Collide-O-Scope (Norfolk Coast Investigation Stories Book 1)

by Andrea Bramhall

  Gina paled. Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, oh shit. “Erm…I’m drunk.”

  Kate smiled. “Really?”

  “Yep. Definitely.”

  Kate chuckled and held up the broken glass. “Bin?”

  “I’ll take it.”

  “Oh no, we can’t have you drunk and in charge of broken glass. That’s a disaster waiting to happen. I might even have to write you up for that one.”

  Gina cocked her head to one side. “You’re taking the piss now.”

  Kate widened her eyes, a look of mock innocence on her face. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She nodded down the hallway. “Bin in the kitchen, right?” She started down the hall and Gina decided to just go with it. The damage was done. She could feel her cheeks burning. As Kate came back in the room Gina was hit by another round of spinny world. She reached out for the arm of the sofa, but Kate caught her first.

  “Careful there.” She helped her up and set her safely onto the sofa, before Gina could say a word.

  “So, Detective, what can I do you—” Gina frowned and tried again. “What can I for you—” She shook her head.

  Kate chuckled again. “Don’t worry, I’ll come back tomorrow and ask. If I can just ask one thing. It’ll be a yes or no answer.”

  “Yes.”

  Kate smiled at her and leaned forward on her knees. “Did Connie and Leah split up because Leah’s a drug addict?”

  Gina nodded.

  “Why didn’t you tell me earlier?”

  “Secret.”

  “Who’s secret? Leah’s?”

  “No. Connie’s.”

  “I don’t understand. Was Connie using drugs too?”

  “Connie was using drugs? Really?”

  Kate shook her head. “No, that’s what I’m asking.”

  Gina frowned. “What?” She couldn’t follow what Kate was asking of her, and she was terrified that she would say something to lead them to her daughter. Her head spun again as too many thoughts and emotions flew around. She could feel her heart pounding so fast and so hard, it reminded her of the sound a woodpecker makes, pecking against a tree. Rat-a-tat-tat. Like a machine gun going on and on in her chest.

  She held up her hand, determined to put it on her heart to slow down the escalating beat, but she couldn’t reach it. Instead, her chest seemed to get farther and farther away from her hand even as she moved it closer. How can that be? She could hear her own breathing. It was too fast. Far too fast. Like all she was doing was dragging air into her body without being able to expel anything and the oxygen was building up and fogging her brain even more than the Rioja had. She looked at Kate, her lovely green eyes had widened in alarm. Gina put her hand out to let her know everything was all right, but her fingers had locked into talon like claws. Stiff and unbending as she stared at them. Her vision tunnelled and everything blessedly shut down.

  * * *

  Kate caught Gina as she pitched forward on her way to the floor. She didn’t know what had triggered the panic attack, but she recognised one when she saw it. She cradled Gina’s head and held her fingers against the pulse point in her throat, glad that her heart beat was slowing down. Her breathing had returned to normal as soon as she had passed out and now all Kate had to figure out was what to do with the unconscious woman in her arms. She suspected her blackout would soon morph into a sleep that was going to last all night.

  She slipped her arms under Gina’s knees and tested her weight. Her working theory was that if she could at least get her laid on the sofa, she could find a blanket and let her sleep there. She’d called round to ask about Leah, and to check on Gina and see if she was completely honest. Now she was really glad she had. As she lifted, she found that she was able to get Gina onto the sofa quite easily, and she turned her on her side. She propped some cushions in front of her to stop her from rolling off. And just in case, she pulled the cushions off the other sofa and laid them on the floor as a crash mat. She looked around for a blanket or throw to cover her with, but couldn’t see anything suitable. She looked up at the ceiling and sighed.

  It took less than a minute to locate the master bedroom but she was unable to find anything but the duvet covering Gina’s bed, partly due to the fact that she didn’t want to go snooping through her cupboards and drawers. She was reluctant to invade Gina’s privacy. And Kate had long ago learned to follow her instincts.

  She folded the duvet up and walked back onto the landing. A young girl stood staring at her, silently watching, her eyes curious yet wary.

  “Who are you?”

