Deadly Reprisal (Detective Zoe Finch Book 5)

  He grabbed it. “If you’re lying to me…”

  She tried to yank her hand away but he held her wrist tight. “Why would I lie to you? Let go.”

  He jerked her hand upwards, making her wince. She stared into his eyes. His chest rose and fell, his breathing heavy.

  “I saw you with those ballbreakers.”

  “What? What ballbreakers?”

  “That women’s group.”

  “What’s that got to do with the police?”

  Jenson flung her arm away and she grasped her wrist. It was reddening.

  “Keep away from them. They’re bad news. Extremists.”

  “I think you’re overestimating the—”

  “You had lunch with them, today.”

  “You were at Costa? Why didn’t you come over and say hi?”

  “I saw you leaving. You came back here. At least you didn’t go anywhere with them.”

  “You followed me and didn’t speak to me?”

  He shrugged and threw himself into the desk chair. “I was on my way back here.”

  “Why didn’t you catch up with me?”

  He picked up the book that she’d placed face down on her desk and surveyed it like it was contaminated. “I want you to keep away from them. They’ll pour stupid ideas into your head, fill it with crap.” He flung the book to the desk. Kayla shifted her weight as if to grab it, but with the mood he was in, she didn’t want to get too close to him.

  “Jenson, I know you’re pissed off. But that’s the police you’re angry with. Don’t take it out on me, please.” She hesitated. “Why were you with Lin, earlier?”

  He turned to her. “You’re pathetic, you know that?”

  Kayla blinked. “What?”

  “I’ve seen the way you’ve been mooning about since Laurence died. He was an arsehole, Kayla. Why are you so upset about it?”

  She tried to catch her breath. “I found a dead body, Jenson. Lin and I did. And you haven’t answered my question.”

  “I’m Lin’s residential tutor, for fuck’s sake. This isn’t about me. You’re being paranoid.”

  “Finding Laurence like that was… I don’t know what it was. But I think I’ve got a right to be a bit freaked out.”

  “Nothing else to it? You and him didn’t have a thing going?” He leaned forward, hands clasped in front of his knees.

  She pulled back, her stomach clenching. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

  “Don’t call me ridiculous.” He stood abruptly, sending her book to the floor. She stayed on the bed, anxious not to touch him.

  “Get a grip, Kayla. Sort yourself out and decide who your real friends are.” He yanked the door open and swept out, leaving her gaping at the door behind him.

  Chapter Fifty-One

  Zoe woke to the sound of doors banging in Nicholas’s room. She dragged herself in, yawning.

  The room was even messier than usual. As well as the usual plates piled up on the desk and dirty clothes littering the floor, half his clean clothes were strewn across the bed.

  Zoe watched him, her arms folded across her chest. “It’s only two nights, you know.” She checked her watch. “Can’t you do this later? You’ve got to leave for school in twenty minutes.”

  He shook his head, rifling through the clothes. “It’s fine. I want to have options.”

  “You’ll need a bigger suitcase if you carry on like this.”

  He turned to her. “Can you get it please?”

  “You’ve got just the right one there. You don’t even need to fill it, not for two nights in London.”

  “You don’t understand.”

  She sighed. “I’ll leave you to it.” Nicholas was eighteen years old, perfectly capable of packing for a long weekend away with his dad without supervision. She just hoped he managed to calm down before they left. Nicholas being agitated would set his half-brother Geordie off.

  As she walked down the stairs, her phone rang.

  “Morning Mo. You want to get breakfast? I need to escape Nicholas’s packing antics.”

  “I’m two streets away from you.”

  “I’ll grab my coat.”

  “No. I’m at Umberslade Road. An address Rhodri got for Jenson Begg last night.”

  “OK.” Zoe didn’t go into the living room but instead pulled her coat from the hook by the door. There was something in Mo’s voice that made her think her presence was going to be required.

  “What’s up?”

  “He’s dead, boss. Jenson Begg has OD’d.”

  “What?” Zoe clutched her coat. “I didn’t know he was…”

  “Rhodri had an idea. Said he was acting suspicious.”

