‘Apparently, and very attractive from what I’ve heard. Would you agree, Benny?’
He laughed grimly. ‘Seeing a body on a mortuary trolley is not the best place to make judgements like that. I used to try to imagine what they would have looked like full of life and vigour, but I gave that up years ago. This one? Yes I’d guess so . . . You’re teasing me, aren’t you?’
‘Would I ever? Anything else of interest? The shape of the wound to the head for instance?’
‘Something heavy with a blunt edge, I’d imagine. The cut is about three inches long and caused significant bleeding, but I can’t visualise what could have caused it. No doubt your forensic people will have some theories about that.’ He paused. ‘Oh, there was something else. She had a number of small tattoos that might help with identification. A butterfly in the small of her back, a flower on her left upper arm and a heart on her right wrist. Now, do you fancy a spot of lunch before you drive back? It’ll just be in the canteen, but you look as though you could do with a few minutes to relax. I know I could.’
* * *
‘How are you settling in, Rae?’
Barry Marsh had taken a mug of coffee across to the new member of the team. He placed it carefully among the piles of documents on the young DC’s desk.
‘I haven’t really had time to stop and think about it, sir,’ she answered. ‘It’s been non-stop since I arrived. But that isn’t a complaint. It’s actually been really good.’
‘That’s a murder investigation for you. A few hours each day to eat and sleep, then back to the grindstone.’
‘You’ve worked with the boss before?’
Marsh nodded. ‘This will be the third time. And I’m joining the team permanently from next month. Which really means from now on. If you’d said to me a year ago that I’d be second in command of a speciality murder and violent crime unit, I’d have laughed at you. But here I am, and here you are.’
‘Should I be worried?’
‘She’s fair-minded, if that’s what you mean. What you see is what you get. But don’t underestimate her. If you do, she’ll run rings around you. Don’t be taken in by that “I’m just an ordinary cop” act she puts on. She isn’t. She’s got an Oxford degree in law and a masters in criminal psychology on top of it. She’s probably got more brainpower than you and me combined. But she’s also got this very ordinary background, born to a teenage mother in a Bristol council flat.’ He looked down at his new assistant. ‘Not sure I should have told you that, but it’ll help you not to make wrong judgements about her. Please keep it to yourself.’
‘Sure thing, boss. But I’m glad you did.’
‘Rae, if anyone starts to create problems for you because of your background, bring it to me. I don’t want the DCI bothered by any distractions in the middle of this investigation. I’ll deal with anyone who makes trouble.’
‘I hope there won’t be any problems.’
‘So do I, but we’ve got to be realistic. Sooner or later someone is going to start stirring, and it’s better to be prepared. Where do you live, by the way?’
‘I’m renting a little place in Wool. It’s very convenient for getting to HQ. I’m not sure about the long term, though. If things go okay, I might consider buying a place.’
‘So you’ll drive down here each day while this investigation is ongoing?’
‘Yes. Not today though. The boss brought me down and is taking me back when she goes home.’
Marsh glanced at his watch. ‘We’re having a short briefing mid-afternoon after she gets back from seeing the pathologist. We didn’t have one this morning. Better get ready.’
* * *
‘Brian Shapiro,’ Sophie said, ‘might be an ex-cop from Portsmouth. From what Barry has discovered there was a uniformed cop matching his description who was sacked some five years ago. And the more I think about it, the more it worries me. That’s why I decided to move our two witnesses out of harm’s way. I want to double-check the details of his service record. That’s a job for you, Barry. Winkle out as much as you can about him. Jimmy, any progress on Derek?’
‘Nothing yet, ma’am. I can’t find a mention of anyone with his first name and fitting his description on any system that I’ve searched. That’s a bit odd in itself, though I haven’t finished yet.’
‘It’s bound to be difficult without a surname. Keep looking, Jimmy. I also want you to find out what Sarah Sheldon has been up to for the past year. According to her ex-husband she quit her job at the bank. But where did she go? Rosemary said she was working at a bank. Maybe it was a different one. Maybe she was lying and she was doing something else entirely. We need to know. It’s possible forensics have finished work on her laptop and it might give us some clues. Can you check up on that, Rae?’