  “I’m a policewoman.” The girl’s eyes widened and she clutched a stuffed bear to her chest. “Are you Sammy?”

  The girl nodded.

  “Good, your mum’s fallen asleep on the sofa, so I’m just going to cover her up with this.”

  “Is she okay?”

  “Yes, why?”

  “She never sleeps downstairs.”

  “Well, she had some wine and I think she’s upset about Connie, so she just fell asleep.”

  Tears rolled down Sammy’s cheeks and she disappeared back into her room, closing the door quietly behind her.

  “Looks like your mum isn’t the only one upset about Connie dying.” Kate stood at the top of the stairs, unsure whether or not to look in on the child, who was clearly crying, or leave her be. But now she was seriously starting to regret her decision to pop round on her way home from the station. I wish I’d picked up my own bottle of something after leaving the station. It was gone eight o’clock after all, but no. Instead, Sergeant Brannon’s got a case to solve on her own, if at all possible, and now she was staring at the door of a sobbing nine-year-old, while her mother was in a coma on the sofa. After admiring my arse. Fabulous plan, Kate. Fabulous.

  She stared at the door for a long time and wished Gina would wake up and come see to her daughter. “Shit.” She put the duvet over the banister and knocked on the door. “Sammy, can I come in?”

  She took the lack of response as a positive one and pushed open the door. It was dark, except for the tiny, blue LED on the front of a wall-mounted TV screen. Kate let her eyes adjust and found that it was more than enough to make out the large shapes in the room. She moved steadily towards the snuffling lump in the bed.

  “Connie was your friend too, huh?”

  Sammy cried harder and Kate pulled the girl into her arms.

  “It’s okay, kiddo. It’s okay.” She held her gently and sat down on the bed with her. “You want to talk about it?”

  Sammy shook her head.

  “That’s okay. It’s hard to lose someone you care about.” She pulled the covers over Sammy’s legs. “When I was little and got upset, my gran used to sing to me.” She chuckled. “But she wasn’t a very good singer, and I used to pretend to be asleep so she’d stop.”

  Sammy chuckled.

  “I know. Mean, huh?”

  “Little bit.”

  “Want me to sing to you?”

  “Do you sing like your gran?”

  “Worse.”

  Sammy laughed. “No, thanks.”

  “Okay. Want me to leave you alone?”

  Sammy gripped her harder and shook her head. “I don’t want to be alone.”

  Kate could feel the damp spot developing on her shirt as Sammy’s tears began to fall again. “No problem. I’ll just wait right here until you’re ready for me to go,” she said and rocked the girl until she fell asleep.

  Kate found herself wondering at the kind of woman Connie must have been. Besides Gina and Sammy, everyone else she’d met that day had been extremely negative about Connie. Most had called her a bitch or some equivalent. Even her ex-lover had had more than one negative thing to say about her. Yet here were the two nicest people she’d met, crying their hearts out over her loss. Grieving genuinely for the loss of their friend. It seemed Connie was one of those people you either loved or hated, with nothing in between.

  Kate tucked Sammy snugly under the covers and closed the do
or behind her. She gathered up the duvet and went back to the living room. Gina hadn’t moved. She unfolded the cover and spread it over the slumbering woman. The gorgeous, slumbering woman. The gorgeous, slumbering witness, her cop brain supplied. Yes, witness, not a suspect. She checked Gina’s pulse one last time and, satisfied that she was just sleeping, Kate sat down in the chair to keep an eye on the Temple girls. She couldn’t put into words why she felt the need to stay, she just knew she wouldn’t be able to rest if she left Gina in the state she was in.

  Maybe I can get some answers in the morning. She looked at the empty bottle of wine. Okay, maybe I can get some answers by lunchtime. She tucked her coat around her shoulders and closed her eyes.

  CHAPTER 7

  Gina wasn’t entirely sure how much money she had in the bank at that moment, but she’d gladly give every penny if someone would bring her a bucket of water. And shoot the elephant that was tap dancing on her head with a bad case of the farts. Farts that were making her feel more nauseated than she could ever remember feeling before. She opened her mouth to groan and realised the fart smell was actually something dead in her mouth. She couldn’t be sure, but the dead thing may have been her tongue. She turned over and bumped into a mound of something soft and squishy, and very unlike her bed. She cracked open one eye just a fraction—she knew that would be more than painful enough—and saw that, despite being covered in her duvet, she was actually snuggled up on her sofa.

