Pulse (A Kate Redman Mystery

by Celina Grace

  Theo came up to her desk as she was printing out the details. “You doing the landlord or the brother?”

  “The landlord. Miles Harborough. Apparently of Flat 5, Cheyne Walk, Abbeyford.”

  Theo groaned. “Can’t we swap?”

  Kate looked at him in surprise. “Why?”

  “Oh, you know I hate doing the grief stuff. You’re a chick, you’re much better at the sympathy thing than I am.”

  Kate rolled her eyes. “Just for that in itself, the answer is no.”

  “Oh, go on, mate.”

  “No.”

  “Bollocks—” began Theo but they were both interrupted by Anderton. Kate looked up in surprise as he came up to her desk.

  “Kate, I’ll need you to go to the PM with Mark, if that’s okay with you.”

  Even more surprised, Kate nodded. “That’s fine.” She was about to ask ‘does it really need two of us?’ when she realised that even the fact of Anderton asking meant it really did.

  “Great. Thanks.” He sounded distracted and there was not even the possibility of an intimate glance between them both. Probably just as well, thought Kate, as Theo was still at her shoulder. Anderton appeared to suddenly notice him. “Theo, you can take over whatever Kate was going to do, if you don’t mind.”

  Cackling with glee, Theo grabbed the printout from Kate’s hands and ran off back to his desk. Anderton watched him go in some bemusement. “What was all that about?”

  “Never mind,” sighed Kate. She said goodbye in the same professional tone she’d used to answer him before and picked up her bag on the way to the door.

  *

  Olbeck was waiting outside Anderton’s office, looking rather forbidding. His stern expression relaxed a little when he saw Kate.

  “You okay?” she asked as she drew level with him.

  The mask came back down. “I’m fine,” he said, gruffly. “Let’s get going. They’re going to be starting in less than an hour.”

  It was a silent drive to the pathology labs. Kate had offered a few tentative remarks about the weather, and a few items of news, but as these had been met with grunts and ‘hmm’s from Olbeck, she decided to keep quiet. Her thoughts inevitably turned to Anderton. Were they likely to be able to meet up soon? Both had agreed that, in the workplace, their relationship must remain strictly professional. No clinches in Anderton’s office with the blinds down and the door shut. No lovey-dovey or explicit emails sent through the workplace system. Kate wondered, not for the first time, how long she would be able to keep up this professional distance.

  With a small start, she realised they’d reached their destination. Olbeck yanked on the handbrake so hard the car gave a groan, as if in protest. He was already striding towards the doors of the building before Kate had even undone her seatbelt.

  Sighing inwardly, Kate picked up her bag and followed him. She wondered why Anderton had sent her with Olbeck. Surely not because he feared his DI wouldn’t be up to maintaining a professional distance? Olbeck was a highly experienced officer, having attended hundreds of post mortems through the course of his career. Kate hurried through the formalities of the reception desk before following Olbeck’s disappearing back down the long corridor to the room where the autopsy would be taking place.

  Chapter Five

  Kate had been told who was going to be conducting the post mortem but, in her flustered state, she’d forgotten. As it turned out, it was Andrew Stanton who was performing the autopsy, an old boyfriend of Kate’s who she was still reasonably friendly with. She was momentarily surprised to see another person in the theatre suite but quickly recognised the boyish face of the interning medical student, Joshua Garton.

  The three of them exchanged polite greetings, the shrouded body on the gurney between them acting as a brake on anything more enthusiastic. Olbeck sat ramrod-straight in a chair over by the wall, staring at the wall opposite. Kate couldn’t help giving him a worried glance. She was beginning to regret coming but then, it felt as though she would actually be needed.

  As Doctor Stanton and Joshua carefully drew back the green cloth wrappings, Kate sat down next to Olbeck. “Mark,” she began, tentatively. “Do you think—”

  “No, I don’t think,” was his stony answer. He still stared straight ahead.

  Kate bit back the sharp retort she wanted to make. After a moment, she got up and moved a little closer to the table. Be like that then, she said to him silently inside her head.

