Shot of Silence (Justice Again Book 3)

by M A Comley

  “My thoughts exactly. We need to find out who that person could be and question the staff again.”

  “If they’re up to it.”

  Charlie drove them back to what had become another crowd-pulling scene. What the fuck? They must have heard the shots. Why the heck would they remain in the area if there’s a gunman on the loose? “Can we get these people back and away from here?” she instructed the uniformed copper on site.

  “Yes, come on, guys. This is still a crime scene, and we haven’t caught the perp yet, so they could still be around, ready to take another shot at someone. Let’s bear that in mind and get these people shifted, like now,” Katy added.

  “I’ll see what I can do, ma’am,” the young male constable replied. He whistled for a couple of his colleagues to join him.

  Katy and Charlie left them to it and jumped into the lift to take them to the top floor. Patti made a beeline for them as soon as they entered the room.

  Katy pre-empted the pathologist’s lecture. “Please, don’t make a fuss. I’m all right. I’ve been checked over, and the doctor gave me the go-ahead to carry on working.”

  Patti’s eyes narrowed, and she reached out to touch the large lump that had emerged on Katy’s forehead. “Why don’t I believe you? Charlie, tell me the truth or I’ll get on the phone to your mother…”

  Katy tutted. “Don’t use emotional blackmail on her. Don’t you have any respect, woman? I’m fine. I’ve got a slight bump, so what? I’ve also got a fucker of a villain to capture. You’d do exactly the same if you were in my position, and don’t try to ruddy well deny it, either.”

  Patti inclined her head. “Wow, feisty bitch when you want to be, aren’t you?”

  “I am. I’m no longer living in Lorne Simpkins’ shadow, so if you wouldn’t mind showing me the same respect you’ve shown her over the years, I’d appreciate it. Shall we get back to the dastardly crime now? Wait, before you give me a mouthful of abuse, have SOCO been dispatched to the roof over the road?”

  “Yes, they’re there now. All right, I won’t bother laying into you, it’s your life after all. Just remember it’s not just your life at stake if something bad happens to you, you have AJ and Georgie to consider as well.”

  “I’m aware of that, which is the main reason I wanted to get back to work. AJ has a big day ahead of him and…”

  “You’re wrong, so wrong. But that’s my two pennies’ worth. It’s your life we’re discussing here, not mine.”

  Katy circled her head, and her neck clicked several times. “Are you done now?”

  “I am. Right, with the second victim being shot from the roof, we’re now presuming that Grace Hunt was targeted from the same area. The question is, why? Why kill two people working for the same firm?”

  “Two important members of the firm at that,” Katy added.

  Patti crossed her arms and placed a pointed finger against her cheek. “Are we thinking along the lines of revenge or possibly talking about someone with a grudge?”

  “That’s at the top of my list, yes,” Katy admitted.

  “Did the staff have anything to say after the first murder?”

  “We were in the process of interviewing the last person when we were alerted to Colin’s death. None of the staff could think of anything other than a possible investor who had lost a million in the market crash. I suppose we should call on him, find out what he has to say about things. His name was Gordon something, wasn’t it?”

  Charlie flipped through her notebook and nodded. “Gordon Brightman. I’ll see if Andrea can tell me anything else about him.”

  Patti watched Charlie leave the room. “She’s good, I can tell. Not that there were any doubts, knowing who her mother is. I miss not having Lorne around but I think her daughter is a suitable stand-in, don’t you?”

  “Sort of. She’s already read me the riot act today. If I’d shut my eyes, I swear it could have been Lorne giving me a tongue-lashing.”

  “Ouch! That bad? And then you come here and I start on you. Not what you want when recovering from concussion, I take it?”

  “Nope, you’ve got that right. No, in all seriousness, we need to pull out all the stops to track this shithead down, Patti, and not just because he walloped me one and left me with a sore head either. Two murders within hours of each other. Why? Who does a shitty thing like that?”

  “And where did the weapon come from?”

