Killer on the Run

by M A Comley

  “I can’t believe it ... now she and the baby are ...” Sonia withdrew her hand from Dawn’s to cover her face again, then bawled.

  “Please forgive me, Sonia. I was only abiding by Carmen’s wishes. Please don’t let us fall out about this.”

  Sonia released her hands and looked her friend in the eye. “I feel betrayed.”

  Kayli coughed and reached over to touch Sonia’s knee. “I know it must feel that way, but if Carmen asked Dawn to keep it a secret ...”

  “I’m not blaming Dawn. I would never do that. Sorry, just ignore me. Go on.” She plucked a tissue from the box sitting on the table and blew her nose.

  Kayli nodded. “Did anyone approach you girls during the night? You know, making a nuisance of themselves, perhaps?”

  Dawn frowned. “No. Not that I can recollect.”

  Sonia gasped. “You think someone followed her?”

  “We’re merely trying to form a picture in our minds at present,” Kayli said.

  “No. Nothing like that occurred. We had a genuinely nice evening, just the three of us,” Dawn replied.

  “And did you all leave at the same time?”

  “No. Sonia and I stayed behind to finish our drinks. I went out to the car park to see Carmen to her car and then returned to the pub.”

  “What time was that?”

  Dawn chewed her lip. “Around eleven, I suppose.”

  “I see, and do you remember seeing anyone else in the car park, acting suspicious?”

  “There was no one out there.” Dawn thought for a second then clarified, “Or if there was, I didn’t see them.”

  “That leads me to ask how Lincoln and Carmen’s relationship was. Were they happy? I got the impression that Lincoln didn’t know about the baby at the hospital, or if he did, he never mentioned it.”

  “Carmen hadn’t told him. That’s why I ran after her—to ask if she’d told Lincoln. She said she wanted him to get used to the idea of her promotion before she hit him with the news about the baby.”

  “Bloody hell, Lincoln didn’t know, either?” Sonia said, sounding mortified.

  “No. See? You weren’t the only one, love.” Dawn rubbed her friend’s hand.

  “Ouch, poor Lincoln. Their relationship was good apart from that one secret, though?” Kayli asked.

  Dawn shrugged. “Yes, I think Carmen would have told us if there had been any problems. Mind you, they had different shift patterns so rarely spent much time together. Maybe that was the secret of their success.”

  “Maybe you’re right,” Kayli said, her own situation coming to mind for an instant. “Could there have been another reason why Carmen hadn’t informed Lincoln of the pregnancy?”

  “I’m not with you,” Dawn said.

  “I appreciate they worked opposite shifts, but did Carmen ever mention that everything wasn’t as it seemed with their relationship?”

  Sonia clicked her fingers. “Hey, you remember a few weeks back? She said that she wasn’t sure if something was wrong with Lincoln. Wasn’t it around the time she told him she’d had her interview for the promotion?”

  “Yes, I remember, now that you’ve mentioned it. She said he was a little distant for some reason. When she asked what was wrong, he refused to tell her. He insisted everything was okay. Maybe deep down that’s why she hadn’t told him about the baby,” Dawn said, running a hand around her chin.

  Kayli looked over at Dave, who was jotting everything down in his notebook. “Interesting. Thanks for that. Do you know if everything was going well at work for Carmen, aside from her promotion, that is? Maybe she told you about a colleague showing interest in her that wasn’t reciprocated? Something along those lines?”

  Dawn shook her head. “Not that I can think of. What about you, Sonia?”

  “Nope, I can’t recall her ever mentioning her colleagues except in passing. I couldn’t tell you any of their names, anyway.”

  “All right, we’ll drop by to see her boss, make sure that really is the case. Again, she might not have shared with either of you if there was a problem at work.”

  “I hope it was an accident and your assumption is wrong. I’d hate to think someone deliberately had it in for Carmen,” Dawn said, shaking her head.

  “We don’t want to rule anything out at this early stage of the enquiry. Did Carmen have an ex-boyfriend?”

  “Apart from Wayne—she finished with him about eight years ago—there’s been no one except Lincoln.”