  Doctor Stanton was not usually one for chit-chat during a post mortem, and today was no exception. Kate tried not to get in the way as he moved through the stages of examination. She found herself watching Joshua Garton, wondering whether he’d show any signs of queasiness during the bloodier parts of the process, but he stayed quite calm, watching Andrew’s hands intently and occasionally asking a quiet question. More than once, she saw his gaze move curiously to Olbeck, who was still sitting like a statue in the corner of the room.

  As the bone saw was taken from the instrument tray, Olbeck stood up abruptly and left the room. Taken aback, Kate, Andrew and Joshua looked up as the door swung sharply back into place.

  “Is he all right?” Andrew asked, frowning. Kate had thought he’d been concentrating too hard on his work to be aware of Olbeck’s unusual demeanour but perhaps the change was so marked, that it was impossible to ignore.

  Kate sighed. “He knew him,” she said, gesturing towards the body. “They were partners, years ago. When I first moved here, they were living together.”

  Andrew looked shocked. “Really? God. What the hell’s he doing here?”

  “I wish I knew,” said Kate, rather grimly. “Nobody except Mark thought it was a good idea.”

  Andrew shook his head and returned his attention to the body. “Poor Mark.”

  Joshua Garton had been looking a little confused. “Sorry, did you say the inspector knew this man?”

  Kate nodded. She repeated what she’d just told Andrew. Joshua’s well-marked dark eyebrows went up in surprise and then drew together in a frown. “He must feeling very… Very…” He began and then trailed off, looking awkward.

  “It was a long time ago,” said Kate, thinking that perhaps that didn’t make as much difference as people might hope.

  “Could we get on?” Andrew’s limited supply of patience was running thin. Kate held up her hands in surrender and stepped back, letting the doctors get on with their job.

  It was one of those post mortems that seemed to go on forever. Several times, Kate thought herself of getting up and going to see where Olbeck was, seeing if he was okay, but she was here to do a job. She didn’t want to have to go back and report to Anderton – particularly now, with the way things were – having missed something important. So instead she sat, in an agony of impatience, trying not to fidget too much as the procedure finally wound to an end.

  Andrew straightened up with a sigh and ripped off his gloves. Joshua said something to him in a tone too low for Kate to hear. Andrew nodded and Joshua left the room, moving purposefully. He didn’t say goodbye to Kate – he looked lost in thought. Kate jumped up, glad to finally be able to move. She bit back her questions – she knew Andrew liked to be able to elaborate on his conclusions in his own time.

  Andrew balled up the gloves and binned them. He began scrubbing his hands at the small sink in the corner of the room.

  “Well,” he said, over his shoulder. For the first time, Kate noticed his red hair was turning grey. We’re all getting older, she thought, with an inner twinge of alarm.

  “Well?” she said, smiling through her feelings.

  Andrew blew out his cheeks. “I’m sorry to say that I can’t give you a definite cause of death yet, Kate.”

  “Really?” Kate was surprised and disappointed.

  “There are strong indications that he died from blood loss, but until the toxicology results
come back from the lab, I can’t rule out other possibilities. I’m sorry.”

  Kate shrugged. What could she do but accept it? “So, you think there might be a drug issue?”

  “Yes, I do. But I’ll need the results before I can say for certain.”

  “Okay.” Kate knew that meant a wait of several days to several weeks. Inwardly, she cursed. “Anything else that I can take back?”

  Andrew dried his hands on the dull green paper towels from the dispenser on the wall. “There were some indications that he was a heavy drinker and smoker, although physically, in terms of muscle-mass, he was in fairly good shape for his age. He’d had some expensive work done on his teeth, and what looks like a form of rhinoplasty as well, so he was clearly someone who cared about his appearance.” He saw Kate’s blank look and added “He’d had a nose job.”

  Kate nodded in relief. “Okay. Well, he was an actor – or he used to be – so that’s not so surprising.” She looked at the shrouded figure on the gurney and suddenly felt sad. That made her think again of Olbeck. “Well, thanks, Andrew. Let me know as soon as you get the tox results back.”

