by M A Comley
Kayli had been unusually distracted. With Mark miles away from her and in the hands of the heinous Taliban, it was only natural for her mind to be elsewhere. Isn’t it...? No, I need to concentrate on the murder case in hand. Mark’s dilemma will sort itself out in good time, I hope.
CHAPTER TWO
Dave drew up alongside Kayli’s car at the hospital after she dropped Jane off. “Donna’s got the address of the parents. Want to head over there now?”
“Yep. That’s great. I just flipped through the address book and only found their phone number under ‘Mum and Dad’. I’d rather go over and break the news in person. How are you feeling? Your leg, I mean?”
“Stop worrying about me. It’s fine while I’m sitting down. I’m thankful the car is an automatic.”
She smiled. “I bet you are. Follow me then.”
They set off, and ten minutes later, they pulled up outside a detached house situated in a small crescent on the outskirts of the city. Several rooms at the front of the house were lit up.
“Want me to do this alone?” Kayli suggested.
“No, I’d like to be there to show my support and respect to the parents.”
“You’re one in a million, Dave. Need a hand?”
“Nope, I’ve got this. It’s a well-oiled routine getting out of the car with the aid of these bad boys now.”
Within seconds, Dave had manoeuvred capably out of the car and was standing alongside her. Kayli shut the car door for him, and together, they approached the house.
A man in his early sixties, wearing a tartan waistcoat, opened the door. “Hello, can I help you?”
Kayli showed the man her ID. “Hello, Mr. Abel. I’m DI Kayli Bright, and this is my partner, DS Dave Chaplin. We’re with the Avon and Somerset Constabulary. Is it possible for us to come in for a moment to have a chat with you and Mrs. Abel?”
“About what?” he asked, frowning.
“Please, sir. We’d rather do this inside.”
He stood aside to let them enter the large spacious hallway, which was decorated in a rich burgundy. The staircase was the dominant feature of the room, but there was also a small bookcase along one of the walls, clear of all other clutter, unlike other residencies she’d visited recently.
“What’s this about, Inspector? My wife and I are eating dinner.”
“I’m sorry to interrupt you.”
A door opened behind Mr. Abel, and a woman with beautifully coiffured grey hair entered the hallway. “Frank, what’s going on?”
“I’ve yet to find out, dear. The inspector here was just about to tell me.”
“Hello, Mrs. Abel. I’m sorry to disturb your evening. We’ve just come from your daughter’s address. An incident took place there this evening.”
“What sort of incident? Strange that Sarah hasn’t rung us to let us know,” Mr. Abel said.
His wife took a step forward, her gaze locked with Kayli’s. “Something has happened to Sarah, hasn’t it?” She grasped her husband’s arm for support.
Kayli exhaled loudly. “I’m sorry, but your daughter passed away at the scene.”
“Passed away? You’re not making any sense. You mean she’s dead?” Mr. Abel asked, stunned.
Kayli nodded. “Yes. Someone gained access to her house this evening and killed her.”
“What? Who? Have you caught this sick individual?”
“No, not yet. We’re going to start the investigation as soon as we leave here. We thought you would want to know the news as soon as possible.”
“I have to sit down. My legs are shaking,” Mrs. Abel said.
Her husband hooked an arm under her elbow and guided her back into the room she’d just left. Mr. Abel ordered offhandedly, “Come through.”
Kayli turned to Dave and grimaced. He rolled his eyes up to the ceiling before they followed the couple into the room.
Mr. Abel placed his wife in the armchair close to the bay window and settled himself on the arm alongside her. They clutched hands, and both stared at Kayli.
“Sit down, please,” Mrs. Abel requested, her voice wavering a little.
Kayli and Dave sat on the couch opposite them. “I’m sorry to have to break this shocking news to you. I wanted to do it before you saw the story on the TV. There were several TV cameras outside your daughter’s house when we left... it doesn’t take them long to get wind of things.”
“We appreciate that. Please, tell us what happened?” Mr. Abel said.
“It would appear that someone broke into your daughter’s flat not long after she arrived home from work.”
“Was she... assaulted?” Mrs. Abel asked.
“We don’t believe so. She was bound, and... the killer suffocated her with a plastic bag.”
Mrs. Abel broke down. Her husband threw an arm around her shoulders. Neither of them spoke again for a few minutes, until Mrs. Abel’s sobbing subsided a little.
“What is the motive behind the attack, Inspector, if it wasn’t sexual?”
