Chapter 12
Maddie slid into the passenger seat of a car that was already ticking over.
‘You want me to drive?’ Harry usually drove an automatic. The injury that claimed his wife’s life had also left him with lifelong scarring and damage to his left arm. The job had provided an automatic; his arm ached when he drove a manual. She’d noticed that he’d stopped using it recently. They moved past his usual car towards the gate. It had a layer of frost.
‘No thanks.’
‘Yours not working?’
‘It’s fine. I fancied a change.’ He prickled as if there was more to it. ‘So what have we got?’
‘Rob found an old Facebook profile for Logan. It was in a slightly different name, apparently — hence us not finding it immediately. Then he went through everyone who had commented, liked, or been tagged to see if he could make any links . . .’
‘What?’ Harry said.
‘Do you have any idea what any of this means?’
‘No. Do I need to?’
‘Okay, no! Basically, we’ve tracked down someone who we think was in a relationship with our victim two years ago and might still be. And we know where she was working three months ago.’
‘It’s a start.’
‘It might be.’
‘We have a media appeal ready to go out at nine o’clock this morning,’ Harry said. ‘Someone out there knows where our Jarod has been and more importantly what he’s been up to.’
‘That should get us a response.’
‘It should. The media appeal for our barefoot boy goes out later today, too. I’d expect that to get all the interest — and rightly so.’
‘I guess so. A mute ten-year-old covered in blood . . . that would get more attention than most things.’
‘I think so.’
‘I thought someone would have called in about the boy by now. It’s not a good sign that they haven’t, is it?’ Maddie said.
‘No.’
The hotel in question, The Burlington, was a twenty-minute drive away in the town of Langthorne, which fitted in with what they knew about Logan and his previous addresses and employment. It was just a hundred metres from ‘the Leas’, a stretch of flat grass on top of high cliffs overlooking the English Channel. The area was well known to Maddie as it featured on her running route.
Harry pulled into one of the marked bays outside the hotel and they stepped out. Harry straightened his waxed coat and Maddie wished she’d brought a jacket of her own as a chilly breeze whipped in from the sea. She couldn’t complain; it was a clear morning and there was nothing like the rain that bombarded this corner of the county over the previous nights.
The entrance was grand: a huge, dark wooden door with a curved top and darker hinges bolted to its front. It was heavy to open. In the lobby, a man stood at a desk and beamed a welcome.
‘Good morning!’
‘Hello. I’m just here to see Sharon Oaks.’ Maddie tried her best to give an impression that this was a pre-arranged meeting and that Sharon was expecting her. The man looked confused. A young man walked past with purpose, wearing the same shirt and trouser combination as the man on reception, who called out to him.
‘Yannie, these people are here to speak with Sharon. Is she in breakfast this morning?’
Now Maddie could detect an accent. Polish or Czech, she thought, but subtle, like a man who’d been in the UK for a long time. Yannie stopped mid-stride and then looked them both up and down. He was more wary than his colleague.
‘Is she expecting you?’
‘Of course.’ Harry pulled his police badge out of his pocket and lifted it for Yannie to see. ‘It’s about her boyfriend. Do you know him?’
Yannie’s nose lifted in a twitch. ‘I know he is not allowed. Barred.’
Harry nodded. ‘He doesn’t handle his beer well, does he?’
Yannie shook his head. ‘Or his temper. She is serving breakfast. I will bring her to you.’ The man strode off.
Harry flashed Maddie a glance then set off after him. He did well to keep up. Maddie did the same. The breakfast area was down a set of wide stairs with thick carpet. It was half full and the sound was a low murmur and the chink of cutlery on bowls. In the middle, a number of guests queued at tables arranged in a horseshoe shape. A woman in a white shirt and grey apron put a fresh loaf of bread in a basket. Yannie made straight for her. Maddie held back with Harry stood next to her. She expected Yannie to say a few words then lead her away from the public area. Maybe there was a quiet room or an unoccupied suite perhaps. She crossed her arms and leant on the wall. The woman spun to Yannie’s touch on her shoulder then her eyes jerked to Maddie and Harry. She looked them both over in an instant and then she started moving. She was fast; she pushed past Yannie and broke into a sprint before Maddie could even unfold her arms. By the time Maddie started after her, the woman was already a blur on the stairs.
