Collide-O-Scope (Norfolk Coast Investigation Stories Book 1)

by Andrea Bramhall

  Kate nodded. “Yes, but I did ask you for your opinion.”

  “I know. But I guess I’m a firm believer in if you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.”

  Kate sighed. “I understand. I even like the notion. But I’m investigating the murder of your best friend here. Please, I need you to tell me everything about her. I need to know what you know, to find who killed her. Will you help me find her killer?”

  Gina closed her eyes and willed away the tears as she made a promise she had no intention of ever keeping. “Yes.” Now. This is the now part.

  “Thank you.” Kate finished her coffee and put her cup in the sink. “I should get going. I need to head home before I go to the station.”

  “Thank you for staying here last night, for helping me and Sammy. I can’t tell you what that means to me.”

  “You don’t need to thank me.” She reached over and squeezed Gina’s arm. “It was the most interesting evening I’ve had in while.”

  Gina laughed and winced. “Then you need to work on your social life, Detective.”

  Kate laughed. “I probably do.”

  Gina pulled open the door for Kate and found herself staring at the dirty, unshaven face of Sammy’s father.

  “Matt, what are you doing here?”

  “I need to see Sammy.” He stared at Kate. “Who are you?”

  “Detective Sergeant Kate Brannon. And you are?”

  Matt swallowed hard and Gina took a perverse pleasure in watching him squirm. “Matt Green.”

  “Matt is Sammy’s father.” Gina added to explain his presence. Kate glanced at her quickly, one eyebrow raised. Gina felt as though she were looking right into her soul, before she nodded to them both and stepped out of the door.

  “Thanks for your help, Miss Temple. I’m sure I’ll have more questions later.”

  “I’ll be here all day. I’m not opening up the office and Sammy’s staying home today. She’s not up to school.”

  “Of course. I’ll know where to find you, then.” She nodded at Matt. “Mr. Green.”

  Was it my imagination or did she emphasise our different names to make some sort of point?

  She waited until Kate was in her car and gone before she turned her attention to Matt. “What kind of fucking moron are you?”

  “Excuse me? You can’t talk to me like that.”

  “Watch me.” She slammed the door shut behind her.

  “I just need to see Sammy and get something, then I’ll be out of your way and you can go back to doing…whatever the fuck it is you do, Gina.”

  “I’ll just bet you need to see Sammy. You need to see her so much that you couldn’t turn up to meet her at the school gate like you promised her you would. You need to see her so much that you waited more than twenty-four hours to turn up again.”

  “Wh—what are you talking about?”

  “Your fucking gun. That’s what I’m talking about. The one you left in the hands of a nine-year-old. Fully loaded. While you were more than two miles away. The one you didn’t turn up to collect at school as you promised. The one you left in her possession to walk home with after your irresponsible arse didn’t do what you promised.”

  “I was working. I got busy. You know what old Ed’s like when he gets on one. It’s all ‘do this and do that or don’t bother coming in tomorrow.’”

  “I don’t give a shit if God himself ordered you to do something. That is the last promise you are ever going to break to your daughter.”

  “I know. I’ll never let her down again. You have my word.”

  “Your word doesn’t mean anything to me, Matt. But mine will damn sure mean something to you. If you ever, ever, come near Sammy again, I’ll take that gun to the police and tell them that you left that loaded weapon with her, and left her. She could have killed herself with that thing.”

  “You can’t do that, Gina. She’s my daughter too.”

  “No, she’s a toy you pick up and play with when you feel like it. You’re not capable of being a father, Matt. You’re still a fucking child yourself.”

  “I’ll take you to court.”

  “Try it. I’ll tell them exactly what kind of man you are.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “I’ll tell them everything, Matt. I’ll tell them about you giving a gun to a nine-year-old and leaving her alone.”

  Anger contorted his face. “You won’t do that.”

  “Won’t I?” She smiled at him. “I guess you’ll have to try me, then, won’t you?”

  “Don’t do anything stupid, Gina.”

  “Then stay away, Matt. Stay away from Sammy, and stay away from me.”

