by M A Comley
“Mummy, I had fun at school today. I made a new friend.”
Unexpectedly, Katy’s eyes watered. She smiled. “Did you, sweetie? What’s her name?”
“It’s Jack, and she’s a boy.”
Katy covered her eyes and chuckled. “Oh, silly Mummy, presuming all your friends should be girls.”
“Pre, pre…what’s that?”
“Presuming…umm… thinking it should be something when it turns out to be something else. Does that make sense?”
“Er…sort of. I need to go now, my ice cream is melting.”
“You go, darling. I’ll see you later.”
AJ came back on the line. “Hi, you know what she’s like with a bowl of ice cream. She was hungry so I fed her earlier.”
“I’m so sorry to disrupt your lives the way I do.”
“Nonsense, you do nothing of the sort. Hey, you go, stay safe, and remember we love you.”
“I love you, too. I’ll never know why you put up with me at times.”
“Are you nuts? Because we care and love you. I can’t wait to see you. I have some news that will cheer you up.”
Just like that, he ended the call, leaving her dangling. She was tempted to ring him back and force the information out of him, but they had an important job to do and time was getting on—it was already seven-twenty. She slipped into the driver’s seat and started the engine. Charlie finished her call and sighed.
“That was the final one. The team are all on their way back to the station.”
“Good, you guys are the best. Was Brandon okay about you working late?”
“Yeah, I think so. He didn’t really complain.”
Katy picked up an underlying hidden meaning in Charlie’s words and tone. She continued to take the detour back to the station and cast a glance sideways to see Charlie staring down at her fingers, picking at the skin around her nails. “Is there something you’re not telling me, Charlie?”
“No, I’m fine. We have some issues to work out. It’s part and parcel of being involved in a relationship. Nothing spectacular, just tiny issues.”
“Yeah, we all have those. It’s not helped by the guilt we feel either, is it?”
“Maybe that has more to do with how I’m feeling. Just ignore me, I’m sure Brandon and I will be fine.”
Katy held her fingers up. “I’m here to use as a sounding board if you should ever need one.”
“I know. Ditto.”
“AJ has some news for me. He’s such a tease, told me that then hung up.”
“You guys have the best relationship. I wish mine and Brandon’s was half as good as yours.”
“Are you telling me you’re not as solid as you used to be?”
“Is anyone? I thought it was the norm for relationships to settle into…well, something more comfortable.”
“Don’t let your mother hear you talking like that. Charlie, after what you’ve been through, you deserve to be treated like a princess every second of the day.”
“Aww…now you’re making me out to be some kind of ogre. Brandon treats me better than any other guy I’ve been out with, not that there have been that many. Ignore me, I’m sure we’ll be fine. If not…” Charlie shrugged. “Then I’ll have good memories to look back on.”
Katy’s eyes widened. “Bloody hell. That sounds like you’ve given up on either the relationship or Brandon.”
“Did it? Sorry, I haven’t. Can we talk about something else? This conversation is making me squirm.”
“Whatever you want. What are your feelings on the investigation so far?”
“Thanks, I’m not sure which conversation is the more demanding.”
They both laughed.
“If there is a connection, which it sure looks like to me, then maybe the men had a secret. Something their families weren’t aware of,” Charlie noted.
“Am I to believe you don’t think Nadia is to blame here?”
“Why should we? What’s she actually said or done to make you think she might be guilty of something?”
“Good point. I can’t rid myself of this damn feeling in my gut.”
“What do you propose doing about it?”
“I’d rather not dive in and regret my actions. I want to run things past the team first.”
“Makes sense to me. We’ll back your decision either way, you know that.”
“I know. On the flip side, I would hope you’d tell me if you thought I was playing the wrong cards during an investigation as well.”
“I would, sort of. Maybe I’d point out a few discrepancies in your way of thinking, now that I’ve worked with you a couple of months and know how approachable you are.”
“My job is done then. I’m glad you feel that way, Charlie.” She leaned to her side and whispered, “I think we make a pretty shit-hot partnership.”
Charlie laughed. “You took the words out of my mouth.”
The team showed up within half an hour of each other. Charlie ensured everyone had a cup of coffee to hand while Katy filled in the necessary details on the whiteboard.
She turned to face her team. “Thank you all for returning to work this evening. I hope the quick turnaround hasn’t affected your home lives too much. Please send my apologies to your loved ones. Right, as you’re aware by now, Charlie and I were called out to attend yet another murder scene this evening. It was a gruesome one. The victim had several stab wounds across his chest and to his back as well. My suspicion is that he was possibly in the process of running away from his assailant. There were two separate areas of blood spatter to back this idea up, too. His eyes were also gouged out and left to rest on his chest.”
“Yuck, not pleasant,” Karen muttered.
“No, not in the slightest. The intriguing part is that when we went to break the news to his wife, she informed us that her husband, Dale Peters, knew this man.” She pointed at the first victim’s name on the board with the marker pen. “Bruce Crawford. So that’s where we need to start digging. How did these men know each other, and what did they do to make someone so angry with them that they chose to exact their revenge?”