  “Wayne? Can you think of his surname?”

  Dawn thought it over for a second then nodded. “Nutkins, I believe. He no longer lives in this country. He moved to Australia ... come to think of it, that’s why they split up. He wanted her to go with him, but there was no way she would have left her family and friends. She was really close to her sister, Jacky. My God, does Jacky know?”

  “Yes. Lincoln called her to come to the hospital, and she was there when Carmen passed away.”

  “I’m glad she wasn’t alone at the end,” Sonia said, dabbing at her red eyes.

  “Me too,” Dawn agreed.

  “Okay, ladies. I think we’ve taken up enough of your time now. We’re sorry that we had to meet under such dire circumstances and really do appreciate the information you have given us to get the investigation going.” Kayli rose from her chair.

  Dave tucked his notebook away and followed her out the door.

  At the entrance of the salon, Kayli shook Dawn’s and Sonia’s hands before leaving.

  “Please, if this wasn’t an accident, Inspector, find the person responsible for our dear friend’s death,” Dawn said tearfully.

  “We’re going to do our very best. My team will be on top of their game to bring Carmen and her friends and family the justice they deserve. Goodbye, ladies.”

  They were halfway to the car before either of them spoke.

  “You think the boyfriend has something to do with this?” Dave asked.

  Kayli tutted. “To be honest, I really don’t have a clue, Dave. But I’m going to give it my all to find out. Maybe it was an accident after all. Nothing is really screaming at me to arrest Lincoln and bring him in for questioning yet.”

  Kayli’s mobile rang. The name of the pathologist on their patch was highlighted on the tiny screen. “Hi, Naomi. I was going to ring you later.”

  “Hi, Kayli. Thought I better touch base to tell you that I’ve taken delivery of Carmen Drinkwater’s body. I’ll be performing the post-mortem on her this afternoon.”

  “I’m glad she’ll be in your safe hands, Naomi. We’re unsure at this point what we’re dealing with. There’s a chance she might be a murder victim, or she could have been involved in a nasty accident, but that’s doubtful as there were no other cars at the scene, not that that makes any difference nowadays. We could be looking at a joyrider incident. I know, I’m prattling on. Just trying to tell you how it is.”

  Naomi laughed. “Okay, message received and understood.”

  “And Naomi, we believe Carmen was pregnant.”

  “Damn! Hate it when that bloody happens. I’ll get back to you with the results as soon as humanly possible.”

  “I appreciate it. Thanks.”

  Dave looked at her expectantly after Kayli hung up. “Naomi just informed me that she’s going to start the PM on Carmen this afternoon.”

  “I gathered that. Does she think it looks suspicious?”

  “Not sure. I detected something in her voice but can’t put my finger on what. I thought I better warn her that Carmen was pregnant, though. Let’s get back to see how the others are doing.”

  When they arrived, Graeme called Kayli over to his desk. He pointed to his monitor at a motorbike. “Where is this, Graeme?”

  “On the B4054, about a mile from the crash.”

  She patted him on the shoulder. “That’s excellent work, Graeme. Carmen’s friends have now confirmed that they spent the evening in a pub on the edge of Sea Mills, the Jolly Roger. Can you try to find out if the b
ike was seen in that area around elevenish when Carmen left? It might tell us if someone was stalking her or if the bike is a red herring, although why would it be one of the last words to ever leave her lips if there was no significance?”

  “Leave it with me. Now that I know a time and location, it should be easy enough to find out.”

  Kayli left her team and spent the rest of the afternoon in her office. When she emerged later, Graeme reluctantly shook his head. “Nothing yet, boss. I’ll look over the footage again in the morning with fresh eyes, if that’s all right with you?”

  “That’s just what I was about to suggest, Graeme. Okay, gang, let’s call it a day and start with renewed vigour first thing in the morning.”

  The team switched off their computers, tucked their chairs under their desks, then left the room as a group.

  Kayli’s stomach began to flutter. She was excited about seeing Annabelle and Bobby.

  “Have fun at your sister-in-law’s!” Dave shouted before he jumped into his car.