  “You can’t do this.”

  “You did this to yourself. Giving her a bloody rifle and leaving her.” She shook her head. “What did you think was going to happen?”

  “She knew what she was doing with it.”

  “She’s nine years old!”

  “You can’t take her away from me.”

  “I’m not. I’m protecting her from bad influences and stupidity.” She pulled open the door. “Now get out and don’t come back.”

  CHAPTER 8

  Kate shook her head as she drove away. The picture of Matt staring at Gina lingered behind her eyelids every time she blinked. She didn’t know the story behind them, but no part of her could see her and Matt as a couple. But they had a child together. Kate shuddered and tried to shake it off again. It took her five minutes to reach her small, chalk-and-flint fronted cottage in Docking with the ivy climbing up and over the front window and door. She made a mental note to contact a gardening service to come and strip it back.

  She parked her metallic, sky blue BMW Mini in the driveway and dragged the wheelie bin back into the garden, before unlocking the door and kicking off her boots in the hallway. She stripped as she made her way up the stairs, tossed her clothes in the hamper, and turned on the shower.

  The hot water soothed the ache in her neck from the night spent sleeping in a chair, and the scent of the orange body scrub invigorated her, clearing the cobwebs from her brain and readying her for the day ahead. She scrubbed at her scalp as she formulated her plan for the day.

  She grabbed her mobile when she stepped out of the shower and punched the number for the incident room. She started to towel herself dry while she waited for an answer.

  “Incident room.”

  “Goodwin?”

  “Yes. Is that you, Kate?”

  “Yes. You’re there early.”

  “Thought I’d make a start on going over those interviews from yesterday.”

  “Good plan. I’ve just been talking to Gina Temple again. I’ll fill you in when I get there. Are the boys in yet?”

  “En route. Brothers swung by to pick up Jimmy. His car’s broken down.”

  Kate sniggered, knowing full well the young DC was going to take some stick for that little cry for help. “Okay, I’ll be there in twenty.” She leaned down and tugged a sock on her still damp foot.

  “Don’t drive like a lunatic.”

  “Me?”

  “Yes. You’re, erm,” she said and coughed, “talent behind the wheel is already legendary.”

  Kate grinned. “I’m not sure whether I should feel complimented or insulted, Stella.”

  The older woman laughed. “Your choice. See you in twenty.”

  Kate finished getting dressed with a smile on her face and grabbed a cereal bar as she headed back out the door. The road between Docking and Hunstanton was one of her favourites to drive. As long as she didn’t get stuck behind a tractor. It was long and straight, but with hills and blind dips that belied the notion that Norfolk was a flat county. They made Kate’s stomach flip when she crested each hillock and put air beneath her tyres. It’s certainly not bloody flat when you’re cycling this bastard. She grinned and lowered her window down. The soft rain tickled her skin as she stuck her arm out of the window and imagined it on her face.

  The station
was quiet when she pulled the door open, and she had to wait for the desk officer to appear and buzz her in. The biscuit crumbs the poor chap dusted off the front of his shirt gave away his earlier location.

  Kate took the stairs two at a time and pulled open the door to the incident room. Stella was pointedly ignoring the boys and looked to be reading over the transcripts of the interviews as Tom mercilessly teased Jimmy. An even younger looking man, presumably one DC Collier, was laughing heartily at his colleague’s misfortune.

  “Look, next time the battery’s dead, I’ll call someone else.”

  “Next time, don’t be a dickhead and leave the lights on all night.”

  “Good morning, everyone,” Kate said.

  “Morning,” they all chorused.

  “Any news on the samples yet?” Kate asked looking at Stella.

  “They said anytime in the next two hours.”

  “Good. So fill me in on who you spoke to yesterday.” She looked at Tom.

  “I talked to Helen Tidewell, landlady at the Jolly Rogers pub. She corroborated everything Gina Temple and the girl, Sarah, said about Leah having spilt the beans in the pub about Connie’s plans to sell, and she also confirmed that Leah had threatened to kill Connie if she didn’t give up on this plan to sell the campsite and move away. Said Leah made it clear that she expected Connie to take her back when she calmed down and got over herself.” He curled his fingers around the last three words, making air quotes.

