days. I’m not convinced…’

  ‘Don’t worry, they’ll not let her go until it’s the right time. Especially with head injuries. Her ribs okay?’

  ‘She says they’re fine unless she moves or breathes.’

  ‘He really meant it, didn’t he? Bastard.’

  ‘That’s one word of many I’ve used about him, Ian. I’m going home now, and tomorrow Flick and I are going to see the Urlands. We need to know which bonfire Victoria went to, instead of the one she was supposed to be attending. They may think they don’t know where she went, but we may be able to jog something in their memories. We have to try, anyway. You’ll be in charge of here, contact me if anything crops up.’

  ‘I will, boss.’ He swung back round to face his monitor. ‘Oh, by the way, I’ve done it.’

  ‘Done what?’

  ‘Put in for my sergeant’s exams. Couldn’t take the bullying any longer.’

  She scuffed him across the back of his head. ‘Bullying? You ain’t seen nothing yet. And well done, you do the job, it should be official and recognised. Don’t back out or you’ll really find out what bullying means.’

  Erica drove home lost in a world of her own. With three sergeants on the books, things would have to change. She wouldn’t be able to pretend she had three and didn’t realise, her superiors would be planning transfers as soon as Ian passed his exams. She guessed it would be some time before Beth returned to work, and therefore Flick was okay for now, but by the time Ian received his promotion Erica would have issues to deal with that she really didn’t want.

  She pulled up outside her home, and saw that Frannie’s red Audi was already parked on the drive. She momentarily forgot her problems and her smile lit up her face. This woman was getting her through this bloody awful case, and she didn’t know what she would do without her.

  Erica sat for a moment, then switched off her engine, locked the car and headed for the front door.

  Frannie opened both the door and her arms.

  30

  Erica woke and checked her phone. 06:59. She silenced the alarm as soon as it rang at 07:00 and put a foot out of bed. She almost brought it back into bed, but instead slipped her feet into the fleecy slippers that had seen better days but still served a purpose. It felt icy in the bedroom and she knew it would be a good fifteen minutes before it became liveable. Maybe they shou
ld change the automatic settings for the central heating, these days a seven o’clock fire-up was far too late.

  She sipped at her coffee with a sense of relief that there had been no early call-out, and she thought back to the previous day’s conversation with Flick about the café. Her decision to make Flick acting DS until the return of Beth had been made with her fingers crossed, but the younger woman had certainly stepped up to the mark. She was proving to be intuitive, and had no fear of acting outside the box. Joining the gym, while creating laughter between them, had been inspirational. Erica grinned to herself as she tried to think of ways of sending Flick to the gym to work out, and do some surveillance.

  Frannie entered the kitchen as Erica was finishing her coffee. They exchanged a smile and a good morning kiss, and Erica grabbed her car keys and bag before shouting bye.

  The journey into work was uneventful and she was surprised to see Flick’s car already there.

  The briefing room was unusually quiet; most of her team were immersed in their computers, and she smiled at how easy they were to manage. They simply did it. They discussed amongst themselves who was doing what, and it happened.

  Flick waved and stood. She followed Erica into the DI’s office, and waited until Erica had removed her coat before sitting down.

  Erica followed her actions, and they sat looking at each other across the desk.

  ‘So. You solved it yet?’ Erica asked, keeping her face straight.

  ‘Yes. It’s Ian.’

  ‘That’s interesting. He’s a man.’

  ‘But if we arrest him, it makes our clear-up rate look good.’

  ‘Has he agreed?’

  ‘Not yet. Give me chance to get out the handcuffs.’

  ‘Sergeant! He’s a married man!’

  They laughed. ‘Seriously,’ Flick said, ‘I think I should take my laptop and go write a book or something in that café. Observe definitely, but maybe chat if I can get away with it. I’m sure Robert will be in, and he might be a bit forthcoming.’