  Kayli pulled up outside the Chinese takeaway close to Annabelle’s around fifteen minutes later. She studied the menu carefully, sourcing a meal they could share that wouldn’t be too greasy, and decided that chicken with cashew nuts would be an ideal choice. She ordered a portion of noodles and broccoli and concluded that would be enough for both of them to share, thinking that Bobby would already have been fed.

  The order took twenty minutes to complete. She fished out her phone and dialled Annabelle. “I’m on my way with a steaming food package.”

  “Great, I’ll get the plates ready. See you soon.”

  CHAPTER THREE

  Annabelle and Bobby were waiting at the door to greet her when she pulled up outside their home. The weather was definitely turning wintry, and a fine drizzle was beginning to fall. “Yuck, I hate the rain. Still, I suppose it’s better than snow.” She kissed her sister-in-law on the cheek and ruffled her nephew’s hair. “Crikey, he’s grown since I last saw him at the family barbeque a few weeks ago.”

  “Come in out of the rain. Do you think so? It’s hard to tell when you’re with him as much as I am. He’s crawling a lot faster, I’ll say that. He’s like a bloody greyhound out of the traps some days.”

  “Can I hold him?”

  “Of course. We’ll do a swap. I’ll dish up while you have a cuddle. How does that sound?”

  Kayli handed Annabelle the bag of food and took Bobby from his mother’s arms. The toddler didn’t kick up a fuss like he usually did, which pleased Kayli. Maybe he was finally getting used to her. They went through to the lounge, and Kayli sat on the floor with Bobby while Annabelle went through to the kitchen. “How have you been?” she shouted, distracting Bobby with his play bricks so he didn’t miss his mum too much.

  “So-so. You?”

  “About the same. Has this little one been giving you the runaround?”

  Annabelle appeared in the doorway with two plates piled high with food. “Doesn’t he always? Hey, it’s a good job you only bought the one portion; there’s loads here. It smells delicious.” Bobby turned to look at his mother, his interest piqued as the smell wafted into the room. “Don’t even think about it, you little rascal. You’ve been messing me about all day with your meals. This is mummy time and mummy’s dinner.”

  “You get on and eat yours. I’ll keep him distracted for a few minutes to give you some peace.”

  “He’s fine. Any bother from him, and I’ll put him in the playpen. I’ll take him up to bed after we’ve eaten. I only kept him up so he could see his favourite aunt.”

  Kayli set a pile of bricks in front of her nephew and said, “See how high you can build it, Bobby. We’ll be watching you.”

  Bobby smiled and clumsily grabbed the first brick, then another, and got a little frustrated when the second brick refused to interlock with the first one.

  Kayli grimaced. “Maybe that wasn’t the brightest idea I’ve had all day.” She scooped up some chicken and a forkful of noodles and savoured the taste. “This is yummy. I haven’t had a Chinese in ages.”

  “You’ve lost a lot of weight, Kayli. Looks like you haven’t been eating much at all since Mark and Giles left.”

  “Pot and kettle come to mind. You look as though you’ve lost a few pounds too.”

  Chewing on a mouthful of chicken, Annabelle pointed her fork at her son. “Running around after the little man is to blame for that.”

  Kayli studied Annabelle closely. The usual sparkle in her eyes was missing, her cheeks were pale, and there were large black rings around her eyes. “Are you sleeping okay?”

  “A bit hit and miss. Gosh, not sure I can eat any more.” Annabelle placed her half-eaten plate of food on the coffee table between them.

  “You’ve hardly eaten anything.”

  “Nonsense. You eat yours. I’ll put Bobby to bed, and then we’ll have a natter.”

  Kayli gave her a concerned look but didn’t say anything else while tiny ears were listening in. Annabelle left the room and returned ten minutes later to find Kayli washing the dishes in the kitchen. She didn’t have the heart to tell Annabelle that she’d also thrown most of her dinner away, quickly hiding the evidence in the bin beneath the takeaway bag.

  Annabelle looked even worse than when she’d left the room. “Do you want a drink?”

  “A coffee would be great. I better not drink any alcohol if I have to drive home.”