“Any clues at all as to where we should be digging, boss?” Patrick asked.
“At this stage, no. Anything and everything you can find. Links to their jobs, the types of interests they held, I want it all. I’m going to ring Nadia, request a meeting with her, see what she can tell us. Let’s hit the computers hard and fast on this one, folks.”
Katy left the team and walked into her office. She searched for Nadia’s number and rang it. It immediately went to voicemail.
Is she at work? Or at home? I need to speak with her, urgently!
She took a punt and rang the hospital. The ward sister informed her that Nadia had finished her shift several hours earlier at six o’clock. Katy’s head spun.
Six o’clock, so it would have been possible for her to have driven out to the murder scene and to have committed the crime, wouldn’t it?
She searched for a home number for the woman—she didn’t have one, and there was no telling if she even had one either. Most people tended to have a mobile number these days without the necessity of having a landline. She pushed her chair back and sped out of the office. “Charlie, let’s go.”
Charlie unhooked her jacket from her chair and followed Katy out of the incident room. They flew down the stairs, brushed past several of their colleagues and out to the car.
“I take it we’re going to see Nadia?” Charlie hopped into the passenger seat as soon as the doors unlocked.
“That’s right. Something is way off to me. I know I keep saying it but…I rang her mobile, no answer. So I tried the hospital. They told me she left work at around six.”
“Holy moley! You’re thinking she would’ve had enough time to have driven out to the crime scene and killed Peters.”
“It makes sense to me.”
“Want me to ask a member of the team to check the ANPRs, see if they can spot her car?”
“Good thinking. Ask Graham to do it, would you? He’s got more experience than the others with that side of things.”
Charlie made the call and put Graham to work. He said he’d contact them as soon as he found anything.
Katy drew up outside Nadia’s house.
Charlie pointed at her car. “She’s home.”
“Well, her car is here, that’s a good sign. Come on. Let’s see what she has to say for herself.”
Katy approached the front door with her heart hammering against her ribs.
“Are you all right?” Charlie whispered.
“Yeah, maybe feeling a little hyper. I want this killer caught.”
“Understandable. Take a few deep breaths. If that doesn’t sound too condescending.”
“It doesn’t. Good advice.” Katy sucked in several breaths and let them out slowly, then knocked on the door.
Nadia, dressed in a leopard-skin onesie, opened it a few seconds later, an expression of surprise covering her pretty face. “Hello, Inspector. What brings you here at this time of night?”
Katy offered up a tight smile and held the woman’s gaze. “Would it be possible for us to come in and speak with you?”
“Of course. Would you like a drink? I was just about to make a coffee when the bell rang.”
“No, we’ll pass this time around, but thank you anyway.”
Once they were in the lounge, Nadia gestured for them to take a seat and left the room. She returned a few moments later carrying a mug and placed it on the coffee table in front of the sofa which was now covered in a fur throw. “You didn’t answer me. Am I to take it that you have news about my father’s murder?”
“Yes and no. Can I ask what you’ve been up to today?”
Nadia frowned and took a sip from her drink. “Of course. I worked until six and came straight home. I’m knackered, I’ve been doing all sorts of weird and wonderful hours lately, mostly to keep my mind off what happened to Dad. I must say, it’s helped a lot during the day, however, once I’m at home, I can’t stop thinking about him. Finding him in that state and being unable to help him, even with my experience as a nurse.” Tears formed, and she quickly brushed them away.
“I can understand how distressing that must be for you. Has your sister returned to Scotland now?”
“Oh yes. She went back home immediately after the funeral.”
“I see.”
“Do you? I detect a strange tone to your voice, Inspector. Would you mind telling me what this visit is about? Either you have some news regarding the case or…”
“Okay, cards on the table, Miss Crawford. We’re no further forward with your father’s case. Umm…this evening we were called out to another scene.” She watched the woman intently, hoping to see some kind of reaction. She was left wanting because there wasn’t one.
“Another scene? What are you saying?”
“This evening we encountered another murder scene.”
Her hand flew up and covered her chest. It rose and fell rapidly while she gathered her composure. “Oh no, that’s terrible. What, and you believe this is connected to my father’s? Is that why you’ve come here tonight?” She recovered and reached for her mug of coffee, taking a small sip.
“In a roundabout way, yes.”
“How? What am I missing? Or more importantly, what aren’t you telling me?”
“The victim was Dale Peters.”
“No! My father’s friend? But he was only at the funeral last week and now, he’s…he’s gone as well. What does this mean?”
“It means we’re now investigating two gruesome murders, the second one even worse than what happened to your father. Do you have any thoughts on the matter?”
She shook her head slowly; it rapidly gained momentum. “No, should I? Again, I’m not liking the tone of your voice, Inspector. What are you saying? That you think I had something to do with both murders?”
“No, not in the slightest. We simply have a serious dilemma and believe both murders have to be connected. We’re here to ask you if you know of any reason why that would be likely.”
