‘Hey, Steph, how you doing?’ said her favourite paramedic in a quiet voice. Like Stephanie, he had been to this house before. Only last time it was a broken body at the foot of the basement stairs they’d had to deal with.
‘I’m okay, Phil. But it’s a crime scene, so watch where you’re going.’
‘Can’t we put the lights on?’
‘They seem to be out. I don’t want to mess with anything until the forensic guys get here.’
Stephanie followed Phil’s gaze as he looked towards the bed.
‘One dead, one in severe shock at a guess,’ she said quietly.
‘Okay. Leave it with us.’
Stephanie shook her head. ‘I’d better stay so I can see what you touch. I really need to get to that baby, though. She sounds very upset but I haven’t been able to leave here.’
‘We’ll be as quick as we can.’
Phil picked his way over to the bed, leaving his partner – a young woman that Stephanie hadn’t seen before – by the door.
‘Stay there, Lynne, in case we need something from the ambulance,’ he said. ‘No point two of us tramping around if we don’t need to.’
He walked around to the far side of the bed and bent over the man. It was the paramedic’s role to pronounce life extinct and he gave Stephanie a nod without speaking the words out loud. He leaned in towards the woman, still huddled up against the dead man’s back.
‘Right, love,’ he said. ‘What’s your name? I’m Phil and I’m a paramedic.’
The sobs got louder.
Phil looked at Stephanie for permission to climb on the bed and she shrugged. They had to make sure the girl wasn’t badly injured and she was so far from the edge that it seemed the only way. He shone his torch on her, looking for any serious wounds, but without delving under the covers it was going to be difficult to be certain.
‘Are you hurt, love?’ he asked. She said nothing for a second and then gave a sharp shake of the head. ‘Okay, that’s good. Can you shuffle over to this side a bit so I can take a look at you? You’ve got a few cuts and I need to see if any of them are deep.’
For a moment, Stephanie thought the woman wasn’t going to move, but finally she leant on her left arm and dragged herself across the bed.
‘Can you tell me your name, love?’ Phil asked again, but there was no response. ‘Okay. I’m going to check you over quickly and then we’ll take you to hospital. I think you’re in shock. Lynne, I don’t think we’ll be needing a stretcher, so can you go and see to the baby, please?’
‘Lulu?’ The woman gasped out the words as if she had forgotten the child.
‘Don’t worry,’ Phil said. ‘She’s fine. Just needs a bit of a cuddle, so don’t be worrying about her. Your little girl, is she?’
The woman nodded, and at that moment the sound of angry crying from the child’s room reduced to a mild whimper.
‘Lynne’s got a magic touch with little ones. Don’t you stress yourself.’
As he talked, Phil was checking the woman for signs of bleeding, but apart from some angry marks on her arms and chest where the knife appeared to have inflicted superficial wounds, she seemed okay. He looked across at Stephanie and nodded.
Stephanie knew they had to get her out of the room. The man’s body would have to stay in situ until the pathologist had been, and goodness knew when that would be. But the young woman had to be removed.
She could hear Jason talking at the top of the stairs and that meant Detective Inspector Brodie had arrived to take over. Stephanie felt herself grow warm. She didn’t want to see Brodie, but couldn’t see how to avoid it.
She spoke to the paramedic quietly without moving from the doorway. ‘I need a name, Phil.’
He nodded and spoke softly to the woman. Stephanie heard her respond, but couldn’t make out the words.
‘Evie Clarke,’ Phil said as he helped her off the bed.
‘Okay, Evie, can you tell me the name of the man next to you?’ Stephanie asked.
This time Evie lifted her head. Stephanie couldn’t see her eyes clearly in the deep shadows cast by the flickering candles.
‘His name’s Mark North.’
‘And do you know what happened here tonight, Evie?’
Evie Clarke turned her head and looked Stephanie in the eye. For a moment she didn’t speak and Stephanie waited. Evie closed her eyes for a few seconds.
‘I killed him,’ she said.
