by Helen Cox
‘Well, it was inside the garage so I suppose she must have parked her car somewhere else, got Quentin to transport the equipment late at night while nobody was looking and then closed the garage doors so nobody would see what they were up to.’
‘You mean, every time Patrick’s been home to visit his mum in the past year, Jodie’s body has been . . . pretty much under his feet?’ Grace pressed a hand against her tummy. Was she going to throw up? It sure felt like it. She took in a deep breath and slowly let it out, doing all she could not to think about Jodie’s body slowly decaying while Cynthia went to lunches with well-to-do-friends and cooked Sunday dinner for her son.
‘I’m afraid so. Cynthia tasked Quentin with hiding a few things that might come in useful for framing other people should they ever get desperate, like Jodie’s cardigan, and he went back to the outhouse to plant the limestone from Berkeley’s drive too.’
Grace shook her head in disbelief. ‘How the hell is Patrick ever going to get over all this? Move forward . . .’
‘With the help of his friends he’ll hopefully be able to move forward the same way any of us do when something terrible happens: one step and one breath at a time,’ said Kitt.
‘I know,’ said Grace. ‘But even that’s painful at first. I just can’t believe the way this all played out. What the hell was she thinking?’
‘The whole thing redefines the word “disgusting”,’ said Kitt. ‘Cynthia still claims she didn’t mean to kill Jodie. She just wanted her to surrender the recording of her confessing she’d bribed Berkeley. When it became obvious she wouldn’t, she rang Quentin. Pressured him using their previous indiscretion as leverage. He kidnapped Jodie and held her in a drugged state in that outhouse for two days until he was certain the coast was clear.’
‘So even if the police checked traffic cameras for the night of Jodie’s disappearance, they wouldn’t see Quentin’s car,’ said Grace.
‘Right, and he’d taken another precaution. He’d used masking tape to alter the registration plate.’
‘He really thought this through.’
‘Yes,’ said Kitt. ‘Well, it wasn’t the first time either of them had had to cover their tracks so I’m sorry to say they’ve both had practice at it. But still, there were some things Cynthia couldn’t have expected. She has admitted that behind Patrick’s back she would often make cruel comments to Jodie and make it clear she wasn’t welcome in the family, so as soon as Jodie received the expulsion letter, she knew that Cynthia had had some hand in it.’
‘So, she tried to get the truth out of Berkeley? Berkeley did say that Jodie had barged into her office.’
‘That’s right, but when Berkeley wouldn’t engage and had her removed by security, Jodie went to Cynthia direct and tried to reason with her. She tried to explain how much this was all going to hurt Patrick, and begged her to reverse whatever influence she’d exerted. That’s when Cynthia told Jodie what she’d done.’
‘And Jodie was, what? Recording the conversation for collateral?’
‘It would seem so. She was smart enough to wait until she’d left the house before calling Cynthia back and playing the recording to her. She tried again to get Cynthia to retract the bribe and get her reinstated at the academy, otherwise she was going to go to Patrick with the tape.’
‘But Cynthia wouldn’t budge?’
Kitt shook her head. ‘She told Jodie if she went to Patrick’s house, she’d regret it. She had made sure Quentin was following her that morning. After Jodie paid Cynthia a visit and then revealed she had a recording of them, Cynthia told Quentin to pick up Jodie’s trail to try and bribe her to hand over the recording, and if that didn’t work, go to Patrick’s house, drug him, and intercept Jodie if she dared to show up.’
‘Is that why she showed up at Patrick’s so late?’ said Grace. ‘She thought it was too risky going round to his any earlier than that.’
‘We think so. Patrick did say he had a whole bunch of missed calls and cryptic voicemails from her. She’d clearly tried to call him and let him know she needed to talk to him several times. She probably didn’t want to go to his house, in case Cynthia made good on her threat. But she was running out of options. Cynthia knew Jodie had an incriminating recording that could ruin her reputation – not to mention the relationship she had with her son – and Jodie probably feared that Cynthia would go to extreme lengths to keep it under wraps.’
‘And she was right,’ Grace said with a sigh. ‘So when she couldn’t get hold of Patrick and she thought Cynthia was coming after her, she resorted to calling the radio station?’
‘Yes. Quentin confessed he planned to abduct her. They knew she’d go to Patrick’s sooner or later so Quentin snuck in using Cynthia’s spare key and drugged the drink on the desk when Patrick was in the bathroom so he would pass out and wouldn’t be involved in any of what was about to unfold.’
