On the hall floor, a patch of flame was just catching hold. Rushing for a blanket from the airing cupboard, she threw it down the stairs with an immaculate aim, then followed it down, grabbing a fire extinguisher from the landing, one of two that the insurance company had insisted they install due to the remote situation of the property.
She grabbed the phone from the hall table, frantically tramping on the blanket, dialled 999 and put the phone on to speaker. She then let loose with the fire extinguisher, shouting to be heard from her position just by the front door, hoping to God that this was the only seat of the fire. If they’d set fires at other points around the house, she was toast.
Having requested the fire service and checked that the fire was all but out, she continued with the contents of the fire extinguisher, leaving the scene for a moment to fetch the one from the kitchen, along with a fire blanket from beside the cooker, only noticing when the danger was all but passed, that her feet were somewhat burnt and very tender.
A police car arrived on the heels of the fire service, and when the fire service had done everything they could, a man was left on guard, as the house could no longer be secured, and she asked to be taken to Olivia’s house. There was nowhere else she could think of going, and she didn’t want to lie in the dark knowing that the phone was sure to ring again any minute.
She could ring the insurance company in the morning and arrange for the work to be done and the house made secure. Making a note to check that Kenneth hadn’t blocked her access to the bank account, she suddenly realised she was shaking. What was happening to her well-ordered life? It seemed to have descended into chaos.
Olivia was very surprised to be awoken at such an hour, but readily accepted Lauren into the house, gave her yet another sleeping tablet, and immediately installed her in Hibbie’s still-vacant room. There was enough time in the morning to deal with whatever had happened, and neither of them would be served by losing the rest of the night’s sleep. She’d lost enough sleep over Ben’s crisis, without compounding her tiredness.
When the inspector got back to bed, her thoughts had firmly homed in on Ben. He had denied taking any drugs, but had insisted that he’d been given spiked drinks. She couldn’t really believe this, and was sure that he was so ashamed of what had happened that he just couldn’t take responsibility for it. Although his one-time friend had been banned from the house, she didn’t see him as a kid who would deliberately put drugs into his friend’s drink.
She thought it more than likely that Ben had taken them by choice, and then been terrified by the outcome and not been able to own up to his foolish actions. She’d have to get Hibbie to have a talk with him when she got home, Hibbie had always been able to influence Ben, and Olivia always thought that she seemed more mature despite being younger And where exactly was she? Surely it wasn’t anywhere near half term now? She had always allowed Hibbie more freedom because of her maturity, didn’t feel the need to check up on her all the time, and now it seemed as if her daughter didn’t want to confide in her at all.
She seemed to have taken a wrong turning with her kids, both of them. And she wasn’t sure where she’d gone wrong, but what with Ben’s overdose and Hibbie not wanting to be at home any more than she had to, something was wrong. Would it eventually cost her her job, or her relationship with her children?
She’d only spoken to her daughter a couple of times on her mobile since she’d been gone and she couldn’t’ remember exactly when Hibbie had embarked on this lengthy stay with a friend. What had happened to her relationship with her daughter that they’d drifted so far apart? She’d have to give her a ring tomorrow and see what was going on. What with all the uncharacteristically grisly murders in the town, she, too, was beginning to think that her life was spiralling out of control.
Breakfast proved to be a defining get-together, as Lauren disclosed details of exactly what had happened since she had got home the night before. Olivia told her that she had to stay with her for a while as it obviously wasn’t safe for her to go back to her own place. ‘You have to keep your distance until we determine whether this is just a scare campaign by Kenneth to punish you, or whether it has something to do with the current cases. You won’t be safe until we’ve got these murders wrapped up, and I can’t take the responsibility of letting you go back,’ she informed her sergeant forcefully.
‘I know, I know it’s nothing to do with you, but you have to wonder how his mind works. He’s already blamed you for being a bad wife. Is it beyond the realms of possibility that he might want to scare the wits out of you as his revenge?’