  “That’s the least of my worries. He would’ve had to have got it from underground resources. All we have to find out is where and how?”

  “Good luck with that one. Maybe a member of your team can put the word out on the street to obtain a lead.”

  “Yeah, a couple of them have good contacts on the streets, it’s worth seeing if they know anything. Other than that, we have nothing. The guy was wearing a mask when I confronted him, so even if we manage to pick him up on CCTV cameras, I reckon he’ll have worn the mask to have entered the area and not taken it off until he was well clear of here.”

  “Nothing wrong with the way your brain is functioning then.”

  “I told you, I’m fine.”

  Charlie came bounding into the room again, as eager as a child on a promise. “Nope, nothing else. Should we go over there and check the guy out?”

  “We should. If Patti hasn’t got anything else for us?”

  “I haven’t, now get out of my hair. Both of you.”

  “Keep me informed on this one, Patti, especially the forensics side of things because I feel that’s going to be imperative in breaking the case wide open.”

  “I will. Trust me. Just take care of yourself. Charlie, on your head be it if she suffers a relapse.”

  Charlie’s eyes widened. “Wow, really? Why should I be to blame? I tried talking her out of coming back to work, but she was having none of it. But thanks for blaming me if she cocks up.”

  Patti nudged Katy. “Yep, just like her mother, bites before she engages her brain.”

  Katy and Patti laughed while Charlie harumphed and left the room.

  4

  As it happened, they had two addresses for Gordon Brightman. His home and his work addresses. Katy took a punt and instructed Charlie to drive to the warehouse from where he ran his export business.

  The noise of the forklift trucks shifting pallets around the large warehouse gave Katy a thumping headache. She winced and closed her eyes.

  “Shit, are you all right?” Charlie asked.

  “I will be if we can get away from the blasted machinery.”

  A woman appeared at the doorway to an office over to the left. “Hey, you shouldn’t be in here, not without the proper safety get-up on.”

  Katy and Charlie crossed the warehouse to join her.

  Katy flashed her ID. “Sorry, we need to have a chat with Gordon Brightman, if he’s here.”

  “He’s out back, watching over the goods being loaded. Can I ask why you need to speak with him?”

  “It’s personal. Is there somewhere we can wait? Could someone take over from him?”

  “No. He oversees all the loading. He’d go with the driver and watch the goods being unloaded at the other end if he could. Come through to the office. I’ll go and have a word, see if he can spare you five minutes or so. The delay shouldn’t matter too much. He won’t be happy, though. Just warning you.”

  “Do your best. Before you go, has he been here all morning?”

  The secretary chewed on her lip and thought it over. “Yes, although he did pop out earlier for an hour or two.”

  “Did he say where?”

  “On a personal mission, he told me. I won’t be long. Take a seat.” She scooted past them, rushed through the warehouse and disappeared through a door at the back.

  Katy and Charlie sat on the two spare chairs in the room.

  They didn’t have to wait long until a rotund man in his fifties came into the office, his secretary not far behind him. “I’m Gordon Brightman, you wanted a word with me?”

&
nbsp; Katy presented her warrant card again. “DI Katy Foster and DC Charlie Simpkins. If you don’t mind. Is there somewhere private we can have a chat?”

  “Yep, come this way. I can only spare you five minutes, though. I have a hectic schedule today.”

  “That’s fine.”

  He opened the door behind where Katy was sitting, and she and Charlie followed him into another tight office, boxes piled high in one corner and a desk with a computer in the other.

  He removed two chairs from a stack and placed them in front of his desk. “Now, what’s all this about?”

  “Between the hours of one and three today, where were you?”

  “Here. Loading wagons, it’s our busiest day. Why?”

  “Your secretary said you went out this morning for a while. May I ask where you went?”

  “Out on personal business. That is allowed, isn’t it? Or is that a criminal offence nowadays?”

  “It’s allowed. Can I ask what sort of business, sir?”