  “Is Rhodri with you?”

  “Not yet.”

  “OK.” Zoe put her hand over the phone and called up the stairs. “I’ve got to go to work, love. Don’t forget to go to school. Have a good weekend.”

  She heard a muffled shout from upstairs and returned to Mo.

  “You think it’s just an accident, or it’s related to the case?”

  “The pathologist isn’t here yet, but it looks very similar to the Laurence Thomms crime scene.”

  “I’m on my way.”

  Chapter Fifty-Two

  Kayla yawned as she closed her door behind her. She had a lecture at 9am, but had to stop off at the library to return a book that was due.

  She glided along the corridor, barely awake, and didn’t notice Lin until the two women stumbled into each other.

  “Lin. Sorry, I was half asleep.”

  “That’s OK. You alright?” Lin turned and fell into step with Kayla.

  “Just knackered. Got to get a book back to the library or they’ll fine me.”

  “I thought you’d be staying home.”

  “I’ve got lectures at nine and ten. Shouldn’t you be on your way over to the medical school?”

  “I just wanted to check you’re OK.”

  “I’m fine.”

  “I mean, with Jenson and everything…”

  Kayla stopped walking. “I’d rather not talk about it.”

  “If you’re sure.”

  “I’m sure.”

  “OK.” Lin lay a hand on Kayla’s shoulder. “I’m here, if you need me.”

  Kayla pulled her rucksack higher onto her shoulder. She wasn’t in the mood for talking, She’d drunk most of a bottle of wine after Jenson had left the previous night, and her head was throbbing. She was worried she might be sick in her first lecture. But she had to keep moving, to get on with her studies. She had to distract herself.

  She arrived at the lift and waited for it to appear. Lin stood next to her, shuffling awkwardly.

  “You OK?” Kayla asked her.

  “Me? I’m fine.”

  “You seem a little… off.”

  “Well, I guess….” Lin turned to Kayla. She had that sympathy look, the one Kayla recognised from her parents splitting up when she was fourteen.

  She didn’t need sympathy today. She especially didn’t need Lin, who’d hated Jenson all along, telling her I told you so about going out with a postgrad. She wanted to ask her what she’d been doing at his room yesterday, but she didn’t have the energy.

  “See you later,” she said as the lift arrived. She slid inside, hoping Lin would get the hint.

  She avoided her friend’s eye as the lift doors closed.

  Chapter Fifty-Three

  Zoe double-parked outside the address Mo had given her. Two squad cars were outside, as well as a Volvo she recognised as belonging to her favourite pathologist. In spite of the circumstances, she couldn’t help smiling at the prospect of working with Adana Adebayo rather than Brent Reynolds.

  She showed her ID to the constable on the door and walked inside, careful not to touch anything. The house was dark and dirty, a smell of mustiness and grime pervading the space. She coughed.

  “Hello?” she called out.

  “DI Finch?” came Adana’s voice. “Through here.”

  Zoe walked p
ast the steep staircase and through a door with one pane missing into a narrow kitchen. It, too, stank of neglect, pots piled in the sink and the surfaces coated in a layer of grime. Jenson Begg’s body lay in the middle of the cramped floor, Dr Adebayo crouched over it. Zoe stood on one of the protective plates and peered over the pathologist’s head.

  “How long has he been here?” she asked.

  “Anywhere between three and ten hours, I reckon.” Adana turned to look up at Zoe, her mask hiding her expression.

  “Cause of death?”

  “Drugs overdose. Methamphetamine, by the looks of it. Powder residue around his nostrils and on his fingers.”

  “Another one.”

  Adana shrugged. “This one doesn’t look suspicious.”

  Mo came through the door and stood next to Zoe. He held up an evidence bag containing a bag of powder.

  “Jenson’s room?” Zoe asked.

  “Rhodri’s cordoning it off,” Mo said. “We’ll wait till Adi’s team gets here before we can say for sure. But yes, it looks like it belonged to him.” Mo looked down at Adana, who was feeling inside Jenson’s mouth with gloved fingers. “He was keeping two addresses, Rhodri reckons.”

