They’d spoken on the phone while Kay had manoeuvred her way across the busy Maidstone ring road, and arranged to meet at the farm.
It was the only logical place Kay could think to start.
‘What do you reckon?’ said Carys. She leaned against the back door of Kay’s vehicle and stared up at the farmhouse. ‘Think she’s back here?’
‘Her car’s here. No sign of Amber’s vehicle though, so I don’t know – unless she’s parked it somewhere else?’ She moved away from the vehicle and surveyed the surrounding orchards. ‘I thought she might come back here. It’s a place she thinks of as safe. It’s where she and Jamie grew up, after all, and Bridget said they were always close.’
The front door opened, and Michael Ingram peered out.
‘Kay? What’s going on?’
Kay squared her shoulders, and strode over to where he stood. ‘We think Natalie and Amber had a disagreement. Did Natalie come back here?’
‘No. What sort of disagreement?’
‘I’ll explain later. Right now, my priority is to find Natalie. Did she and Jamie have a special hiding place, or somewhere they used to go when they were younger? Somewhere they could play away from the house, for instance?’
Bridget appeared, her face lined with worry. ‘Kay? Where’s Natalie and Amber?’
‘Amber’s okay. We’re trying to ascertain whether Natalie has an old childhood hiding place here on the farm. Somewhere she might go if she needed to feel safe. Any ideas?’
The woman’s brow creased, and then her eyes lit up. ‘There’s an old chestnut tree at the bottom of the apple orchard on the far boundary to the farm.’ She pointed past Kay, and beyond the barn. ‘She and Jamie got Michael to put up a swing when they were about eight years old – we used to lose them for hours down there.’
‘How do we reach it?’
‘There’s a footpath that runs past the barn, then down towards a stream. That’s our boundary. The apple orchard is on your right. You’ll find a stile in the hedgerow as the path ends – you can get into the orchard that way.’
Michael moved away from the door, then returned with an old green anorak clutched in his hands. ‘I’m coming with you.’
‘I need you to stay there.’
‘But I can help. I need to know she’s okay.’
‘And I need you and Bridget to be at home in case she comes back here. Please, Michael. Let me deal with this.’
He acquiesced with a sigh, and Kay spun away from the doorstep.
She and Carys ran over to the barn, startling a small flock of chickens that pecked at the ground in search of food before flapping away from the two women as they approached.
Thick mud slapped against Kay’s boots as she led the way, the path too narrow for them to traverse it side by side.
They remained silent, each lost in their own thoughts as Kay’s eyes swept the landscape to her right, desperate to find Natalie.
Gnarled tree trunks grew in rows, with bare branches twisted and grey against a backdrop of sparse hedgerows and sodden earth. The grass in the orchard had been left longer over the winter months while the farm retreated into a maintenance routine ready for the spring.
Kay tried to imagine the fields exploding with pink and white blossom, but the bleak vista clouded her imagination and darkened her thoughts.
If Natalie was as unstable as she feared, then she had to prepare herself for the worst.
She slowed her pace as the stile in the hedgerow came into view, and placed her finger on her lips.
Carys nodded, and lowered her voice.
‘Can you see her?’
Kay climbed onto the footplate of the stile and cast her eyes around the orchard. She swore under her breath. ‘What the hell does a chestnut tree look like in the winter? I can’t remember.’
‘Well, it’ll be bigger than these,’ said Carys. ‘Bridget said it was right on their boundary, didn’t she? If I was a kid, I’d want a swing next to the stream, so I could dam that if I got bored. That’s what me and my cousin used to do whenever we were out in the countryside.’
Kay managed a smile. ‘Good thinking. Come on.’
They trudged across the orchard, and as the apple trees began to thin out, Kay noticed that natural woodland had been left to encroach upon the property.
A flash of red caught her eye, and she grabbed hold of Carys’s sleeve.
‘There.’