Grace shuddered. The idea of Quentin creeping around your house without your knowledge was a scary thought indeed. ‘So, he waited outside Patrick’s house for Jodie to show up?’
‘His plan was to take her unawares but he made a noise as he approached and gave himself away. Jodie didn’t stop to look at what was making the noise; clearly on edge, she just made a run for it. While she was running, in some desperation, that’s when she must have come up with the idea to call the radio station and out Cynthia. She may even have planned to play the recording she’d taken live on air when Randy called her back down by the river.’
‘So, when Jodie recognized her attacker, that was Quentin, and she recognized him from when he tried to bribe her?’
‘Yes, he tried to pay her off earlier in the evening in the hope that would be the end of the matter. But she wouldn’t hear him out.’
‘And the ssssssss sound. Jodie was trying to say Cynthia.’
‘I think so,’ said Kitt. ‘If she’d got another few syllables out Berkeley would still be with us and Cynthia would have been apprehended much sooner. In fact, if Randy had put her on air even a little bit sooner, poor Jodie would still be alive.’
‘So, after the outhouse, Quentin took Jodie to Cynthia’s house?’
‘Yes. Quentin missed his opportunity to stop Jodie before she called the radio station and that phone call meant the police were alerted to the fact that something was going on.’
‘By the time Quentin took Jodie to Cynthia’s house there must have been a full-scale police investigation in operation focusing on her disappearance.’
‘Correct, so they both knew they were in trouble and had to find a way of dealing with the mess they’d created.’
‘So, what? Cynthia just panicked and killed her?’
‘Not quite. They tried to reason with Jodie first. They tried to get her to agree to a story about her falling into the river and waking up unconscious further downstream. They said that if she went along with their story and deleted the recording of Cynthia confessing to bribing Berkeley, they could just all forget about this and move on.’
‘But Jodie was better than that and wouldn’t give in.’
‘Yes. Cynthia started to really panic about what Patrick would think about her; she thought she’d lose him for good, so she and Jodie ended up getting into a struggle. Cynthia hit Jodie over the head with a vase, she fell backwards and cracked her head on the stone fireplace. And that was it. They kept her body hidden inside until nightfall and then buried her in the garage when they were sure the neighbours wouldn’t be awake to notice anything.’
Grace shook her head. ‘It’s all so needless.’
‘I know. We can’t change what’s happened in the past, I’m afraid, only bring the truth to light and try and find comfort in whatever justice is served.’
Tears started to slip down Grace’s cheeks and she opened her mouth to speak a couple of times before actually managing to get the next sentence out. ‘There’s something I have to tell you.’
‘I’m listening.’
‘I’m sorry, I’m not dismissin
g what we’ve done all these years. I loved working at the library with you, helping people discover new things about the world and themselves. But I wanted you to be the first to know: I dropped out of the library studies course at the academy. Given the circumstances, the academy have agreed to refund the tuition fees.’
Kitt looked at Grace for a long moment. ‘I already know you dropped out of the academy, Grace. The acting dean is an old friend of mine. I called to discuss Lowenthal with her, and to make sure you and Patrick were granted the appropriate compassionate leave from your studies after all that had happened. That’s when she told me you’d left the course.’
‘Oh . . . I’m sorry you found out like that, I had to. I just . . . I can’t do that any more. If I had my choice of anything I could do just for the sake of being happy I’d be a librarian. It’s not an easy job but it’s so rewarding. Working with you in the women’s studies section is the happiest I’ve ever been. That’s why I applied for the course at the academy.’
‘But . . .’ Kitt prompted.
‘But when things like this are happening, I think I need to do more than just look after my own happiness. I need to be out there doing something to make sure that nobody else ends up like Jodie.’
‘You don’t have to apologize to me. I can’t blame you for deciding you don’t want to stay there for another three years after all that’s happened in the first six weeks. And seeing what happened to Jodie, it’s understandable that you’d want to choose a slightly different track. Have you made any decisions about what you might do next?’
Grace jerked her head to one side. ‘You sound like Mum. I only dropped out two days ago. Give me a chance, eh?’
Kitt smiled. ‘What if I don’t want to give you a chance? What if I want to make you an offer before someone else snaps you up?’