Marsh looked at her quizzically. ‘Is there something I don’t know, ma’am?’
‘I know nothing more than you, leastways not yet. I just feel uneasy about it. It’s too complicated, Barry. I’m sure there’s a bigger picture here, and we’ve only stumbled across part of it.’ She paused, as if gathering her thoughts. ‘There is something else that’s bothering me. I checked with the hotel earlier and this man Renton did not reappear at all over the weekend. I asked them to keep the room untouched and locked if he didn’t return, so I really need to go and have a look. I’ll take Jimmy with me.’
* * *
The two detectives took the short, steep walk up to the High Street and the Ballard View Hotel. They took a key from the duty manager and went up to the room. It was along a narrow corridor on the top floor, off the back stairs. It was a single, small but with an en-suite bathroom. Sophie and the junior detective searched through the drawers and cupboards, all of which proved to be empty. Sophie stood in the middle of the room, frowning.
‘The problem is, Jimmy, that forensics are overloaded with my stuff already. If I ask them to sweep this room as well, I’m going to make myself the most unpopular senior officer on the force. And the chances are that they’ll find nothing. But If I don’t, we might miss something important and never know it. So what should I do?’
‘I don’t think it’s linked, ma’am. This room’s on the wrong floor and on the other side of the building from Mrs Sheldon’s. There’s nothing out of place. There’s not even anything in the waste bins, so what would be the point?’
Sophie looked at him and slowly nodded. ‘You’re right,’ she said. ‘Those bins are completely empty, aren’t they? Yet the room hasn’t been cleaned since he left. So whoever was in here took his rubbish with him. Curious, don’t you think? We’ll get the room checked.’
* * *
For the first time in months, Barry Marsh was feeling happy about his work. The spectre of redundancy had been looming over him like a thick fog and the uncertainty had been playing on his mind. He was relatively young, too young to be let go, but he’d worried about being moved somewhere he didn’t want to live. Now he was back to walking with a spring in his step. He greeted people with a cheery word. Goodness, he even whistled while shaving in the mornings. He had broken up with his long-time girlfriend, Sammie, and was alone. But at long last he felt valued again. DCI Allen’s words when she’d offered him the chance of becoming a permanent member of her team had meant more to him than she could possibly have imagined. He was determined not to let her down. That was why he was the first person in the incident room each morning and the last to leave at the end of the day, working longer hours than the DCI herself.
He stood in front of the incident board, looking over the images, names, locations and links, musing on the possible explanations for the set of circumstances they were investigating. The phone started ringing. He picked up the receiver and gave a curt greeting. He listened to the message in near-silence, and then went to Sophie’s office.
‘Ma’am, we have confirmation of that message from this morning. Someone called Shapiro left the Hampshire force a couple of years ago. But there was also a rumour that he quit before he could be fir
ed. He was abusing vulnerable women. Ones that he’d met during investigations.’
‘And who is your contact exactly?’
‘It’s Gwen, ma’am. From Southampton. What she told me was unofficial, since we haven’t put in a request yet, but it’s probably saved us several days. She knew about it because he worked in her area for a while before transferring, and he was under a bit of a cloud even then.’
‘I didn’t realise you’d contacted her.’ Were her eyes beginning to sparkle? ‘Ah, I see. How long have you been seeing her, Barry? Not that I’m being nosey. Well yes, I am being nosey, aren’t I?’
He smiled weakly and rubbed his ear, a habit of his whenever he felt embarrassed. ‘We’re not an item. Not yet, anyway. We’ve only been out for one meal together, just last week. But we did talk on the phone late last night. That was when Gwen warned me Shapiro might be a former cop. It’s why I texted you early this morning. I hope I didn’t tell her too much.’
