by M A Comley
“We just wondered if you’d either heard from him or seen him since he took over from you,” Katy said, reiterating what Lorne had already said.
“I don’t understand,” Mrs. McPartland said. “Why would Joel be in contact with this man? Can’t you see how seriously ill my husband is? No one from that damn firm has been in touch to see how we’re coping.”
“That’s because of the lawsuit, love,” Mr. McPartland said, his breath catching several times, as if talking actually hurt him.
“It wouldn’t hurt for them to drop by and see how you’re doing, Joel. You worked hard for that firm, and now that you’re no longer capable of working, it’s as though they’ve given you the finger and said, ‘Sod you’.”
“There’s a lawsuit pending?” Lorne asked.
“Yes. We have every right to seek compensation, whether this was deemed an accident or not,” Mrs. McPartland explained.
“I agree. Has the firm objected against you putting in the claim?”
“I wouldn’t know,” she replied, folding her arms tightly. “No one has been in touch since Joel was taken off the site in an ambulance. Isn’t that appalling?”
Lorne struggled to believe that the man they’d just spoken to, Don Maynard, could be so heartless.
“Playing devil’s advocate here,” Katy said. “I think you’ll find that’s probably the solicitor’s fault and nothing to do with the site manager. Head office would have instructed the site personnel not to get in touch if there is a claim pending.”
“I agree. Katy’s right. I wouldn’t take it personally,” Lorne added.
“Ha… it’s hard not to take it personally. Joel probably won’t ever be able to work again because of what took place down there. We’re entitled to seek compensation.”
“You are. It’s just how things work. Going back to the reason why we’re here…”
“See? Even you’re discounting my husband’s injuries now.”
“I’m doing nothing of the sort, Mrs. McPartland. Okay, this is why we’re here. It’s not to cause you any hassle. I can assure you that. The man who took over from your husband was found murdered a few days ago.”
The husband and wife looked at each other, their eyes open wide in shock.
“I fail to see what concern that is of ours, Inspector,” Mrs. McPartland eventually said.
“We’re simply asking if you knew this man or had any contact with him.”
“I don’t understand what th—” Mrs. McPartland snapped her fingers together, covered her mouth for an instant, then dropped her hand again. “No, tell me I’m wrong… You’ve come here thinking that my husband had something to do with his death. Am I right?”
Lorne felt the colour rise in her cheeks. “We’re simply conducting our enquiries.”
“Get out… Jesus, you’re unbelievable! For your information, my husband can’t even take a pee by himself. Look at him, for God’s sake!” she screamed, pointing at her husband as the tears began to fall onto her cheeks.
Lorne raised her hands. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you. We’ll go now and leave you in peace.”
Mrs. McPartland stomped up the hallway and yanked open the front door. Lorne and Katy had barely stepped over the threshold when Lorne heard and felt the draught of the door slamming behind her.
“Well, that didn’t exactly go according to plan.”
Katy shook her head. “What did you expect, Lorne?”
“Okay, I screwed up.”
Chapter 4
Lorne climbed the stairs to the incident room and looked up to find DCI Roberts staring at her. His mouth was set in an angry line. Oh crap! Three guesses what this is about.
Lorne placed her foot on the top step as Roberts said, “My office, Inspector, pronto.” He turned on his heel and stormed up the grey corridor.
“Bugger. Wish me luck,” Lorne mumbled under her breath. She had to trot to keep up with his long legs.
“I’m not to be disturbed for the next ten minutes, Trisha. You hear me?”
“Yes, sir.” DCI Roberts’s secretary gave Lorne a pitying look that she could have done without as she passed her desk on the way into Roberts’s office.
No sooner had Lorne closed the door than Roberts started. “What the hell is wrong with you?”
Lorne tried to raise a hand to prevent the tirade she sensed coming her way, but Roberts’s expression warned her not to.
“What gives you the right to go round someone’s house and accuse them of all sorts, Inspector? There are procedures in place preventing you from doing that.”
“It wasn’t my intention, and I did nothing of the sort. Mrs. McPartland didn’t give me a chance to explain why we were there. She just assumed that I was accusing her husband of doing something, despite his incapacity.”
He threw himself into his chair and exhaled a large breath. “I thought better of you than this, Lorne.”
“I swear, Sean, I didn’t really do anything wrong. I had to follow up on a lead. That’s what my job is. Am I wrong?”
“No. But there’s following up on a lead. Then there’s blatantly accusing someone—”
“Now wait just a minute! As I’ve already tried to explain, I didn’t accuse anyone! Mrs. McPartland jumped to the conclusion and kicked us out. At no point did I accuse her husband of doing anything wrong. We spent most of our time there listening to them complain about his former employer. I barely even managed to mention the murder victim before she assumed we’d come to point the finger at her husband.”
“Either way, Mrs. McPartland has filed a complaint against you. So you better be sure your side of events is accurate.”
“Accurate? Are you insinuating that I’m a liar, Sean? Remember, I have Katy as my witness.”
“Partners always stick together. You know that as well as I do.”
