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

by Andrea Bramhall

“Rupert Sands has also instructed me to tell you that he’s docking your wages. I’d guess how much he docks them by is up to you at the moment.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, if you answer my questions right here, right now, then you can probably get back to work and he’ll only dock what you’ve skived.”

  “Or?”

  “Or you can refuse to answer my questions and I’ll take you to the station and decide how much time you’re going to spend down there. By which time, I doubt Rupert Sands will be in favour of continuing your employment, given his, well, charitable mood when we left him a few minutes ago.”

  “You fucking bitch.”

  “Me?” Kate pointed at her chest. “You shouldn’t shoot the messenger, Mr. Green. That’s not very nice. So the twenty-ninth of October, seven o’clock in the morning, where were you?”

  “Working.”

  “Not according to Edward Sands. He said you were almost half an hour late for the daily morning meeting and he had words with you over it. Remembered it very clearly, didn’t he, Detective Powers?”

  “Very clearly,” Tom said.

  “So where were you?”

  “I was with the kid.” He nodded in the direction of the house. “She stayed with me the night before and I was with her. She slept in and I was late.”

  “Bullshit.”

  Kate turned to see Gina standing in the doorway, her fists balled on her hips, her eyes red rimmed, but her cheeks flushed with anger. Green blanched as she stepped out of the house towards them.

  “Yes, I was. You know she stayed with me that night.”

  “She stayed at your house, but she did not over sleep, and she wasn’t with you at seven o’clock.”

  “She bloody was,” Green said, a hint of desperation in his voice.

  “No, she wasn’t, she was sat on her own, on the Coastal Path with your stupid fucking gun when Connie died. You weren’t with her. You told her that you were working at Top Wood and sent a nine-year-old off with a rifle to catch you something for dinner. You fucking idiot.”

  Green blanched. “That’s not true.”

  “Calling your own daughter a liar now, Matt? You’re pathetic.” Gina stared at him and Kate watched him squirm like a maggot on a hook.

  She wished she could enjoy the squirming some more but there was a story to get to the bottom of, and it seemed Gina hadn’t been as forthright with her as she’d thought. “What are you telling me, Miss Temple? Sammy shot Connie with his rifle?”

  Gina shook her head. “No. He gave her a .22. You said it was a bigger gun that killed Connie.”

  Kate nodded slowly. “So?”

  “Sammy was on the marsh when Connie died. She was trying to shoot him a bloody rabbit and thought she’d killed Connie.”

  “Is that why you got blind drunk and Sammy was so upset?”

  Gina nodded, her eyes pleading with Kate to understand.

  Kate did. “And you weren’t going to tell me.”

  Gina shook her head. “But then you were stuck in the sinking boat and got hypothermia and told me that she couldn’t have killed her with that gun.”

  “And you still didn’t tell me that she was there. That she’s a witness.”

  “I’m sorry,” Gina whispered.

  Kate didn’t say anything. She’d trusted her. She’d trusted her and almost from the very beginning she’d been hiding information, lying, misleading her.

  “Well, I guess I’ll just leave you to it,” Green said and tried to step around Kate.

  “I don’t think so, Mr. Green. You still haven’t answered my question. Instead you’ve given me two lies and a third about your daughter.” She didn’t take her eyes off Gina as she spoke to him. “You’re coming with me to the station. I need the gun he gave to Sammy, and you and she both need to give us a statement.”

  Gina nodded. “Of course. I’ll get them both now.” She ran into the house, apparently glad to be away from Kate.

  Kate turned back to Matt Green. “Get in the car.”

  He shook his head. “I haven’t done anything wrong. You can’t do this.”

  Kate tipped her head to the side. “Sweat’s beading on your top lip and it’s not exactly hot. Your cheeks are flushed, but the rest of your face has gone grey, Mr. Green. Your body is telling me that you’ve done something very wrong.” She opened the gate and pointed to the back seat. “Now you can either come voluntarily or I can arrest you. Either way, you’re going to the station.”

