‘What a waste of our time that was,’ Kate said. ‘They’ve obviously been coached. I’d bet if we’d asked them if the moon was made out of green cheese they would have denied having any knowledge of the matter. For God’s sake Adeline was his daughter and yet all he could say was ‘I don’t know what she got up to I just paid for it.’ Smug bastard!’
Tommy decided to say nothing for a while and let Kate simmer down a bit.
They drove in silence towards Leah’s flat, Kate holding Martin’s camera on her lap. She made a conscious effort to calm herself down and started reading the wording on the box that held Martin’s camera as she held it on her lap.
‘It’s really small this, isn’t it?’ she said as she opened the box and peeked inside.
‘Small but powerful,’ Tommy replied. ‘Martin showed us his holiday movies a while back and I was really impressed at its resolution. I remembered him saying then that it would be a great piece of kit for observation duties.’
‘Well I’m all for technology especially when it means I don’t have to sit in a car for hours looking at a closed door and getting bored stiff,’ Kate said. ‘Plus there’s always the chance that you might get noticed. That happened to me once. The suspect came past us from behind, saw us and then turned and knocked on the window. He said that if we wanted to talk to him we only had to ask. Really embarrassing that was.’
The site manager at the building works was more than helpful. The flats at the front were more or less finished so they were able to put the camera on the windowsill of the flat directly opposite Leah’s house knowing that it wouldn’t be disturbed. They turned the cardboard box on its side and placed the camera inside it so its outline wouldn’t look so conspicuous. Tommy went outside and checked, he said that you couldn’t really see the camera unless you went right up to the window.
Tommy got out his laptop and went through the routine exactly as Martin had instructed. It was a lot simpler than Tommy had thought it would be.
‘Here look at this!’ Tommy said.
Kate looked at a picture of Leah’s front door. It was as though she was standing three or four yards away. The camera zoomed out and then in again.
‘This is quite fun,’ Tommy said.
‘Come on, the day’s wearing on. Let’s go and see Mrs. Derbyshere and leave Martin’s gizmo to work its magic,’ Kate said, anxious to get on with it.
Trina’s mother lived in an expensive looking block of retirement flats not far from the centre of St. Albans. They had to first get past the concierge, a stern looking woman in her fifties who took her job very seriously. She examined both Kate’s and Tommy’s warrant cards in detail before using the phone to check with Mrs. Derbyshere. She admitted them reluctantly. Kate noticed that she followed them at a distance to make sure they didn’t go anywhere they shouldn’t.
Mrs. Derbyshere, on the other hand, seemed pleased to see them and invited them into her flat with a smile. She was younger that Kate had expected, mid-fifties at most, but she obviously had problems walking as she used two sticks to get back to her armchair.
‘Bloody hips dear,’ she said noticing Kate’s looks. ‘Had the replacements but they didn’t take so here I am stuck in God’s waiting room. Grim isn’t it?’
She didn’t look grim though, she said it with a smile and Kate didn’t see any self-pity in her face.
She managed to seat herself in an armchair with some difficulty before she said, ‘So how can I help the police? I’d bet my sticks that it’s about my Trina, isn’t it?’
Kate and Tommy sat down on a little two-seater sofa.
‘Yes it is. I’d be interested in knowing how you guessed that,’ Kate asked.
‘Do you have children?’
Kate shook her head.
‘Well I’ve got three and the eldest two just took life in their stride, did well at school and at university, got good jobs and married well. They’re happy, at least I hope they are, it’s hard to tell sometimes, isn’t it? Anyway I thought I had this mother thing cracked until Trina came along. She was not expected, I was over thirty at the time and happy with my regulation two children. God knows I love her but she was hard work from the start, ask her to do one thing and she’d do the exact opposite. So what’s she done now?’
‘Nothing as far as we know. We just wanted to talk to her about a friend of hers,’ Kate said.
She could see a dark cloud pass over Mrs. Derbyshere’s face.
‘Is this about poor Ashley? What a bloody awful business that was. It really upset Trina, I think that’s why she just upped sticks and left the country. The first I knew about it was when I got a postcard from the airport.’
‘We believe she’s in Canada at the moment and we need to track her down. We just need to talk to her. Do you have any relatives in Canada or family friends?’ Kate asked.
‘Oh no dear, I always thought of Canada as being a bit cold and draughty personally. Is that where you think she is?’
‘You mean you don’t know where she is yourself?’
Mrs. Derbyshere shook her head.
‘As I said I got a postcard and that was it really.’
‘Have you still got it?’ Kate asked.
‘Yes it’s behind the clock with some letters. You don’t mind getting it yourself do you?’
‘No of course not,’ Kate replied.
There were six or seven letters and only a couple of postcards. Kate looked at the postmark, it was sent on the same day that she didn’t turn up for work. It simply said –
‘Sorry mum but I have to go. I don’t think I’ll be coming back but you’ve got Lydia and Jonny to look after you and we’d only fight anyway. I’ve made a right mess of things as usual, all my love T’
‘So she’s not been in touch since this postcard, no phone calls, no text messages, no emails?’ Kate asked.