Lorne turned and pulled open the door without saying another word. As she stomped through the outer office, she heard Roberts bellowing for her to come back. Well, sod that for a lark! What the hell is this place coming to if Sean is prepared to take a complainant’s word over mine?
Lorne marched into the ladies’ toilet and stared at her reflection. She’d been in the same position before several times over the years, tempted to jack it all in when Roberts’s faith in her faded. Tears formed in her eyes, and she brushed them quickly away. Having her reputation called into question was tough—and totally misplaced in this instance. Lorne shook her head. The door opened behind her, and Katy appeared in the doorway.
“If he’s sent you to check up on me—”
“He hasn’t. Do you want to talk about it, Lorne?” Katy approached her and rested against the sink next to her.
“Nothing to talk about, Katy. We all get days or weeks when we feel the whole world is against us. I guess this is one of those weeks.”
“Did Roberts give you a hard time?”
“Understatement of the century. The woman has filed a complaint against me… maybe I’m losing my touch and should consider jacking it all in.”
Katy chuckled. “What? Again?”
“I’m deadly serious. I’m tired, Katy. I’ve been at the cutting edge of heinous crimes for nigh on thirty years now. Solved more savage crimes than you’ve had hot dinners, and this is the thanks I get? Jesus, it was only a few months ago that we rescued Roberts’s goddaughter from that madman, and this is how he thanks me!”
Katy shook her head slowly. “You’re blowing this up out of all proportion, Lorne. It’s a complaint. We all get them.”
Lorne turned her head sharply to look at Katy. “Ha, when was the last time you had a complaint thrown at you?”
Katy shrugged. “All right, you win, but you know what I mean. What’s going on with you?”
Lorne studied her reflection in the mirror once more. The lines around her eyes were now a pretty prominent feature. “I don’t know. I suppose recently it’s dawned on me that I’m getting old. It’s getting harder to get out of bed every morn
ing. Let’s just say that if I had to leg it after a suspect, I doubt I’d be up to the task.”
“I get days like that too, Lorne.”
She smiled at Katy in the reflection. “Now I know you’re just trying to make me feel better.”
“Maybe you’re right. I hate seeing you like this. Promise me you won’t do anything rash, like giving in your notice again. I’m not ready to step into your shoes, and I know how difficult it would be for Roberts to replace you.”
“Ha, I doubt that. Sometimes, I think he’s willing me to do just that so he can finally be rid of me.”
Katy raised an eyebrow and folded her arms. “You’re so far off the mark with that statement.”
“Meaning?”
“Have you forgotten the kiss you two shared recently?”
Lorne closed her eyes and released a large breath. “If only I could. Every time I see him, I’m bloody reminded of the damn thing. It’s as if that image has been branded to the inside of my mind. How the bloody hell am I supposed to shift it?”
“Do you think this is what’s behind your mini-meltdown?”
Lorne’s shoulders dropped. “I don’t know… maybe, maybe not. All I know is that I’m finding it more difficult to come to work these days. I used to love coming into work, and now all I do is dread it.”
“If that’s the case, maybe it is time for you to reconsider giving up the job. I think it’s important that a person enjoys their career, and if your heart isn’t in it any more, then…”
“We’ll see. I’ll have a word with Tony when I get home if I still feel the same way this evening. I might be talking out of my arse just because Roberts pulled me over the coals about the McPartlands.”
“Now don’t go snapping my head off, but could it be something else? You’re not going through the menopause, are you?”
Lorne turned to look at her sharply. “Crikey! I’m not that old yet, partner.”
“I know one of my mum’s friends who started going through it at forty-two, so it’s not unheard of. It might explain your… um… mood swings.”
Lorne stared at Katy for an instant. “I wasn’t aware that I was having any ‘mood swings’. Don’t you bloody start reading things wrong.”
“It was only a suggestion. Ignore me. We better get back to work.”
“We had that. Although, I don’t have a clue where to look next. Any idea?”
“Background checks and the usual finances route. Do you still have a suspicion about Tina Barratt?”
“I’m not a hundred percent sure now. I think we should definitely delve into her financial records as a matter of urgency all the same.”
“Don’t let what happened today cloud your judgement, Lorne. You’re still an extremely capable copper. I’d hate for this little episode to wreck your career.”
“Thanks for the pep talk, Katy. I’m sure it’s just a stage of not feeling appreciated I’m going through. Old age knocks you off balance now and again.”
“So I’ve heard from my parents.” Katy sniggered.
“Ouch! I suppose I asked for that.”
They returned to the incident room to find Graham and Karen both hard at work, making Lorne feel a little uncomfortable. She bought a coffee from the machine and went into her office. The mundane task of getting involved in the endless paperwork the Met heaped on her shoulders was bound to worsen her mood.
Chapter 5
On Friday morning, an unexpected call came in to the office. “Hello, DI Lorne Warner. How can I help?”
“Morning, ma’am. It’s Sandy on control. I’ve had a call about a body being dug up in a garden. Thought you’d be interested as it’s within a mile of the other case involving the tortured body I contacted you about a few days ago.”
“Okay, Sandy. Thanks for the heads-up. Can you give me the location details?”
