by CM Thompson
Grimm pauses, waiting for Laura to explain more but she doesn’t.
“I see, that must have been difficult to live with.”
“Derrick, that’s my husband, he has been wanting to sell but it is not that big a deal. I take the girls to the park instead. They like it there. It’s a good neighbourhood, otherwise, and we are close to Chante’s school.”
“I see, and what were you doing on Thursday 18th July?”
“Thursday? … Oh, I don’t know, the days all blur into one, don’t they? … oh! That was yesterday!” She gives a nervous laugh. “Lenore has playgroup in the afternoon. I took her swimming in the morning, then I did some food shopping and then I came home to catch up on the housework.”
“Did you hear any disturbances during the day?”
“Oh, I was vacuuming most of the time. I don’t remember hearing anything.” Another nervous laugh. Grimm stares at her. She looks down quickly. “It’s a really loud vacuum cleaner. I don’t hear the phone ringing when I am using it, it’s that loud.”
Colvin looks pointedly down at the carpet and wonders where she had been vacuuming.
“Nothing at all?”
“Well … I thought I heard Daniel yelling something at one point. I couldn’t make out what he was saying but he sounded really angry, then a door slamming shut.”
“Do you remember what time?”
“Around one-ish. I am not sure. I tend to tune them out whenever I hear them now.”
“You have heard them fighting before?”
“A few times, we just turn up the TV now so we can’t hear them.” Or her.
A loud scream comes from upstairs. “Mum! Lenore won’t leave me alone.”
“OK, I think we are finished here, Mrs Noble. Is there anything you wish to add before we go?” Grimm asks, seizing the opportunity to leave.
“Erm, I probably shouldn’t say this, but erm …” Another nervous laugh. “Are you interviewing everyone on this road?”
Grimm nods.
“When you get to number ten, Penny … erm, she doesn’t always tell the truth. She is a little … well … not right.” Laura gives yet another irritating nervous laugh. “We all call her Lying Penny.”
“MMMMMUUUUUUUUUUUUUMMMMMMMM MMM!”
“Thank you for your time, Mrs Noble,” Grimm says firmly.
“Do you think anyone will tell us the truth on this street?” Grimm asks Colvin quietly, as they stare at door number ten, Penny Cooper’s house, Laura Noble’s warning echoing in their mind.
“Doubt it,” Colvin mutters back and presses the doorbell. They wait a few more minutes before Grimm puts his calling card through the letterbox.
Colvin is disappointed that she didn’t get to meet the one they call Lying Penny. The complaints made from this house to the police had made for some interesting reading. She thinks she sees the curtains twitching slightly as they leave.
The next house also looks abandoned. The windows are covered with taped newspaper. The front garden is overgrown with weeds. They try the door anyway and to their surprise, it is opened a few moments later by a sleepy, middle-aged man. Grimm introduces them and asks if they can come in for a few minutes. The guy blinks repeatedly for a few moments, before regaining himself. “Yeah, yeah, sure, come on in.”
His house is bare, completely bare. The living room has nothing, not even anywhere for them even to sit, so they stand awkwardly. Colvin can see the kitchen is just as bare, a few utensils on display and a lone chair perched next to a cooking surface.
“Sorry, I have only just moved in. I am not staying here that long.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah, I am just renting this place from a friend, just while I sort some things out.”
“I see. Can I take your name please?” Grimm asks.
“David Clark.” Grimm decides to take a slightly different approach with this guy. He is the first person in the neighbourhood who doesn’t seem as though he was expecting them.
“How long have you lived here, Mr Clark?”
“Oh, erm nearly two months now.”
“And how are you finding it so far?”
“S’okay, I work nights so I haven’t really seen much of it.”
“No disturbances?”
“Honestly? I don’t know. If I am not at work then I am asleep.”
David must have noted their slightly surprised glances and continues. “I know there is a woman in this neighbourhood, who has been causing problems. Like I said, I am renting this place from a friend. He has been struggling to rent it because of her. Anna-something. Is she why you are here?”