Yannie was protesting. Maddie ignored him as she used the post of the banister to swing herself around and sprang up the wide stairs. She heard someone cry out in front, the stairs curled round to the right and as she followed it, she almost crashed into a couple coming down. They were holding hands, filling the stairs, they must have cried out a split second before; Sharon wasn’t too far in front. Maddie got to the top of the stairs but couldn’t see anyone. To the left was the entrance door, to the right a long corridor that led further into the hotel. The man at reception leant out with a startled expression, the sort of expression someone might have if a waitress had just sprinted past. Maddie made for the big oak exit and thundered down the steps. A car door slammed to her left and an engine fired an instant later. Maddie made for it. It was a silver beetle — an old shape. The rattling noise was distinctive: it was high-pitched in reverse then a crunching sound as the driver tried to engage first. Maddie ran to the driver’s side and could see Sharon through the window. Maddie slapped on it with her palms. ‘SHARON! WE JUST NEED TO TALK, IT’S IMPORTANT. YOU’RE NOT IN ANY TROUBLE!’ The car pulled away, it juddered a little, the exhaust popped and nearly stalled. Maddie grabbed at the door and it came open.
‘LET GO! GET OFF!’ Sharon screamed as she scrabbled to shut the door. Maddie could see the keys and they were close enough. She lunged forward, grabbing them and twisting them in the same movement. ‘WHAT ARE YOU DOING?’ Maddie pushed back off the car and stepped back, the keys in her hand. The car was still rolling, moving towards the wall of the car park.
Maddie heard the ratcheting sound of a handbrake and the car stopped roughly. She stepped back. She held the keys up, suddenly aware that she didn’t really have the right to be stopping the car and taking the keys. She was about to apologise. She had her hands lifted with her palms towards Sharon, her body language designed to diffuse the situation. Sharon lunged out of the car — straight at Maddie. Maddie stepped to the side instinctively. The weak sunlight caught on something metal as Sharon stumbled past her. She turned quickly to face Maddie. Now she could see that Sharon was holding a knife. She lunged again. Maddie stepped back, quicker this time but a little unsteady, her feet caught beneath her in her panic.
‘Sharon! What are you doing? I’m just here to talk to you! Put the knife away!’ Sharon was still coming and the knife flashed towards Maddie again. Maddie still hadn’t sorted out her tangled feet and was still stumbling backwards. It meant Sharon was quicker than her — much quicker. The knife lunged towards Maddie. She saw the glint again, then felt its impact on her chest. It was like a punch. It pushed her backwards quicker and she toppled over a kerb, her fall softened as she sprawled onto damp grass.
‘HEY!’ Harry’s voice was powerful enough to cut through the confusion. Sharon was looming over Maddie, but she snapped her head towards Harry, then she seemed to come to a decision. She broke back into a run. She didn’t make two steps before Harry was upon her. He hit her hard and fast in a rugby tackle, taking her back down onto the grass. He wrapped her up tight in his arms and her head was thrown backwards. The kni
fe clanged onto the tarmac of the car park. Maddie was on her back. She now pushed herself up onto her elbows. Instinctively, she put her hand up to her shirt, expecting it to come back bloody, expecting to see a large gash, already considering a firm compress.
There was nothing. No blood, at least. It was painful; her breastbone hurt like hell and her shoulder smarted with pins and needles. She looked down at the knife. It was close enough for her to pick it up. She moved to where Sharon was now on her back, Harry was still holding her down. His wide eyes turned to Maddie. Then he relaxed.
‘If you’re gonna stab a police officer, you need to do better than a butter knife, love,’ Maddie said. She waved it in front of where Sharon stared up at her.
‘Police officer?’ Sharon’s voice was breathy and high-pitched.
‘That’s right. So I guess that means you’re under arrest.’ Maddie pulled her shirt far enough apart to see a white dip in her rib that was already ringed with a black smudge. ‘That’s gonna bruise up nicely.’
‘The police!’ Sharon beamed a smile. ‘Oh thank you, thank God! I thought you were here to kill me! He said they would come, he said they’d come and kill me!’
