Deadly Reprisal (Detective Zoe Finch Book 5)

by Rachel McLean

  She stared back at him for a moment as if weighing him up. “Yes.”

  “When?”

  “That’s why you’re here, I guess.” Her voice was calm.

  “When did you meet him?”

  “I met him on the night he died. I went to his house. But it wasn’t me who killed him.”

  “No?”

  “Nope.”

  “Can you provide evidence of that?”

  “Look. If you’re here, then you’ve found evidence I was there. I know how these things work. I left the place at nine thirty, came back here. He was alive and being a prick when I left.”

  “You came back here?”

  “I did.”

  “Was anyone else here?”

  She smiled back at him. “My two housemates were, yes. Sharn and Berni.”

  Mop looked towards the door. “Are they here now?”

  “They’re at the cinema. You want to talk to them, establish an alibi.”

  “It would help.”

  “I’ll tell them to call you.” She stood up.

  “Will you let us take a cheek swab?” asked Connie.

  Gina curled her lip at the constable. “Are you arresting me?”

  “No, but it would help us to—”

  “In that case, no.”

  Mo stayed where he was, gesturing for Connie to stay seated too. “You knew about Laurence as well, Gina. You knew what he allegedly did to Kayla. And Becca, too.”

  “Allegedly. People around here like that word. But no, I didn’t kill him either.”

  “You can provide an alibi for Laurence’s death too?”

  She sighed. “I didn’t kill Laurence. Jenson did.”

  Mo felt his heart pick up pace. They hadn’t released the information about Jenson’s DNA being found in Laurence’s mouth.

  “I’m sorry?” he said.

  “Jenson killed Laurence. He wanted rid of him cos the little twerp was impinging on his territory.”

  “How do you know all this, when you didn’t know either of the men?”

  “You hear things.” She looked away.

  “Lin told you?”

  “She told me some.”

  “But someone else told you the rest.”

  Gina yanked the door to the room wide open. “I’m not answering any more questions without a lawyer.”

  “You’re not under arrest, Gina. You’re not even under caution.”

  “I know how you lot can twist things.”

  Connie stood up and took a step towards Gina. “They were predators, the pair of them. They deserved to die. I don’t blame you.”

  Gina narrowed her eyes at the constable. “Blame me for what?”

  “For thinking they got what was coming to them.”

  Gina stared back at her. She shrugged.

  “Why did you go to Jenson’s house, Gina? What was it that made you want to confront him?” said Connie.

  “It was Lin.”

  “He attacked someone you care about. I’d be mad as hell if someone did that to me.”

  Mo watched Connie, thinking of her brother Zaf and the time he’d been kidnapped. Connie didn’t flinch, didn’t show the emotion she must have felt as she spoke those last words.

  “Yes,” muttered Gina.

  “Lin told you that Jenson had tried to rape her on Wednesday night, didn’t she? She told you and you went round to his house to confront him.”

  “Yes.” Gina squared her shoulders. “I went straight round there. But I didn’t kill him.”

  Chapter Ninety-Seven

  “Someone locked me in my room.”

  “What?”

  “Was it you, Lin?”

  Kayla sat on her bed, hunched over the phone. If Lin had the keys, she was the only person who could let her out apart from the security guard, and she wasn’t about to raise the alarm.

  “You’re being dumb, Kayla. What makes you think someone would lock you in your room?”

  “Because I can’t open the door and my keys have disappeared.”

  “Maybe you left them somewhere.”

  “The door is locked from the outside.”

  “It might be faulty.”

  Kayla took a deep breath. “Lin, will you just let me out, for God’s sake?”

  “I’ll go down the front desk, get one of the security team to let you out. They’ve got master keys.”

  “I don’t want you to do that.”

  “It’s the best way. Then you can look for your keys.”

  “I want to know why you’re doing this.”

  Lin was quiet.

  “Lin?”

