Hidden Agenda (DI Kayli Bright Trilogy Book 3)

by M A Comley

  “We’ve already questioned and released him. We’re satisfied that he had nothing to do with her death.”

  “Then I don’t envy you guys trying to find the killer. Have you considered this being a burglary that went wrong?”

  “Thanks for the advice. That’s yet another scenario we’re looking into. If you have nothing else to add, then I think we’re done here, Ryan.”

  He leapt out of his chair and reached across the table to shake their hands. “It’s been a pleasure chatting to you both. Give me a ring if you want a special request read out over the airwaves any time... umm... personal not professional, of course.”

  Kayli shook his hand and resisted the temptation to instantly wipe her palm down her trousers as she watched him walk out of the room.

  “What an effing creep,” Dave muttered.

  Kayli laughed and shuddered. “You took the words right out of my mouth. I’m not getting the impression that he should be treated as a suspect, though, are you?”

  “Nope. All he’s guilty of is being a grade-one tosser with wandering-hand trouble.”

  Kayli stood up and held on to the back of Dave’s chair so he could get to his feet easily. “Back to the station then, I suppose.”

  As they left the room, Kayli spotted Danny Talbot. She dug her partner in the ribs as they walked up the hallway. “Hello, Danny. How’s it going?”

  The young man spun around, looking surprised to see them. “Oh, hi. I didn’t know you were here. Everything all right?”

  “Yes, just following up on a few things in our investigation.”

  “I take it you haven’t arrested anyone yet?”

  “Not yet. But we’re getting close.”

  His eyes widened. “That’s great news. I hope you arrest someone soon. I must fly. The boss is expecting me,” he said, turning towards Jackson’s office.

  “Nice seeing you again. Oh, wait—one question if I may before you disappear?”

  He halted and faced her, smiling broadly. “What’s that?”

  Kayli took a step closer to him and looked over her shoulder to make sure the receptionist was occupied. “You neglected to tell us that when you dropped Sarah off the other night, she kissed you before she left the car.”

  He leaned back as a frown appeared. “Should I have? Did someone tell you that? Was someone spying on me?”

  “Calm down. I think you should have informed us, just in case any of your DNA showed up on Sarah’s body.”

  His hand covered his face. “Oh God, I never thought about that. I’m so sorry. It wasn’t intentional, I promise you. Who told you?”

  “I’d like to keep that information to myself for now. Let’s just say that someone spotted you dropping Sarah off at her flat.”

  “Did this mystery person also tell you that I drove off right away once she’d left my car?”

  “No. They didn’t tell us that because they left the scene immediately after witnessing the kiss between you.”

  “Between us? She kissed me on the cheek as a thank you. I feel very uncomfortable that someone placed me at the scene, Inspector.”

  “Why? You volunteered that information yourself, as I seem to recall.”

  “If someone is trying to put me in the frame for her murder, then I think I have a right to know who that person is.”

  She shook her head. “No one is insinuating you had anything to do with Sarah’s murder. All I was saying is that you should have told us that she kissed you, especially as you were one of the last people to see her alive.”

  “It sounds like a roundabout way of accusing me, if you don’t mind me saying.”

  “I wasn’t. I’m sorry if it came across that way.”

  “Apology accepted. I need to hurry now, or the boss will be using my knackers as a paperweight.”

  Kayli chuckled. “Thanks for sparing us the time.”

  “No problem. Always glad to help the police with their enquiries.”

  Kayli and Dave returned to the car. “This is so frustrating. Are you sure we did the right thing in releasing the boyfriend?” Dave asked, one hand on the roof of the car as he placed his crutches inside the vehicle.

  “No. But what can we do when the DNA fails to place him at the scene? Our hands are tied when that happens—you know that.”

  “I know. But what other options are open to us? Maybe it was a damn burglary gone wrong after all.”

  “I’m at a loss, Dave. My head is all over the place on this one, and worrying about Mark isn’t helping. I know I try and not think about his situation at work, but I just can’t help wondering if my personal life is affecting the choices I’m making during this investigation.” She placed her head on the steering wheel.

