Mummy's Favourite

by Sarah Flint

  ‘Yep he’s just been called to a briefing on the Hubbard case. The others have all agreed to come in too, even though it’s Sunday. They’ll be turning up shortly. You might want to jump in the shower quick before they all arrive.’

  She hauled herself up, yawned and brushed some blue fluff off her T-shirt, before glancing at the clock above the door. It was less than four hours since she’d first lain down. She’d jump in the shower, have a quick freshen-up and then start looking through the list of known robbers operating on the South Bank. By the time Hunter was finished at his briefing, hopefully she’d have a name for Ben’s assailant. She pushed the blankets into a pile with her foot.

  Bet bent down, picking one up to fold.

  ‘They are clean ones, I hope. Or shouldn’t I ask?’

  Charlie shrugged and headed for the door. ‘I guess you shouldn’t ask.’

  Ten minutes later and she was back sitting at her computer, smelling of tangerine and ylang-ylang, with wet hair, hastily combed into place and wearing clean, although not expertly laundered, clothes, salvaged from the bottom of her locker. The tea had been reheated in the office microwave and as each image flicked on to the screen, she took a sip, shook her head and moved on to the next.

  ‘Oh my God, I ache in every part of my body. In fact, I ache in parts of my body that I didn’t realize could ache.’ Paul pushed the door open with his foot, hung his jacket on a peg and tucked his shirt back into the rear of his trousers all in one continuous movement, as if still asleep. He looked as if hadn’t slept at all. ‘I was in Heaven until a few hours ago.’

  Heaven was Paul’s favourite night-club, situated under the arches at Charing Cross. He loved it as much for the double entendre whenever he said the name, as for the dark, throbbing beat of the house music.

  Sabira smiled. ‘I’ve been in heaven too.’ She happily tapped a code into her phone and quickly flicked to a photo of a rather butch-looking girl sat astride a shiny black Triumph motorcycle. ‘Hot eh? Had my first date with her yesterday evening.’ Charlie glanced up from the computer images of a group of recently arrested robbers to look at the photo. None of them were her assailants.

  ‘Nice bike,’ she commented.

  Naz peered over her shoulder.

  ‘Lucky for some; though not sure she’s quite my type.’ Naz was clearly not happy. She threw herself down on her chair moodily. ‘Well, I’ve been in hell all weekend. In fact, I’m glad to have got out of the house this morning. Even work is better than being cooped up there. I managed to persuade a friend that I was indispensable at work and had to come in. She’s looking after the boys for the day.’

  ‘What’s the problem then, Naz?’ Bet scooped up the mugs to make a fresh cup for everyone.

  ‘My mum’s been away on holiday so I’ve had the kids all by myself and Nathaniel is being a right little git at the moment. I don’t know if it’s his age or what? I can’t remember the last time I’ve had to be in on a Friday and Saturday night. And I don’t want another weekend like it again for a long time. In fact, ever.’

  ‘The joys of motherhood, eh. Good old grandparents.’ Bet flicked the switch of the kettle. ‘At least we’re good for something. Baby-sitting and making tea!’

  ‘You could always send him to me, Naz.’ Colin sidled over. ‘I’ll put him to work digging and wear him out. I’ve been spending every spare moment putting a new fence up down the back of my garden. The neighbours have got a new bloody dog which keeps knocking holes in the old fence and coming and crapping all over my grass. If it carries on, I’m going to start posting it back through their letter box.’

  Hunter came in quietly, standing for a few minutes to listen to the conversation.

  ‘Do you lot ever actually get any work done? Charlie said it was like working in the Jeremy Kyle studio and it really is.’

  Charlie spun away from some more images on her computer and held her hands up in mock surprise.

  ‘Hold it, guys, before you all accuse me of snitching. I’m allowed to say that because you’re always telling me I should be on the programme. “My colleague gets on better with animals than people! Is there something wrong with her?”

  ‘One day you’ll make a lovely wife, Charlie,’ Paul crowed. ‘Just not sure who to?’

  ‘Whoever it ends up as, they’ll need a bloody medal to put up with her.’