  Gina and Sammy stepped out of the door and she handed a long, thin something wrapped in a towel to Tom. The gun, presumably. Tom took it and carefully put it in the boot of his car. Gina ushered Sammy into the car while Matt Green shot her a withering look.

  “Now, Mr. Green.” Kate pulled open the back door to Tom’s car and waited. She didn’t have to wait long. He sauntered over and put a hand on the door frame, a valiant attempt at a cocky attitude now fixed in place. So that was how he wanted to play the game. She mentally sighed and counted to three before he grinned at her and winked.

  “I’m more than happy to help you with your enquiries, Detective.” He ducked into the car. She slammed it shut behind him and hoped the loud bang had deafened him. Well, a girl can dream, right?

  CHAPTER 19

  “Want me to interview her and the kid?” Tom asked quietly.

  Kate shook her head. “No, it’s fine.” She smiled at him as he pulled out onto the main road and headed back to Hunstanton. “I’ll send Stella a message. She’ll need to get things ready for when we arrive.”

  “Okay.”

  Kate pulled her phone from her pocket. Her text was brief and to the point. Stella’s reply matched. Kate glanced through the wing mirror and saw Gina right behind them. She’d seemed so scared. Kate gripped the handle above the passenger door so tight her knuckles turned white. She tried to put it into perspective. She went over each conversation they’d had as she tried to figure out how deep the lying and betrayal went. At their first meeting, Gina had been helpful, and there had been nothing that indicated she’d been anything less than 100 percent honest with her. The next time, she’d been drunk and in the morning she still hadn’t lied to her. She hadn’t told her about Sammy, but she hadn’t lied, and there had been no attempt to lead her in the wrong direction. Either she hadn’t figured out whom to try to blame, or she wasn’t going to try and pin it on someone else. Perhaps just hoping that it would remain unsolved. The next time they met, Kate had been in the houseboat, hypothermic, and let slip the information that cleared Sammy of any wrongdoing.

  Well, other than being out hunting rabbits at the age of nine. I should lock him up for that alone. Surely that’s reckless endangerment or something.

  “You’re quiet,” Tom said.

  “Thinking.”

  “About what the kid might have seen?”

  “And about locking him up for giving a child a gun and leaving her on her own.”

  “She knows what she’s doing with a rifle,” Green said from the back.

  “Clearly not or she wouldn’t have thought, for even a second, that she could have killed someone with that thing.” Kate looked at him through her mirror. “If nothing else I’ll make sure you never have unsupervised access to that child again, pal.”

  “You can’t do that. She’s my kid.”

  “Exactly. She’s a kid. Kids and guns are a very bad combination.”

  “I had a gun at her age.”

  “I rest my case.”

  “Bitch.”

  “Pillock.”

  “Come on now, kids. Let’s all try to play nice,” Tom said, trying to hide his smile.

  He indicated to the left, and pulled into the car park. Gina, right behind them, pulled in as well, and then she and Sammy climbed out of the car.

  Tom got out and opened the boot while Kate opened the door for Green.

  Stella, Jimmy, and Collier were all standing at the door waiting for them. Collier took the rifle and headed awa
y. Kate knew he was going to bag it and run it straight over to Kings Lynn for analysis. Although it wasn’t the gun that had killed Connie, who knew what else they might find. Stella ushered Green into one of the interview rooms, and Tom guided Sammy and Gina into the other before closing the doors on them all and reconvening with the others in the hallway.

  “How do you want to do this?” Stella asked.

  Kate squeezed the bridge of her nose. “One at a time. Two in the room, two watching. We’ll start with Gina and Sammy. I want to hear what the kid saw and didn’t see, and be clear about exactly how long Green needs to account for before I tackle him.”

  Tom nodded. “Who do you want with you?”

  Kate looked from one to the other. “Jimmy. I think he’ll be least threatening to the kid. Then, Tom, you and I can take Green. I want him to feel as threatened as possible.”

  “Right.” Tom grinned. “I look forward to it.”

  She pushed open the door and saw Sammy sitting next to Gina. Her face was grey, and her hands shook in her lap. Instantly, she felt sorry for the child. And protective. She understood why Gina had reacted as she had. She didn’t like it, but she understood.

