Crimesight

by Joy Ellis

  Kate sipped her coffee, and looked at him over the rim of her mug. Jon was a very hard man to tell off. ‘Okay, so now I can say “well done”. You’ve found the one thing we needed to tie that scum-bag druggie, Cullen Payne to young Jamie’s death. Forensic have confirmed that the blade still has blood evidence on it and in his hurry to get rid of it, Payne didn’t even clean off his prints. Everything fits into place now. Even the CPS will have to admit that we have tied this one up tight enough to hang the bastard.’

  ‘But sadly not literally.’ Jon slipped two paracetamol from his pocket, popped them out of the foil and swallowed them with a gulp of coffee. ‘Poor little devil. Talk about being in the wrong place at the wrong time.’

  Kate nodded and a great surge of sadness welled up inside her.

  ‘Jamie Durham was the same age as your youngest son, wasn’t he?’

  Jon had an un-nerving knack of knowing exactly what she was thinking. ‘Just thirteen, yes. And although my Eddie has terrible problems with his OCD, I think Jamie’s learning difficulties must have made his short life a misery.’

  Kate had been the one to tell the Durham family that their boy had been murdered, and she had realised instantly that his miserable life not been because he was ill-treated or loveless. His family had done their best, but none of them were educated, they existed on the edge of the poverty line, and Jamie, the youngest of four, had suffered merciless bullying from the other children at his school.

  “He never understood why those horrible kids were so awful to him.” Jamie’s mother had sat on a sofa that had sagged so far down on its springs that Kate had wondered how she would ever get out of it. The woman clutched at a large men’s handkerchief in her chubby hands and rung it mercilessly as she spoke. “So trusting, my Jamie. Wouldn’t hurt a fly, and look what’s happened. It’s not fair! With all those terrible people out there, why did someone have to take my angel?”

  Kate had silently agreed that it wasn’t fair. Jamie had only been looking for his sister’s missing pet dog. When their father had told the boys not to come back until they’d found it; Jamie had taken him seriously. At ten at night he was still walking the lanes where he used to exercise the little Jack Russell. At the boathouse he didn’t find the dog, but he did find a drug addict clawing at the walls for want of a fix. Cullen Payne didn’t know Jamie had the mental age of a seven year old, and being half off his head, Payne mistook the lad’s innocent remarks for his taking the piss. He also didn’t believe Jamie when he said that he had no money on him. By the time he realised that the boy had been telling the truth, Jamie was bleeding to death.

  ‘I still can’t make head or tail of what Jamie said to the paramedic who worked on him.’ Jon’s face was creased into a deep frown.

  ‘The child was dying, Jon. His brain was probably starved of oxygen by that time. What he said probably meant nothing.’

  ‘I think it did.’ Jon stared into his coffee.

  ‘You actually believe that someone else saw him lying there after he’d been attacked? And did nothing to help him?’ Over the years Kate had seen the very worst of human nature, but even she couldn’t believe that scenario. ‘Even if whoever it was didn’t want to be identified, they could have rung 999 anonymously. His brothers didn’t find him until almost an hour after he’d been stabbed, if he’d been found sooner, he just may….’ She left the sentence unfinished.

  ‘Don’t go there, ma’am.’ Jon looked at her seriously. ‘Dangerous ground. But all the same, I do think he saw someone, although the part about hearing angels singing, well…?’ He shrugged. ‘Maybe you’re right. The poor kid was bleeding out by that time.’ He placed his empty mug on a coaster on her desk. ‘So, apart from hours of mind-numbing paperwork, the case is now closed.’

  ‘Aren’t you forgetting one other tiny little point?

  Jon sighed. ‘Oh yeah, the usual problem of how do we explain how I found the knife?’

  ‘Exactly. And we need to get on top of that little conundrum pretty smart-ish, before someone in high places starts asking questions for which I have no answers.’ Kate frowned. ‘Any ideas?’

  ‘We need something convincing, something that we haven’t used before.’ Jon grimaced. ‘Mm, tough one.’

  Kate nibbled on her thumb nail, and tried to concentrate. ‘Hell! My mind is all over the place this morning. I can’t think straight.’

  ‘Me too.’ agreed Jon with feeling.

