by Celina Grace
“No,” Mia said, stonily. “I told you I didn’t want to know if anything was going on.”
Olbeck sat back in his chair. Kate took this as her cue to sit forward. “Mrs Farraday, you’ve mentioned that you had an inkling recently that something was going on. Had there ever been any incidents in the past that made you – uneasy, perhaps?”
Mia stared at her. “I don’t understand what you mean, sorry.”
“I mean, had Simon ever had an affair in the past or – or a flirtation, or anything like that?”
Mia stared at her for a moment longer, before dropping her gaze. “No. I don’t think so. If he had, I didn’t know about it.”
I get it, Kate thought to herself silently. You didn’t want to know.
A short silence fell. Kate could hear Mandy clattering about unobtrusively in the kitchen and a series of oinks coming from the television. Tilly giggled, a high, sweet innocent laugh. Mia’s face crumpled briefly at the sound.
“Mrs Farraday, it would really help us if you could give us a list of anyone who might have been in the townhouse over the past few weeks. Say, over the last fortnight.” Kate glanced down at her notes, checking what she’d scribbled down yesterday. “Just so we can eliminate them from our enquiries.”
Mia turned back to face her from where she had been watching her daughter. “People in the townhouse? Oh, it hasn’t been rented out for a while, I know that. Not for at least a month. That’s why we were using it as an office, to be honest, it was a bit of extra space.”
“So you haven’t had any guests in there recently?”
“No. I’ll double check the booking forms, just to be sure, but I know from memory that we haven’t.”
Kate nodded. “What about anyone else? Any friends that might have gone there? Any maintenance workers or cleaners, perhaps?”
Mia looked doubtful. “Our cleaners would have been there.” She gave Kate their names. “But I don’t think anyone else has, apart from me and Simon.” Her face contracted again briefly. “And whoever he was with that – that night.”
There was another short silence. Kate looked over at Olbeck, signalling with her eyes.
“Well, that’s all we need to know for now, Mrs Farraday,” said Olbeck. He returned Kate’s glance and they both got to their feet. “We’d like to have a quick word with Ms Collins now, if that’s okay with you?”
“That’s fine,” said Mia, dully. She was staring at the back of her daughter’s dark, curly head.
“I’m sorry to have had to ask you these questions but it’s essential for the investigation.”
Mia gave him a ghost of a smile, unexpectedly painful to see. “That’s all right,” she said, almost in a whisper. Then she got up and went and sat with Tilly, curled up with her daughter in the nest of cushions, watching the antics of the animated pink pigs on the screen in front of them.
Chapter Eight
Kate expected to find Sarah Collins in a typical young woman’s bedroom; posters on the walls, mess on the floor. As it turned out, the Farraday nanny had an entire suite of rooms to herself: bedroom, bathroom, galley kitchen and living room, and it was very neat and clean. Sarah herself was curled on the green-checked sofa in the living room, tapping and swiping busily at her phone. Kate was relieved to see she was a normal millennial in that respect.
Her respect for the girl increased when Sarah quickly put away the phone and sat up expectantly as she and Olbeck came into the room.
“Nice place you’ve got here,” said Kate, sitting down on the opposite sofa.
Sarah smiled. “It’s great, actually. My last place, I was up in the attic which had barely been converted. It was freezing in winter. This is much better.”
“It’s a good job, then?”
“Oh yes.” The enthusiasm in the girl’s voice didn’t sound faked. “The kids are lovely and, like you can see, I have a great living space.”
“What hours do you work?”
“Eight ‘til eight, normally, although obviously I’m not always on duty. Like now. If I’ve only got Tilly to look after, as likely as not Mrs Farraday will take her and I get a bit of time free.”
“Are you often here at night or do you get some nights off?”
Sarah shrugged. “It depends. Mia – Mrs Farraday – she has quite a lot of hobbies, you know, like Pilates, and she goes to the gym a lot and stuff. So she’s out two or three times a week, so obviously I have to be here then. But otherwise, I’m free.”
“How long have you worked for the Farradays?”
