by GS Rhodes
“You think she’s in danger?” Zoe asked quietly.
Kidd nodded. “I’m hoping she isn’t, but if Joe is our guy, the pattern that Hansen followed was people that he knew. Maybe he knew Jennifer too. I’m hoping I can find that out today.”
“What do you want us to do about Joe?” Campbell asked, reappearing at Kidd’s side.
“I want a team to go and arrest him this morning,” Kidd said. “If we can pull up his records and get there ASAP, that would be great. Bring him in for questioning, hopefully, we can get this thing wrapped up by lunchtime, sound good?”
“Sir?” DC Ravel piped up from behind her computer. “Might want to hold fire on that.”
Kidd looked sharply over at DC Ravel who gestured for him to come closer. Kidd did just that, Campbell and Zoe following close behind, all crowding around Ravel’s computer. She clicked on a few emails and a video popped up.
It was grainy, dark footage with a timestamp in the corner, Monday night at around 2300.
“The footage is taken from a block of flats opposite one of the gates,” Ravel said. “You know who that is right?”
Kidd looked a little closer. It wasn’t the best footage in the world, but he could take a wild stab. An older man took a set of keys out of his pocket and started fiddling about with the lock on the gate, looking nervously about himself before heading inside.
“Is that—?”
“The night watch ranger, Evan Petersen?” Ravel finished. “I believe so, sir,” she added. “It’s from Monday night, fits with the time that Jennifer Berry was killed. Why on earth would he be going back into the park after hours?”
“And why didn’t he tell us about that in the first place?” Kidd added. He was getting sick of people not giving him the full story when asked. “Great work, Ravel. We should bring him in for questioning. But we should still grab Joe Warrington just in case.” Kidd could feel himself getting excited. They were getting closer, he could feel it. “We get anything else come in I should know about?”
The door to the Incident Room flew open, Weaver blowing in, his phone held aloft in his hand.
“What the bloody hell is this?” he barked, his Scottish accent filling the entire room. Campbell winced next to Kidd and scurried away, not wanting to get caught in the crossfire. “I come into the office to find this sent to me, the force’s Twitter getting tagged in all sorts of shit. What the hell are you playing at, Kidd?”
Ben walked over to the DCI, taking the phone off him, and watching the video being played out. It was from yesterday evening. It showed Kidd running towards Joe and Joe running away, stopping at the moment when Kidd grabbed Joe’s wrist, Joe complaining of the pain before the video cut out.
“Where’s the rest of it?” Kidd asked.
“What are you talking about?” Weaver asked, his face suddenly adjusting as he noticed the state of Kidd’s face. “What happened to your face, son?”
“Joe Warrington happened to my face, boss,” Kidd replied. “The part of that video that’s missing is the part where he swung back and clocked me on the nose with his elbow.”
“Y’alright?”
“Fine, sir, went to hospital, wrote it up, all sorts, but that part of the video is missing,” Kidd protested. “It’s not as cut and dried as me trying to grab hold of the lad. I wanted to bring him in for questioning.”
“What?”
“Had a lead from Colin Hansen, sir, and he ran off,” Kidd said. “Can we respond to this? Can we tell people that he assaulted a police officer?”
Weaver puffed out his cheeks. “Not likely. Not the way we do things, I’m afraid.”
“What? So he gets to say what he likes about me and I can’t respond?” Kidd said. “You should see his social media channels, sir, it’s all propaganda and fake news. He’s just stirring up trouble.”
“Can’t arrest someone for that, Kidd,” Weaver said. “If you could, half the government would be in jail cells.”
“Still, we need to go and get him today, bring him in for questioning,” Kidd said. “And DC Ravel is going to go and bring in Evan Petersen, too.”
“The old park ranger?” Weaver looked confused. “You think you’re getting closer to figuring this out, Kidd?”
Kidd shrugged. “We’re certainly doing our best, sir.”
Weaver nodded. “Glad to hear it.”
Without another word, he left, passing DC Powell in the doorway, leaving the young boy looking a little dazed and confused.