As she watched, the red moved in an arc, left to right, left to right, and she realised what she was looking at.
‘It’s Natalie. Bridget was right – she’s on the swing.’
‘What do you want to do, guv?’
‘Stay here.’
Kay didn’t wait for a response. She moved forward until she was within Natalie’s line of vision, and then tucked her hands in her pockets and tried to look relaxed.
The swing moved back and forth under Natalie’s guidance, her denim-clad legs pushing the air. Her head drooped to her chest, and as Kay drew closer she saw the vacant expression on the woman’s face.
‘Natalie? It’s Kay Hunter. Are you okay?’
The woman’s eyes widened as her head jerked up, and she froze.
Kay kept her voice steady, and tried to ignore the sound of blood rushing in her ears. Her heart hammered painfully, and she took a deep breath.
‘What are you doing out here?’
‘We used to argue about whose turn it was.’
Kay leaned against the trunk of the tree and cast her eyes over the mist that clung to the orchard as the swing slowed to a standstill.
‘What happened, Natalie? How did Jamie die?’
‘I just wanted to talk. He wouldn’t listen to me.’
The woman began to sob, and Kay raised her arm, beckoning to Carys, before turning back to the woman.
‘Come on, Natalie. We’ve got some talking to do, too.’
Forty-Nine
Kay paced Sharp’s office and nibbled at the ragged end of her thumbnail.
Debbie had shooed her from the incident room half an hour before, telling her she was distracting everyone else from their work, such was her inability to keep still while she awaited news.
She paused in front of the whiteboard, running over the facts in her mind, preparing herself for the psychological battle of wits that would commence within the hour, once the formal interviews began.
‘Kay?’
She turned at the sound of Barnes’s voice.
He stood on the threshold, his hand on the door.
‘What’s wrong?’
‘Nothing – the car’s here. They’re bringing him into the interview room now.’
‘They’ve kept them separated, yes?’
‘Yes. All good.’
‘Thanks. Let’s go, then.’
Upon the arrest of Natalie Stockton, a phone call had been made to their counterparts in the Metropolitan Police to go to her husband’s place of work and bring him back to Kent for questioning.
The Met had obliged, and to save time, a car from Kent Police had been sent to intercept them at Clacket Lane services on the M25, where Giles Stockton was transferred from one vehicle to the other and whisked along the M20 back to Maidstone.
As Kay left Sharp’s office, she felt the weight of responsibility more than ever before.
Not only was she seeking justice for Jamie Ingram, but her colleagues were expecting her to uphold Sharp’s reputation, too.
She followed Barnes along the corridor towards the stairs, and stopped when Larch appeared at his office door.
‘I heard Giles and Natalie Stockton are in custody?’
‘Yes, guv.’
‘Take your time, Hunter. Make this count.’
‘Guv.’
She hurried to catch up with Barnes, her hand on the smooth wooden surface of the banister as they descended to the ground floor, her copy of the investigation folder gripped within the other hand.
Although certain, she knew many questions remained unanswered
, and she had to get it right. The slightest error would have devastating consequences.
Barnes used his swipe card to enter the interview suites, then stood with his hand hovering over the security panel to interview room one and turned to her, an eyebrow raised.
‘Ready?’
‘Ready.’
He swiped his card and pushed the door open, holding it for her as she followed him into the room.
The sweet tang of sweat and desperation assaulted her, and in that moment, she knew her instincts had been right.
Giles Stockton sat rigid in one of two plastic chairs on one side of the table in the middle of the room, his face grey.
The confident and indignant man she’d spoken to before was gone. Now she saw the hunted expression in his eyes as he watched her approach, and a fear she hadn’t seen before.
Next to him, his solicitor capped and uncapped a fountain pen, the soft double pop-pop a nervous rhythm that accompanied Kay’s footsteps on the tiled floor.
Barnes pulled out one of the spare chairs for her, then leaned across and started the recording equipment before lowering himself into the seat beside her.