“Yes, have you met her?”
“No.” David has seen a woman whom he suspects is Anne-Marie a couple of times. Always in the corner shop, always clutching a few bottles as if her life depended on them, a don’t fuck with me look in her eyes. His friend repeatedly warned him that if he saw any female who looked even slightly drunk ringing his doorbell, for the love of god, do not answer the door! His friend had told him a few other things about the neighbourhood too. David thought it was best not to get involved and just avoid everyone. But, thanks to Anne-Marie Mills, he is renting this house at half the usual price!
“Has something happened to her?” He asks with a slight hint of concern.
“She had a fatal incident. That is what we are investigating.”
“Oh.” There is a slight note of disappointment in his voice, there goes the half-price rent. Ah well, he wasn’t going to be here much longer anyway. Then David remembers himself and adds, “I am sorry to hear that.”
“What were you doing on Thursday 18th July?”
There is a pause as David tries to separate days in his mind. “Umm, was that … yesterday?”
Colvin nods.
“I finished work at 2 am. Then I got home and slept till noon, then had something to eat, a shower, got some groceries. I start work again at four, so I left here at about three fifteen.”
“Did you hear anything unusual from noon till three?”
David rubs his face tiredly, trying to think. “I thought I heard a scream when I was leaving, but I was running a bit late. Really can’t be sure.”
“About three fifteen?”
“Three twenty, I was rushing so really can’t be sure.”
“Did you see anything unusual as you were leaving?”
“I noticed a couple of houses had their front doors open as I drove past. Figured I was probably hearing their TV or something.”
“Do you remember which houses?”
“Nah, sorry, mate.”
“Do you remember seeing anyone in the street?”
“No.” David says this with certainty in his voice.
Colvin makes a careful note of this and also of the fact that David is at the end of this cul-de-sac and would have had to drive past all the houses to get to the main road.
“Out of interest, how well do you know the people on this street? Have you met most of them?”
“Nah, not well. I have only really met next door. Penny. She has been telling me a lot of interesting things though,” he says with a chuckle and then a yawn.
“Like what?”
“Apparently the bloke at number six has a whole second family, on the sly, yeah? But they all live in the attic, that’s why the girls have to make so much noise, so their mum doesn’t hear them. Not that she has time to hear them, as she is running her own …” David raises his eyebrows and says in a low voice. “… private business in the house, with many a young gentleman.” He chuckles again. “Number five have their own distillery in their garden, and number eight … well, I shouldn’t say in front of the lady.” He gives Colvin a wink. “She is absolutely barking, have you met her?”
“Not yet.”
David began to yawn, and it became clear he had nothing else to say on Anne-Marie Mills or her neighbourhood.
Out of the ten houses in the cul-de-sac, they have interviewed three occupants, four if you count Daniel Mills.
Colvin doesn’t think that anyone has told them the truth, not the complete truth, something was being held back. Maybe they were ashamed of how they treated Anne-Marie or ashamed of ignoring her screams. Maybe they were protecting Daniel Mills, maybe they were protecting themselves. In Colvin’s experience, people usually lie first, then if they are caught out, they might admit half the truth. They have to be really pushed to admit the whole truth. Colvin doesn’t feel that Grimm is quite pushing them enough, he is playing the role of the good cop too well.
She waits until they are back in the car, where no one like Lying Penny can accidentally overhear them. Wouldn’t it be ironic, Colvin thinks to herself, if Lying Penny was the only person to tell them the truth.
She doesn’t share this thought with Grimm, instead she asks, “What do you think happened?”
Grimm inhales loudly, a sure sign that he hasn’t got a clue.
“Let’s go through the possibilities,” he says finally.