  Dave prodded her upper arm. “Bloody hell, you don’t half talk a lot of shit for an inspector at times.”

  She sat back in her seat and turned to look at him, her mouth turned down at the sides. “Do I? I’m bound to doubt myself at times.”

  “There’s having niggling doubts, which we all get in this job, and there’s talking utter bullshit. You, in my honest opinion, are talking the latter.”

  She laughed. “Well, I guess that’s me told then.”

  Kayli started the car and drove off. She was still riddled with self-doubt as they walked into the incident room. Donna and Graeme both looked their way. Kayli shook her head. “Nothing, guys. Not one thing. What about you?”

  “The same, boss. All the background checks we’ve carried out have thrown up nothing useful. Not sure where we should be turning next,” Donna replied, appearing to be downbeat, which wasn’t like her at all.

  “Hey, keep the faith, Donna. We’ll do some brainstorming after we’ve had a revitalising cup of coffee and go from there.”

  “Yes, boss.”

  Graeme leapt out of his chair and approached the vending machine. “I’ll get these for a change.”

  Kayli stumbled against the nearest desk. “Crikey! We’ll need to chalk this one up, guys. Have you won the lottery or something, Graeme?”

  He tutted. “No. I should be offended by that remark. I do put my hand in my pocket occasionally, boss.”

  “Very occasionally,” Dave muttered behind his hand.

  They all laughed. It was good to relieve the tension now and again. After their drink, they revisited the case, trying to find the missing piece of the puzzle that would lead them to the killer.

  Kayli clicked her fingers. “Sarah’s phone. Donna, did you manage to get the call information from it yet?”

  “Damn, I knew there was something I needed to chase up. I’ll get onto that now, boss.”

  “Brilliant. I don’t remember seeing her phone at the crime scene. I’m going to ring the pathologist to see if her guys picked it up.” She strode into her office to make the call. Naomi answered the phone herself. “Hi, Naomi. It’s Kayli. Just a quick one. I was wondering if you picked up Sarah Abel’s mobile phone at the flat.”

  “Oh, hi. I was going to ring you in a little while. Let me check the evidence sheet.”

  Kayli could hear rustling paper and tapped her pen on the desk as she waited for Naomi to come back on the line.

  “Ah, yes, here’s the sheet. Nope, we haven’t got it. Can’t say I noticed it at the flat, either.”

  “Okay, that might help our investigation then. Thanks for that. Why were you going to ring me?”

  “I have the PM results for you.”

  “Okay, I’m all ears. What was the cause of death?”

  “Asphyxiation. Although as I suspected, she would have drowned in her own vomit had she not been suffocated first.”

  “Poor girl. Nothing else?”

  “Yes, something interesting showed up when I examined all the items she was wearing. Her clothes had vomit on them also.”

  “That figures.”

  “No. It didn’t seep from the bag. I’m presuming she vomited before the bag was put over her head. Which means—”

  “That when we find the kill
er, there should be sick on his clothing, right?”

  “Spot on. Providing he hasn’t washed the clothes by now, of course. But there’s more.”

  Kayli’s heart rate intensified as she picked up on the excitement in Naomi’s tone. “Go on. Surprise me.”

  “The victim was wearing a metal watch strap.”

  “And?”

  “Within the watch strap, I found a few hairs.”

  “Interesting. I take it you’ve compared the hairs to Sarah’s DNA, and they’re not a match.”

  “You are correct. I also compared them to the DNA we collected from your prime suspect, and the DNA didn’t match his, either.”

  “So we need to find who those hairs belong to, right?”

  “We do. My team are running different tests and have put the information through the system. Unfortunately, we haven’t established any results as yet, but if we find anything, you’ll be the first to know.”

  “Okay, that might not seem much at this stage, but it could turn the investigation on its head soon enough. You’ve definitely brightened my day. The case was beginning to get me and my team down, not that we’ve had much sleep in the last few days.”

  “Ditto. It’s lucky we love our jobs, right?”