Grace frowned and dried her tears. ‘What kind of an offer?’
Smiling, Kitt pulled a black rectangular box out of her satchel and handed it to Grace.
‘What’s this?’
‘Open it and see.’
‘It’s not Gwyneth Paltrow’s head, is it?’
‘Why would it be Gwyneth Paltrow’s head? It’s much too small for that, for a start.’
Grace suddenly got a flash of how Kitt felt whenever she didn’t get one of her many book references. ‘Never mind.’
She gave the box a dubious look and lifted the lid, wondering if something vile or startling was going to leap out at her. After all the pranks she had played on Kitt over the last three years of working together, she understood revenge was well overdue, but surely now was not the time? Thankfully, it seemed, her friend and former boss wasn’t in a vengeful mood.
Inside the box, Grace found a stack of business cards. They had her name printed on them and an address for a small office space that, by the postcode, looked as though it was situated just outside the city walls, just beyond Walmgate Bar. The most striking and exciting element, however, was the business name written in embossed gold font at the top of the card.
‘Hartley and Edwards Investigations,’ Grace said, barely able to believe her eyes. ‘Are you serious?’
‘I’m very serious. What else would you expect from a prim librarian?’ Kitt said, with a twinkle in her eyes.
Grace had the decency to look shamefaced for a split second but then excitement overtook her again. ‘What’s the deal? Will I be your assistant?’
‘To begin with, but with training I expect you to become a full partner in the business. That is, if you’re interested.’
‘Yes, of course I’m interested! Although,’ Grace said, the cheeky smile returning to her face for the first time since she was held at knifepoint, ‘if that does happen, we should probably change the business name to Edwards and Hartley – it’s got a better ring to it, don’t you agree?’
‘No,’ Kitt said, ‘but if you feel strongly about it by the time you’re qualified you can hand in your notice and form your own rival investigation agency.’
‘I won’t rule it out but it will take a lot more effort to play tricks and jokes on you so I’m not convinced it will pan out.’
Kitt chuckled and Grace joined in.
‘Wait, does this mean you’re giving up the library too? You can’t leave that place. How will it survive without you?’
‘Sometimes I think you don’t know me at all. Of course I’m not going to give up the library. I’m like a stick of rock, chop me in half and I’d have librarian written all the way through. I’m just reducing to part-time hours – two days a week. Unlike some, I can’t so easily kiss the thing I love most in the world goodbye.’
‘Better not tell Halloran that,’ Grace said with a giggle.
‘I see you haven’t lost your sense of humour through all this,’ said Kitt.
‘How could I when the half-year anniversary of Arch Streaking Day is a mere one hundred and seventy days away?’
Kitt sighed.
‘Thanks for this. It’s what I need right now.’
‘I think that makes two of us,’ Kitt said.
Grace leaned in and gave Kitt a hug and smiled as her friend returned the gesture. ‘Want to see your new office then?’ Kitt said.
‘Oh yes!’ Grace said, jumping up.
The pair of them set off in the direction of Walmgate. Despite Kitt’s kind offer of employment, Grace still wasn’t as sure as she wished she could be about what the future held. But wasn’t that true for everyone when it came down to it? Nobody really knew what was around the next corner: whether their plans would come together, or, as in the case of Jodie, whether they’d be cut unexpectedly short. Perhaps the best thing to do was just to keep moving forward despite the not knowing, just like Kitt said, taking one step and one breath at a time.
Acknowledgements
Heartfelt thanks to Hazel Nicholson who continues to provide such wonderful feedback on police procedure for this series. Her observations usually throw a spanner in the works for my characters, which of course only leads to a more interesting story.
Thank you to my agent Joanna Swainson who is a truly nurturing presence in my writing career. Thank you also to Quercus Books for deciding to publish yet more instalments of the series and to my editor Stef Bierwerth whose comments and suggestions have undoubtedly helped this latest story to flourish.
Gratitude as ever to family and friends who do not hear from me for long spells when I’m on deadline for the latest book, but still have the good grace to pick up the phone to me when I eventually get time to call.
And thank you to my husband Jo, who so enthusiastically endures so many countless conversations about my characters and the situations they manage to talk themselves into. Without such support, I’m not convinced these books would exist.
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Contents
Cover Page
Title Page
Copyright Page
Also by Helen Cox
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Cha
pter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Acknowledgements
Cover
Table of Contents
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