  “You’re trash-talking, Kayla. You’ve had a rough week, what with Laurence and Jenson and everything, and it’s made you imagine things.”

  “You were in here before, with that Gina woman. You leave, and then I’m locked in. Pretty suspicious, I’d say.”

  “You wait there. I’ll get someone to let you out.”

  The line went dead. Kayla stared at the door, unsure what to believe.

  Chapter Ninety-Eight

  Mo looked up at the terraced house as he and Connie left. A curtain shifted in an upstairs window.

  “She said they were at the cinema,” he said.

  “Huh?” Connie followed his gaze.

  “The curtain moved. Someone else is in there.”

  “Someone who can give Gina an alibi?” Connie said.

  “Why didn’t she want to call them down?” He hesitated, turning back towards the front door of the house. “If she doesn’t know they’re in, we could tell her.”

  Connie put a hand on his arm. “She might have lied.”

  He turned to her. “She was at Jenson’s house. She says she came straight home. What time did he die?”

  “Dr Adebayo said somewhere between ten pm and two am.”

  “So she could have gone in there with him, killed him and then gone home.”

  “Except the camera footage shows her leaving after they argued.”

  “It cuts off ten minutes later. Who’s to say she didn’t come back?”

  Connie stood next to Mo’s car. “I’m wondering about why she went there.”

  “She told us that, she said he was a predator, that she…”

  “It was me that said that, Sarge. But she said she went round there cos Lin had told her he’d tried to rape her. No one else has said anything about either of the men trying anything with Lin.”

  “That doesn’t mean it didn’t happen,” said Mo.

  “Maybe Lin wanted Gina to go round there, all guns blazing.”

  Mo leaned against the side of the car. “You think Lin wanted Gina to kill him?”

  “I think she wanted her to go to the house.”

  “That makes no sense.”

  Connie shrugged. “Nah. Doesn’t make much sense to me. But we’ve got Lin and Gina both pissed off with Jenson and with Laurence. We’ve got them pushing Kayla around.”

  “You reckon the two of them are in it together?”

  She shrugged. “Maybe.”

  “But the DNA on Laurence. It was Jenson’s. We didn’t find any female DNA there.”

  Connie deflated. “So maybe Jenson killed Laurence and then these two killed Jenson. Maybe the three of them were in it together.”

  “Not if Jenson attacked Lin.”

  “She might have been lying about that.”

  Mo bristled. “Why would she lie about something like that? To her girlfriend?”

  “Dunno.”

  “We’re going round in circles here, Connie. Let’s call the boss. I want her take on it.”

  “Shall we go back and see if we can get that alibi first?”

  “We’ll stay here, watch the house. If your theory is correct then either Gina will leave or Lin will turn up.”

  Chapter Ninety-Nine

  Kayla’s phone rang: Lin.

  “Are you going to let me out, or what?”

  “I’ve been thinking, and I reckon you’re just trying t
o get attention. All this business about Laurence. You letting Jenson treat you like that. And now this. You locked yourself in, didn’t you?”

  “No.”

  “Maybe you just left your keys in the lock.”

  “I wouldn’t do that.”

  “Maybe you left them at lectures. Or you dropped them on your way back.”

  “Gina was shoving me along pretty roughly. I could have dropped them, yes…”

  “Or you could have imagined the whole thing.”

  Kayla approached her door, her heart pounding. Was Lin on the other side, keys in hand?

  “Lin, where are you?”

  “I’m in my room. Where I was when you called me.”

  “Why aren’t you at lectures?”

  “I don’t feel so good. I’ve gotta go, got a call on the other line.”

  Kayla reached out for the door handle. It turned.

  That was nothing. It had turned before. Just not far enough to open.

  It carried on turning.

  She pulled it, her chest tight. The door opened.

  After a moment’s hesitation she told herself to step into the corridor. It was empty.

  She pulled back into the room, her eyes prickling. Was she losing her mind?