  “How come?”

  “He went to interview him last night. A neighbour at Boulton Hall sent him here.”

  “Rhodri’s been here before?” Zoe’s chest slumped. That wouldn’t look good for the chain of evidence.

  “He didn’t go upstairs. But he was in here. We’ll need to make sure Adi knows that. I’ve kept Rhodri out of here since getting here this morning.”

  Zoe turned back to Adana. “Any scratches inside his mouth?”

  “It’s not the same, Inspector,” Adana said. “This guy just took too much.”

  “Too much of the stuff he was supplying, if this is anything to go by,” Mo said. “A dose of this stuff would be quarter to half a gram. He was dealing into the hall of residence, the little bastard.”

  “He’s dead,” said Zoe.

  “Doesn’t change what he did,” Mo replied. “That warden gave him responsibility for two hundred undergraduates. What the hell was she thinking?”

  “She told me she knew nothing about it,” Zoe said.

  Mo snorted. “She needs to grow a pair of eyes if you ask me.”

  Zoe put a hand on his arm. “You OK?”

  He shook his head. “It’s just… I don’t know. All these young people being sent off by their mums and dads to get an education. And then we have Laurence allegedly raping Becca, and this one dealing drugs to them. How are they supposed to cope?”

  “We’ll need to talk to the warden again.”

  “Too bloody right we will. I hope she loses her job.”

  “There’ll be an inquiry,” said Adana. She stood up with her hands in the small of her back and stretched. “Don’t forget I’m based out of the QE. It’s affiliated to the university. I’ve seen how these things work.”

  “Good,” replied Mo. “I hope they hang, draw and quarter her.”

  “OK,” Zoe said. “Adana, we’ll still need the post-mortem report. I want to know what’s in these drugs, how Jenson got hold of them, and whether they’re the same as the ones given to Laurence.”

  “My thoughts exactly.” The pathologist pulled off her mask and scratched her nose. “I’ll have him taken to the morgue this morning and I’ll have the report to you by tomorrow lunchtime.”

  “No quicker?”

  “I’m sorry, Zoe. It’s bad enough I’ll have to ask one of the technicians to work on his day off tomorrow.”

  “Tell me as soon as you have it, yes?”

  “Of course.” Adana nodded to the detectives and squeezed past them into the hallway.

  Zoe turned to Mo. “The question is, is Jenson still a suspect in Laurence’s death?”

  “Was he ever?”

  “He was a person of interest.”

  “Let’s find out how he died and if they’re the same drugs, then we can draw some conclusions.”

  “I just hope that’s quick enough for the DCI. The university’s going to be on our backs now, with two students dead.”

  Mo nodded, gazing down at Jenson’s body. He frowned. “Hang on.”

  “What?” Zoe followed his gaze.

  “We’ll need Adi to preserve that.” Mo pointed past the body towards the door leading into the house’s back yard. On the floor was a muddy shoe print: narrow, pointed.

  “That’s not his shoe,” Zoe said. Jenson was wearing trainers, size eight at least.

  “I’ll get Adi to work out the size, and see if we can match it to any known brands. It’s not ridged, though.”

  “Not a trainer,” said Zoe. “Or a work boot.”

  “Looks like a woman’s shoe.”

  “Maybe Kayla came visiting. Maybe a female student came to buy drugs.”

  The door opened behind them and two men walked in. “Dr Adebayo has given us instructions to move the body, ma’am.”

  “Not yet,” Zoe said. “Wait till Forensics have examined the area.” She turned to Mo. “Does Adi know?”

  “He does.”

  “Do I know what?” Adi stuck his head into the doorway, giving Zoe a lopsided smile. “Jeez, it’s crowded in here.” He looked at the pathologist’s assistants. “Guys, can you give us a bit of space?”

  The two men shuffled out, leaving space for Adi to join Zoe and Mo in the kitchen.

  “Poor kid,” he said.

  “He was dealing drugs,” Mo grunted.

  “Even so.” Adi crouched down. “Can’t see any injuries. Has the pathologist been?”