Sarah pushed a strand of hair back from her face. She seemed unfazed by the question. “Just over a year. I think they had au pairs before but then Mia’s mum got ill – well, she was ill anyway, she had Alzheimer’s – but she got quite a lot worse and Mia couldn’t cope. So they had to have someone a bit more full time.”
Kate scribbled that down. “Yes, I see. Quite distressing for Mrs Farraday, I’d imagine. Is her mother any worse?”
Sarah’s face clouded. “Oh – she died. About five months ago. Mia was obviously – well, she was really broken up by it, and so they kept me on to give her a hand.” She smiled again and looked slightly smug. “She relies on me, now.”
“Do you and Mrs Farraday get on well?”
Sarah’s bright smile dimmed a little. “Oh, yes. We get on fine.”
Kate paused before asking her next question. There was something just a little – guarded – in Sarah’s response. “What about Mr Farraday, Simon Farraday?”
The smile had gone completely now. “What do you mean?”
Kate smiled. “Well, did you get on well?”
She saw Sarah relax a little. “Oh, well, yeah. We got on fine when I actually saw him. He was hardly ever here, though.”
Just as Kate had suspected. She nodded and let Olbeck take over, listening to him asking Sarah about her previous experience, and what she had been doing in the crucial hours of the evening of Simon Farraday’s murder. Her gaze roamed the living room, which was tastefully but neutrally decorated, much as the Farradays’ townhouse had been. Not much evidence of Sarah Collins’ personality appeared, which was slightly odd, given that she’d worked for the Farradays for over a year.
Nothing that Sarah mentioned gave Kate particular pause. She confirmed that Mia had gone out to visit her friend, Dorothy Smelton, on the night of the murder, but she wasn’t able to confirm when she’d arrived back as she’d been asleep. Not that it really mattered, given Mia’s alibi was already firmly established. Kate was unsurprised to hear that Mia obviously filled her time as best she could, with exercise and hobbies and visits to friends. The components of someone making the best of a lonely marriage.
“So, what do you think?” Kate asked Olbeck, as they drove away from the Farradays’ residence, along the winding driveway. Even more bluebells had appeared in the woodlands, great shimmering masses of them in azure drifts, enough to take your breath away. “Wow, look at that.”
“Very nice,” said Olbeck. “Be a good place for a picnic, hey? Pity it’s private. Anyway, what were you saying?”
“Just asking what you think about the domestic arrangements at chez Farraday.”
“Oh, that.” It wasn’t very easy to shrug whilst driving a car, but Olbeck somehow managed it. “Well, I think there’s something the nanny’s not telling us.”
“Me too.” Kate smiled to herself, pleased they had both picked up on Sarah Collins’ slight change of manner.
“It’s probably nothing sinister, though. You know what it’s like being a – well, not a servant, exactly. Subservient, perhaps. You might have a little something on your employers that they might not like you knowing.”
“Mmm.” Kate watched the last of the bluebells disappear from view with regret. “Do you get the impression that Simon Farraday was a bit of an arsehole?”
Olbeck grinned. “That’s your professional opinion, is it?”
“Yep.”
“Well, yes, actually. He sounds like a r
ight, arrogant piece of work. But that’s not necessarily why he was killed.”
“No, true.” Kate glanced at the dashboard clock. “I wonder if Sam’s got anywhere with his computer yet?”
“We’ll soon see.”
When they arrived back at the station, both Kate and Olbeck immediately headed down to the basement, where the IT department was located. Sam Hollingsworth was in a meeting in his office with the door closed, but one of his minions, a wiry young man called Josh with an enormous Afro and thick, black-framed glasses, obligingly went and fetched the laptop and powered it up at Sam’s empty desk, so Kate and Olbeck could see the results of the investigation for themselves.
“So, anything pertinent?” asked Olbeck, leaning forward to see.
“Oh yeah, yeah. First thing we noticed, it’s stuffed with porn, right? Nothing dodgy though. Well—” Josh appeared to reconsider. “Nothing really dodgy, I mean. No kids or animals. But plenty of kink. Bondage, sub-dom, stuff like that.”
“Right.” Kate exchanged a glance with Olbeck. “That sounds par for the course. Anything else?”
Josh grew serious. “Yeah. He was a member of a hook-up site, you know, for people who want to meet up for sex. Stuff like that.”