  ‘Ah! Sod it! I’m sorry I forgot to ask you how it went with your parents yesterday.’

  ‘Okay, I guess. It’s never easy. My mother is very sensitive,’ he paused. ‘Not quite like me, but she has something verging on clairvoyance.’

  ‘It must have been a long time ago, your sister’s death? And she’s still badly affected by it?’ Kate wanted to ask more, but hesitated.

  After a moment, Jon said, ‘We all felt responsible, even though it came out later that there was a hereditary flaw, a tendency towards self-harm.’ He looked at Kate. ‘But even knowing that Isabel was born on a road to destruction did nothing to help. Because..,’ Jon searched for words and didn’t find them ‘Another time, maybe.’ He forced a grin. ‘Right now, we need an excuse for the Super, remember?’

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  For Kate, the rest of the day was a never-ending blur of report writing and meetings, and it wasn’t until around four o’clock that she remembered that she and David had some problems of their own to sort out.

  With a heavy heart, she allowed her self to forget work for a moment, and consider what she was going to say to her husband. It was a double-edged sword; she loved him and the boys with all her heart, but she also loved her job with a rare passion. And even she realised that that put incredible strain on their relationship.

  ‘You look all in.’

  Kate had been so deep in thought that she hadn’t heard Jon enter her office. ‘Yeah,’ she stretched and sighed. ‘I think the little grey cells are going into melt down with all this paperwork.’

  Jon gave her a knowing smile. ‘I’m willing to bet that long face has nothing to do with paperwork.’ He sat opposite her. ‘What’s wrong?’

  ‘Just be grateful that you are un-attached,’ she said with a humourless laugh. ‘This evening I have to endure yet another in-house discussion regarding David’s role as house husband. And I’m not exactly looking forward to it.’ She glanced at Jon’s face and saw a strange expression there. It had appeared as soon as she mentioned him being single, and there was still a hint of it even now. A sadness? Regret? What else didn’t she know about Sergeant Jon Summerhill?

  ‘I’m guessing he wants to go back to work?’ The odd look vanished, and once again Jon seemed only interested in her.

  ‘I thought we’d sorted it, but clearly I was wrong. David thinks it’s time for the whole house-husband thing to be scaled down.’ Kate pulled an exasperated face. ‘And I don’t blame him, but…,’ she shrugged. ‘…basically we disagree on how and when we should allow the boys to fend for themselves.’

  Jon screwed up his brow, ‘So Marcus is fourteen and a half now, and Eddie is eighteen months younger?’

  Kate nodded. ‘And I don’t think that either of them is ready to have their stability taken away. Especially Eddie.’ She thought about her lovely, messed up son, who had spent most of his young life battling with OCD, and her heart lurched. For all the occasions when she had berated herself about trying to juggle being a mother and holding down a high powered job, the thought of Eddie made everything worthwhile.

  ‘How’s he doing? You told me that he joined an on-line chat group for kids.’ Jon sat back in the chair.

  ‘Eddie’s good. The group really helps, but since he started Cognitive Behavioural Therapy his school work has improved no end, and the SSRI medication is really suiting him. Another reason why I don’t want to upset the status quo.’

  ‘I can understand that.’ He raised an eyebrow at her. ‘But maybe you could compromise? Perhaps you could talk David into seei
ng you through to the Shauna Kelly investigation, and then you re-negotiate? Maybe suggest he goes part-time for a while? Would he consider that, do you think?’

  Kate nodded slowly. ‘His old company have already approached him with that in mind. I suppose that could be the answer, once this case is put to bed.’ And when would that be she wondered. At this point they didn’t even know for certain if they had a case, but if Shauna had been murdered, Marcus could be planning his gap year by the time she got her cuffs out. ‘It’s certainly worth a thought. Maybe I’ll put it to David tonight.’ She straightened up. ‘But enough of my petty domestic dramas.’

  ‘They aren’t petty, ma’am. I’ve known far too many relationships buckle because of the police force. Not many people get the balance right.’

  ‘True.’ She could name a bucketful of broken marriages and she did not want to become one of them. ‘Well, I’ll give tonight my best shot, although I may need a very large glass of wine to accomplish that task without losing it.’