  “You just missed Dr Adebayo.”

  “Damn. I always enjoy seeing Adana.” Adi leaned further forward. “You seen that?” He pointed at the shoe print.

  “Yes,” Zoe said. “Looks like a woman’s.”

  “Not necessarily. But we’ll take a gander and see what we can get.” He stepped over the body and peered back at it from the rear. “Wait a minute.” He placed a gloved hand under Jenson’s back and moved him very slightly. “There’s another one. Smudged.”

  “Smudged by the body landing there?” Zoe asked.

  “It’s dry now, but unless it’s a hell of a coincidence, I’d wager that yes, it was smudged when he landed on the floor. Which could mean the prints were fresh at the time of death.”

  “Someone was with him when he died,” said Mo.

  “They could have been in here shortly beforehand,” Zoe said. “Adana says there’s no reason to suspect foul play.”

  Adi reached into his toolkit and brought out a pair of tweezers. He plucked something from Jenson’s greying t-shirt and held it up to the light. “This looks familiar.”

  “What is it?” Zoe bent over to get a better look, but couldn’t make out what Adi was holding.

  He stood, careful not to move his feet. He pushed the tweezers into an evidence bag and held it closer to the detectives.

  “Hairs,” Zoe said.

  Adi nodded. “Not his.”

  Jenson had thick, curly brown hair. These hairs were brown too, but shorter, and straight.

  “The woman who was here with him?” Zoe asked.

  “Uh-uh. I’ve seen these before,” Adi said. “These are dog hairs.”

  Chapter Fifty-Four

  Kayla approached the library, ferreting in her bag for her security pass. The authorities liked students to wear them, but she felt uneasy walking through campus with it hanging around her neck.

  She crouched down and placed her bag on the ground. She needed to get a smaller bag, or at least give this one a clearout. Her pass was lost somewhere among books and sheets of paper. At the bottom of the bag was a muffin in a paper wrapper. She pulled it out and grimaced. It wasn’t going back in there; she’d have to find a bin.

  “Hi, stranger.”

  She looked up to see Gina standing over her. “Hi.”

  “You OK?”

  “I can’t find my pass. I need to give this library book
back.”

  “Can’t they scan it in, find it on the system?”

  “They won’t let me in without it.”

  “Ah. Bit of a problem, then.”

  “Don’t you use the library?” Surely Gina knew how the system worked.

  “Most of the books in there don’t speak to me.”

  Kayla stood up. Don’t speak to me? What did that mean? “I never asked you what you’re studying.”

  Gina shrugged. “I’m not. Not anymore.”

  “You’re a postgrad?”

  “I said I’m not. Postgrads do the most studying of anyone. Poor saps.”

  “So you work here?”

  “Bingo. I graduated two years ago and now I work in the student welfare team. I patch up women who’ve been abused by their boyfriends. Who’ve been threatened by a fellow student.” She gave Kayla a meaningful look.

  “Sounds interesting.”

  “Traumatic, but worthwhile.”

  Kayla nodded. “Anyway. I’ve really got to get this library book handed in…”

  Gina grabbed her hand. “Don’t worry about that.”

  “They can withhold my degree if I don’t return library books.”

  Gina looked down at Kayla’s bag. “You got the book with you?”

  “Yes.”

  “Well, then. It’s not as if you aren’t going to hand it in, then. I mean, you’ve got over two years.”

  “No, but…”

  “Lighten up, Kayla. You need to decide what’s really important. You need to let us help you.”

  “I don’t need help.”

  “I’ve seen the way you look when you think no one’s watching you. You’re damaged. I know what that looks like.”

  Kayla tugged at her sleeve. She didn’t like this. “I’m fine. Shall we meet for lunch again, later?”

  “I’m free now, if you’d like a coffee.”

  “Don’t you have to work?”

  “I’m on lates today. We’re open till midnight.”

  “I’m sorry, but I need to go to a lecture.”

  Gina rolled her eyes. “Like I say, priorities.”

  Kayla heard a shout. She looked past Gina to see another woman running towards them. It was Berni, one of the women from yesterday.