‘That’s all very well, but what if your daughter comes back soon?’ countered Lauren.
‘There’s always the spare room. Let’s just wait until your house is secure again, and then we can consider you going back, but with the house under surveillance, in case whoever it is has another go.’
‘You know there aren’t the resources to cover that.’
‘We’ll sort something out. And I must get in touch with Hibbie today. She’s been gone rather a long time and, what with Ben and everything else that’s going on, I’ve completely lost track of how long she’s been gone. I don’t know what’s come over her, she’s usually so reliable.’
‘And I’ve got schools and my parents to phone, not to mention the insurance company.’
‘Come on, we’ll go over to yours to collect whatever you need and your car, then we’ll take things from there. Oh, and collect your flute as well. If you’re staying here, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t have some fun at the same time.’
CHAPTER ELEVEN
The office was buzzing when they got in. The DNA results were through from Genni Lacey’s post-mortem, and the sample had been matched to Dennis Trussler. When they got in, one of the DCs shouted the name at Hardy, attracting her attention, but Lauren was more surprised to see the expression on Colin Redwood’s face. It had an expression of astonishment on it that she could not explain.
‘Right, troops,’ Hardy called. ‘We need Trussler in again for questioning. No doubt he’ll still have his brief hanging on to his shirt-tails, but we’ve got a forensic link to that poor girl now, and I think we have to drive it home. He’s definitely in the frame. All four of them are in this together, I know they are. All we have to do to Trussler is crack him, and point out to him that he doesn’t have to take all the blame.’
Teri Friend was dispatched along with the burly frame of Liam Shuttleworth to do the deed, and the whole office held its breath. If they could wrap it up, there would be kudos all round.
In the interim, Hardy decided to bring Lauren up to speed on Trussler, one of their regular customers. ‘He was always going to come to a bad end. He’s been in and out of prison and trouble with the police, as I told you before. As far as I know, he’s living with a woman called Mary Mackintosh and her two kids on the big council estate that sprawls over to the river.
‘He’s got a record of petty crime that would be quite impressive for a man twenty years older, and yet he’s so often got off with a clever brief or lack of corroborating evidence. He’s as slippery as an eel, and I’d really love to nail him once and for all. He’s pretty unpleasant, which I’m sure you’d agree from what you’ve seen already, and I’d throw a party if he was finally put away for a long time.’
‘What about the other three?’ asked Lauren.
‘We’ll leave them to stew. Trussler’s the obvious ringleader, and now we’ve got something definite on him. Very careless not to check that your rubber’s in one piece.’
‘Do you think he’ll talk?’
‘Eventually, if he thinks he’s going to get a deal out of it. He’s nobody’s fool, except, obviously, when it comes to his dick.’
But they were going to have to wait a while before they enjoyed Mr Trussler’s company. He had proved elusive when Friend and Shuttleworth had called at his house. Mary Mackintosh had even invited them in to take a look round the house to see if they could find
him. She said she had no idea where he was, but that she’d do for him when he got back. He’d left her without a penny in her purse, and she’d run out of fags.
‘The poor woman was just rummaging down the back of the settee when we arrived. I wish her luck with that. It was pretty grubby, and if she’s got kids, there could be anything down there,’ added Teri Friend. ‘Although it looked like he’d said goodbye with his fists. She had a bruised cheek and a split lip.’
‘What about that bloke found in the river?’ asked the sergeant, suddenly remembering the new victim with stomach-churning vividness, and blushing at the thought of her own bruising underneath the thick foundation she had adopted since Kenneth had landed her one. That sort of behaviour had nothing to do with class, and everything to do with an explosive nature.
‘Should be a report in later today.’ Hardy said, ‘I just hope he’s on the database. The chances are that he is, if he’s been wiped out by this lot. And it shouldn’t be too long before we get some forensic evidence back from that boatshed.’
