Mike rubbed his hands down his fleece irritably. “We’ve done it all, over the years. She takes some meds now which keep things on an even keel. But her problems are deeper rooted than the average. There’s not much can be done for her.”
Rhodri wasn’t convinced this would be the case. He knew that all psychological illnesses could be treated with a reasonable amount of success. In his long experience, all sufferers felt their case was more acute than any one else’s. It didn’t mean they couldn’t be cured. But the professor said nothing, sensing Mike was keen to end the discussion. “Then let’s make our way back to the house. I promise I’ll say no more on the subject.”
*
The Carlisles’ property was a stone built semi-detached house on the outskirts of the town. The rumble of the M80 motorway was far enough away to be just a distant hum on the breeze.
Betsy had made a pot of coffee which stood on a table in the conservatory. Rhodri stood to sip from his cup, gazing out into the well-tended garden, where Dodie was frolicking in the late afternoon sunshine with a ball. The professor had known Mike for about fifteen years. For the entirety of that time they had lived in this house.
As if she could tell what her guest was thinking, Betsy suddenly said, “Autumn was ten years old when we moved here. She attended the high school in town.”
Rhodri turned his head. “Where were you before that?”
Betsy busied herself adding milk and sugar to her cup. “Oh, we were in the Highlands for a while. That’s where Autumn was born. Before that, I spent some time abroad.”
Rhodri put down his cup and saucer. “I didn’t know that. Whereabouts in the Highlands were you?”
Betsy was about to answer when a ferocious barking ensued from the direction of the garden. Mike came rushing out of the sitting room. He bolted through the open doors of the conservatory, chasing after his recalcitrant pet, attempting to grab the dog by its collar.
“Oh dear.” Betsy was on her feet too. “Dodie must have caught sight of next-door’s rabbit. The little girl has a habit of letting it hop about on the lawn. We live in dread of Dodie getting through the fence and attacking it.”
Mike had finally managed to clip the lead onto the boisterous puppy. “We’d better keep her inside for a bit,” he instructed his wife in a stern tone.
Rhodri pulled the French doors closed behind his friend. “And I’d better make a move back to the city. The traffic will be awful if I leave it much later.”
“Of course,” Betsy gushed. “I’ll go and find your coat.”
Chapter 14
It took only half an hour to drive out to Denny Lomond’s riverside property in Henley-on-Thames, but to Dani it felt like a million miles away from the urban sprawl of Hammersmith.
Nate had to jump out of the driving seat of his Mercedes to explain the purpose of his visit through the grill of Lomond’s security system. Eventually, the tall iron gates barring their progress began to slowly slide apart.
Dani took in her surroundings. The house was modern in design, but the garden was traditionally landscaped. The lush green lawn ended at the waterside. A small wooden jetty projected out into the river. A smart motor cruiser was moored to one of its posts. “Nice place,” she called to her companion. “I bet there’s no aircraft noise here.”
“I imagine he was very careful to ensure there wasn’t.” Nate parked on the gravel drive in front of a block of garages. Beyond one of the doors, he could see the headlights of a classic Ferrari, the type of model he’d have given anything himself to own.
Denny Lomond was crunching across the limestone chips to greet them. The man was out of his work suit and wearing a designer polo shirt with a pair of fawn chinos. “DI Lawrence, DCI Bevan! I’m glad we’ve finally had a chance to catch up. I just wish it was under better circumstances.”
The detectives followed him into the house. The décor was immaculate. A bowl on a dresser by the front door held a fresh bouquet of flowers. Despite the neatness, Dani wasn’t picking up on any signs this was a family home. The walls were lined with what appeared to be original pieces of modern art, but no photographs of people. It reminded her oddly of Autumn’s flat in Hillingdon, which was similarly devoid of the common indicators of family life.
Denny stopped when they reached the large kitchen. Patio doors were open onto the garden. “Would you like coffee? It’s freshly brewed?”