  ‘And a good deal of stamina,’ Bet agreed with Hunter. ‘She wears me out just listening to her antics.’

  ‘Yes, I’ve just been hearing about your heroics last night.’

  The others all stopped and looked towards her expectantly. Her cheeks immediately started to burn.

  ‘I’m going to have to escort you to your doorstep from now on, to stop you putting your life at risk.’ Hunter shook his head at her, but she knew by his expression that he wasn’t cross. He turned back towards the others.

  ‘Apparently, she single-handedly stopped a robbery in progress, chased off the four suspects and then did first aid until the cavalry arrived. She even accompanied the victim to hospital and stayed with him until he was OK. I’m sure she’ll tell you all about it when I’ve left the office.’ They all turned towards her expectantly. She looked down at the floor, embarrassed. ‘Or maybe you’ll have to find out from a different source. Oh, and have you all heard the latest?’ He switched back to their upturned faces. ‘Charlie and I have Justin Latchmere on the ropes, don’t we?’

  ‘I’ll be phoning him very soon to arrange for him to come in, guv.’ She was glad the subject had changed. ‘He’s got to explain why his home number is logged for incoming calls to Keith Hubbard, after Julie and her son disappeared.’

  On cue, her phone rang. It was the front office clerk. Mr Latchmere was waiting, with his solicitor downstairs for them now. She hung up and looked towards Hunter.

  ‘Talk of the devil. We must have got him worried. Latchmere and his solicitor are waiting for us now.’

  ‘He’s so fucking slippery,’ Hunter shook his head, obviously annoyed. ‘He was supposed to phone to tell us when he was available so we could arrange a time that suits us both. He’s trying to get us on the back foot. Charlie, get everything together and check whether there have been any more calls since we last spoke with him. I’ll go down and tell him we’ve got a few things that need to be done first. We’ll see him when we’re good and ready, and not before.’

  *

  Justin Latchmere looked thoroughly irritated when she and Hunter eventually collected him and his solicitor forty-five minutes later.

  ‘Sorry to have kept you.’ Hunter smiled sweetly.

  Charlie had used the time to prepare thoroughly, checking the latest call data and compiling a full list of dates and times on which the previous calls had been made.

  The solicitor, a portly, bald headed man with thick glasses and an ill-fitting suit, sighed heavily. Latchmere scowled, making a play of checking his large Rolex watch.

  ‘We are busy people, you know, and I don’t want to have any more of my weekend wasted than I must.’

  ‘So are we,’ Hunter replied evenly. ‘And if you’d phoned, as arranged, we would have been ready for you. You should know as well as we do what Saturday nights throw up for us to deal with.’

  Latchmere frowned harder but said nothing.

  Charlie led them into a small interview room off the front office, barely large enough for the four chairs that were needed and a small table which was clean but showed the results of too many people being left for too long on their own. Several names were scratched on to the table and other names and dates were graffittied on the walls and door with marker pens. Some attempts had been made to remove them, leaving darkened patches on the wall, but on the whole they stayed stubbornly present, making the room look shabby. The table was the standard black top with dark wood edging and none of the chairs matched. Altogether the look was more like a junk room at a charity shop than a cutting-edge service welcome.

  The surroundings were not lost on Justin Latc
hmere whose scowl deepened even further as he surveyed the tiny room.

  ‘We won’t keep you too long,’ Charlie reassured, inwardly revelling in the man’s discomfiture. ‘Take a seat.’

  They all sat down and she began.

  ‘The reason we’ve asked you to come in is because it’s been brought to our attention that there have been a number of calls made from your home phone to the home of Keith Hubbard and he has complained about them.’

  ‘Yes you’ve already told me this.’

  ‘Well, as you insist that we do this as a formal interview, I’ll caution you that you don’t have to say anything unless you wish to do so and anything you say will be written down and may be given in evidence. As I’m sure you know, you’re not under arrest, you don’t have to stay if you don’t wish to, and you’re entitled to legal advice, which I can see you have.’

  ‘Yes, I know all this. Can we just get on with it?’

  She shuffled her papers slowly and noted down the time before pausing awhile. She’d learnt well from Hunter.

  ‘Have you made these calls, Mr Latchmere?’