Hardy and Groves went round to Trussler’s house, to see if they could either locate him or encourage any information out of his girlfriend. When the battered woman opened the door, letting the sounds of a couple of kids shouting against the noise of the television escape, Lauren had her second shock of the working day. She knew that face beneath the bruises; she just couldn’t work out where from.
They learnt nothing they didn’t already know, except for the fact that he’d said he’d got a ‘meet’ and wouldn’t be back till late the night before. ‘Never mind,’ said Hardy, as they left. ‘We’ll give him another tug ourselves later on. If nothing else, we can spur that girlfriend of his to get in touch with him to tell him that higher ranks are after him now.’
The afternoon was to prove busier than expected. Just after lunch Hardy and Groves left the station and headed for Trussler’s address to see if they could actually run the man to ground. Mary Mackintosh answered the door, and caused Lauren to stare at her face again, as she had done to a few other people lately.
‘May we have a word with Mr Trussler, please?’ asked Hardy.
Putting her hand to her split lip, Ms Mackintosh replied, ‘I haven’t seen him since yesterday, I told you earlier on. Nothing’s changed since then. If he’s gone after a bird, I’ll skin him alive. Me and my kids haven’t got anywhere else to go, so he needn’t think he can just throw us out and move in a new model.’
This sounded very much like the truth, and they would have to leave this until tomorrow now. They’d badgered the injured woman enough for one day. As they drove back to the station, however, Lauren said, ‘I’m sure I know that woman from somewhere. I know she’s got that facial bruising but even so, I’m sure I’ve seen her somewhere before.’
‘Any idea where?’ Hardy was anxious to get things sorted out.
‘Not at the moment. It may have been at my last station. I’ll have to put it on “search and retrieve”.’
‘What the hell’s that when it’s at home?’ asked Hardy.
Lauren began to bluster with embarrassment. ‘It’s just something I do with my brain. Promise you won’t make fun of me?’
Hardy promised, but with her fingers crossed out of sight.
‘If I concentrate very deeply and mutter the words “search and retrieve”, it seems like a little man in a brown coat goes off down the corridors of my memory, going through all the filing cabinets. Usually within a few hours, the answer comes to me. I can’t explain it – it’s just what happens.’
Thinking bonkers, Olivia nevertheless said, ‘If it works for you, don’t knock it.’
Later that afternoon, the latest edition of the local paper came out, and one was delivered to the inspector as soon as it had hit the streets. There must have been a ‘hold the front page’ moment, because the headline was Local Man Named in Multiple Murder Enquiry. Trussler was named in the accompanying article, and Hardy almost burst her boiler cursing and swearing.
‘How the bloody hell did they get Trussler’s name? It hasn’t been uttered outside this office, not to my knowledge. And how did they get all this other stuff, like it looks like he’s gone underground?’
‘It must have been his girlfriend,’ suggested Lauren.
‘My arse, it was the girlfriend. I could understand her going to a tabloid to get some extra fag money, but this local outfit can’t afford to pay for information. Anyway, we never told her why we wanted to talk to him. No, we’ve got a leak amongst our ranks: that’s the only explanation. There’s a mole here, and I intend to find out who it is.’
As she finished this dramatic statement the whole office fell silent. ‘Who’s missing?’
The answer turned out to be, only Colin Redwood, who was said to have been shut in the little office looking at CCTV footage since just after the start of the working day.
‘Check on that, will you?’ Hardy called to no one in particular, and began to pace to and fro restlessly, slamming the clenched fist of one hand into the other. ‘Whoever’s done this will be up before the super, and may God have mercy upon their soul. I wouldn’t fancy their chances of lasting in the Service. This leak could jeopardise our whole operation.
‘Wherever the man is, he’ll have it on his toes, now he knows that we’ve got something on him. Who would be stupid enough to give him a tip-off like that? I’ll have their guts for garters, before throwing them to Devenish.’