  Kayli laughed. “Sometimes I doubt that’s true, like today. We seem to be going round and round in circles and not getting far with this one.”

  “Something will click into place soon enough. Just be patient. Are you taking tomorrow off?”

  “Yeah, I think so. I’m hoping Mum and Dad will invite me to have dinner with them. I hate being at the house by myself... you know, without Mark being there.”

  “Any news on that front?”

  “No, nothing. It’s as though he’s just vanished.”

  “Stay strong. No news and all that.”

  “I’m trying, I promise. Daft bloody adages like that don’t help, either. How can people not worry just because there’s no news?”

  Naomi chuckled. “I know. I shouldn’t have said anything. I reiterate, you should remain strong and positive at all times. That’s all you can do really.”

  “I’m trying. Although I’m tempted to bloody go out there myself and bring him home.”

  “Bloody hell! The Taliban would definitely run for the hills with you on their patch.” Naomi sniggered.

  Kayli laughed at the thought of seeing turban-clad men being terrified of her. “I better go. We need to try and trace this damn phone. Thanks for the info. Can you email me the report for the file?”

  “I will. Take care. Try and have a restful Sunday.”

  “You too. Speak soon.” Kayli hung up and sat back in her chair. She glanced out the window at the greying sky and saw Mark’s handsome face etched into a cloud as it drifted past the window. Be safe, Mark. I’d be there in a shot if I could. Always know that you’re not far from my thoughts and that there are people out there searching for you. Remain positive. I love you.

  She shook the sad thoughts from her head, preferring to concentrate on the case, and stepped back into the incident room. “Any news, Donna?”

  “Yes, boss. Apparently, they sent the records to the wrong email address. I have them now. Just going to print them out for you.”

  “Brilliant news. I’m not saying they’ll break the case for us, but at this point, we have very little to go on anyway. The pathologist has told me that she found hairs in Sarah’s watch strap. And no, they didn’t belong to either the victim or Young. She’s still running the DNA through the database. Hopefully, something will come of that soon. The phone was not found at the scene. So someone has it... it’s too much of a coincidence to think she lost it just before her death. We need to trace that phone. Dave, you’ve got a friend in the tech department, haven’t you?”

  Dave nodded and pointed at her. “I do. I’ll get on to him now. Tell him it’s urgent and we need the results ASAP.”

  “Brilliant. Let’s hope he can help us out.”

  “He will. Not sure the weekend is going to help, though.” He got on the phone right away and shook his head.

  “No go?” Kayli asked as soon as he hung up.

  “Nope. He’s got another urgent job on the go. The earliest he can get to it is Monday.”

  “Monday will have to do then. Let’s not get downbeat about this, guys. We still have Sarah’s phone records to go through.”

  Kayli pulled up a chair alongside Donna, and together, they went through the pages of calls Sarah Abel had made the week prior to her death.

  “Let’s start ringing some of these numbers, see who these people are, Donna. You start from the beginning of the list, and I’ll work backwards with the most recent calls.”

  Before either of them could place a call, Dave cleared his throat as if he wanted to say something.

  “Don’t be shy, partner. Spit it out.”

  “Maybe you should be careful ringing those numbers in case one of them belongs to the killer.”

  Kayli pushed the sheet of paper away as if it had just seared her hand. “Bloody hell, you’re right, Dave. Any chance your guy can find out who the numbers belong to as well for us?”

  “I’m sure he can do that. Maybe the killer took the phone to cover his tracks.”

  “Or maybe he took it for a trophy. I think we need to see if any cases similar to this have been reported in the area in the last few months, or years, before we go any further. Sorry, guys, I’ve let you down. I should have instructed you to delve into that from the kick-off.” Kayli sighed and shook her head.

  “What a load of codswallop you talk at times. This case has been different from the get-go, boss. We dealt with it within minutes of the crime being carried out, during the golden hour. We’re not always able to do that. Therefore, our investigation spun off in a different direction, and our priority was to pick Young up,” Dave said, annoyance apparent in his tone.