“I can’t think of any reason. I’m as appalled to hear of Dale’s death as I was to see my father lying in this very room with his throat cut. Someone did this, and I was hoping you would have had some news about who that person was by now.”
“As were we. Your father’s case has gone cold very quickly.”
“Are you telling me you’ve given up?”
“No, we’d never just give up. What I’m saying is the leads that we had surrounding your father’s investigation have led us nowhere. However, now a second murder has been committed, and the fact that the two victims knew each other has given us another trail to follow.”
“I see. And yet you’ve chosen to turn up on my doorstep and insist on grilling me as though I have something to do with both deaths. Let me say this in simple terms: nothing could be further from the truth, I assure you. The news you’ve delivered about Dale has come as an enormous shock to me.”
“Did you know him?”
“Not really. Not that I can remember. He and my father used to be friends when I was younger. I’m not sure what happened to end that friendship, but they seemed to drift apart for some reason.”
“Please, if you can cast your mind back to around that time, at least it’ll point us in the right direction. At the moment, we’re struggling to make sense of why two people who knew each other have been murdered.”
“Can you tell me how Dale was murdered? You said it was gruesome.”
“That’s right. No, I’m afraid we can’t disclose that. I’m sure once the press get hold of the details it’ll be all over the media within the next few days.”
“If that’s so, then what’s the harm in you telling me now? I have a stake in this case, don’t I? As in, he died in connection to my father’s death. Oh God, hark at me. I’m sorry, this is all coming out wrong. I don’t want to hear the ins and outs of Dale’s death, why would I? My God, I don’t even know why I damn well asked.”
“I did wonder. As I said, we can’t divulge such information. All you can do to help with the investigation is to think back to when your father and Dale were friends and try and tell us if anything happened back then that could reflect on why someone might want to kill them both.”
“I’ll have to think about it. You see, in all honesty, because I lost my mother at such a young age, I’ve tended to block out my childhood. Can you understand that?”
“I think I can. You were four at the time she died, yes?”
“That’s right. I suppose I thought blocking her out would be less painful. I don’t know if that was the right way of going about things or not. I missed out on having a mother at a very young age. To some kids that might be classed as traumatic.”
“Did you have access to a counsellor back then, can you remember?”
“I don’t believe so. My father knew what was best for me.” Her gaze dropped to the mug she was holding, and she stared at it for a long time then added, “He took over the role of being both mother and father. I suppose most parents would do the same if they found themselves in the same boat.”
“I suppose. Speaking with Penny, she seemed to raise some doubts about the way your father raised you both.”
“Did she? Penny has always had certain views about our father, views that I wouldn’t have necessarily agreed with over the years. She left home as a teenager.”
“And yet, you chose to remain living with your father. May I ask why?”
She shrugged. “Apart from the financial side of things, I can’t tell you if there was a specific reason behind my wanting to stay with him. Maybe I felt he needed me. Perhaps we needed each other. I don’t really know.”
“Are you telling me you had a different kind of relationship with your father than your sister had with him?”
She continued to stare at her mug, but her foot tipped over to the side and righted itself numerous times before she respo
nded, “Perhaps. It’s hard to tell.”
“Is there something you’re not telling us, Nadia?” Katy tried to coax her.
The young woman gulped and shook her head several times. “No, definitely not. I’d like to get back to normality as soon as possible. I’m struggling to do that with my father’s case still wide open. I need your word that you’ll find whoever has done this to my father and Dale. Wasn’t he married?”
“Yes, to Adele. We’ve spoken to her before coming here. As you can imagine, she’s distraught by the untimely loss of her husband. She has five children to bring up on her own now.”
Nadia gasped. “Oh shit! I didn’t know.”
Sensing her words meant more than she was letting on, Katy asked, “Would it have made a difference if you’d known?” Katy felt Charlie’s gaze burning into her; Katy didn’t respond.
Nadia glanced up, her gaze latching on to Katy’s. “Meaning?”
“I just wondered. Whether a man is married with a family or not, if that made a difference to the level of sympathy you had for him and his family.”
“What a strange statement. That’s not how I interpreted what you said at all.”
Katy inclined her head and asked innocently, “Oh, I’m sorry, how did you take it?”
Nadia waved a hand in front of her. “It doesn’t matter. Will that be all now? It’s getting late, and I have an early shift starting at six in the morning.”
Katy and Charlie rose from their seats.
“That’s fine. I think we’re done here. You’ve got my card. If anything should come to mind regarding your childhood, you will ring me, won’t you?”
“I’ll be sure to do that. I’ll show you out and then go to bed. It’s been a very long day, or should I say a long week.”
“It’s good to keep busy, it must help to take your mind off your father’s death.”
“Sort of. Goodbye.” Nadia closed the front door behind them.
They made their way back to the car in silence.
It wasn’t until they’d pulled away from the house that Charlie tutted. “You were a bit close to the line back there, weren’t you?”
“Maybe I was, it was intentional. You know what? The more I spend time with that woman, the more I think she has something to hide.”