  She crouched down beside Sammy and took hold of her hand. “You all right, kiddo?”

  Sammy looked at her. Her eyes were red rimmed, her nose running, and there was a smear of dirt across her cheek. Kate couldn’t help but smile at her a little. She was one of those kids who could get dirty just looking out of the window, and she just wanted to tell her that it would all be okay.

  “Now, I need you to know that you’re not in any trouble. I just need to know what happened, and what you saw.”

  “I’m not in trouble?”

  “Nope.”

  “But I’m going to jail.”

  Kate laughed. “No, you’re not. I promise. As long as you tell me the truth, all of it, then you won’t be going to jail.”

  Sammy let out a huge sigh. “Okay.” She held out her little finger. The nail was torn and jagged.

  Kate frowned.

  “Pinky swears.” She wiggled her finger.

  Kate hooked her little finger around Sammy’s, shook on it, and took a seat opposite her at the table. She pointed to the recorder on the table. “I need to tape all this to make sure I get it right. Is that okay with you?” Sammy looked at it and nodded, then Kate pointed to Jimmy behind her. “This is my friend Jimmy Powers. He’s going to listen too.”

  “Why?”

  “To double check the tape. Make sure we both get everything right.”

  Sammy scowled at her. “We pinky swore, that means you have to tell the truth too.”

  “It is the truth. There needs to be two of us to make sure we get everything right. But I suppose it’s also in case he thinks of a question I don’t.”

  Sammy seemed to think about it. “That makes sense, I guess.”

  “My boss thinks so.” Kate smiled and turned on the tape. “The time is seven-fifteen p.m. on Sunday, the first of November, twenty-fifteen, I’m Detective Sergeant Kate Brannon interviewing Samantha Temple and Georgina Temple. In the room is also Detective Constable James Powers. The purpose of this interview is to collect witness testimony from Samantha Temple, a minor. How old are you again, Sammy?”

  “Nine.”

  “Thank you. Her mother is present. So, Sammy, can you tell me what time you woke up on Thursday morning?”

  “Same as every day. Oh-dark-thirty.” She giggled. “Mum always says I get up too early.”

  “And what time is that?”

  “Five,” Gina said. “She wakes up at five in the morning, every single day.”

  “Ouch. Your mum’s right, kiddo. That is too early.”

  Sammy shrugged.

  “So what did you do then?”

  “I’d stayed at Dad’s house the night before, so I got up and dressed, then went to make breakfast.”

  “Where was your dad?”

  “Sleeping.”

  “What did you eat?”

  “Cereal.”

  “I like frosties best.”

  “Coco pops.”

  “Bunny poops.”

  “Ew.”

  Kate laughed. “So what time did your dad get up?”

  “Half past five. He said he had work to do at Top Wood, but he needed my help.”

  “And what did he want you to help him with?”

  “He was supposed to be scaring the birds off the fields, and he said I could kill two birds with one stone if I used his gun and tried to catch him a rabbit or something for his tea while I was scaring the geese off the fields.”

  “Had you done this with him before?”

  “What? Scared the geese?”

  “Yes.”

  “Well, yeah. We normally do it with rockets, though. We all have different places to go and let them off depending on where the geeses are.”

  “Do you normally do this on your own?”

  “Not normally.”

  “But you have done?”

  Sammy nodded.

  “For the purposes of the tape, Sammy nodded yes. What about the gun? Does he normally let you shoot his gun?”

  “Sometimes.”

  “On your own?”

  “No. This was the first time he let me on my own.”

  “Have you killed a rabbit before?”

  Sammy shook her head.

  “For the purposes of the tape, Sammy shook her head no.”

  “I don’t like killing fings. It was just ’cos he asked me to that I was gonna try.”

  “That’s okay, Sammy. Thank you.” She smiled and waited for Sammy to relax a little. “So what time did you and your dad leave the house?”

  “Erm, I think it was about six o’clock.” She scrunched up her face trying to remember. “No, it must have been before because the church bells rung six times while I was in my place waiting to scare the birds.”