They know now how she died, a subdural haematoma, but the manner of her death? The manner could be one of five categories; it could be either natural, accidental, suicide, homicide or undetermined. The only category that they can immediately rule out is natural. There are currently too many she could have and what ifs and maybes to rule out anything else. They know that the majority of her injuries were caused by her going down the stairs, but evidence suggests that she could have tripped, jumped or she could have been pushed. They think she may have fallen forward but can’t be sure because her body might have been moved by her husband or by her brother, despite what they say – or she could have been moved by someone else.
The accidental evidence is backed by some of the blood swirls and hand prints in the hallway. If they were caused by Anne-Marie Mills, they suggest that she was having difficulty keeping her balance. She could have just been intending to walk down the stairs but one little wave of nausea, one little moment where the world blurred into a drunken mist caused her to stumble forward, that is possible.
There is also plenty of evidence to suggest that Mrs Mills was more than upset about Daniel’s departure. They also know that she was angry, she was very drunk, she could have jumped thinking that it would bring Daniel back to her side, just like last time. She could also have jumped, not understanding the danger since she was drunk enough to believe that she could fly.
There is no denying there had been a violent fight either, that always hints of homicide. This wasn’t a marriage on the rocks any more, this was a marriage six feet under long before Mrs Mills hit the stairs.
“Who would have something to gain by killing her?” Grimm starts.
“By the sounds of it, everybody.”
Grimm sighs. “OK, let’s start with Daniel.”
In so many cases, the murderer turned out to be – surprise surprise – the husband. Usually they look most carefully at the closest person to the victim. The one who gains most in the insurance, the one who gets the house, the kids and the bank account. There is just something about pledging your life to someone, saying “I do” at the altar that just makes you want to kill them. The husband has become the new butler.
“So far only Anne-Marie’s mother has thought he is having an affair. I didn’t see any evidence of an affair in the house. We need to find his phone,” Colvin says. Daniel Mills claimed he didn’t know where he left it.
“Yeah, but Anne-Marie was more likely to confide in her mother than with the neighbours.” The neighbours they had met so far were definitely not Anne-Marie’s friends. Grimm pauses, checking his own phone. “You know what’s interesting about Daniel’s statement?”
“What?” His lack of emotion? His relief?
“He isn’t overplaying the evidence. He isn’t trying to convince us that this is a suicide. If he had murdered her, I would expect him to be trying to use the smoke and mirrors more. He isn’t even trying to hide that they had been fighting.”
“Not that he could.” How else could he have got those scratches on his face?
“I would just have expected him to be overplaying how depressed his wife was. Instead, he seems to be still protecting her.”
“Hmmm.”
“I think Daniel thinks she fell.”
“But the same fall happening twice?” Doubt laces Colvin’s statement. They both know that drunks and stairs do have problems with each other.
Colvin and Grimm are half-heartedly discussing the possibilities but what they are really doing is watching the neighbourhood from the car windows, waiting to see if any other neighbours appear now the coast is clear. The “Sorry, officer, I didn’t hear the doorbell” neighbours. The ones who were purposely avoiding them. The neighbours worth talking to.
“We should have another look at the house, while we are here. Double check for trip hazards and such.” Colvin mutters an agreement, still closely watching the Bryskis’ house. She thinks she has seen the same curtain twitch with an alarming frequency.
“It is possible that Daniel or Peter or even the mother … what is she called again?”
“Sherri Fowler”
“Yeah, Sherri,” Grimm says with a slight snort. No wonder her daughter turned out to be an alcoholic. “It’s possible that any one of them pushed her.”
“Well, duh.”
“Not to kill her. Did you see the doctor’s notes from Anne-Marie’s last hospital visit? She was very close to being sectioned the last time. We know that Anne-Marie had been resistant to treatment and was refusing to get help. Another ‘fall’ …” Colvin doesn’t even have to look at Grimm to know that he is making air quotes “… and Mrs Mills would have a lot more explaining to do about her drinking. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice etc etc. The nice doctors at the hospital wouldn’t be so understanding with a second fall. Clearly she wasn’t taking care of herself. It is possible that one of the family members or even all of them orchestrated the fall as an elaborate plot to make her seek help … I am just saying we could be looking at an angel of mercy rather than a cold blood kill. That’s all.”