  “I went to book a holiday as a surprise for my wife’s fiftieth birthday which is coming up next month.” He bent down and opened the briefcase lying on the floor by his desk. He threw the tickets at her. “There, see. Two tickets to Mexico. First-class accommodation and flights.”

  “Thank you. Your wife is lucky to have such a thoughtful husband.”

  “She is. I appreciate her as much as she appreciates me. We both work hard. She’s a barrister.”

  “I see. And she agrees with your dealings with Zedex?”

  His brow pinched into tight lines. “What do they have to do with anything?”

  “Answer the question, if you would,” Katy prompted.

  “She knows briefly that I invest.”

  “Is she aware you recently lost a large sum of money on the stock exchange?”

  His cheeks reddened under Katy’s intense gaze. “No, she’s not aware of that. She has no need to hear about it either. It was my personal money I invested and lost on that deal.”

  Katy probed further. “I see. You were angry about losing the vast sum, weren’t you?”

  He inhaled and exhaled several large breaths and glared at Katy. “Too right I was. Wouldn’t you be?”

  “Not really, because I wouldn’t have gambled that much money in the first place.”

  “I’m a businessman, my whole business is about taking risks in one form or another. Every firm either lives or dies by the owner’s ability to take a gamble now and again, I can assure you.”

  “Sir, there’s no need to be so defensive.”

  “Sorry. It’s still very raw.”

  “Am I to understand that you blamed Zedex for losing that money for you?”

  “One person in particular more like. The bitch who took over my account and screwed up.”

  Katy tilted her head. “Harsh words for someone you should have trusted.”

  “It’s the truth. She didn’t know what the hell she was doing. I used to deal with someone else there, but he upped and left. I have no idea why. I was told that Hunt woman was the best the firm had, therefore I had to go with her. I’ve regretted my decision ever since. She was hopeless. Before I realised what was going on, my bank balance was a million quid lighter, go figure.”

  “Sorry to hear that. Can you tell me why the other member of staff left?”

  “I don’t know. You’ll have to ask them the ins and outs of that. James was a good lad, we got on great. I wish I’d stayed in touch with him, but one minute he was there, and the next he’d gone. I tried to get it out of that Hunt woman, you know, tried to get his address so I could stay in contact with him, but she refused to hand it over. Spouted about data protection which is a load of twaddle. Anyway, I don’t understand what this has to do with you being here today, so please do enlighten me.”

  “Earlier today, two people at Zedex were killed.”

  “What? You’re kidding me? How?” His eyes widened as it appeared to dawn on him why they were there. “No way! You’re not going to try and pin this on me, are you?”

  “If you have an alibi, then no, we won’t. But there is still a grievance we need to look into.”

  “Why? I lost a lot of wedge, dosh, mazuma, whatever you want to call it. That’s the end of the line for me. If you think I would take some form of revenge then you’re gravely mistaken. I’ll just knuckle down and make another million to replace the one I unwisely lost. That’s my revenge, so to speak. Fancy them being killed. Who was it, do I know them?”

  “The first was Grace Hunt, and the second was her boss, Colin Markham.”

  He let out a low whistle. “Wow, do you think someone in a similar position to mine did this to them, is that why you’re here?”

  “Possibly. It’s an avenue we need to go down first and foremost. Did you have much to do with Colin?”

  “No, not really. I mean, yes, he listened to my complaint and analysed it but he deemed the transaction was above board and that the crash of the companies I backed couldn’t have been foreseen. The usual jargon, I felt at the time.”

  “It did nothing to quell the anger you felt, though?”

  “Not really. I’ve since learned to live with it. Like I said, I’m the type to knuckle down and get on with making my next million. I’m a quarter of the way there already.” He glanced at his watch. “So, if you’ll excuse me, time is money and all that. Never a truer word spoken, I can tell you.”

  “Okay, we’ll leave it there for now. We may have reason to revisit you in the future if we have any more queries for you.”