  ‘Whatever it takes. Just make it work.’ There was urgency in his voice, and a wistful hint of something lost.

  Kate said nothing but secretly wondered if it were connected to the strange look of sadness when she had said he was un-attached. It was certainly nothing that he’d ever spoken of before, but whatever it was, it seemed to make him determined that she didn’t cock her life up.

  ‘Thing is..,’ he continued’ ‘I reckon we coppers get things out of perspective, because of what we do and what we deal with, we forget that there’s another world out there, one full of love and fun and spontaneity. Don’t lose sight of that, just because of this job. We’ll still be around long after the Force has retired us to the scrap heap.’

  ‘And when did you turn into the Dali Lama?’ Her eyes were wide.

  He gave a short bark of laughter and broke the moment. ‘Sorry. I just know how driven you can be, but you do have another little world back in the Old Police House in Saltpan Village, and it’s equally as important as all this.’ He looked at her and the intensity returned to his eyes. ‘I believe that it’s the breakdown of family units that causes most of the misery that we see. Even things like that massacre on Dovegate Lane.’

  ‘Jon! For heaven’s sake! I’m going home for a hot supper, a glass of wine and a heart to heart with my husband! Even if it all goes tits up, I’m not going to take a machete to my family and bury them in the cellar!’ She pulled a face. ‘Even though I do have a very suitable and more than adequate cellar.’

  ‘Sorry!’ He held up his hands in mock surrender. ‘Sermon over! I promise to shut up.’

  Kate stood up. ‘Please do, and in return, I’ll stop whinging. Bargain?’

  ‘Bargain.

  ‘Right, now why don’t you get away early tonight? Tomorrow we should know if we have a new murder investigation or not.’

  ‘Maybe I will for once..,’ Jon got up and ambled to the door. ‘…because whatever transpires, we still have a difficult case. Shauna’s death is undoubtedly suspicious until we prove or disprove it otherwise.’ He stopped mid-stride. ‘Hey, I forgot.’ He grinned at her. ‘Did the super buy your explanation about the finding of Jamie Durham’s murder weapon?’

  Kate raised her eyebrows high. ‘Not in a month of Sundays! But short of accusing me of planting it personally, she’s had to accept it. Even if she did make a caustic comment that our team has the luck of the devil, or maybe we own a crystal ball?’

  ‘Mm, close.’ Jon chuckled. ‘But we won’t be able to use the rambler with the missing cocker spaniel again, will we?’

  ‘Dead right. And I’m running out of excuses.’

  ‘Ma-am?’

  Kate looked up and saw Rosie McElderry striding towards her.

  ‘Uniform has got a match on the man in the CCTV footage, the one talking to Shauna Kelly.’

  Both she and Jon stopped in their tracks. ‘Who is he? Do we know him?’

  ‘His name is Asher Leyton. He’s not actually known to us, but he has been warned a couple of times for curb-crawling.’ Rosie said thoughtfully. ‘Which doesn’t bode well, does it?’

  No, thought Kate. It doesn’t. The next step up from hassling women on the street, was taking them away. ‘Have they got an address for him, Rosie?’

  ‘Yes, Guv.’ The detective stared at the memo. ‘Granary Court on Norfolk Street. The Garden Flat. Posh pad for a pervert.’

  With a glance at her watch and a brief thought for her impending talk with David, Kate said, ‘Cancel that early night, sergeant. I think we should go and have a word with Mr Asher Leyton, don’t you?’

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  The door to the Garden Flat was opened by a petite young woman with long wavy blonde hair and beautifully made up eyes. She wore tight, skinny jeans with a cream cowl neck top and a wide studded leather belt. Kate was immediately reminded of a poster of Hannah Montana that Eddie used to have hanging inside his wardrobe door.

  ‘Asher?’ The eyes became even larger. ‘I’m so sorry..,’ she stared with surprise at Kate’s warrant card. ‘...uh, Chief Inspector, he’s not here.’

  ‘When do you expect him back, Miss?’ asked Jon.

  The girl smiled, and treated them to the results of a fortune spent on top quality orthodontic work. ‘Not until late, I’m afraid. He’s working until around ten o’clock.’

  Kate, dazzled by the whiter than white teeth, tried not to squint. ‘And you are?’ she asked.