“Yes, thank you,” Dani added.
Nate leant his lanky form against the central island, impatient to begin their questioning. “I visited Kathy Brice’s parents in Surrey this morning. They are devastated.”
Denny turned to face the DI. “I’m going to see them myself over the next few days. It is a very sad time for Lomond Airlines. To lose two of our staff in such a short period. It’s heart-breaking. We are a small company; a family in many respects.”
Dani interjected, “we’ve spoken with your employees. We know that Kathy was last seen at her desk around 5.30pm. We suspect she left the offices and made her way down to departure gate 52 not long after this. Where were you during this time, Mr Lomond?”
The man poured coffee into three cups. He lifted his dark eyes so they made contact with Dani’s. “I was in a highly charged meeting with the head of the pilots’ union and a bunch of both our lawyers. The meeting started at 3.30pm and dragged on until 8. You can ask Diane to confirm. The poor woman had to stay late to type up the minutes. I needed to draft a letter setting out our agreement by first thing the following morning, otherwise all our flights would have been grounded.”
“And you were in the meeting room for that entire time?” Nate reached for his cup of coffee and practically downed it in one gulp.
Denny let out a humourless laugh. “I probably needed to answer the call of nature at least once. But I don’t expect I was gone long enough to find my way to gate 52 and strangle poor Kathy to death.”
Dani decided to change tack. “When we spoke a few days ago, you said you’d only met Autumn Carlisle on a handful of occasions before she came to work for you. We have a sworn statement from a witness who described a frequent companion of Autumn’s in her old village of Mitchling. This man was seen regularly in the local pub with her. The description sounded a lot like you, Mr Lomond.”
Denny creased his brow. “Well, I promise you, detective, it wasn’t. I met Autumn for lunch twice and that was all. I can probably dig out the receipts for both occasions from my accounts. I classed them as business meetings and therefore they are in my expenses folder.” His sipped from his cup. “Our relationship was purely professional.”
Nate leant forward. “Kathy Brice suggested you and Autumn were on very friendly terms. She implied there was a sexual relationship between you. Within a few hours of making this suggestion, she was dead.”
Denny shrugged. “I don’t wish to speak ill of the dead, but Kathy was prone to spread rumours about her colleagues. I received several written complaints about her conduct. In fact, her last supervisor had her on a formal warning. There was no sexual relationship between myself and Autumn Carlisle. I would suggest that if Kathy was spreading untruths about this, she could very well have been telling lies about other people, too. There may have been any number of individuals who had reason to dislike Ms Brice.”
Dani had already considered this possibility. She suspected Kathy had made herself an assortment of enemies. Which made their job even harder.
Nate had opened his mouth to say something more when a tall figure appeared at the doors to the garden. Both detectives turned in the direction of the new arrival. His features were in shadow, but his outline was imposing and broad, cutting out much of the natural light to the room.
“I’ve cleared most of the weeds from the bank, Denny. It should be easier to get the boat out now.” The man stepped into the kitchen, eyeing the visitors carefully. His accent was unmistakeably Scots.
“Thank you.” Denny turned to the detectives. “This is my younger brother, John. He’s been l
iving here for the past couple of years.”
The taller man nodded in recognition. “I’ll get back to work, Den. I want to give the boat a wash down while there’s still enough light.”
“Sure John, but make certain you come in for dinner.”
The man exited as swiftly as he had arrived.
Denny sighed. “My brother has rather taken on the role of groundsman here. I’ve told him umpteen times he doesn’t need to. I think he enjoys it.”
“Is it just you and your brother living here?” Dani glanced around the pristine kitchen, which appeared little used.
“My wife died three years ago from cancer. We’d not got around to starting a family by the time she was diagnosed and then it was too late.”
“I’m very sorry.” Dani put down her cup.