  “I agree with Dave on this one, boss,” Graeme chipped in.

  Kayli looked at Donna, who was nodding and smiling. “I also agree. You could never let us down, boss.”

  Kayli sniffled as her eyes became moist with tears. “You really are the best team an inspector has ever had the fortune of having by their side. Look, let’s do what we can, researching other crimes in the area, then call it a day around four, okay? We deserve a break after the hours we’ve put in over the last few days. We need to recharge our batteries and hit the ground running again on Monday.”

  Dave shrugged. “Sounds good to me.”

  Each of them sat behind a monitor and carried out a search. Kayli decided to go back five years in her search, but after a few hours of mind-numbing research, she sat back in her chair and expelled a large breath. “Nothing. What about you guys?”

  The other three members of her team all shook their heads.

  “Not one thing,” Dave said, throwing his hands up in the air.

  “Okay, let’s remain positive. Maybe it vindicates my decision not to go down that route sooner, which makes me feel a whole lot better. Come on, I insist we should call it a day.”

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Exhaustion overwhelmed Kayli the second she entered her home. She went through to the kitchen, searched the cupboards, and removed a can of tomato soup from the shelf. Ten minutes later, she was sitting at the kitchen table dunking a piece of toast in her bowl of soup. After she finished, she plucked up the courage to ring her parents. “Hello, Mum. Sorry I haven’t rung lately. It’s been a hectic few days at work.”

  “It’s all right, love. I accept that you’re busy. Glad you’re able to take your mind off things, you know.”

  “I know. I’m fine while I’m at work. It tends to hit me when I come home, though. I hate being here by myself. I keep expecting to find Mark sitting on the couch, annoying me by flicking through the channels. When I’m in the bedroom, all I can smell is his aftershave around me. That sets me off.”

  “It’s bound to, darling. Why don’t you come and stay with us until he comes h
ome?”

  “Thanks for the invite, Mum, but it wouldn’t feel right leaving the house for some reason. Would it be all right if I invite myself to dinner tomorrow, though? I’m sure one of your stunning Sunday roasts will go down a treat and put the world to rights again.”

  “Of course. We’ve got a nice piece of topside for tomorrow. Come for a one o’clock dinner?”

  “I’ll probably come earlier, if that’s all right? I can help prepare the veg.”

  “Whatever you want to do is fine by me, darling. If you’re lonely this evening and fancy a chat, just give us a call.”

  “I will. Thanks, Mum. I love you.”

  “I love you too, dear.”

  As soon as Kayli hung up, sadness descended and wrapped around her shoulders. She decided she needed a soak in the bath. She poured a glass of wine and took it upstairs to run the bath. After a long, luxurious soak, she dried her hair then got into bed, even though it was only six thirty. Before long, she was engrossed in her new Linda Prather thriller, The 13th Victim—that was until her Kindle hit her on the forehead because she’d dozed off. She settled down under the warm duvet and drifted off to sleep. It wasn’t long before she found herself dreaming about Mark. This time, she was transported to the desert. She could hear his faint cries for help as she approached an old wooden door that was secured by a large padlock. “Mark, I’m here. Hang tight. We’ll get you out.”

  “Kayli? Kayli, is that you? They’re starving me to death.” His weak voice touched her heart.

  “It’s me, darling. You’re safe now. We’ve come to rescue you.”

  “You don’t understand! Be careful. There’s a—”

  She woke up with a start, drenched in a cold sweat. With tears trickling down her cheeks, she looked at the clock beside her. It was only three o’clock in the morning. She spent the next few hours tossing and turning, fighting her fears about Mark’s safety, and feeling useless because she was unable to help him. For the first time in years, she resorted to praying.

  Kayli finally got up to make herself a mug of coffee at six thirty. She paced the kitchen floor, waiting for the kettle to boil. The image of Mark, chained up somewhere and left to die the most unimaginable death possible, ran continuously through her tired mind. “I doubt I’m ever going to sleep again. How can I? Knowing that he’s out there, in need of my help?”