Lorne noted down the satnav coordinates, thanked Sandy and hung up. She walked into the outer office and announced, “Katy, we have to go out. Another body has been discovered.”
Katy pushed away from her desk and fetched her coat. “Great! Same vicinity?”
“Close by at least. We’ll be back soon, guys. Carry on digging into the backgrounds of those concerned with the Maurice Barratt case until we get back.”
The drive to the house in question was a fraught one as the traffic through London was a nightmare to contend with, as usual.
“So much for the congestions charge easing the traffic,” Lorne complained after spending five minutes at a complete standstill.
“Why get so uptight about something you can’t change, Lorne? Take a few deep breaths and chill.”
“Have you been on some kind of health kick or something? Taken up yoga, by any chance?”
“Hardly. When do you think I have time for that? All I’m saying is that there’s no point getting wound up about situations that are out of your control.”
The traffic finally began to move. Ten minutes later, Lorne parked the car outside the property they were looking for. There were already two marked police cars at the scene, and Lorne spotted Patti’s car behind them.
“We better get suited up before Patti has a go at us.” Lorne exited the car and opened the boot to extract a white suit and a pair of blue paper shoes for each of them.
They showed their IDs to the officer standing guard on the front doorstep, and he opened the door for them.
Patti was standing over a pile of earth that had been dug by a mini-digger in the back garden. She looked up and smiled as they approached. “Hello, you two. This is a strange one.”
“In what respect?” Lorne asked.
“The owner of the property was digging out a pond and discovered several black sacks. He said the smell was horrendous. He thought at first that the builders had dumped a load of rubbish in his garden before they’d laid the turf. But when he tore open one of the bags, he was shocked to find it contained what he thought were human bones. He was right of course.”
“How terrible for him. Any idea how long these houses have been built?”
“The occupier has lived here for the past two months, and he’s had it since new. They’re still building on the far side of the estate, I believe.”
“Can you tell how long the corpse has been here, Patti?”
“A rough guesstimate at this stage would tell me that the person has been dead at least three, maybe four months.”
“We need to speak to the site manager. I know this is a long shot, but do you think the cases could be connected? Sorry if you think I’m going off at a tangent here. The man in the warehouse and this corpse, I mean.”
“I really can’t give you that information yet, Lorne. I’ve only been here an hour or so as it is. Let me get the corpse photographed and moved back to the lab before you try pinning me down, okay?”
“Sorry, of course. We’ll go and track down the site manager, see if he can fill in any blanks for us.”
Lorne and Katy set off towards the sales office. They hadn’t got very far when a man in his fifties, wearing a high-vis jacket and blue hard hat, spotted them and was walking towards them. Lorne flashed her warrant card and introduced herself and Katy.
“Hi, dreadful bloody situation. It’s rocked me and my staff, I can tell you.”
“Sorry, sir, I didn’t catch your name?”
“It’s Gerry Sutherland.”
“As in Sutherland Homes?”
“Yes, we’re a smallish building firm compared to the others around here. I like to keep my hand in. I prefer to be on-site when the build starts. I tend to see it through to completion where I can.”
“Have you had any problems on-site during the build?”
“A few accidents here and there, ordinary run-of-the-mill kind of stuff, nothing in this vein though.”
“Your men are prone to having accidents. Is that what you’re telling me?”
“It’s expected in the trade. No matter what health and safety rules we put in place, men who are asked to
work with dangerous equipment take certain risks at times. Some are more blasé in their attitude than others, and that’s when accidents happen.”
Lorne shivered against the cutting wind. “Is there somewhere we can have a proper chat? Out of this breeze, perhaps?”
“My site office is at the other end of the estate if you’re up for the walk.”
They set off at a brisk pace, past the newly erected semi-detached and small detached homes.
“How many houses are on the site, sir?”
“Sixty. This is quite a small site compared to others I’ve built. It was intentional. I’m trying to slow down in my old age.”
Lorne and Katy glanced at each other and smiled. Lorne knew exactly what Katy was thinking, reflecting on the conversation they’d had in the ladies’ toilets a few days earlier.
The office was at the top of a flight of blue metal stairs. Lorne surveyed the estate once they were at the top. Before her was an excellent view of not only this estate, but of all the other sites going up in the area. She shook her head, thinking about the extra chaos on the roads the influx of cars would bring.
Gerry dusted off a couple of chairs and invited Lorne and Katy to sit down as he walked behind his desk and dropped into his chair. He sighed and removed his hard hat, placing it on the floor next to him.
“Maybe I can start by asking you if you have an inkling of who the body might be,” Lorne said.
“Not sure how I could know that. As soon as it was announced a body had been discovered, I wracked my brains to think if any of my men had walked off-site or anything along those lines. Sorry, nothing came to mind.”
Lorne nodded. “Okay, that’s something at least. Can I ask if you’ve heard of a Maurice Barratt?”
He chewed his lip for a few moments then shook his head. “No. Should I?”
“We’re dealing with another case at present, and I wondered if they could be connected. It’s still early days, so I might be looking at it from the wrong angle. You mentioned a few accidents some of your men have had. Can you give me an indication of what they were?”