  “Good.”

  “Does that make Leah our prime suspect?” Collier asked.

  Kate pursed her lips. “It should, but when we spoke to her yesterday I got the impression that she’d been out of commission for quite some time. Her hands shook so badly she couldn’t light a cigarette, and I got confirmation from Gina Temple this morning that Leah is a drug addict. I have a hard time putting her, in that state, being able to pull something like this off.”

  “Maybe she did it while she was drug fuelled,” Collier said. “It’s not exactly unheard of for a junkie to kill while under the influence.”

  “Very true,” Kate said.

  “But you didn’t see her,” Jimmy said holding out his hand and doing his trembling impression again. “She didn’t even seem to notice that she was stark naked while we talked to her.” Collier’s mouth dropped open a little while Jimmy nodded his head. They looked more like boys in the school playground than police detectives.

  “All right, boys, all right. Also a point to consider is that junkie crimes are usually crimes of opportunity. The victim is there while they’re high and someone loses control. For this to have been Leah, she would have had to go out and find Connie, while armed, and then have the presence of mind to cover her tracks.” She shook her head. “I don’t see her being able to plan that far ahead in the state she was in. Connie wasn’t with Leah. Ally confirmed that Leah was at her house all night and passed out on the couch when she left for work, where I found her later that afternoon.”

  “That’s a big time gap, Kate,” Tom said. “Ally left at around five a.m., if not earlier, and you didn’t see her until after four p.m. Anything could’ve happened in that time.”

  “I know. And we’ll keep looking for anything that puts Leah at the scene, but I don’t think we’re going to find it. I think she was as high as a kite on Ally’s sofa when this happened.”

  Stella shrugged. “Then who do you think did this?”

  “Good question.” She picked up the whiteboard pen and started writing. “We’ve got a lot of people with a lot to lose when Connie closed down the hostel and campsite.” She wrote the name “William” on the top of the board. “He worked for Connie and lived in the staff accommodations in the hostel. When the place closed under Connie, he was going to be homeless, as well as jobless, with apparently nowhere else to turn. I want to know more about him and where he was.”

  “Do you have a second name?” Stella asked.

  “No, but we should be able to get it from the records at the campsite. Gina’s closed down the office so we can have access whenever we need.”

  Stella nodded. “Want to look ourselves first, or send in SOCO straight away?”

  “Have they finished at Connie’s house?”

  “Not yet.”

  “Then we might as well take a little scout around before they start. Hopefully, William’s in the hostel anyway.”

  “Makes sense. Right, I want the rest of the interviews finished and a list of suspects compiled by the end of the day,” she said to Tom and Collier. “I’ll chase up the DNA and particulate samples.” Stella made notes in the murder book as she spoke. “You and Jimmy head over to Connie’s office and see if you can find this William.”

  Kate glanced at the whiteboard. “And if we can find them, we’ll talk to the rest of the staff that worked for Connie.”

  Stella completed her notes.

  “Can you let me know when you get the results?”

  “Of course.”

  “Do you guys want a lift?” Kate asked.

  “Erm, thanks, we’re good,” Tom said.

  Jimmy laughed. “What he’s trying to say, ma’am, is that it may be beneficial if we have our own vehicle today. In case they have to be separated.”

  “Right,” Kate said. “Chicken shits.”

  Tom and Collier looked aghast, but Jimmy just chuckled. “Yes, ma’am.”

  * * *

  Kate’s hands itched inside the latex gloves as she carefully leafed through the pages in Connie’s many files. Financial documents, bank statements, contracts, receipts, owner’s manuals for TVs and microwaves, all carefully stored and filed away. Easy to find at a moment’s notice. Clearly, Connie was an excellent record keeper and an exceptionally organised businesswoman. It was quite easy for Kate to see why she had made the business a success and why the staff was concerned at the prospect of Leah taking over. The condition she was living in and the lack of concern for her own nakedness was enough to make Kate certain of the fact that Leah would not take the kind of care Connie had of the business.