19
As the paramedic wrapped Evie Clarke in a thermal blanket, Stephanie heard a voice behind her.
‘Stephanie, good to see you.’
She would have recognised that deep Scottish burr anywhere, and tried to act nonchalant, glancing over her shoulder at her superior officer. He’d grown a beard and his dark wavy hair was a little longer. It suited him.
‘You too, sir,’ she said, and was rewarded by a gentle snort. Angus Brodie knew her well enough to realise that she had to hide behind professionalism when she saw him. It would never do for the whole of the local force to know that barely an hour went by when he didn’t invade her thoughts.
‘So what’s been happening here, then?’ Gus was keeping his voice down so that Evie Clarke couldn’t hear him.
Stephanie turned towards him. ‘We need to send an officer with her to the hospital, and you need to talk to her.’
Gus didn’t ask for the dots to be joined.
‘She’s very shaky,’ Stephanie said. ‘She hasn’t been cautioned but she says she killed him.’
Gus looked shocked. ‘Bugger,’ he said. ‘That makes it messy.’
‘Sorry – she just blurted it out and it never occurred to me to caution her. I thought she was more badly hurt than she is.’
‘It’s not your fault, Steph. Let’s hope she doesn’t deny it later. If she does, the defence are bound to have it ruled out.’
Gus lifted a hand to rub the back of his neck – a gesture that Stephanie had seen often when he was thinking through a problem.
‘So how the fuck do we play this?’ he muttered. ‘She’s got to go to hospital, but God knows what else she might come out with.’ He raised his voice slightly. ‘Phil, you good to go?’
Phil nodded, and with one arm round Evie Clarke he guided her towards the door.
‘Get her upstairs, sat down and warmed up a bit. I need to speak to her before you take her away.’
Phil nodded again as he slowly walked past Stephanie and Gus towards the stairs.
‘I think the best bet is if I go up with her, caution her in case she says anything else and then arrest her,’ Gus said, ‘and hope I don’t get a bollocking for making the wrong decision.’
He let out a long breath and reached for the torch in Stephanie’s hand. She only just stopped herself from jumping as his thumb touched the inside of her wrist. He shone the torch on the bed first, and then worked his way around the room. Stephanie stood quietly and watched as he took in the details. He was always good at reading a scene.
‘What’s up with the lights?’ Clearly the contact between his skin and hers had had no effect on Gus.
‘We don’t know. I didn’t want to mess with the fuse box until the tech guys have checked it all out.’
‘Do we know who they both are?’
‘The woman is Evie Clarke. The man on the bed is Mark North – he has the studio in town. Calls himself Marcus professionally.’
‘Sounds a bit bloody pretentious to me.’
Stephanie smiled. ‘I think it was his sister’s idea.’
‘How the hell do you know that?’ Gus asked.
‘I’ve been here before.’
Gus turned back to face her and raised his eyebrows. ‘Oh – that’s the case you told me about. The dead American. Wasn’t she his wife?’
‘She was, yes.’ Gus’s face was blank, and Stephanie felt certain he hadn’t remembered where they had been when she had shared that memory with him. It was the first time they had spent the whole night together, back when it had all see
med possible.
‘Remind me.’
‘Mia North – found dead at the bottom of the steps to the lower level about three and a half years ago. A loose shoelace was blamed for her fall. She was discovered by Mark North’s sister, Cleo. No evidence of foul play and her husband was apparently on a plane at the time she died. I saw him just after he got back, and he seemed genuinely distraught.’
Gus nodded. ‘Thanks. No obvious link, but two deaths in one house doesn’t sit comfortably with me. Did Evie Clarke say anything else?’
Stephanie shook her head. ‘No – she just said she killed him.’
‘I’d better go and talk to her. Want to come?’
‘No. One of the paramedics is looking after Evie’s daughter for the moment, but she’ll have to leave with the ambulance. I’ll take care of the child until we know what’s going to happen to her.’
This time Gus turned completely to face her. He reached out a finger and gently touched her cheek.