Maddie and Harry exchanged a glance. Harry hauled her to her feet. ‘We don’t have to nick you, okay. Seems like this might have been a misunderstanding — is that right?’ Sharon managed a rushed nod. ‘You just need to tell us about that. We need to have a chat and we’ll see where we go from there. But you have to talk to us. No more making an old man run, okay?’ Harry grumbled. Sharon nodded again, allowing herself to be walked back to the hotel. A man stood at the door, a man in a suit that Maddie hadn’t seen before. He tutted as soon as Sharon was in earshot.
‘This is it! This is last straw for you, Sharon. First comes trouble with your man and now this! Now you run around with the cutlery! You lash out and making a scene! This is no more. You must leave!’ This man had an accent too, but thicker, and every word was accompanied by thrusts of his hands in every direction.
‘She’s had a bit of a scare,’ Harry said. ‘She didn’t know who we were and that was our fault. She did the right thing. She thought we were a threat so she took us away from the hotel guests. You should be very proud, Mr . . .’
‘Anak. Alek Anak.’
‘Mr Anak, I’m Detective Inspector Blaker and this is Detective Sergeant Ives. Are you the manager here?’
‘Yes. The manager, yes. I cannot have this. This is nice hotel. This is quiet hotel. Except when Sharon is around. Except when Sharon’s boyfriend is around!’
Harry smothered Alek’s hands in a firm grip, as if the constant gesturing was getting on his nerves. ‘Listen to me . . . Sharon has done you proud, okay? She chased us out of the hotel. She thought we were a threat. And she did this with just a butter knife. And her boyfriend . . . he won’t be bothering you anymore, you have my word on that, okay?’
‘Okay. This is not okay, but okay. I understand you.’
‘You should be grateful. Now, we just need somewhere quiet to speak with Sharon. Is there a room we can use?’
‘A room? Yes, there is a function room. This is free at this time.’ Alek turned from the two police officers to his employee. ‘Sharon, you can use the function room to speak. But we must speak after. This cannot happen. I know what he say, but we still need to speak.’
‘Okay, yeah,’ Sharon managed.
‘And I think Sharon here could do with a sweet tea, don’t you?’ said Harry. ‘And we’re both coffee. Leave the milk separate.’
Alek turned away, murmuring something. Harry ignored him.
Sharon looked directly at Maddie. ‘Are you okay? I got you, didn’t I?’
‘I’ll live,’ Maddie said.
Sharon dipped her head again. ‘It’s over here.’
They walked through a set of double doors into a spacious room with light flooding in through tall windows lining the far wall. A long, bare trestle table was set up and other tables were folded and stacked against one of the side walls. It looked like they were being set up for a wedding. Maddie was still pressing her chest with her finger. It was raised and painful, but nothing more.
‘So,’ Maddie said, ‘you wanna tell me why I just got stabbed in the chest out there?’
‘I didn’t know what you wanted. I panicked.’
‘I’ve been doing this job a long time, Sharon. I’ve introduced myself as a copper more times that I can guess. The only time anybody ran was when they were in a lot of trouble and knew it. Is that what that was?’
‘Trouble? You mean like I’ve done something wrong?’ Her eyes were watery and fixed on Maddie.
‘Have you?’
‘No!’
‘So you’ve got nothing to worry about with two police officers wanting to speak to you.’
‘I didn’t know you were the police . . .’
‘Did your colleague not tell you who we were?’
‘No. I think he was trying to be discreet, but I saw . . . I saw a big man with a scar . . .’ She glanced over at Harry. ‘Sorry.’
‘He gets it all the time. He’s a softie really.’
‘He don’t tackle soft.’
‘Well, no. Make him run and you’ll see a whole other side!’
Sharon shook her head. ‘It wouldn’t have mattered anyway . . . he told me not to believe anyone, not to trust anyone. Not until . . .’ Her eyes dropped back to the floor. Maddie was desperate to hit her again with a question, to ask her to explain what she meant, but she’d picked up the effectiveness of silence from Harry. She waited until Sharon started up again. ‘I mean, he said that someone might come for me.’
‘Who did, Sharon?’