He introduced himself and Kay for the purposes of the recording, stated the solicitor’s and Stockton’s names, and cited the formal caution.
Only then did he defer to Kay.
She was grateful to him. His years of experience meant that his actions had allowed her a few more moments to observe Stockton and gauge his mood, and she recalled Larch’s words.
Make this count.
‘When we first interviewed you, you stated that you met your wife Natalie at a party in Wateringbury two years after her brother, Jamie, died. Is there anything you would like to clarify or change in that statement?’
Stockton’s gaze fell to his lap. ‘I would. I met Natalie about eighteen months before her brother died.’
‘Where did you meet her?’
‘At a party in the City that the firm she worked for organised. It was to celebrate a major contract they had won, and because the bank I worked for help to finance it, some of us were invited as guests.’
‘How would you describe your relationship at that time?’
He shrugged, and raised his head. ‘We slept together from time to time, but it wasn’t serious. Back then, it was a bit of fun.’
‘How did you meet Jamie Ingram?’
‘I told you the truth. I met him at a charity fundraiser at the Hop Farm.’
‘Was this before or after you had started sleeping with his sister?’
‘After. I only realised that after Jamie and I had been chatting for a while – I put two and two together, and told him I knew Nat.’
‘When did the three of you come up with the idea of a cocaine smuggling operation?’
‘It wasn’t like that.’
Kay leaned back in her seat, and contemplated the man in front of her. ‘Then perhaps you can enlighten me as to what it was like.’
Stockton ran a hand through his hair, his gaze travelling over the surface of the table. He licked his lips. ‘That first time, Jamie confided in Natalie what he had done – stealing the drugs, I mean. He was panicking. Here he was with half a kilo of cocaine in his possession, and no idea what he was going to do with it. It was laughable really. You can imagine the lifestyle Natalie and I were living in London – we had high-pressure jobs, worked long hours, and partied as hard as we could. Natalie suggested to me that we could siphon off a little of the cocaine at a time, and sell it.’
‘Are you suggesting it was Natalie’s idea to sell the drugs?’
‘Yes. She had most of the contacts to start with, after all. It’s what I liked about her; she’s always been outgoing, makes friends easily, and is great at networking.’
‘How long did this go on for?’
‘Up until that last lot got discovered in the container at the barracks.’
‘Tell me about Simon Harrison,’ said Kay.
Stockton visibly shuddered. ‘I wish I’d never met the man.’
‘What happened?’
‘You know what happened,’ he sneered. ‘He got the charges against me dropped, and I got to keep my job.’
‘In return for what?’
‘A cut of our proceeds. I couldn’t say “no”, could I? I had student debts coming out of my ears after leaving university, I was trying to save some money for a house of my own, and I was one of the lucky few who still had a job after the banking crisis. Why the hell do you think Nat and I got involved in the first place?’
‘Did you kill Jamie Ingram?’ said Barnes. ‘Did you and Carl Ashton decide you were better off without him? One less piece of the pie to share out?’
‘No, dammit. I’ve told you before. I had nothing to do with Jamie’s death.’
Kay leaned across the table and glared at Stockton. ‘But you do know who was responsible, don’t you, Giles?’
The man turned to his solicitor and muttered under his breath.
The solicitor blinked once, and then raised his gaze to Kay. ‘I’d like a few moments with my client, Detective Hunter.’
Fifty
Barnes leaned against the wall of the corridor between the doors to the interview rooms, and closed his eyes.
‘They’re a right pair, aren’t they?’
‘Yeah. You ready for the next one?’
He opened his eyes, then led the way into interview room three.
Natalie Stockton glared at them from her seat, her arms folded across her chest, her eyes swollen and red.
Kay nodded to the solicitor sitting beside her – she’d met him before, and knew how much his firm charged on an hourly rate.
She resisted the urge to sigh. Despite Michael and Bridget’s attempts to give their daughter the best legal counsel they could, it would have the same result.