“What have I missed?” Powell asked.
“Keep your coat on, Powell,” Kidd said. “We’ve got work to do.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Kidd had barely given DC Powell a moment to get settled before they were back out of the door and on their way to Jennifer Berry’s house. He’d sent DS Sanchez off to arrest Joe, and DC Ravel with DC Campbell to pick up Evan Peterson. Even though it was nice to have someone in the office to hold the fort should anything come up, all of them being out on the case felt good, it felt like they were doing something and progress was being made.
DC Powell hung on for dear life as Kidd swung the car around the corner and parked it up outside Jennifer’s house. There was another car here, one that he knew belonged to Caitlyn Jones, the FLO on the case. If the state of Jennifer’s father was even close to what Campbell had said, it was going to be difficult to get a lot out of him. But they needed to at least try. He’d tread carefully.
He got out of the car, DC Powell following suit, looking nervous and a little bit cold stood outside the semi-detached house. If he’d been looking up the case files for The Grinning Murders, then he’d know this house pretty well. Much like Colin, the Berrys hadn’t moved since it all happened. So it was the same house that Kidd had been at many years ago, just with the slightest facelift. Someone had taken up gardening. It scrubbed up well.
“You alright?” Kidd asked.
“Yeah, course,” DC Powell replied. “He was just in quite a state yesterday. Caitlyn did a wonderful job of calming him down, but he was devastated.”
Kidd could only imagine. It had happened twice in his lifetime, to two of his loved ones. It didn’t bear thinking about.
“We’ll try and keep it brief,” Kidd said. “And you have to give me a nudge if you think I’m going in a bit hard.”
“Right.”
“That’s DS Sanchez’s job normally, so now is the time to show if you can fill her shoes,” Kidd said with a wink. DC Powell smiled and nodded before they started towards the door. They sidled around the Range Rover parked on the driveway to the porch where Kidd rapped on the door twice.
“Bit harsh, sir,” DC Powell said, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.
“Yeah, you’re going to fit in with us just fine, Powell,” Kidd said with a grin, quickly rearranging his face to something a little more solemn as the door opened.
Caitlyn Jones opened the door, her porcelain face slipping from a smile to a look of surprise when she saw Kidd.
“What did you do?”
“To my face? Yeah, it’s a long story,” Kidd said. “Good to see you, Caitlyn, it’s been a while.”
“Well, some of us had a six month work holiday,” she said with a smirk.
“And which one of us was that?”
“Oh, neither one of us, Kidd, just making conversation,” she replied. She lowered her voice and leaned in a little. “You might want to tread a little carefully here. He’s fragile, which I’m sure you understand, but I thought you might want a warning.” She looked over at DC Powell. “Hey, DC Powell.”
“Hey, Caitlyn.”
“Come on in, wipe your feet,” she said, stepping back into the house and standing by the door waiting for them to comply. Kidd made sure to wipe his feet, Caitlyn’s eyes on him the entire time. She was deadly serious, apparently.
Kidd walked in and was taken to the living room where a man was sitting in an armchair, staring at the TV screen. They were reporting what had happened to hi
s daughter—thankfully, without any of the detail—and asking anyone who had any information to contact the police. DC Campbell must have put it out yesterday, as soon as they’d found out who it was. He might have been a bit of a dickhead, but there were certainly times when he knew how to do his bloody job.
“Mr Berry?” Kidd said stood in the doorway looking over at the gentleman. He looked so similar to how he’d looked all those years ago when Angela had been taken away from him. The only thing that had changed, was that his formerly black hair was now dotted with specks of grey and he’d grown a beard. His skin looked paler though, more sickly. Kidd could understand why.
He looked over at DI Kidd and DC Powell, his face shifting in acknowledgement, a thin-lipped smile that told more of how he was feeling than words ever could. They were stood there staring at a man who had been shattered almost beyond repair. How he was still even able to function was beyond Kidd.
“I hope you don’t mind me stopping by,” Kidd said as he walked further into the living room. “I don’t know if you remember me, I worked on Angela’s case. You probably don’t.”