  Chapter One Hundred

  “Hey, Adi.”

  “Rhodri. How goes it?”

  “Not too bad, mate. I need to talk to you about the Jenson Begg case.”

  “OK.”

  “We’ve got a potential suspect and we’re hoping to get a DNA swab off her. If we get the swab over to you asap, can you fast-track it?”

  “It’s Friday afternoon, Rhodri.”

  “I know, but you’re still there, aren’t you? FSIs clearly work all the hours God sends, just like us detectives.”

  Adi laughed. “I’ll see what I can do. I had a call from Adana earlier, I think she was trying to get hold of your boss.”

  “Oh?”

  “She found something in the samples taken from Laurence Thomms. Something she didn’t spot first time round.”

  “OK.” Rhodri imagined Doctor Adebayo would have tracked Zoe down on her mobile. If this was important, he’d know soon enough. He hoped. “I’ll let her know, just in case.”

  “Cheers. Let me know when you’ve got those swabs.”

  “Will do.”

  Rhodri hung up and stared at the wall over his desk. He dragged his chair back and walked to the board. It needed updating.

  He checked the photos: Laurence and Jenson in the centre. Kayla, Lin and Becca to one side. He needed to add Gina.

  He printed off the mugshot from when she’d been arrested and placed it on the board. Beneath it he wrote what he knew about her. She’d been arrested two years ago at a demo against a visiting speaker in the English department. She looked older than the others: was she a student, or staff?

  They didn’t have much.

  Maybe he could try what Connie did.

  Rhodri sat at his computer and clicked his fingers, eyeing the keyboard. Start with Facebook, he told himself.

  How did Connie get into people’s private pages?

  He brought up Gina’s Facebook account. He could see the list of her friends: Lin was one. No sign of Kayla. He checked Gina’s relationship status: in a relationship with Lin.

  He went to her profile page to see what was public. A string of historic profile pictures. A bunch of them had her snuggling up with a brown terrier.

  They’d found hairs like the ones on that dog’s back on both bodies.

  Rhodri picked up the phone. “Sarge, I’ve been checking Gina out online, and she had a brown dog. Hair looks like it might match what we found on both bodies.”

  “Slow down, Constable. We’ve just been in her house and we saw the dog. But it looks like she’s got an alibi for Jenson’s murder.”

  “She was right there.”

  “She says she can prove that she went straight home after we saw her leave Jenson.”

  “She says.”

  “We’re going to check it out. But well done for spotting it, Rhod. You manage to get hold of Adi?”

  “I did. He said Doctor Adebayo’s been trying to contact the DI.”

  “What about?”

  “Something about the Laurence Thomms samples. Don’t know what.”

  There was silence.

  “Sarge?”

  “Rhodri, we’re watching Gina’s house. You call the pathologist will you? Find out what it is she needs.”

  Rhodri swallowed. The pathologist scared him a little. “OK.”

  He dialled the mortuary: no answer. At five o’clock on a Friday, that wasn’t too surprising. The DI had written a mobile number in the team contact list. He dialled it. Licking his lips.

  “Doctor Adebayo.”

  “Doctor, it’s Rhodri Hughes. Have you been trying to contact the DI?”

  “She’s not answering her phone. Not like her.”

  “Right. Sorry. Can I help?”

  He could sense her expression of surprise and superiority down the phone.

  “Might as well,” she said.

  “OK.”

  “Have you got a pen?”

  He grabbed his notepad. “Yeah.”

  “Write this down. I went back through the samples we took from Laurence Thomms’s body. I found formalin in the throat swabs. I guess I didn’t spot it at first because it’s such a familiar substance in the mortuary.”

  “Formalin?”

  “Used for preserving bodies.”

  “Did you use it on Laurence at the morgue?”

  “We did not, Constable. And it’s not there in large quantities. It wasn’t in his digestive system. And it wasn’t injected into him. I think it was on the killer’s hands, or the gloves they used. And it got onto the inside of Laurence’s throat when his killer shoved the drugs into him.”