‘I doubt it, Barry. It wouldn’t be like you. And if it helps, I like her. I know we’ve only met once or twice, but she’s the kind of person I feel we can depend on.’ Sophie thought for a while. ‘It’s interesting, but it still doesn’t explain why Sarah was killed. Could she and Derek have been in some kind of relationship? There are a couple of other things we can check right now that might help us think. You phone the hotel and the B and B. Check how long the rooms were booked for. We assumed it was only for the weekend, but I don’t think we’ve confirmed it. I need to find the list from forensics of what Rosemary and Sarah had packed in their bags. Okay? Back here in five minutes.’
Marsh returned to Sophie’s office a few minutes later wearing a frown. ‘How did you know?’ he asked.
‘I didn’t. Guess would be more accurate. I remembered that something didn’t seem right when I saw the clothing lists, but it didn’t register at the time. You can see that Rosemary packed clothes for the weekend. The kind of things that I’d pack for a couple of days away. But Sarah’s list was more than twice as long, with enough clothes for a week. That could be explained if she were a clothes freak who always packed lots more stuff than she’d need. But I didn’t pick up that impression from Rosemary when she talked about their earlier weekend breaks. They both travelled fairly light. So, how long was the hotel room booked for?’
‘Until the end of the week.’
‘So the weekend would progress as normal, but on Sunday Sarah would have told Rosemary that she wasn’t returning to Portsmouth with her. And her room at the hotel was family-sized. I’ve been wondering about that, but it makes some kind of sense. She and Rosemary had a bed each, but there’s a double for her and Derek. But what was she up to? Was she juggling two men at the same time? Did they know? Did Derek tell Shapiro that he was staying on after the weekend? And who was the man called John Renton, who was in the hotel that night? Could he have known Sarah?’ She paused. ‘You know what might help us a bit, don’t you? If we could get more detail on Shapiro somehow, now we think he’s an ex-cop.’
‘I’ve already done it. I asked Gwen to get some facts sent through as soon as she could manage it, so it should be with us in the morning.’
‘Great stuff, Barry. I knew I’d made the right decision when I offered you the job. Now it’s really time to go. If I don’t there’ll be a good chance my dinner will be lying scorched in the bottom of the oven. Either that or Jade will be standing by the kitchen door ready to hurl it at me when I finally arrive home. Think yourself fortunate that you don’t have a teenage daughter who takes her role as Monday’s chef rather too seriously.’
‘You could always blame me, ma’am.’
Sophie laughed. ‘I intend to if it comes to that, don’t worry. She’ll forgive you things that she won’t let me get away with. Tell Rae I’ll be ready in five minutes, will you?’
* * *
In the late evening Rae was in her new home, a small flat in Wool, sipping a coffee. She thought her first day had gone well, and that she had fitted into the team of detectives better than she’d feared. Life had never been easy for her but she’d been so successful at keeping her inner anxieties and stresses hidden that no one knew of the shrieking chaos that often whirled around in her brain. Even her closest family members didn’t know. Most people could be themselves, happy in their own skin at least some of the time. But what if, like her, there had always been a deeply rooted mismatch between the external appearance and the internal sense of self? Well, it was all over now. Here she was, in the kind of role she’d always dreamed about. Now she was somewhere where she’d already been taken seriously, and had been given responsibilities by other professionals who didn’t seem to care about her background. The big boss, the DCI, had acted so naturally that it couldn’t possibly have been a façade. Even though Barry Marsh had been quiet, she’d gained the impression he was always so, and that he’d gone out of his way to be welcoming. She wouldn’t let them down. She switched on her stereo and inserted a disc. She sat and listened to a Mozart piano concerto. It was her late grandfather’s favourite music. In many ways he’d have been proud of her, she knew. He’d been a police officer for most of his working life, having joined up after leaving the army in 1946. But how would he have felt about her new life as a woman? She hoped that, like her parents, he’d have shown at least some understanding.
Rae finished her coffee and sank back into the chair, pondering on the current case. She thought about the weekend music festivals that she knew. One of her cousins played sax in a semi-professional jazz quartet and helped to organise an annual jazz festival in Bath. Would he have any insider knowledge? Would he be willing to speak to her? There was only one way to find out. She picked up the phone.