‘Are you sure you’re okay with that?’
Stephanie brushed his hand away, ignoring the concern in his eyes. ‘Course I am. Why wouldn’t I be?’
She turned and left him standing in the doorway. She knew he was watching her, but she didn’t turn around.
20
The house that had been so silent when Stephanie arrived was now full of people going about their jobs, speaking in hushed tones. The previously dark rooms were lit with bright arc lamps as the house lights were still out. Another female officer had offered to take care of little Lulu, although Stephanie found herself reluctant to hand over the child. But when she saw Gus’s feet coming back down the stairs, she quickly passed her to the other woman.
Gus had reached the bottom step and Stephanie knew he was waiting to talk to her. The officer carried Lulu upstairs, muttering that she was going to find her something to drink, and Stephanie headed back into Lulu’s darkened bedroom, knowing Gus would follow.
‘Are you sure you’re okay, Steph?’ he asked.
Stephanie walked round to the other side of the cot to put a physical object between them.
‘I’m fine. What did Evie have to say?’
‘Exactly what you told me. I cautioned her and arrested her. But she confirmed that she killed him. She refused to say anything else without her solicitor.’
‘Does she have one?’
‘Harriet James.’
‘What?’ Harriet James was the most high-profile lawyer in this part of the country. A renowned advocate of women’s rights, she had founded a charity that offered shelter to abused women and their children. Tough, feisty, she wouldn’t take crap from anyone.
‘That’s what I thought,’ Gus said. ‘It’s not going to be a clear-cut case if Harriet’s involved.’
‘Did you let Evie call her?’
‘It was a tricky decision, and I hope I made the right one. I’d normally wait until she was in custody, but I couldn’t see any harm in her making the call if I was standing by her side. Harriet knows the drill – Evie will have to be examined thoroughly, samples and photos taken and so on before she can talk to anyone. She says she’ll wait, but as soon as we’ve got what we need, she wants to see her client.’
‘Did Evie say anything else to you?’ Stephanie asked.
‘Only that the child can go to her aunt, Cleo North. I’ve got someone tracking her down.’
At that moment, Gus’s mobile rang.
‘Angus Brodie,’ he answered, leaning back against the wall as if the events of the past half hour had worn him out. Stephanie took the opportunity to study him from her shadowy corner. Despite being officers in the same police force they were based miles apart and rarely saw each other, but right now the broad shoulders on which she had rested her head so many times looked just as inviting. Maybe the laughter lines round his eyes were a little deeper, but he looked good. Too good.
‘Yes, sir,’ she heard him say. ‘No – I get it. Sergeant King is here with me now. I’ll put it to her.’ He was silent for a moment. ‘Right. It’s agreed then.’ He rang off.
Stephanie realised that he looked slightly uncomfortable. ‘What is it?’
‘Apparently you talked a while ago about some career development and asked for a secondment to CID.’
‘That was months ago. You know that.’
‘I do. But it seems this is your moment. Lots of officers on holiday and we’re a bit short-staffed to deal with a suspicious death. You’re to report to me, starting now.’
Stephanie suddenly felt clammy. It was warm in the room, and she walked over and flung open a window. The sound of the sea pounding on the rocks below was both soothing and a reminder that some forces of nature couldn’t be contained.
‘That’s shit, Gus, and you know it.’
He was quiet for a moment. ‘What do you want me to do? Say I can’t work with you because you’re useless? Tell them that our relationship precludes us working together?’
‘What bloody relationship?’ she said without turning round. In her voice she heard the slight bitterness that she tried so hard not to feel.
She couldn’t stay here in this room with Gus any longer. The cot between them seemed symbolic and Stephanie walked around it and headed towards the door. For a moment, as she got close to him, she thought he was going to reach for her, but just then one of the young crime scene investigators popped her head around the door.
‘Sir, you’re going to want to see this.’
Stephanie glanced at Gus’s face and saw his mouth tighten fractionally, but he took a deep breath and turned to follow the girl out of the door.
‘What am I looking at?’