She knew Natalie was guilty.
‘Why did you get involved?’
‘Jamie and I always did everything together,’ said Natalie, dropping her arms to the table, a petulant expression clouding her features. ‘You can ask Mum and Dad. Inseparable, everyone said. Then he joined the army, and everything changed. He made new friends, and I hardly saw him anymore. If he did come to the farm, we used to get visitors – his old friends, wanting to catch up with him, or people from the army. As if he didn’t see enough of them. I caught them talking, him and Carl Ashton. Summer, it was. They’d been helping in the orchards. Afterwards, they were chatting over a beer. They didn’t hear me approaching, but I heard what they were talking about. I told Jamie he had to include me.’
‘Otherwise you’d report him.’
A malevolent gleam appeared in Natalie’s eyes. ‘Carl was pissed off, but Jamie agreed. He knew I meant it.’
‘And Giles?’
Natalie snorted, and turned her gaze to the floor. ‘Along for the ride. Honestly, if he’d never met Jamie and me, he’d have amounted to nothing.’
‘Who were your buyers?’
‘I can’t tell you.’
Kay rested her hands on the table and waited until the woman raised her chin to look at her.
‘It’s over, Natalie. You know I won’t give up until I get justice for Jamie. Why not tell us the truth?’
Natalie shook her head and blinked, a single tear rolling down her cheek. ‘It was just a bit of a laugh to start off with. Then, Giles got pulled over for a routine traffic stop and they found that cannabis. Bloody idiot.’
Kay waited while the woman clenched and unclenched her hands, her jaw working.
‘That bloody copper,’ she finally spat out.
‘Got a name?’
‘Simon Harrison.’
‘Go on.’
‘I found out afterwards via a mutual acquaintance that he had a scheme whereby he’d trawl the system, looking for arrests of a certain nature. Not scumbags. People like Giles. Respectable.’
Kay let the irony of Natalie’s assertion pass without comment. ‘What did Harrison do?’
‘He
’d insist on reviewing the cases where he could see an advantage. Arrange to have the charges dropped in return for a cut – and introduce suppliers to more lucrative buyers for a finders’ fee. Giles panicked – he couldn’t afford to lose his job, so he agreed to Harrison’s demands without consulting me and Jamie.’
‘When did things start to go wrong?’
Natalie gave a bitter laugh. ‘He went and fell in love, didn’t he? Jamie, of all people. Of course, he wouldn’t tell anyone her name back then, and I couldn’t find out – I’d risk drawing attention to myself if I turned up at Deepcut out of the blue, even if Jamie was on deployment. That’s the problem with being a twin, you see. People would notice, and then Jamie would’ve found out eventually that his sister was snooping around.’
She wiped angrily at the tears that reddened her eyes. ‘Of course, when you turned up and said you were reopening the investigation into his death, I knew I had to find her before you got anything out of her. I think she always suspected I had something to do with it – that’s why Jamie refused to tell me her name all those years ago. I just had to wait until you gave one of your pathetic speeches about the progress of the case and find out her name that way.’
Kay resisted the urge to lean over and shake the woman.
‘What were you going to do to Amber?’
‘I thought I might try to make it look like she was the one working with Jamie to supply the drugs.’
Kay frowned. ‘How?’
Natalie swallowed. ‘I doubt she’s tried anything like cocaine in her life, not the way Jamie said she argued with him about it. I figured I could make her take a load of the stuff.’
‘You were going to poison her? Give her an overdose?’
‘I couldn’t go through with it. I couldn’t kill her.’ She raised her gaze to Kay. ‘Despite what you think of me, I’m not a murderer.’
‘Really? Then perhaps you can explain to me why you left your brother to die.’
‘What?’ The woman’s voice edged up a notch, her mouth agape. She swallowed. ‘What do you mean?’
‘Why were you going to see Jamie on the night of his death?’
Call to Arms Page 19