Mr Berry shook his head. “I’m sorry, I don’t. But thank you for catching him. Though, maybe I shouldn’t be thanking you, I don’t know. Did you even get the right man?”
“I’m sorry?”
“It’s happened again,” he said, gesturing at the TV where a picture of Jennifer filled the screen. Tears filled his eyes. Maybe this hadn’t been such a good idea. “Did you catch the right man if it’s happened to my little girl too?” He choked at the end of the sentence and Caitlyn grabbed the box of tissues from the cabinet and passed them to him. He took one and balanced the box on the arm of the chair.
“Would anyone like a spot of tea?” Caitlyn asked. “I know I could do with one, I’m gasping.”
“I can make it,” Mr Berry said.
“No, no, Mr Berry, I know where the things are,” she said. “DI Kidd? DC Powell?”
“Yes, please,” Kidd said. “Just a splash of milk.”
“Same for me, with two sugars,” DC Powell said, offering her a soft smile. “Do you want me to give you hand?”
“DI Kidd?” Caitlyn asked.
“Off you pop, DC Powell, I’ll be alright,” Kidd said. He waited as DC Powell left the room, but he turned around to catch Kidd’s eye as he reached the doorway. He gave him a thumbs up. Kidd had to stop himself from rolling his eyes. “I just wanted to ask you a couple of questions about Jennifer—”
“Jenny,” Mr Berry corrected. “We always called her Jenny. It’s weird to hear people calling her Jennifer all the time. Sure, it’s the name we gave her when she was born, but it’s not what we called her. It was always Jenny.”
“Jenny, then,” Kidd said. “I just wanted to know a little bit more about her, what she studied at university, the people she spent time with. The better picture we can get of her and what her movements might have been around the time of the murder, the better chance we have of catching whoever it is that’s behind this.”
“Right, right, right,” Mr Berry said, trailing off, not managing to tear his eyes away from the screen. They stayed in silence for a few more seconds, until the news item moved on and they started talking about some politician’s latest mishap. Mr Berry turned his attention to DI Kidd. It was only then that Kidd noticed the dark circles beneath his eyes. He can’t have slept much last night. How could he?
“So just a few quick questions, Mr Berry,” DI Kidd said. “Then we’ll get out of your hair.” Kidd cleared his throat. “I’d love to get a sense of Jenny’s movements leading up to the incident,” Kidd continued. “Anything you can give us.”
“Well, she attends Kingston University,” Mr Berry started. “So she left in the morning for a day of classes. I understood that she was going to be going out later with a few friends from one of her courses.”
“What was she studying?”
“Drama,” Mr Berry said. “So she was going out with some of her acting friends, I think. But she mentioned she was doing a short film and, forgive me, there’s been so much going on, my brain’s in a muddle.”
“That’s okay, Mr Berry, take your time,” Kidd said, taking a few quick notes.
“She was doing a short film, linking up with a couple of people who were studying screenwriting, or film, so I think maybe that was happening on Monday and they were going out afterwards,” Mr Berry said. “I’m sorry, I’m not being very helpful.”
“You’re being a lot more helpful than you think, Mr Berry, I assure you,” Kidd said, offering a smile.
“Tea?” Caitlyn shuffled back into the room with two mugs in her hand, one for Mr Berry, one for herself. DC Powell followed close behind, handing a mug to Kidd and placing his own on a coaster by the sofa.
“Thank you,” Kidd said, taking a quick sip of the tea before returning his attention to Mr Berry. “Do you know who the film was with?”
“I’m sorry,” Mr Berry said, seeming to slump even further in his chair. “She never said. I probably should have asked.”
“What about the people she spent her time with at university?” Kidd asked. “Who were her friends there?”
Mr Berry was clearly racking his brains to find a name, any name, but he seemed to be drawing a blank. “Lydia,” he said suddenly.
Kidd sat up sharply. “Surname?”