  “What the hell?” A frog belched up from her throat. She sat up and looked around, hands holding her head to prevent it falling off, and saw Kate sleeping peacefully in the armchair across the room. Her leather jacket was tucked around her shoulders, pulled up under her chin.

  What the fuck happened? Gina racked her memory, but she couldn’t even remember Kate being in the house. She swung her legs gingerly off the couch and groaned pitifully. Kate stirred but didn’t wake. Gina watched, a smile crept onto her lips unbidden as she put together the pieces of the puzzle. Kate must have shown up and Gina passed out on her at some point. Christ she must have been worried about me to stay. How much did I drink anyway? She spied the empty bottle on the coffee table. She swallowed and hoped that Kate had at least helped her with some of it. Given how her head felt, though, she doubted it.

  She slowly eased her body off the couch and stumbled out of the room, bouncing from wall to wall down the hallway and into the kitchen. She grabbed a glass from the drainer and held it under the tap, then downed two glasses before she reached into the top cupboard for the small medicine box she kept out of the reach of little hands. She popped two pills out of the blister pack, swallowed them, then popped a third for good measure, hoping that her stomach didn’t reject them. There was nothing she hated more than throwing up. She filled the kettle and put it on to boil before downing another glass of water.

  “Good morning.”

  Gina put her hand to her chest as she whirled around and met the sleepy, slightly creased-looking Kate smiling at her gently.

  “Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.”

  “It’s okay.”

  “How are you doing this morning?”

  “Hung over.”

  “That all?”

  “Erm, yes. Why?”

  Kate tipped her head to the side and frowned slightly. “Don’t you remember what happened last night?”

  Gina stared at her. Oh shit, what happened? “Erm, no. I remember deciding to have a drink. I was upset about Connie, and I thought a glass would help me switch off a bit.”

  “A glass. By the time I got here, you’d gone through the whole bottle.”

  “Oh, God. No wonder I feel like I’m dead.” The kettle finished boiling. “Coffee?”

  “Please. Milk no sugar.”

  “Can you get the milk out of the fridge, please?”

  Kate handed her the bottle. “What else do you remember about last night?”

  Gina shook her head and regretted it. “Nothing. What did I do?”

  Kate took the coffees and put them on the table. “Well, you complimented my arse and had a panic attack.”

  “I what?”

  “You had a panic attack. Hyperventilating, the works. Then you passed out.”

  “I meant the other bit.”

  “Oh, right. Well, you broke a glass when I knocked and I bent down to pick it up. You seemed, erm, impressed.” Kate grinned, a sexy mixture of cocky and coy.

  “I’m sorry.”

  “What for?”

  “Well, by the sound of it, everything.”

  Kate flapped her hand to wave it away. “Don’t worry about it. I just didn’t want to leave you in that condition, and Sammy woke up at one point. She was upset too, so I didn’t feel comfortable just abandoning you both and heading home.”

  Christ, now she’ll think I’m a terrible mother, as well as a drunk and a flousy, practically throwing myself at her.

  “I’m sorry to have put you to so much trouble.”

  “No trouble. You’ve got a pretty comfy chair there. Trust me, I’ve had much worse nights.” She smiled. “Sammy’s a great kid. She seems to have taken Connie’s death really hard. They must have been close.”

  Gina shrugged. “Yes. Like I told you yesterday, Connie was my best friend. We spent time together, and Sammy really looked up to Connie.” She sighed. “Sammy seemed to respect that Connie never treated her like a child. She spoke to her like everyone else and Sammy really flourished under that.”

  “I’m sorry to be insensitive, but I have to ask. Was there anything more? Between you and Connie?”

  Gina stared at her. “Not like that, no. We were best friends. Closer maybe. I always thought of her as the big sister I never had. But there was nothing romantic between us, if that’s what you mean.”