Stephanie was standing outside the door to the bedroom where Gus was talking to the technician, but she could hear every word he said.
‘This switch, sir.’
The girl had obviously unscrewed the cover of the light switch and tipped it, wires still attached, towards Gus.
‘Sorry, but I’m no electrician,’ he said. ‘You’re going to have to spell it out to me.’
‘See this wire here,’ she said. ‘It’s the live wire and it should go to this terminal, but it’s been moved to here. When the light was switched on, it would have caused a direct short, and that would have instantly tripped the circuit breaker.’
‘Are you saying it was deliberate?’
‘It’s not my job to say, but either someone was doing a bit of DIY and cocked it up, or it was done deliberately. The thing is, I can’t see any reason why a person would need to fiddle with the switch – it looks quite new.’
Stephanie’s attention was diverted by the sound of Jason’s voice at the top of the stairs. For want of anything better for him to do, she had left him there to show any newcomers the way to the bedroom.
‘It’s down there, Miss,’ he said. Stephanie assumed that ‘Miss’ would be the Home Office pathologist, Molly Treadwell. She smiled, knowing that being called Miss would amuse Molly. Her feet stomped down the stairs and she drifted into view. Never one to rush and always out of breath, Molly seemed to look the same whatever the time of day or year. Stephanie knew that under the protective clothing she would be wearing a black trouser suit, one size too large – ‘for comfort’ – and a white blouse that was half untucked. Her grey hair, as always, was scraped back into some semblance of a bun.
‘Who’s the joker at the top of the stairs?’ Molly asked.
‘Jason – he’s a probationer,’ Stephanie answered. ‘You should be flattered that he called you Miss. You must have scared him.’
Molly cackled and ambled towards the bedroom door. ‘Well, if it isn’t the one and only Angus Brodie. Aren’t I the lucky one?’ she said under her breath, glancing towards Stephanie and raising her eyebrows.
Oblivious of the undertones, Gus turned.
‘Glad you’re here, Molly,’ he said. ‘We need to get the body moved as quickly as we can so that we can properly search the place.’
‘All in good time – more haste, le
ss speed, and all that.’
Stephanie stepped into the room and stood quietly in the doorway as Molly sauntered over to the bed.
‘Oh dear. Poor chap didn’t stand much of a chance, did he?’ She started to hum tunelessly under her breath and Stephanie caught Gus’s glance. In spite of everything they shared a brief smile.
This would take a while. But although Molly wasn’t the fastest worker around, there was no doubt that she was thorough. Gus would stay with her until she allowed the body to be placed in a protective bag and transported to the mortuary, but Stephanie didn’t need to be there.
The process of finding all the computers and telephones in the house would have begun and somehow they were going to have to unravel the story that had led to Mark North’s death. Was it planned? Was Evie provoked? Stephanie had no idea, but as Gus had said, this house had now seen two terrible deaths, and that was too many in anyone’s book.
21
Cleo had been restless all night, unable to settle. She thought it might be the unusually warm night, but somehow when the doorbell rang, it felt as if she had been waiting anxiously for this moment.
Grabbing a blue silk dressing gown and pulling it on as she ran down the stairs, she had no doubt this had to be bad news. It was the middle of the night, and nothing good could ever come from a visitor at this hour. She unlocked the door and was faced with a man and a woman in slightly crumpled clothing, looking as if they had jumped out of bed and dressed in the previous day’s clothes.
‘Miss North?’ the young man said.
Both visitors held out their warrant cards and introduced themselves, but their voices blurred together into a dull mumble as Cleo’s heart raced. She didn’t care what they were called. She only needed to know what they had come to say. She could hardly breathe.
‘What is it?’ she asked. ‘What’s happened?’
‘May we come in, Miss North?’ the young woman asked. ‘Better to talk inside, I think.’
There didn’t seem any sense in arguing so she turned and marched into the sitting room, leaving them both to follow. With one hand she indicated the sofa, but she remained standing, pacing the floor.
And So It Begins Page 9