“When Kelly passed away, I decided to open up the offices down here in London, operate the airline out of Heathrow. She’d never wanted to leave Scotland, and with her gone, I didnae much want to stay. John needed somewhere to go when his marriage broke up. He came here. We keep one another company, so he’s never left.”
Dani nodded. She now understood the unusual atmosphere in the house. It was a sanctuary for two bachelors, both with a melancholy past.
Nate got to his feet. “Thank you for your time, Mr Lomond. If we could have those receipts from your lunch meetings with Ms Carlisle, I’d appreciate it.”
Denny put out his hand. “Certainly, detective. I’ll email them over to your department as soon as possible.” He glanced out of the patio doors at the fading sunlight. “Do you mind seeing yourselves out? I want to give John a hand with the boat.”
“Of course.” Dani led the way to the front door. When they were both seated in the car she said, “what did you make of that? Do you think he was telling the truth about his relationship with Autumn?”
Nate manoeuvred carefully down the gravel driveway before answering. “I got the feeling he wasn’t in a sexual relationship with Autumn, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t have a stronger association than he is making out.”
“I can’t help considering Denny’s point about Kathy Brice being a vicious gossip. Perhaps her rumour spreading made a dangerous enemy of someone else at Lomond Airlines?”
“Yeah, I need to feed that back to the team. Maybe another of Ms Brice’s colleagues decided it was time to shut her up. Denny claimed their organisation was like a ‘family’, yet he’s facing a walk-out from his pilots and two of his staff have just been murdered. I don’t buy it.”
As they exited through the gateway, Dani twisted back to take another look at the house and garden. The figure of John Lomond was silhouetted against the evening light. He was standing by the jetty watching them leave. His unfaltering gaze made Dani involuntarily shudder.
Chapter 15
Dermot Muir felt a prickle of uncertainty run down his spine as he stood to address the assembled detectives. He could pick out DS Calder’s scowling face within the crowd, it made him momentarily hesitate before he finally spoke. “As you are all aware, DCI Bevan is currently liaising with the Met on a murder case down in London. There’s been another death and the DCI will be involved in the investigation for the foreseeable future.”
Several muted groans were audible within the group. A sea of hostile faces were directed his way.
Muir squared his shoulders and took a breath. “The DCS has asked me to take charge of the section until DCI Bevan returns.” He paused. The barrage of abuse he was half anticipating didn’t come.
Calder’s hand shot up. “Does this mean you’re gettin’ the office, Guv?” This comment was met with a few chuckles.
Muir decided that if this was the worst he was going to get; new on the job, a maternity cover and suddenly the boss, he’d lucked out. “That’s right, Andy. And you’ll be my new tea-boy.” This comment received even more laughs, so the DI decided to quit whilst he was ahead.
As the detectives made their way back to their desks, Muir caught up with Sharon. “The team took that better than I was expecting.”
Sharon smiled. “We all knew the DCI was tied up in this London thing. Most of the DCs were terrified that DCS Douglas was going to take over the division himself.” She patted him on the shoulder. “You’re definitely the lesser of two evils.”
Muir wasn’t quite sure what to say to this, so he returned to his temporary office without uttering another word.
*
Muir allowed his eyes to run over the gentle contours of DCI Bevan’s desk. It had been left reasonably tidy, but her in-tray remained half-full and there were scatterings of stationery and personal effects piled at the edges of the polished oak surface.
The DI had no intention of making a play for Bevan’s position. The DCS had made it perfectly clear this was a temporary promotion, but that his performance would be recognised in future appraisals. He just needed to keep things ticking over, act like a caretaker until the real boss returned. The sub-text of the conversation was that Muir shouldn’t stir up any trouble in Bevan’s absence.
But Muir was still pre-occupied by the death of the couple at the Berkley Hotel. The idea of closing the book on it didn’t sit well with him. He had a contact at Interpol from his days at the diplomatic branch. On his own initiative, he’d requested any files they possessed in relation to Klaus Bauer.