  ‘Lynda. Lynda Cowley, I’m Asher’s fiancée.’ Her smile faded. ‘He’s alright, isn’t he? I mean he’s not been in an accident or anything?’

  Jon gave her a reassuring grin. ‘No, it’s nothing like that, Miss Cowley. We just need a word with him. Maybe you could tell us where he works, or give us his mobile phone number?’

  The girl still looked worried. ‘He works for a company on George Street, Hanson and Co, but he won’t be there. He’s at a client dinner tonight, and he switches his mobile off.’

  ‘Do you know where this dinner is taking place?’ Kate was feeling slightly twitchy about his being so conveniently out of contact.

  The girl shook her head slowly, and the long blonde hair swung gently from side to side like a TV advert for shampoo. ‘He didn’t say.’

  Client dinner my arse, thought Kate, recalling Asher Leyton’s penchants for a little late night curb crawling. ‘Well, please give him this.’ She handed the girl her card. ‘Get him to ring me the moment he returns, Miss Cowley, no matter how late, okay?’ As she said those words she was reminded of her impending talk with David. Yet another call about work could seriously damage her barely conceived game plan. ‘On second thoughts, get him to ring me first thing in the morning. It will keep until then.’

  ‘Can I tell him what it’s about, Chief Inspector? I know he’ll worry if I tell him the police want to talk to him.’

  Oh, I’m sure he will, she thought darkly. ‘We need to speak to anyone who may have been on Brewer Street a few evening ago, that’s all.’

  ‘Brewer Street is directly opposite George Street, where Asher works, isn’t it?’

  Jon nodded.

  Lynda Cowley looked somewhat relieved. ‘I’ll give him your message.’

  As they walked back to the car, Kate said, ‘Just how gullible do you think one person can be?’

  ‘About as gullible as that I should say.’ Jon shook his head. ‘Poor kid.’

  ‘She only looked about sixteen. How old do think she really is?’

  ‘Probably closer to twenty, ma’am, maybe even older. I think she’s another Rosie, appearing much younger than she really is.’

  ‘Mm, probably.’ Kate frowned. ‘I saw you looking around, looking past her and into the hall. What was bothering you?’

  ‘I saw something.’ Jon opened the car door and slid in behind the wheel. ‘Just for a moment and it was gone, but it wasn’t very nice.’

  ‘What sort of something?’

  He turned the key in the ignition. ‘Just something dark and unplea
sant.’ He gave a little shiver. ‘I was glad she didn’t invite us in.’

  ‘I don’t like the sound of that.’ Kate buckled up. ‘Maybe I should go back alone tomorrow?’

  ‘No way.’ Jon said quickly. ‘I go with you, no argument, okay?’

  Kate shrugged. ‘If you insist.’

  ‘I do. Absolutely.’ He sounded edgy, and Kate was pretty sure that whatever he had had seen had disturbed him more than he was letting on. But then he grinned at her and said, ‘Now, if I may suggest, ma’am, you start thinking big, pink, positive thoughts, and gear yourself up for your soiree. I, on the other hand, am going home for a large glass of something that’s at least 100% proof, and a long soak in the bath. I think we are going to be very busy over the next few days.’

  Kate awoke around two in the morning and found herself gripped by anxiety. A horrible nervousness clung to her, but she could not recall having just broken away from a bad dream.

  She eased back closer to David, and felt his arms automatically tighten around her. Earlier they had made love for the first time in a very long while. Maybe it had been the wine, but most likely it had been Jon’s thought-provoking words still in the back of her mind, that had allowed the evening to progress as it did.

  She and David had talked for hours. All their concerns and grievances had poured out, and instead of finishing up yelling at each other as they normally did, they just talked some more.

  When Kate finally went to sleep she had her husband’s promise that he would see her through her present workload, and then it would be his time. He had said he was considering a slow move back into the workplace, one that left plenty of time for the boys, and Kate said that when the time came she would not object. Well, that was the plan, and she prayed that this time it would work. The problem was they’d made up before so many times before. Sworn solemn oaths, that had been conveniently forgotten when another disaster had hit their fragile family. But, as she felt his warmth against her skin she had to admit that it did feel different this time. Maybe as they were getting older, they were getting wiser.