  “You could always spend the night in the spare room. It would be lovely to have some company for a change.”

  “Not that I need much persuading ... go on then, I’ll stay. What shall we have? Wine?”

  “I think there’s a bottle in the fridge. I’ll get it.” Annabelle walked towards the large stainless-steel American-style fridge but stopped halfway. She tottered a few times on the spot then fell to the floor.

  “Annabelle! What’s the matter?” Kayli rushed to help Annabelle to her feet.

  “Please. The room is spinning. Leave me here for a second.”

  “I’m going to call the doctor.”

  “No, don’t do that. I’ll be fine in a moment.”

  “Let me get you in the chair. You can’t sit on a cold floor.” It took all Kayli’s strength to lift Annabelle into a chair at the kitchen table.

  “I don’t know what’s wrong with me. One minute, I’m fine. The next, I’m being sick, and it makes me light-headed.”

  “Lack of sleep and worry can do that to a person.”

  “I’m not worried about anything.”

  Kayli tilted her head. “You’re not? What about Giles being away? I know both he and Mark are constantly in my thoughts.”

  “I’m concerned about their safety—of course I am—but I wouldn’t necessarily say that I’m worried.”

  Kayli rushed over to the sink and filled a glass with water. “Here, drink this. We’re definitely not having any wine this evening. I’ll make you some tea instead.”

  “Ugh ... can’t stand tea.”

  “Mum always says it cures all illnesses. It’ll have to be nice and sweet, though.”

  “Syrupy tea! That’s going to make me puke again.”

  “How often are you being sick, sweetheart?”

  “I don’t know. I suppose a couple of times during the day.”

  “How long has this been going on?”

  “Are you interrogating me, DI Bright?”

  Kayli shrugged. “I guess I am. Could you be pregnant?”

  Annabelle’s eyes almost popped out of their sockets, and she gasped. “Shit! The idea never even occurred to me. I just thought I had picked up a slight bug from somewhere.”

  Kayli reached for her handbag and headed towards the door. “There’s only one way to settle this. I’ll be right back.”

  “Kayli, where are you going?”

  “Don’t move. I’ll be two minutes, if that.” Kayli ran out the front door and bolted down the street to the pharmacy at the end of Annabelle’s road. She immediately located the pre
gnancy kits on the shelf, paid the shop assistant, and ran all the way home again. She panted rapidly as she let herself in the front door again and stepped into the kitchen. She placed the pharmacy bag on the table in front of Annabelle, who tentatively opened the package.

  “Crap! What if I am?”

  “There’s only one way of finding out. Go pee on the stick—that’s an order.”

  Annabelle stood up without any difficulty and left the kitchen. Kayli heard the toilet door open under the stairs. The minutes passed by as if they were hours.

  “Are you all right in there?” Kayli whispered, her ear against the door.

  The bolt slid back, and a dazed-looking Annabelle emerged from the tiny room. Her hand shook uncontrollably when she held the tiny test instrument out to Kayli. “It’s positive. At least I think that’s what the reading says.”

  “Come and sit down.” Kayli took the test from her hand and, supporting Annabelle’s arm, led her into the lounge. Once they were both seated on the couch, Kayli studied the test for herself. “Eek, I don’t know much about these things, but it looks like a positive result to me. How do you feel?”

  “Bewildered, confused, pregnant.” Annabelle burst into tears and didn’t stop for the next five minutes.

  Kayli cradled her in her arms and rocked her. “It’ll be fine. Bobby will love having a little brother or sister around.”

  “I suppose so. Crap! What is Giles going to say?”

  “We’ll find out in a few days. I’m sure he’ll be over the moon, lovely. You’re worrying about nothing. He adores Bobby.”

  “I know he does. But what if he thinks I’ve tricked him into it ... you know, to make sure he stays at home or at least in this country?”

  “I know Giles, and that will be the furthest thought from his mind. You’re reading too much into this, love. You should be joyful about this. You do want it, don’t you?”

  “We’ve never discussed having a second child. I’m not sure how I feel.”

  “It’ll take a while to get used to the idea. After all, you thought you’d picked up a bug.”