In life, Mr Bauer was a respected retired scientist living on the outskirts of Frankfurt. Before he retired, Bauer had worked for an international pharmaceutical company based in the city. He’d been a research chemist who worked on several medicines over the years that had received patents. His career was celebrated by the company in a retirement party in 2010.
Muir glanced at the notes his Interpol source had added to the file. Klaus Bauer was a respected German citizen with no criminal convictions or cautions. The only reason Interpol had information pertaining to him was because of his work for the government during the Soviet occupation of East Germany up to 1990.
Klaus Bauer was born in the early 1940s. Under the rule of the GDR he attended one of the polytechnic secondary schools in the suburb of East Berlin where he grew up. His parents both worked in factories and his schooling lasted six days a week. The regime was strict, but Klaus excelled at science.
Entry to university in the GDR was extremely limited. Klaus would have been one of the top two or three performing students in his cohort. According to Interpol, he obtained his place at the University of Leipzig through an industrial apprenticeship. Once Klaus had graduated, the information about his life became sparse. There was a record of his marriage to Greta in 1971. They were living in Berlin during this time. There were also the registers of the births of their two children, both born in the mid-seventies, but no more about his professional life.
The file concluded Klaus Bauer would have most likely worked for the East German government upon graduation. His skills as a biochemist may have been used in the production of medicines, but also in the development of weapons. No records of his work during those years survived the collapse of the GDR in 1990.
Klaus and Greta Bauer left Berlin with their two young children in 1991 when Klaus got a job at the pharma company in Frankfurt. The family had remained there ever since; apparently law-abiding citizens well-regarded by colleagues and neighbours.
Muir lifted his head with a start when there was a knock at the door. He automatically closed the file. Sharon was peering at him through the plexiglass panel. He gestured for her to enter.
“We’re going for a drink later, Boss? Thought you may want to join us?”
Muir glanced down at the thin file, which he had finished reading in less than thirty minutes. “Sure, why not. I can’t stay long, though.” He thought of his girlfriend waiting back at their flat. However busy her day seemed to have been, she always made it home before him.
“That’s what they all say!” Sharon offered with a laugh, closing the door behind her and leaving Muir to his own thoughts.
Chapter 16<
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The streets around Kilburn High Road were stationary with traffic. Nate abruptly swung his car into a narrow space at the kerbside of a residential street.
“We’ll have to walk from here,” he announced.
Dani examined the housing that predominated in this part of north-west London as they navigated the A-Z to reach the address they wanted. An assortment of modern and art deco blocks of flats sat alongside terraces of dark red stone. Some of the houses had been renovated, but others appeared tatty and uncared for. The DCI noted the absence of the low flying aircraft traffic which plagued the area where Autumn had lived. This made the postcode vastly more desirable, in her opinion.
The block of flats they were looking for was one of the more modern variety. The entrance hall housed a carpeted stairwell which was wide and bright. Nate reached the third floor ahead of Dani. He pressed the bell beneath a label which denoted the occupants.
Tom Birch open the door with an attitude of resignation. His head of floppy, chestnut hair was hung low.
“Mr Birch? I’m DI Lawrence from the Metropolitan Police. We spoke earlier today. This is my colleague, DCI Bevan. May we come inside?”
He mumbled a reply and wandered into the flat, stopping when he reached a bright living room, where a studio shot of Tom and Kathy Brice, embracing and all-smiles, dominated one wall.
“We are very sorry for your loss,” Dani offered gently. “Has a family liaison officer been to see you yet?”
He shrugged his narrow shoulders. “I got a call a couple of days ago, but I put her off. I don’t see how it would help.” The man dropped onto the sofa.
“I know it doesn’t seem that way now, but our FL officers are trained to help you through this terrible period.” Dani decided to find the kitchen and make some teas. She’d leave Lawrence to the questioning, it was his jurisdiction after all.
The Eye in the Dark Page 7