  “Who would have access to formalin?” Rhodri asked.

  “Well, you can buy it online. But I don’t see why the killer would have done so, not if they weren’t going to use it as a weapon. I think it got there by accident.”

  “How?”

  “Rhodri, you need to talk to Zoe. Tell her you’re looking for someone whose work brings them into contact with dead bodies.”

  “A pathologist?”

  “Or a funeral director. Or a medical student.”

  Chapter One Hundred One

  Mo’s phone rang. Thank God.

  “Boss.”

  “You with Connie?”

  “We’re outside Gina Lennon’s house.”

  “How did you get on with her?” She asked. “Got the swab?”

  “She wasn’t cooperating.”

  A sigh. “Why am I not surprised? What did she have to say for herself?”

  “She said she left Jenson and went straight home. She says her housemates can vouch for her.”

  “And have they?”

  “They’re out.” He looked up at the window. There had been no more sign of movement.

  “So she’s not off the hook yet.”

  Connie nudged him and pointed to the phone. He put it on hands-free. “I’ve got Connie on the line now.”

  “Connie,” said Zoe. “Talk to me.”

  “Boss, I can’t get Lin’s behaviour out of my head. Gina told us that Lin claimed Jenson had tried to rape her. That’s why Gina went storming round to his house.”

  “You think she was lying to Gina?”

  “Gina’s her girlfriend, boss. She’d have been pretty wound up to hear those things.”

  “Enough to go round and kill Jenson?”

  “Enough to confront him. I think Lin wanted Gina at the house. Maybe she wanted us to find out she’d been there.”

  “You think Lin was trying to frame Gina? Why?”

  “I know it’s a bit far-fetched, boss.”

  “It’s just a theory,” said Mo. “I know we need more solid evidence.”

  “Hang on,” Zoe said. “I’ve got Rhodri trying to get thro
ugh.”

  Mo heard a bleep followed by Zoe cursing. Then a dial tone.

  “Boss?” he said, worried he’d lost her.

  “Wait… I’ve got him. Rhodri’s on the call too.”

  Connie gave Mo a knowing smile. “Well done, boss.”

  “You taught me well, Connie. Rhod, Mo and Connie are here, too. What’s up?”

  “I just spoke to Dr Adebayo, boss.”

  “OK.”

  “She found formalin in the cheek swabs from Laurence’s body.”

  “When?”

  “It was there all along, but she didn’t give it the attention it deserved because the stuff is so normal to her.”

  “Not like Adana.”

  “She wasn’t the one who did the PM on Laurence,” said Mo. “That was the other guy.”

  Zoe whistled. “Brent Reynolds. He’s going to be in a whole heap of trouble when Adana stops covering for him. What’s the significance, Rhodri?”

  “Formalin is used to preserve bodies, boss.”

  “By undertakers, yes.”

  “And in medical schools. They use it to preserve the bodies for the students to dissect.”

  “Was it used to kill him? Mixed in with the drugs?”

  “Dr Adebayo reckons it got there by mistake.”

  “So we could be looking for a medical student.”

  “Lin’s a medical student,” said Connie.

  “She is,” said Zoe. She winced. “She touched him, after she found him. Said she had gloves on, she’d been in an anatomy class.”

  “That would explain the formalin,” said Mo.

  “It might do,” said Zoe. “We need to check her out. Mo, one of you stay where you are. The other one head to Boulton Hall. But don’t do anything until you get the go-ahead from me.”

  “What are you going to do?” Mo asked.

  He could sense the contempt in her voice. “I’m going to talk to Adana, and then if I’m really unlucky, I’ll have to talk to DI Dawson.”

  Chapter One Hundred Two

  Kayla slammed her door behind her. She still didn’t have her keys but she was confident she knew who did. She ran down the stairs: four flights from her room to Lin’s.