  ‘No I haven’t.’

  ‘Keith Hubbard seemed to think it was a male making the calls.’

  ‘Well it wasn’t me.’

  ‘Are there any other males in your house who could have made the calls?’

  ‘No. Unless Dana lets the gardener in.’ He smirked. ‘But I don’t think so. If you saw the guy…’ He left the sentence unfinished. She ignored the insinuation.

  ‘Are there any other people who have access to your home phone?’

  ‘No. Just Dana and I, and the gardener and housekeeper who work for us, but the housekeeper is definitely female.’

  ‘So, really, you are saying that you are the only male in the household who is likely to use the phone.’

  ‘Yes. And it’s not me, so it’s a bit of a mystery, isn’t it?’

  ‘Do you know Keith Hubbard?’

  ‘No, never met the man; though I have read about his wife and son going missing in the local paper recently.’

  ‘And you’ve never spoken to him?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Or tried to speak to him?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘What about his wife? Do you know her?’

  ‘Never met her either.’

  ‘Or their son, Richard.’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Doesn’t your son go to the same school as Richard?’

  ‘How would I know? Dana does all the school stuff.’

  ‘They both go to Clapham Boy’s Academy.’

  ‘I hardly think they would be best friends. Aiden is in the top set, doing very well for himself. Judging by the sound of this Keith Hubbard, I would hazard a guess that his son is not likely to be quite on the same level, shall we say.’ His tone was pompous. He raised his eyebrows at his solicitor. Charlie pressed on.

  ‘But they’re at the same school.’

  ‘There are over a thousand boys at that same school. Are you speaking to all their parents too?’ He stared directly at her and gave her a small impatient smile.

  ‘No. Only the ones who have been making calls to the Hubbard family home address.’

  She smiled back at him, wiping the smug expression from his face immediately.

  ‘So you’re saying that you have not made any calls to Keith Hubbard’s house, you’re probably the only male with access to your home phone, except for possibly the gardener, and you do not know and have never met any of the Hubbard family, either Keith, Julie, Ryan or Richard?’

  ‘Yes that’s exactly what I’m saying. Anyway what time are these calls supposed to have been made?’

  She read through the list.

  ’There were fifteen calls in all, over eight days, after Julie and Richard went missing. Some days there was only one call, or no calls at all, on other days there were two or three, spaced out about an hour apart. All the calls were made during the daytime.’

  ‘There you go then,’ he sounded triumphant. ‘I couldn’t have made any of the calls. I would have been at work.’

  ‘And you never pop home?’

  ‘Sometimes I pop in when I’m on my way back from court or meeting clients, but I haven’t popped home recently. Certainly not on all those days. You can check my diary.’

  ‘Thank you! I will.’

  ‘Is there anything else because I now wish to leave?’ He stood up as if to go.

  ‘No that’ll be fine for now. We’ll make some further enquiries and speak to Dana about who else has access to your phone.’

  ‘You’ll do no such thing without me being there.’

  ‘And why’s that?’

  ‘She is my wife. If she really needs to be spoken to, I think I am best placed, as her husband and lawyer, to accompany her, don’t you think?’

  ‘I believe that could well be a conflict of interest. Dana is a grown woman and quite capable of making that choice herself, don’t you think?’ she threw the question back at him.

  ‘Well of course.’

  ‘Plus, we still haven’t got to the bottom of who is making the calls and you don’t seem to be able to help any further.’

  He pulled himself up to his full height. ‘Well I would suggest that you let me know if and when you choose to speak to my wife.’

  ‘And I would suggest that if that’s what you want, you tell her first, because if she’s happy to speak to us without you, then that’s what we’ll be doing.’

  *

  ‘Why’s he so insistent on being there when we speak to Dana?’ Charlie said as she and Hunter walked across the gravelled driveway of the Latchmeres’ house. They had decided to get to the bottom of who was making the calls straight away and they certainly weren’t going to wait for Justin’s permission.

  ‘That’s twice he’s been touchy about us speaking to her without him being present.’

  ‘That’s because he’s lying,’ Hunter was to the point. ‘I was watching him during the interview. You did well by the way. He was trying to intimidate you but you wouldn’t let him. He was sweating and fidgety.’