Her temper had barely cooled when they left the station and separated to go to their cars. By the time they left them, however, just outside the Hardys’ cottage, she had got herself more in control, much to Lauren’s relief. She’d rather spend the evening in an unsecured house than with Olivia in a filthy mood, she had decided, having recently suffered from Kenneth’s own foul temper.
The sight of Hal’s beaming face, though, cheered the DI, as usual, and her expression cleared like of storm clouds disappearing from the horizon. Hal had cooked up a roast dinner, and the three of them, along with a rather wan Ben, all sat down to eat in cheerful mood.
As the plates were cleared away, Olivia suddenly exclaimed, ‘Damn!’
‘What is it, my sunshine?’ asked Hal before Lauren could get her mouth open.
‘I haven’t been able to get an answer from Hibbie’s phone. I wanted to give her a ring because she’s been gone for so long. but I can’t actually pin down the date when she said she was going to spend with this friend. I don’t even know where her friend lives. I’m so distracted these days!’
‘Give her office landline a ring tomorrow. She ought to be in work, and while she can reject or ignore your calls on her mobile the landline should catch her. That way, you should be able to nail her down. And if that doesn’t work, I’ll drive over to her office and have a word, face to face,’ he said in a reassuring voice.
‘Dear Hal. You always have the answer for everything. I’ll stop worrying, then.’ Olivia was all smiles once more. ‘And Lauren and I are going to play our flutes again tonight,’ she informed the company at large.
‘Can I go to Eric’s?’ asked Ben. ‘You approve of him, and he only lives just down the road. I could go on my bike.’
‘And I’m playing at the club again, so that should work out to everybody’s satisfaction,’ finished Hal, who not only cleared the table but also loaded the dishwasher before he went out, his final task being to open a bottle of wine for ‘his girls’.
‘I’ll see you later,’ he called as he left.
Ben wasn’t long in following him out of the door and Olivia commented, ‘Rather them than me. It’s brass monkeys out there. I’d much rather be in here before a roaring fire, playing duets and drinking wine.’
‘Me too,’ seconded Lauren, putting her flute together and getting out the music stand that she now knew her boss kept behind the settee. Olivia disappeared over to the sideboard and came back with a box of dark chocolate mint wafers.
‘I get these in towards Christmas, but I can’t think of a bet
ter use for them than to cheer us two up,’ she said.
‘My favourites.’
‘Mine too. Let’s have another go at that jig to see if we’ve improved since last time.’
They hadn’t, and Olivia got out her small tape-recorder again. ‘Just to see if we’re making the same mistakes,’ she said, switching it on, but she really wanted them to record it again for added entertainment when they ran out of puff. Olivia knew well the sheer hilarity of sight reading being recorded, but only because she was a fairly inaccurate sight reader herself – and Lauren was her match. Even though Hal played his steel drums, he simply didn’t have the complexity of fingering needed to play the flute, and couldn’t really see why the two women found their enthusiastic ineptitude so funny.
In a break between two sections, Olivia asked her sergeant what was going to happen with Kenneth.
‘I’ve asked my solicitor to issue him with divorce papers. In fact, I got in first, because he was solicitor to us both, and now he won’t be able to act for Kenneth. That’ll really annoy him, having to find a new solicitor. I’m sure he won’t even try to contest it, because he’s taken Gerda with him and will be openly living with her on site, with all the company witnesses to their liaison.’
‘How do you feel about what’s happened, now it’s had a day or so to sink in?’
‘It was inevitable that we’d split up,’ Lauren replied, looking thoughtful for a moment. ‘Living at a distance for so much of the time had driven us apart, and we had nothing but the children in common anymore. It just so happens that Gerda was the catalyst. She’s only a reaction to the fact that we haven’t got the relationship we once had, and I expect he’ll drop her like a hot potato if anyone else more attractive comes along. Poor girl! I almost feel sorry for her now, just being his catspaw. And she’ll be abandoned far from home, without a friend to call her own.’
‘But you said the two of them had been carrying on for some time.’
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