Sharon shook her head. ‘What did you want anyway?’
‘We need to talk to you about your boyfriend,’ Harry said. ‘About Jarod.’
Sharon stared at him. ‘I don’t have a boyfriend.’
‘When did you see him last?’
‘I didn’t see your ID.’ Sharon was still standing and now took a step backwards. Her eyes flickered to the row of windows as if she might be considering an escape route. Both officers stayed still. They let her back away a little and slowly produced their warrant cards.
‘Whatever you’re scared of, Sharon, we can help you,’ Harry said.
‘A week ago, okay? I saw him a week ago.’
‘And that’s who told you to be careful?’ Maddie asked. Sharon rushed a nod. ‘You’re still friends then, at least?’
Sharon shrugged — she seemed to relax at the same time. ‘Friends, lovers, exes . . . you tell me. He couldn’t.’
‘What happened?’ Maddie prompted.
‘He changed — and I mean a lot. Over the last six months or so, I suppose. He actually stopped drinking. Just like that! I never thought I’d see that.’
‘Did something happen to prompt that?’
‘No. I mean he got himself in trouble here when he was drunk and we had a big barney, but that wouldn’t have made a difference to him. He was always upsetting someone, especially when he had a beer in his hand. I don’t think he ever once considered it a problem. Jarod wasn’t someone who cared about how he made other people feel . . .’ Sharon looked dejected, but Maddie wanted to keep her talking.
‘So that wasn’t the issue. Why else would he stop drinking?’
Sharon turned to Maddie and looked her up and down. It was as if she was going over her options. ‘He got mixed up with some people. Before you ask me, I don’t know who they were — just some people who seemed to be promising him a better future.’
‘Better?’ Maddie gave another prompt.
‘Better, yeah. I know Jarod better than anyone — better than he knows himself, even. He has a lairy exterior . . . people stay away from him. He doesn’t have too many friends, but it’s just frustration with him. He sees other people with a family, a regular job and house to sit in and he just wants that, I know he does. He’s getting worse as he gets older. He’s said enough times to me that he sho
uld be settled down by now and he means that in every sense. I assume that’s why you’re here, is it? I assume he really hurt someone this time. I guess me telling you he’s just misunderstood won’t help him out any. I was doing my best to keep him out of trouble, but he’s even kept me at a distance for the last few months.’
Maddie looked over to Harry. She didn’t feel they could delay any more. Harry must have felt the same: he took a step closer; his voice was lower than normal and with some warmth, too. ‘Jarod has been found dead, Sharon. I’m very sorry.’ He stopped. There was no point saying anything more, not right then. He was letting it sink in; she wouldn’t hear his next words no matter what they were. It took a while. Sharon snatched her gaze to him instantly and then away again almost as quickly, then her eyes lost their focus.
‘Dead?’ She stepped away again, looking unsteady, as if trying to keep her balance. Maddie moved in and put an arm on the small of her back.
‘It’s okay. Let’s get you a seat shall we.’ Harry took the prompt and dragged over a chair from where they were stacked against the wall. Sharon felt for it with her hand then fell into it. The door crashed open at that moment and a young woman entered, having pushed the door with her foot. She wore the same uniform as Sharon and carried a laden tray.
‘Hey Shazza . . . the boss sent me up with all this! How come you’re getting the special treatment and I have to . . . Jesus! Are you okay?’
Harry took the tray. ‘Thank you. She’ll be fine.’
The woman kept her attention on her seated colleague. ‘You know where I am if you need me, yeah?’ Sharon didn’t react. The woman hesitated but she did leave.
The tray had three cups, saucers and teapots. There was a bowl of sugar and a jug of milk — standard hotel stuff. Harry noted the lack of coffee but silently made up the teas. He added two sugars to Sharon’s without asking how she took it. When he gave her the tea it was like she came out of a trance. She fixed him with watery eyes.
‘How?’ she said.
‘We’re still working it out. But he was found in the middle of a quiet road with a rope around him. We’re not sure if he was hit by a car, or if the act of . . .’ Harry hesitated while searching for the right words.
HE WILL FIND YOU an absolutely gripping crime thriller with a massive twist Page 11