“Right. Let’s have a look.”
Kate and Olbeck crowded around Josh, who sat down and began bringing up various screens with practised ease. A website with branding familiar to Kate came up.
“Oh, I know this one,” she exclaimed and immediately realised where she’d gone wrong. Both Josh and Olbeck were grinning. “Not because I’m on it, you idiots. I’ve seen it before, with the Valentine case. You know, Mark. The pig hearts.” Josh looked mystified and somewhat alarmed. “It must have been before you started,” said Kate. “Anyway, it’s not important. But this site—” She gestured at the screen. The moody blues and greens of the website highlighted the gold lettering of the logo 4Adults. “It’s a site for people looking for sex, basically. No strings attached.”
“Yeah, like I said.” Josh’s fingers moved over the keyboard in a blur. “He joined about six months ago. You can see from his private messages that he’s arranged to meet at least—” He quickly counted under his breath. “At least six women since he’s been on the site.”
Olbeck whistled. “He has, has he? How do you know they’re women?”
“Well, I don’t, not for definite. But most people have it on their avatar, either a pink or blue star.” He gestured with his finger.
Kate grunted. “How original.”
“There’s no way of knowing that they’re actually women, though. Anyone can be anything behind a computer screen.”
Kate peered closer. “I don’t suppose anyone’s using their real names, either?”
Josh barked a laugh. “No.”
“Right.” Kate straightened up.
“Josh, this is great, thank you,” said Olbeck. “We’ll need to trace everyone Simon Farraday has contacted through this website. I suppose we won’t know until we interview them whether he actually met them or just wanted to.”
“Yeah, s’pose so.” Josh eased his shoulders and began to click his fingers on the keyboard again.
“Wait,” said Kate, suddenly curious. “Is there anything in his messages about meeting up on the night of the murder?”
Josh gave her a quizzical look. “Yeah, of course. That’s the first thing I checked. I printed it out.” He fished around on Sam’s desk and found the piece of paper he was looking for. “Here you go.”
Kate and Olbeck bent to read it in silence.
Maxpower: can’t wait to see you tonight. Everything’s ready.
Mermaid68: can’t wait. I’ll be there as soon as I can get away.
Kate looked up with a curled lip. “’Maxpower’? That’s Simon Farraday’s user name?”
Josh was grinning. “Yeah, that’s him.”
Kate shook her head. “What a tool.”
“Fancies himself, doesn’t he?”
“He did,” said Olbeck briefly, and that recalled the other two to the gravity of what they were doing. Kate bent back to read in silence.
Maxpower: You know where to come?
Mermaid68: I hope so! ;)
Maxpower: LOL. You bet. You know I meant the address ;)
Mermaid68: No problem. Will you leave me a key?
Maxpower: Will leave the door unlocked. Won’t be able to let you in as you know I’ll be a bit tied up ;) ;)
Mermaid68: That’s the plan ;)
Maxpower: Text me when you’re on your way and I’ll get ready. CU later sexy xx
That was the end of the transcript. Kate and Olbeck straightened up at the same time. Kate fought not to let her grimace show on her face. She felt a nauseous mixture of repugnance, horror and, worst of all, pity. The way Simon Farraday used teenage text speak whilst still bothering to punctuate correctly made her want to bite her fist in sympathetic embarrassment.
“Poor bloke,” said Olbeck, clearly feeling much the same.
Josh was obviously too young and too inexperienced to be thus affected. He made a face and said “Yeah, well, obviously I went back through the whole of his messages tracing this mermaid sixty-eight.”
Young and naïve he might be, but Josh was clearly good at his job. “You did?” Kate asked with gratitude.
“Yeah. Got everything here. Sounds like he met her, well, met her as in online, about six months ago. There’s messages going back that far. You can see for yourself.”
Josh handed over a plastic folder containing the print outs of the messages. There were enough in the folder to justify taking it away and studying it at leisure. Kate glanced at Olbeck. “That’s my job for the afternoon.”
“Good stuff.” The two of them prepared to leave. “Thanks, Josh. Good work. Could you tell Sam we might need to see him as well, later on?”
“Sure.”