‘No nothing at all, not a word,’ she replied with a shrug and a smile.
‘Was Trina a drug user?’
‘God no! She had her faults but no, thank God that wasn’t one of them.’
‘Did she ever talk about Ashley?’
‘She used to before, well before Ashley went on drugs. Yes I knew about that and Trina was very upset. She said that Ashley had been at such a low point that she was easy prey.’
‘Did she ever say who it was that gave Ashley the drugs in the first place?’
‘No she didn’t, she stopped telling me things around that time. She started looking worried which, if you knew my Trina, was very unlike her.’
‘Have you made any effort to track Trina down, to find out where she’s gone?’ Kate asked.
‘Trina will do what she does, she always has and she’s big enough to look after herself. She’ll contact me when she’s ready to,’ she said with certainty.
As they walked towards the car Tommy asked, ‘Did you believe her when she said she didn’t know where Trina is?’
‘Not a word, she was far too relaxed about it all, as if she couldn’t care less about Trina. I didn’t buy it.’
‘Why not?’
‘The photos.’
Tommy had a think but couldn’t remember any photos.
‘Sorry what photos?’
‘There was a group of framed family photos on a chest of drawers. They were there so that they’d be easily visible when she sat in her armchair and they were of all of her three children. Trina’s photo was the one in the middle. I had a quick look at it as I went out and there were quite a lot of finger marks on the glass and, as she lives alone, I figured they had to be hers. None of the other photos had finger marks so it was just Trina’s photo that she picks up and looks at. I think that she’s very much attached to her daughter and probably missing her.’
Tommy was both impressed and a bit miffed that he hadn’t noticed the photos.
‘I’d be willing to bet that she’s in touch with Trina by some means or other and that she knows at least something about why her daughter had to leave so quickly,’ Kate contin
ued.
‘What next then?’ Tommy asked.
‘No idea if I’m honest. I thought we’d be spending the rest of the day sitting in a car looking at Leah Whyte’s front door. Any ideas?’
‘Did you believe her when she said that Trina had no relations in Canada?’
‘I’m not sure.’
‘So remind me, how did Trina get to know Ashley?’ Tommy asked.
‘They were at university together but I think that they were friends before that.’
‘School friends perhaps?’
‘No Ashley knew Adeline from school but I’m fairly certain from what I remember that Trina and Adeline didn’t know each other that well. Now what was it?’ Kate asked herself. ‘Yes that’s right they were in the Scouts together. What are you thinking?’
‘Well if we believe Mrs. Derbyshere about relatives in Canada, and after all that would be something we could easily check, I was wondering if perhaps Trina might have a friend there.’
‘So someone she might have known in university or the Scouts perhaps?’ Kate said. ‘Let’s see if we can narrow it down a bit.’
She went back into the retirement home and walked straight past the concierge who jumped up and followed them. As they came to Mrs. Derbyshere’s door Kate turned and looked at the concierge.
‘Have you got a pass key?’ Kate asked.
The concierge nodded.
‘Well let us in then, I don’t want her coming to the door again with her hips,’ Kate ordered.
She unlocked the door and held it open for them. Mrs. Derbyshere was on the phone. She put it down quickly when she saw Kate and Tommy. She had an expression on her face that was both guilty and defiant.
‘Saying hello to Trina?’ Kate asked. ‘How’s her little scouting friend in Canada then?’ she said taking a chance.
‘You knew?’ Mrs. Derbyshere said in surprise.
‘You lied to us, didn’t you?’
‘Yes, yes I did and I don’t care. You won’t get a word out of me,’ Mrs. Derbyshere said resolutely.
‘We don’t need to. You’ve just told us what we need to know. Thanks.’
Kate was smiling when she left.
‘Good thinking Tommy,’ she said as they walked back to the car.
‘Were you expecting to catch her on the phone? Was that why you asked the concierge to open the door?’
She looked at Tommy and, for a second, considered taking all the credit but only for a second.
‘No, I was honestly worried about her hips, just lucky really, but we need every bit of luck we can get.’
Kate took her phone out and saw that she had a message.
‘The CCTV footage has arrived.’
They sat in the car and looked at it. They saw Ashley come out of what looked like the front door of a house. She waited for some time until a man approached her. They hugged and then started talking. They talked for about fifteen minutes then hugged again and the man walked off. Ashley went back into the house again and the video ended.
‘We don’t get a good look at the man do we?’ Tommy said.
‘The camera’s high up and it doesn’t help that he’s wearing a hoodie. It’s a bit grainy too.’
‘Send it to Martin, he might be able to clean it up a bit,’ Tommy suggested.
She sent it by email and asked Martin to send it to Mac as soon as he’d finished processing it. She rang Mac’s number. She told him that the CCTV footage should be with him soon and asked if he could find the details of the Scout troop that Ashley and Trina had attended. She was sure she’d seen them in the case file somewhere.
Mac texted her ten minutes later.
‘Looks like we’ve got the name and address of the Scout leader, let’s go and knock on her door,’ Kate said.