“Not sure on a surname,” Mr Berry said. “But she had a friend called Lydia she would stay with on occasion. I think they met at Freshers because they weren’t on the same course, you see?”
“Yes, I do,” Kidd said, his brain suddenly going at a million miles a minute. Lydia found the body. If she found the body, there was no chance in hell she wouldn’t recognise her, was there? Or was there? The pictures had been pretty messed up. Jennifer Berry had been through some major trauma before the body was found, and all that blood… was Kidd making excuses? Or had he misjudged Lydia entirely?
He turned his attention back to Mr Berry and put a smile on his face. “Thank you so much for your help, Mr Berry,” Kidd said. “We won’t take up any more of your time.” He took a big gulp of his tea before getting to his feet.
They said their goodbyes to Mr Berry and started towards the door. Caitlyn touched Kidd on the shoulder before he left.
“Thank you for going easy on him,” she said. “I can’t imagine this is easy for you either.”
Kidd forced a smile. “I’m doing alright,” he said. “Got to keep chugging along, eh?”
“You take care of yourself,” she said. “And if you need me, you know where I am.”
They left the house and walked back to DI Kidd’s car.
“Poor guy,” Powell said. “Must be awful for him having to go through all of that again. Can’t imagine what that must be like.”
Kidd nodded. “I know,” Kidd replied, pulling out his phone. “Just going to call DS Sanchez, give me a second.”
“Sure thing, boss,” DC Powell said, getting into the passenger’s seat.
The phone only rang twice before Zoe picked up. “Yeah?”
“Lydia Coles knew Jennifer Berry,” Kidd said flatly.
“Shitting hell.”
“I know.”
“So, now you’re drawing a line from Joe Warrington all the way to Lydia Coles?” she asked. “Do you think she was involved?”
Kidd shook his head. “I’m not sure. Jennifer was pretty unrecognisable when she was found, I don’t want to automatically believe the worst here,” he said. “But I still think Lydia might be in danger.”
“Right,” Zoe said. The silence on the other end of the line was enough to make Kidd nervous.
“What’s happening, Zoe, you’ve gone quiet on me?”
“I’m outside the university now,” she said. “Joe Warrington is missing.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Kidd had quizzed Zoe on the phone, asking where Joe was and what on earth she meant by missing.
“Went to his house and he wasn’t there, d
ad claimed to have not seen him for a day or so, has a brother who hasn’t seen him, mum was suspiciously quiet,” she said.
“Under the thumb?”
“Almost certainly,” she said. “So I came to the university, been to reception and he hasn’t signed in to any of his classes today. He’s gone off-grid.”
“Because he knows we’re after him,” Kidd said, cursing how impulsive he’d acted last night. If he’d have played it a little cooler they wouldn’t be in this situation in the first place. “Fuck.”
“Going to head back to the station now,” she said. “How did it go with Mr Berry?”
“The only information I got was that Lydia and Jenny were friends, but it’s enough to give us somewhere to go, I guess,” Kidd said. “I’ll see you back at the station.”
◆◆◆
Kidd drove back to the station with enough speed to have DC Powell looking a little green by the time they got there. He stayed outside for a moment longer to get some air while Kidd headed inside.
“Got a message for you,” Diane said from the front desk, putting her finger up to him so he would wait, which he did gladly. “Had a phone call from a Colin Hansen.”
That caused Kidd’s ears to perk up a little. “What did he say?” he asked.
“He mentioned you went to see him last night, he’s been getting hounded by the press, his exact words, that’s a quote,” she said. “They’re encroaching on his driveway now and he’s getting worried. He can’t sleep. He’s just…” she sighed. “He’s having a really tough time of it, the poor lamb. I stayed on the phone with him for a little while, managed to calm him down, but I wonder if it’s worth popping round to see him again?”
Kidd smiled at her. She was a good egg, Diane. The Met was a better place for her being on it.
“I’ll look into it, Di, thank you,” he said, beeping himself through the door and heading back to the Incident Room. DS Sanchez and DC Ravel were already there, both huddled around Ravel’s computer as she likely added notes to the case file.