  ‘I saw that too. Continually wiping his hands on his trousers. He knows she’s the one making the phone calls. And he knows why. The calls were silent. It’s only Hubbard’s presumption that it was a male making the calls. Latchmere knows it’s Dana and that’s why he’s so nervous about letting us speak to her. We’ve just got to persuade her to tell us why.’

  She stopped and looked up at the windows, checking for any sign of life. ‘By the way, guv, thanks for letting me conduct the interview. I’m getting to really enjoy them. I love making guilty people sweat.’

  ‘It’s good practice for you and it was a good chance for me to sit back and watch Latchmere properly. He likes to come across as such a professional, when he’s in court. You almost forget that he’s just a man with normal reactions like any other person. He sweats like you and I, and he shits like you and I. And his shit, definitely does not smell like roses.’

  ‘Speak for yourself, guv. You seem to forget I’m a lady and I neither sweat nor shit.’

  Hunter chuckled. ‘Then why does what you say regularly have a distinct “air de bullshit”? And anyway, the day you become a lady is the day I retire; should see me going for at least a dozen more years.’

  Dana’s car was in the driveway as they headed towards the house, a sporty Mercedes convertible with a personalized registration plate. There were several upstairs windows open and the sound of music could be faintly heard. Charlie knocked on the door but there was no immediate response.

  ‘She’s definitely in.’ She banged on the door again. ‘I can hear the radio.’

  Charlie wandered off to look through a couple of downstairs windows, before returning to the front door and knocking it hard and continuously.

  ‘Dana, answer the door please. We know you’re in there.’

  The music had gone off but there was still no answer.

  ‘Dana, we’re not going away,
so you’re better off speaking to us now. We’ll be sitting in our car outside waiting. I promise you we’ll be here all day if necessary.’

  They crunched across the driveway.

  ‘What’s the betting Justin will have been summonsed back? Give it fifteen minutes,’ Hunter said, checking his watch. ‘I’m sure he’ll be ecstatic to see us again.’

  She had just reached the gate when she heard a voice calling out to them.

  Turning, she saw Dana standing in the porch beckoning them over. She appeared anxious, scanning the driveway and bushes as they walked back.

  ‘Come in, quickly,’ she said, closing the door hurriedly behind them as they stepped into the hallway.

  ‘Are you OK?’ Charlie noted the instant relief as the door was shut.

  Dana shook her head. ‘No, not really. I wanted to speak to you last time, but Justin told me not to get you lot involved.’

  ‘But we are involved.’

  ‘I know and that’s what I want to talk to you about.’

  They were shown through to the kitchen this time. It was huge, with perfectly ordered units housing built-in white goods, and spacious granite work surfaces, uncluttered and sparklingly clean. A tray had already been laid out with three cups and saucers, a large china teapot and a plate of assorted biscuits.

  ‘You look like you’ve been expecting us.’ Hunter indicated the tray.

  ‘I have. I knew you’d be round as soon as Justin phoned to tell me not to speak to you without him being here. He’s got things to do, but I’m sure he’ll be back as quickly as he can.’

  ‘So why didn’t you answer the door straight away?’ Charlie asked, puzzled.

  ‘Because I had to be sure it was you and I couldn’t see you when you were in the porch. It was only when you were looking around that I knew I’d be safe.’

  ‘Safe? From what?’

  Dana’s expression froze. She looked frightened all of a sudden.

  ‘I think you’d better tell us what’s been going on.’

  Dana nodded. She looked close to tears.

  ‘I’ll start at the beginning,’ she busied herself, concentrating on pouring the tea. ‘I don’t know how much you know or have heard about Justin and me?’ She didn’t allow them to answer. ‘But we have a somewhat open relationship. For years now, in fact most of the time we have been married, he has conducted affairs, “dalliances” as he likes to call them. To start with I hated it, but he always insisted they meant nothing and he loved me. He did try to stop, but he can’t help himself. He’s a flirtatious man and can be very charming, as I’m sure you’ve seen?’ She looked up and caught Charlie’s eye. She nodded.