They pulled up outside a modest terraced house not far from the town centre. They rang the bell but got no answer. A neighbour working in her garden looked up.
‘Police,’ Kate said showing her warrant card. ‘Do you where Mrs. Barrowclough is?’
‘Oh where she always is, the Scout hut just down the bottom of the road. I was chatting to her just a few minutes ago and she said she had to get something ready for the Beavers.’
In the Scout hut Pat Barrowclough was moving chairs that had been set out in lines from the centre of the room and stacking them in a corner.
‘Oh hello,’ she said with a smile when she noticed Kate and Tommy. ‘Can I help you?’
The Scout leader was in her late fifties and had a long toothy face and a large nose on which a pair of high strength spectacles were perched.
Kate showed her warrant card, ‘I believe that you knew Ashley Whyte and Trina Derbyshere?’
Pat’s smile dropped on hearing Ashley’s name. She pulled out three chairs from the stack and set them in a circle. She gestured that they should sit down.
‘Yes I knew them. I saw them grow up from little girls. They left the troop when they started studying for their A levels but they kept in touch. They were lovely girls, lovely girls,’ she said with a mournful expression.
‘When did you hear about Ashley?’ Kate asked.
‘On the news, dear, I couldn’t believe it though. I was so sure that it must have been someone with the same name then I saw her photo. I’d have never believed it, out of the three of them Ashley was usually the most sensible.’
‘Three of them? Who was the third?’
‘Carly, Carly MacIntosh. They all joined together and we used to have three in a tent in those days. They shared a tent on one of our trips and became inseparable afterwards.’
‘Do you know how we might find Carly?’ Kate asked, crossing her fingers as she did so.
‘Oh yes she always keeps in touch. I think I’ve got one of her postcards on the board. We have a board where we ask Cub Scouts to pin any foreign postcards they might get.’
She went over a large cork board on the wall and returned with a card. The photo on the front was a night view of the CN Tower.
‘So she lives in Toronto then?’ Kate asked, feeling that they were making progress at last.
‘Oh yes, she was born there. She was over here for seven or eight years as her father was a professor at the university. She went home just before Ashley and Trina went to university themselves.’
‘I take it that you have her address?’
‘Oh yes I like to send her a letter every now and again, just to see how she is,’ Pat replied.
Kate felt like punching the air. Once outside she rang Mac straight away and gave him Carly MacIntosh’s address.
‘Mac says that he’s going to call his Canadian police contact straight away. He also said that he’s managed to track down Naomi Cadogan, I was forgetting all about her,’ Kate said when she’d finished the call.
‘She’s the TV presenter who was in the clinic for a while, isn’t she?’ Tommy asked.
‘Yes she’s the one who thanked Adeline publicly for helping her. Pity she wasn’t around when Adeline needed some help herself. Anyway she’s working in Los Angeles these days so maybe that’s why. Mac’s going to try and phone her. Anyway it looks like we might be getting somewhere at last,’ Kate said as she looked at the time on her phone.
It was already one forty five.
‘Fancy a coffee and a sandwich while we figure out what to do next?’ she asked.
‘Good idea,’ Tommy said, ‘and talking of good ideas….’
Chapter Sixteen
Mac was beginning to think that the case was finally getting somewhere too. They’d found Naomi Cadogan and possibly Trina Derbyshere too. Naomi’s agent told him that she’d talk to Naomi for him but it was still early in the morning where she was. Then Naomi herself had texted him a few minutes ago and said she’d ring when she had a moment.
Then there was the CCTV footage. He’d just received it from Martin and was waiting impatiently for it to download onto his computer. He clicked ‘play’ and noted that the clip was just over twenty minutes long.
Was that by design? Mac thought. Maybe he knew about the camera and didn’t want to be identified, then again maybe not. Mac reminded himself that it was raining so maybe he just didn’t want to get wet.
Ashley hugged the man when they met and after that they moved to the side of the house and talked. Towards the end of their conversation he handed her something. Mac slowed the video right down and freeze-framed it. Even after Martin’s magic the resolution wasn’t that great, however, Mac was sure that the man had given Ashley something that was white and rectangular in shape.
Drugs, Mac immediately thought.
They hugged again and the man walked away. Ashley disappeared into the front door of the house. Mac was about to stop the video when he saw it.
A car went by.
He ran the video back to the beginning. Ashley was waiting at the front door when a car went by and the man appeared a minute or so later. He slowed it down and freeze-framed it again. It looked like the same car.
So the man had most likely driven past the camera and then parked his car and walked down to meet Ashley. That meant that the car would also be caught as he went back. He might have a lead to the mysterious stranger after all!
He played it again slowing it down as the car went past for the first time. Ashley was leaning against the door but she straightened up when she saw the car go by. He was certain now. He let the video roll on and watched the two of them hug each other. He played it back several times and decided that this was no lover’s embrace but, whoever it was, he obviously had some affection for her.
23 Cold Cases (The Mac Maguire detective mysteries Book 5) Page 13