Chapter 8: Jazz
Tuesday morning
‘So who is he exactly?’ Sophie Allen turned from her position at the window. She’d been watching a ragged-looking crow as it struggled to land on the branch of a tree growing next to the police station car park. It was eight in the morning and she’d been gathering her thoughts ready for the early morning briefing when a tentative knock at her office door had preceded Rae’s head peeping around the frame. The story she related was not entirely welcome.
‘My cousin, Matt Rosewell. He’s a peripatetic music teacher. Clarinet and saxophone, but really he’d like to play jazz full-time. He’s in a small jazz band and helps to organise a local jazz festival in Bath.’
‘I’d have preferred it if you’d cleared it with me first, Rae, before contacting him.’
‘Sorry, ma’am. I realise that now, but last night I just felt that I wanted to make some headway and he was the obvious person to ask. I really wanted to . . .’
‘Impress me?’ Sophie suggested.
‘Well, I guess that was part of it, yes.’ Rae looked crestfallen.
‘So what did you learn?’
‘The organisers of most festivals are aware of the matchmaking that goes on. He said it would be hard to miss, even at jazz events. The stewards at the venues are told to look out for single women or small groups and try to ensure their safety. There have been a small number of assaults on women late at night, mainly when they’ve had too much to drink.’
‘But nothing at the level we’re investigating?’
‘He was aware of one possible assault but didn’t know the details. There were rumours two years ago that a woman had gone to a late night party in a hotel room and had been forced into group sex, but he couldn’t be sure how reliable the story was. That was when the stewards were told to be on the lookout.’
‘How much did you tell him?’
‘Nothing, ma’am. I didn’t mention the case or where I’m based. We spent most of the time chatting about me. I was very careful not to give anything away.’
Sophie sat down and rested her chin on her hands.
‘I’m paranoid about things leaking out to the press, Rae. I admire your initiative and your wish to impress Barry and myself. And I have to admit that you’ve uncovered something that
could be potentially useful so the gamble paid off, but in future please check with one of us first. People aren’t stupid, Rae, particularly teachers. I know because I’m married to one. Your cousin will be wondering about your query, I can guarantee it. If he reads the papers or watches the news he’ll have heard about the murder. It won’t take much for him to twig the real reason for your call. All he has to do is to talk to the wrong person and it gets to the press, and then I’ll have to go into damage-limitation mode, and I hate that.’ She paused. ‘I can see you’re puzzled. You’re asking yourself why I’m taking it this way when you found out something useful, aren’t you?’
Rae nodded.
‘Because in most queries like it, nothing useful results. So what, you’d probably say. Nothing lost. But tell me this, if your cousin hadn’t given you anything useful, would you have told me that you’d made the call to him?’
‘No, I suppose not. I wouldn’t have seen the point.’
‘So if a press question had come in from Bath about a police interest in Somerset jazz festivals as a result of your call to your cousin, I’d have been at a complete loss as to the reason. And me being me, I’d have tried to find out what had stirred their interest, and if I’d traced it back to you I’d have been so enraged at the time I’d have wasted that you’d have been out on your ear. Do you understand now?’
‘Yes, ma’am. I’m truly sorry.’
‘But as it happens, you’ve got a lead so you can run with it, once we’ve discussed it with the team.’ She paused. ‘Ignore that. On second thoughts I might take it myself. Normally I’d have left it to you, Rae, but I need to visit Bath in any case. But you can do the background for me. Find out what you can about this supposed assault, but do it through police channels, not your cousin. Well, not unless you fail to make any headway. And keep Barry or myself fully in the picture in future. Understand?’
‘Yes, ma’am.’
‘We’ll discuss it in half an hour with the team. So well done and not so well done, both at the same time. Get yourself a coffee and see what you can discover before then.’
SECRET CRIMES a gripping crime thriller full of suspense Page 9