  “Sure.”

  They said their goodbyes, Andrew suggesting a dinner with his family at some point, which Kate agreed to with pleasure, and then Kate made her way outside. She was fully expecting to see Olbeck sitting in his car, waiting for her, but he wasn’t there. Puzzled, she looked around for him, in a bit of a quandary. He was her lift back to the station. Where the hell was he?

  Kate walked around the perimeter of the building, through the bigger carpark at the side and suddenly spotted Olbeck, way over at the far end, where there was a small copse of trees and a few flowerbeds, with a bench. Olbeck sat on the bench, turned towards someone else who sat at the other end. It wasn’t until Kate had got within hailing distance of them both that she realised the other person was Joshua Garton.

  That realisation made her reconsider calling out. Instead she walked quietly up to them both and when she got there, and they both looked up, she had the distinct impression that she had just interrupted something. But what?

  “Are you okay?” she asked Olbeck, as lightly as she could. She saw Joshua Garton shoot her a glance that looked distinctly annoyed.

  Olbeck jumped up. “I’m fine,” he said, a little too briskly.

  “Great,” said Kate, matching his tone. “Shall we head back then?”

  “Sure.” Olbeck turned to Joshua and said ‘goodbye’ in a tone so entirely different that Kate felt a qualm. Joshua said nothing back but just nodded, his eyes fixed on Olbeck.

  “Bye,” Kate said to Joshua, who barely acknowledged her.

  “Are you sure you’re all right?” she checked, as she and Olbeck walked back to the car.

  “I said, I’m fine.” A moment later, Olbeck looked a little ashamed of his snappish tone. “Sorry. It’s just – it’s a bit difficult. This case – and – and everything, really.”

  “Really?” The disquiet in Kate leapt up a notch. “How do you mean?”

  Olbeck occupied himself with opening the car, seating himself and clicking on his seatbelt. Kate repeated herself. “What? Oh, nothing, forget it. I’ll be okay.”

  Kate gritted her teeth but told herself to leave it. “What were you and Joshua talking about?”

  Now Olbeck did sound annoyed. “Nothing much. He just wanted to offer his sympathy, that’s all.”

  “Oh.” Kate stared out of the window as the streets of Abbeyford rolled by. “That was kind of him.”

  “Yes.”

  Kate wanted to ask whether they’d discussed the post mortem, but something in the atmosphere warned her to hold her tongue. She and Olbeck drove back to the station in an unaccustomed silence.

  Chapter Six

  Given the choice between interview partners, Kate would normally have always plumped for Olbeck or Chloe over Theo. Whilst she and Theo worked rather better together than they had done in the past, there still wasn’t the easy rapport that she shared with her old partner or her new friend. Still, given the tension between her and Olbeck at the moment, and given that Chloe was still away on holiday, partnering up with Theo to interview Joe Vickers’ brother didn’t seem so bad after all.

  Kate insisted on driving, mainly so she could escape Theo’s choice of hip-hop, played at ear-bleeding levels, for their musical accompaniment. It was one of those golden days of the little Indian Summer that always occurred in mid-September; warm, dusty, drowsy. The leaves on the trees lining the roads were still green but it was a dull, dried-out colour, so different to the freshness of the spring leaves. Here and there the foliage was turning brown and gold, touched with the first autumnal tints. Blackberries hung in heavy, purple clumps on the brambles.

  “We should be at the beach,” remarked Theo as they drove out of Abbeyford.

  “Well, you’re in luck, because Hugh Vickers lives in Salterton. If we get this done in time, we could stop for lunch on the front.”

  “Nice one.” Theo brightened up.