  “The bells at Brandale Church?”

  “Yeps. I heard them ring six times and then I heard them ring seven times too.”

  “And you were on your own the whole time?”

  “Yeppers. Dad dropped me off at the trees and told me to find him a nice, big, fat one.”

  “So where did you go and wait?”

  “I went and waited against the fence at the bottom of Mrs. Webb’s garden.”

  “Where’s that?”

  “From the houseboat,” Gina said, “look towards the harbour. Mrs Webb’s garden is the first house along that side of the Coastal Path. She was sitting about twenty yards from the sign post at the junction.”

  “Thank you. So you didn’t go too far onto the path?”

  “No. It was dark, and the gun’s heavy.”

  “Yes, it is. So you sat there and waited. Can you tell me what you saw?”

  “Well, it was dark to start with.”

  “Yes, I’m sure it was.”

  “So I didn’t see very much. But then it started getting light and I could see some birds and some rats and a hedgehog.”

  “When it got lighter, where was the water?”

  “Everywhere.” Sammy’s eyes opened wide. “I normally sit on the edge of the path and dangle my feet over the marsh, but I couldn’t this time. The water was all there. Right up to the edge. That’s why I was against the fence. Mrs. Webb doesn’t like people on her fence.”

  “So the water was all around you already?”

  “Yep. All the little broken old boats were all floating. The fishing boats was out too. I could see the lights on them first and then I could make ’em out later. The Jean Rayner was over the mussel beds and everything.”

  “That must have been exciting?”

  “Well, I suppose.”

  “What else did you see?”

  “Well, I saw Connie and Merlin, of course. She’s always out in the morning taking her pictures.”

  “And you saw her that morning?”

  “Yep. She came out of the houseboat and her and Merlin started walking
away from me. Towards the sluice on the Norton side.”

  “You knew she used the houseboat?”

  “Yeah. ’Course. She used it for taking special photos, she said.”

  “Did she tell you what photos?”

  Sammy shook her head. “She just said it was a special project for Leah. Like a leaving present. She said she was going to help her whether she wanted her to or not.”

  Kate nodded. “Do you know what she meant by that?”

  “No. But she said it was mega important and a big special secret so I shouldn’t tell anyone.” Realising what she’d said she put her hand over her mouth.

  Kate smiled. “It’s okay. I’m sure she’d want you to tell me about it.”

  Sammy frowned. Obviously not convinced.

  “Did you see anyone else, Sammy? Maybe someone behind her?”

  Sammy shook her head. “No.”

  “No one coming from the opposite direction?”

  “No. Just her and Merlin. And me.”

  “Okay, so what happened next?”

  “I saw a big, fat, rabbit and I tried to shoot it.”

  “Did you miss?”

  Sammy nodded again. “I tried to remember everything Dad told me about shootin’, but I got excited and scared all at the same time and I closed my eyes when I pulled the trigger.” Tears welled in her eyes. “And then Connie was gone and Merlin was going mad.”

  “Did you go and see what happened to her?”

  “Yes,” Sammy whispered. “I thought I blewed her face off, but Mum said it wasn’t me and you said I wasn’t going to jail ’cos I didn’t do anything wrong.”

  “You’re not, kiddo. It wasn’t your fault. But this is very important. When you shot at the rabbit, did you hear anything else?”

  “Like what?”

  “Anything?”

  “I just heard my gun. It was right by my ear.”

  “Okay.”

  “It sounded like it was echoey, though. It was longer than I remembered it being when Dad showed me it.”

  “How do you mean?”

  “Well, instead of it going bang, it kind of went bang-ang.” She frowned, clearly not sure how to articulate what she’d heard.

  But Kate understood it all right. A second shot. No way could they have predicted that Sammy would have been firing at the same time, even if the shooter was her father. He’d sent her after rabbits. Coincidence? Surely, if he wanted her shot to be his cover, he’d have told her to fire at a certain time. Maybe to scare the geese. Scare the geese. I’m an idiot.