  “Feel free. And for the record, I’m sorry they’re both dead. I wouldn’t want to wish that on anyone, no matter what I personally felt about them.”

  “Good to hear. Thank you for sparing us the time. You can get back to making your fortune again now.”

  “Thanks. I’ll do just that.”

  He showed them out, walking them across the warehouse safely to their car. He then waved them off and turned towards the wagons being loaded.

  “What do you think?” Katy slipped back into the car.

  Charlie faced her. “Is this another test?”

  Katy smiled. “If you want to call it that, yes.”

  “I thought he was genuine enough. Did you notice the shock on his face when you revealed who the victims were?”

  “I did. Therefore, I’m willing to cross him off our list of suspects after his alibi has been confirmed.”

  They drove back to the station, pulling into the car park as Patrick and Stephen arrived.

  “Hey, how did it go?” Katy asked.

  Patrick shook his head. “Terrible. I mean, we were really compassionate when we told Colin’s wife that her husband wouldn’t be coming home, but she bloody melted down all the same. I don’t think either of us was prepared for her sorrowful reaction.” His eyes watered.

  Katy patted his arm. “Sorry you guys had to deal with that. You never know how the grieving families are going to react.”

  “Glad that task is usually down to you, that’s all I can say,” Patrick replied with a glimmer of a smile. “How’s the head?”

  “The doctor gave me the all-clear to return to work, so let’s crack on.”

  Patrick shot Charlie a look. “She did?”

  “No, she didn’t. But Katy’s the boss. I’m not about to start telling her what’s right and wrong, I need this job.”

  They all laughed and entered the building.

  For the next hour, Katy and the team brought the whiteboard up to date and bounced around a few ideas. They listed Gordon Brightman as a possible suspect, then Katy had second thoughts and struck his name off the list again.

  “That’s it. Not sure where we go from here until we get word back from the lab regarding any DNA or evidence likely found at the two locations, the murder scene of victim one, and the rooftop where I spotted the killer.”

  “Where he attacked you, you mean,” Charlie corrected, shaking her head.

  “All right, there’s no n
eed to rub it in. I say we call it a day and pick things up again in the morning. Carry out all the background checks and scour the CCTV footage, to try and find something that might help us. The thing is, even if we manage to locate something, the killer wore a mask, I know that first-hand.”

  “But he’ll have needed to have used a vehicle to get to the location,” Charlie piped up.

  “True enough. One last thing, if any of you have contacts on the street, now would be a good time to get in touch with them. That weapon must have come from somewhere. All right, come on, pack up and get out of here.”

  The rest of the team drifted off, leaving Katy and Charlie to switch off the lights.

  On the way down the concrete stairs, Charlie said, “Do you need me to take you home?”

  “No. You worry too much. I promise to take a leisurely ride home so I don’t put my brain under too much strain. I know that’ll be a novelty for me.”

  Charlie snorted. “You’re nuts. You took two fair old whacks today, and look at you, apart from the huge bump extending on your forehead, no one would know. You amaze me with your tenacity and willingness not to give in.”

  “Thanks, I’ve always prided myself on getting on with the job in hand, no matter what diversions stand in my way. Your mother was the same. Maybe that’s where I acquired it from.”

  “Yeah, she’s a stubborn lady most of the time. It was sure to rub off on you, eventually.”

  Katy smiled and slipped into her vehicle. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

  Charlie held the door open. “Promise me if you feel rough, you’ll take a sickie.”

  “I will. Enjoy what’s left of your evening, hon.”

  “You, too. Send my love to Georgie and AJ. I hope he’s not too heavy-handed with you.”

  Katy held up her crossed fingers and started the engine. Charlie slammed the door shut, and when Katy glanced back in her rear-view mirror, Charlie was still standing in the same spot staring after her. Bless her, she’s such a caring soul, just like Lorne.

  “What in God’s name is that?” AJ shouted the moment he saw her. He was standing at the cooker, stirring a pot of bolognaise sauce, one of his specialities which Katy adored.