  Kate knew Salterton reasonably well – Chloe still lived there, and Kate was a frequent visitor to her little fisherman’s cottage – but she was still glad of the sat nav once she came to the maze of narrow streets that lay beyond the main town centre. Hugh Vickers, the brother of their victim, lived in one of the Victorian semi-detached houses that had been built in their thousands over a hundred years ago. The house they approached once Kate had parked the car was one of the type in which one of the poorer sort of worker would have been housed. There was no porch, no bay window and the door opened directly onto the street. Even so, given their proximity to Salterton’s beach and esplanade, Kate thought that these small homes were probably doing all right in terms of property value. Before she rang the doorbell, she consulted the notes she’d cadged from Rav. Hugh Simon Vickers, forty-five, accountant for one of the big courier firms…

  The door was opened promptly by Hugh Vickers himself. It was the middle of the working day but Kate had guessed, correctly, that the poor man would be on compassionate leave. He looked serious but not unduly upset; a pleasant looking man, rather thick-set, with cropped receding hair and the growth of at least a day’s beard on his chin. He was dressed casually, in jeans and a baggy black jumper.

  Kate introduced herself and Theo and gave the standard condolences. “Thank you for seeing us, Mr Vickers. I hope it’s okay if we come in and have a chat with you about your brother?”

  “Yes, yes, of course. I’m not sure what I can tell you though – Joe and I haven’t – hadn’t – been very close for a while. But I’ll do the best I can.”

  Kate and Theo followed Vickers through to the living room and declined Vickers’ offer of refreshment. If they had been interviewing a suspect, Kate would have agreed to whatever was offered – it gave you a good chance to have a good snoop about – but although theoretically Vickers was on the suspect list – at this stage in the proceedings, almost everyone known to the victim was – Kate didn’t think much would be gained by a few minutes of searching. She’d rather put the time to good use and get some background information on Joe Vickers and his family.

  “So you and your brother weren’t close?” she asked, seating herself on the grey modular sofa. A quick look around the room revealed a pleasant, conventionally furnished room. A small book case, a wood-burning stove, a framed wedding portrait on the mantelpiece. There was a basket of children’s toys in one corner and a scatter of picture books on the carpet by the window. Kate gently moved them to one side, out of the way of her feet.

  Hugh Vickers’ frown deepened. “I’m afraid not,” he said, with what sounded like genuine sadness in his voice. “We were very close as children, despite the age gap – he’s five years younger than I am – but after he – well – when we were teenagers, we sort of lost it – I mean, we didn’t exactly fall out or anything, but I suppose we just started to lead such differen
t lives…” He trailed off, staring at the toys in the basket.

  Theo, who had been uncharacteristically quiet, suddenly sprang to life. “You’re married, Mr Vickers? You’ve got kids?”

  “Yes, two of them. A boy and a girl. They’re at school and pre-school at the moment.”

  Kate opened her mouth to ask another question, but Theo jumped in ahead of her. He had a bad habit of doing that, and she sat back a little, trying not to show her annoyance.

  “So, when was the last time you saw your brother, Mr Vickers?”

  Hugh Vickers blinked. “You can call me Hugh if you like, it’s fine. As to when I saw Joe, it would have been – God, it would have been over a year ago.” He shook his head as if in disbelief. “Yes, over a year ago. I think we last saw him at Christmas.”

  “You say you weren’t close but would you say you were on good terms? You parted on good terms?”

  “Yes. Yes, we had quite a nice day, I remember. The kids are very fond of him. He was good with children – it’s funny, isn’t it? He wasn’t ever going to have any of his own but he was very good with our two. He enjoyed their games and things.”

  Kate leapt in whilst Theo was still formulating his next question. “Why do you say he wasn’t ever going to have children of his own, Mr Vickers? Sorry, Hugh?”

  Hugh blinked and looked a little uncomfortable. “Well, you know, because he was – you know—”

  “Gay?” Kate said bluntly.

  “Well, yes.”

  “That’s no barrier to having a family, these days,” said Kate, thinking of Olbeck and Jeff.

  “Well, no, I know that but – well, I suppose it’s more that Joe wasn’t - wasn’t really the settling down type. He was – he didn’t really have long term relationships, well, not after the first one, the first serious one.”