Colvin doesn’t completely disagree. It is a possibility, but she doesn’t think that they are that smart. Sherri Fowler is in denial about her daughter’s drinking problem. Peter Fowler is a possibility. Daniel Mills seemed resigned to his wife’s behaviour. He wouldn’t be thinking how to help his wife, he would be thinking about how to get rid of his wife, so much easier. Less chance of a relapse.
There is no denying that Anne-Marie Mills was a burden to Daniel Mills. They will look at his and her financial accounts, and whether there will be an insurance payout. But it is already clear that Anne-Marie Mills’ drinking habit was an expensive one and would be costing someone dearly. The real question was, who? There is also a possibility that either Anne-Marie or Daniel had been borrowing money off some poor sucker, a friend, neighbour or family member, and that person had come round, already upset because the long-overdue debts hadn’t been repaid and the resulting argument took a wrong turn. Or even they were just upset because they could see their hard-earned money being drunk away, with no hope of repayment, just an outstretched wobbly hand and a drunk voice demanding more.
“It could have been either Sherri or Peter Fowler acting alone. They could have seen that Anne-Marie was alone in the house. They might have just seized the opportunity.” They could have gone round to comfort Anne-Marie, the comforter saying something stupid like Anne-Marie should leave Daniel or that Anne-Marie should get help. Something that had upset Anne-Marie. From what Colvin and Grimm have heard so far, Anne-Marie was an aggressive drunk most of the time. If the wrong thing was said, or even the right thing with the wrong tone of voice, then Anne-Marie might have reacted violently, another fight ending with Anne-Marie being pushed away. Only this time pushed harder and further.
“Hell.” Grimm chuckles to himself. “At this point, we can’t even rule out that either Peter or Sherri Fowler were the ones having an affair with Daniel.” They both laugh at this but there is a small twinge of truth
to it. They don’t know enough yet. People sometimes kill for the most stupid of reasons. They discuss the other possible motive, that since Anne-Marie and Daniel both seem to be a burden on the Fowler family, that maybe Peter or Sherri killed Anne-Marie to frame Daniel. Get both of the black sheep out of the family photographs. Peter Fowler especially seemed to be plagued by the couple to breaking point. But he was the only one who had a good alibi, if he really was at work at the time of the death. They needed to make a few phone calls to confirm.
But what would Peter or Sherri really have to gain by killing Anne-Marie? As bad as things were, she was still family. Unlike Daniel! Colvin doubts that Daniel was ever really truly accepted into the Fowler family. Colvin thinks that if either of the Fowlers were going to kill one of the Mills in a premeditated strike, it would be Daniel they killed, not Anne-Marie.
“What would Peter or Sherri Fowler have to gain from killing her?” Colvin asks out loud this time.
Grimm ponders this for a few moments. They really do need to know if there was an insurance policy on Anne-Marie’s life, or a will. Or even something stupid like Grandma’s treasured brooch going to Anne-Marie instead of Sherri, since Sherri seems the type to hold a grudge. But at the moment, neither officer could see any financial gain for the Fowlers.
However, evidence didn’t point to a calculated, cold-blooded kill, but more a heat-of-the-moment kill. The I didn’t mean to but she just came at me kill. If it was a kill.
“Same with the neighbours I guess, peace and quiet,” he finally says quietly.
Then there are the neighbours. No one so far had been that surprised to see them. It is evident that Anne-Marie Mills was well known within the neighbourhood and they all expected something like this was coming. Some seemed shocked that she was actually dead, not in custody, but no one seemed that upset or sad, just relieved. There was a possibility that it had been someone in the neighbourhood. Colvin suggests, which is why half of them are lying and the other half won’t answer the door.