  Kate made copious notes about the current and recent staff members from Connie’s files. Recently dismissed staff crept up Kate’s list of suspects when she discovered one staff member had been fired for smoking pot in the staff dorm. Drugs again. Kate was beginning to suspect that rural life had just as much of a drug problem as she’d faced in the inner city. Something she hadn’t counted on. She’d always imagined that living in such beautiful places would make people happier and less likely to turn to crutches like drugs and alcohol. It seemed not.

  Besides William Clapp, Gina Temple, and Sarah Willis, there were two other full-time staff members at Brandale Backpackers and Camping. Twenty-one-year-old Richard “Ricky” Pepper and his nineteen-year-old pregnant girlfriend, Emma Goose. Both had limited prospects and seemed to be looking at a future living in a caravan in Rick’s dad’s garden.

  There was nothing outstanding in the work history of the staff currently, no significant disciplinary issues, and the only one who seemed to be facing real hardship at the closing of the hostel was William. She noted, though, that Connie had made a point to say that as long as he helped Gina out with any issues, he’d be allowed to stay in the staff dorm until he found himself another place to live and work. So not quite the heartless bitch that Sarah had painted her to be. Perhaps she just wasn’t privy to all of Connie’s plans.

  She wondered if William new of this possibility. If not, he was still high on the list of general suspects. If he did, then he was slipping off fast.

  Her mobile buzzed in her pocket. She fished it out and touched the screen to answer. “Brannon.”

  “DNA results are back. It’s definitely Connie Wells.”

  “Right, thanks, Stella. Anything on those particulates from the wound.”

  “Yes, I waited for those to call as the DNA wasn’t much of a revelation.”

  “And?”

  “It seems it’s glass from a lens.”

  “A lens?
Like a pair of glasses?”

  “No. Too thick for that. Plus, it has a specific coating that’s used on camera lenses. Wild, my friend over in SOCO, gave me some fancy scientific name, but apparently it’s used as an ingredient to coat Nikon lenses.”

  “There was no camera.”

  “I know, but it does make sense with what every interviewee has said. She was always out on those marshes with the dog and her camera.”

  “True.” Kate bit her lip. “Okay, call SOCO and find out if a camera was found in the house.”

  “Already done. Lots of camera equipment, tripods, flash guns, light reflectors…you name it, it’s in there. But no camera.”

  “Okay, so either the killer took the camera with them or it’s somewhere at the scene.”

  “SOCO said they combed every inch of that ground and found nothing. Not even more fragments of glass.”

  Kate closed her eyes a second and called to mind the crime scene. The trampled grass, the position of the body. They way it looked like it had been flung backwards. She remembered thinking how lucky they were that it hadn’t landed a little farther or they’d be in the creek. Shit. “Did they dredge the water?”

  “Excuse me?”

  “Did SOCO dredge the water nearby? Connie’s right arm was outstretched and only about two or three inches from the edge of the water.”

  “If that’s the case, won’t the tide have washed it away?”

  “No. The water on that side of the dyke isn’t tidal. It’s brackish and stationary. Like a pond. They need to get back there and get in the water.”

  “Will they need divers?”

  “I don’t think it’s that deep. Waders and long gloves should do it. Fingertip search, Stella. We need that camera. Maybe then we can figure out what kind of weapon killed her, and where the killer was when they fired the shot.”

  “On it.”

  Kate rubbed her hands together and peeled off the gloves, scratching gleefully at her powder-covered skin. Time to go and see what Jimmy had found in the information centre. She stuffed them into her pocket and closed the office door behind her. A thin, blonde guy walked across the gravel-covered courtyard, hair brushed to one side, styled and fixed in place with wet-look gel. A diamond earring—probably fake—glinted in his left ear, while sweatpants with a hole slashing across one knee were tucked into scuffed wellies. He had a cigarette stuck between his lips and a rake under one arm as he pushed a wheelbarrow in front of him.