  “I’m sorry, I had to ask.”

  “Why?”

  Kate shrugged. “I need to know everything I can about Connie’s life if I’m going to find out who killed her.”

  “Is that why you came round last night? To ask if I was having an affair with her?”

  “No, I came to ask you about Leah, actually.”

  Gina frowned. “What about her? I wasn’t having an affair with her either.”

  Kate chuckled. “I didn’t think that for even a second. When I went to visit her, there was drug paraphernalia visible. I couldn’t see any actual drugs, but I’m certain she’s a user. Is that why she and Connie split?”

  “Ultimately, yes, I believe it was. There was more to it than just that. But I think Leah’s refusal to get help, and her deterioration as she got more and more hooked was, I think, the straw that broke the camel’s back.”

  “Why didn’t you mention this when we spoke yesterday?”

  Gina looked at her for a long moment and tried to get her alcohol-soaked brain to work. She’d watched plenty of crime dramas and knew that the spouse or the ex was always the top of the suspect list. Add to that formula Leah’s drug use, her unreliability, and the threats that everyone would attest to having heard Leah make, she had to be looking pretty damn good for this right now. A few words and Gina could certainly help prod Kate along that direction. It wouldn’t be hard. She wouldn’t even have to make anything up. But could she live with herself if she did? What if Leah couldn’t prove it wasn’t her and she went to prison for the crime? A crime Leah didn’t commit.

  Could she live with that on her conscience? Could she do that to another human being? Could she do that to Leah? Yes, Leah was a junkie and time in prison might actually help her get off the drugs and sort herself out, but not if she went down for a murder she didn’t commit. Even if she wasn’t convicted, if she was the only suspect, how would that affect her life from here on out? Could Gina subject someone, anyone, to that?

  Sammy appeared in the doorway. “Mum, can I have a drink?”

  Gina held out and pulled her close when Sammy scooted in towards Gina’s body. She wrapped her arms around her and wished none of it was happening, but nothing was
more precious to her than the child in her arms. Nothing was going to separate them. She’d make sure Sammy wouldn’t make a mistake like this again. And it was an accident. A stupid, mindless, senseless, Matt-induced accident.

  “What do you want, baby?”

  “Milk, please.”

  “Okay. Then back upstairs, okay? I need to finish talking to Detective Brannon.”

  “Okay.”

  “How are you this morning, Sammy?” Kate asked.

  She shrugged and wiped her nose on her sleeve. “Fanks for last night.”

  “You’re very welcome, kiddo. I’m glad I could help.”

  Sammy got her drink and her feet echoed on the stairs as she made good her escape.

  “What happened with Sammy last night?”

  “I told you, she woke up.”

  Gina nodded.

  “She got really upset, so I cuddled her while she cried until she fell back asleep.”

  “She cried with you?”

  “Erm, yes. Is that bad?”

  “No, no. It’s unusual. Sammy usually only cries with me.”

  “Oh, well, I think it was more about missing Connie than me.”

  Gina blinked. “I’m sure.” She sipped her coffee.

  “You haven’t answered my question.”

  “I’m sorry, what question?”

  Kate laughed gently. “I asked why you didn’t mention Leah’s drug use yesterday.”

  “Oh, right.” Now or never. Could she tell a lie to point the finger of suspicion elsewhere? Did she need to? Who in their right mind would actually conceive of the scenario that had happened? Child alone with a gun shooting at rabbits accidentally kills mother’s best friend. Who’d even think of it? Seriously? Did she really need to redirect suspicion?

  Then there was the lovely DS Brannon to consider. She was conscientious and tenacious, and all that other good cop stuff. Why else would she have slept in a chair last night to make sure they were both okay? So, could she lie to DS Brannon and deflect any possible attention that might come her way? Now or never, Gina. She shrugged.

  “It wasn’t something Connie had really spoken about, and I wasn’t one hundred percent. Most of what I know about that is through rumours around the village, if truth be told. I listened to them and put two and two together. It wasn’t until you told me that, that I knew I’d got four, rather than twenty-two. Do you know what I mean?” Never.