Kate paused on her way out of the cubicle. “Josh, we really need to trace whoever this mermaid sixty-eight is. I assume you’re on that now?”
Josh pointed his fingers at her in a gun shape. “I am on it.”
Kate grinned. “Good to know. We’ll need all of them, all the people that Simon Farraday contacted and met, but she – if it is a she – is top priority. Okay?”
“Okay, boss.”
The two of them climbed back up the stairs to light and space. As they passed the double doors that led to the main reception area of the station, Kate could see the sunlight through the glass panels of the inner and outer doors. Another lovely day, and she’d be stuck reading through computer transcripts in a stuffy office...
“Mind if I take these off site?” she asked Olbeck on impulse.
He looked surprised. “No. Just sign them out, as normal.”
“Thanks,” said Kate gratefully.
She headed back to the office to complete the paperwork and pick up her bag and coat (it may have been a lovely day but Kate was too experienced with the vagaries of the English climate to trust it this early in the Spring). Chloe was sitting at her desk, frowning at her computer screen. Saying goodbye to her, Kate realised she was due at Andrew Stanton’s for dinner that evening and that she still hadn’t arranged for someone to accompany her. Not that she should mind going on her own but... Why hadn’t she thought of Chloe? She asked her now.
“Sorry it’s late notice but I forgot about it, to be honest.”
Chloe looked pleased to be asked. “That’s all right. Sure, I’ll come.” She grinned and said “It’s the closest thing I’ve come to a hot date for a while, I can tell you.”
Kate laughed. “Good. He’s nice, actually, Andrew. I haven’t met the wife but she’ll probably be all right.”
“Well, it’ll mean a drink at least.”
“Some good ones. Andrew’s a bit of a wine buff.”
“Great. I’m sold.”
Kate pulled on her jacket. “Come round to mine beforehand, and we’ll go together. I don’t mind driving.”
“Thank
s. See you later. Bird.”
“Bird,” said Kate, laughing again. Then, flapping a hand in farewell, and feeling a bit more comfortable about the evening’s appointment, she left the office.
Chapter Nine
Mrs Stanton, whose name was Juliet, turned out to be as nice as Kate had hoped she would be. She was much more round and comfortable looking than Kate had imagined, although as Hamish Stanton was only ten months old, it probably was not that surprising. In physical type, she was very different to Kate, with ash-blonde hair, soft features and dressed in what Kate recognised as top-to-toe Boden designs. Kate, who considered that she’d dressed slightly more fancily than she would normally have, felt positively over-dressed in her black velvet jacket and gauzy blouse.
Chloe was wearing a black suit as normal. Kate had never seen her wear anything else. She wondered briefly, as they shook hands with the Stantons in the hallway of their house and handed over their bottles of wine, whether Chloe had pyjamas made in a similar shade and style, just in a slightly softer material.
Andrew had reacted to Chloe’s presence with an unmistakable look of surprise, which, good-mannered man that he was, was quickly suppressed. Kate had introduced Chloe as her ‘friend and workmate’ and she had a momentary impish thought as to whether she should play up the ‘this is actually my lesbian partner’ angle for a laugh. A second later, she dismissed the idea. This evening was going to be awkward enough as it was.
The first half hour, as drinks were poured and chairs were offered, and Juliet darted back and forth to the kitchen to check on the food, threatened to be just as sticky as Kate had been worriedly anticipating. Luckily, Stanton Junior, or Hamish James, as he was more commonly known, proved to be such a draw in his adorable blue and white sleepsuit, appliqued with little white mice, that any awkwardness was immediately smoothed over. There was almost a tussle between Kate and Chloe as to who got the first cuddle.
“He’s absolutely gorgeous,” Kate exclaimed to Andrew and was rewarded by his pleased and proud smile. For a second, she felt a pang of something that was dangerously near regret. She knew that, if she’d wanted it, Andrew would have married her. Hamish could have been hers. She kept her head bent down over Hamish’s downy head for a moment, struggling to process how she was feeling. Sanity soon returned. She’d broken up with Andrew because she hadn’t loved him. That would have been a disastrous basis for a marriage and, deep down, she knew it. No regrets, she told herself sternly.