“We’ve yet to determine that, sir. Her flatmate discovered Sarah’s body and called nine-nine-nine straight away.”
“So Jane is okay?” Mrs. Abel asked.
“Yes. She’s very shaken up, as you can imagine. We dropped her off at the hospital, where she’s staying at the nurses’ wing, as the pathologist and forensics team are going over the flat with a fine-tooth comb. She’ll be allowed to return to the flat after the scene has been processed.”
“Did she say if she saw anyone at the flat? Does she know who did this?” Mr. Abel asked.
“No. We asked if either she or Sarah had received any unwanted advances from any men lately, or if they’d noticed anyone watching the flat, but she couldn’t think of anything. She was in shock, though, and I’ve left my card with her. I’m sure she’ll be in touch if anything comes to mind.”
“What about Gary?” Mrs. Abel suggested.
“The ex-boyfriend?” Kayli replied. “Is there a particular reason you suggested his name?”
“Isn’t that the done thing? To question all those people involved with the victim?” Mr. Abel said, finishing off his wife’s train of thought.
“Jane told me he’s in the navy. I’ll be contacting him soon, I can assure you. Can you suggest any other people you think we should be chasing up?” She kept a lid on what Jane had told her about Gary striking Sarah, in case the parents weren’t aware of the incident.
“I can’t think of any. Frank, can you?” Mrs. Abel asked.
Her husband shook his head as the colour started to drain from each of their faces.
“Did she mention her job at all? What her colleagues were like?” Kayli asked.
“Not really. She always said how well she got on with all of them.” Mr. Abel tilted his head. “Are you concerned about something, Inspector?”
Kayli got the impression that he was something to do with the law, a solicitor maybe by the probing questions he was asking. “Jane mentioned an incident with one of the DJs that has piqued my interest. I’ll be dropping by to have a word with her colleagues first thing in the morning.” She cringed. Maybe she should have kept that snippet to herself as well, judging by the expression on Mr. Abel’s face.
“Incident? What type of incident?” Mr. Abel pressed.
“A slight incident. Nothing for you to be concerned about at this stage, Mr. Abel.”
He shook his head and snorted. “‘Nothing to be concerned about,’ you say, and yet our daughter is on her way to the mortuary.”
Kayli held his gaze. “At the moment, that’s all I can say on the matter until I interview the person involved. It wouldn’t be right for me to speak about matters that are pure hearsay. I’m sure we’ll get to the bottom of the incident soon enough, sir.”
“Have there been any other incidences like this in Sarah’s area? Have you looked into that yet, Inspector?”
Mrs. Abel looked up at her husband. “Now, Frank, give the young lady a chance. You know how these things work.”
“Yes, I’m a solicitor. I’m sorry for asking obvious questions. I realise you’ve only just come from my daughter’s home. Forgive me.”
“Nothing to forgive, I assure you. Once we leave here, my team and I won’t stop until we have the culprit behind bars. I’ve already recalled my team to the station after a long day’s shift so we can get started immediately.”
“That’s good to hear, Inspector. Now, if it’s all the same to you, we’d like you to leave so that we can grieve our daughter’s death in private.” Mr. Abel stood up and walked towards the door.
Kayli rose from her seat and shook Mrs. Abel’s hand while Dave struggled to get up from the low sofa. “I’m sorry again for your loss. I’ll keep you updated with how the investigation is progressing, as and when I can.”
Fresh tears filled Mrs. Abel’s eyes. “Thank you, Inspector. Please do that.”
They joined Mr. Abel at the front door. Kayli extended her hand for him to shake.
He held on to it. “Please do your best for us, Inspector. Don’t hesitate to get in touch if you have any questions you require answering.”
“Thank you, sir. I’ll be in touch soon. Sorry for your loss.” Kayli let Dave leave the house before her. She opened the car door for her partner and winced as she watched him struggle to get behind the steering wheel. “I knew he was either a solicitor or someone to do with the law. Let’s hope he refrains from interfering with the case. I think this is going to be a tough one, Dave.”
“I’m getting the same impression. All we can do is do our best, boss. If he starts putting pressure on us to perform, it could hamper our chances of finding the git who did this.”
“I’ll make the DCI aware of his involvement in the case first thing. I need a coffee—let’s get back to the station.”
“All right if I pick up a pizza on the way back? I’m starving.”
“Good idea. I could do with a nibble too, if only to keep my energy up.”
“Looks like you’re still losing weight to me,” Dave mumbled.
“Don’t start, big man. I have good reason to be off my food. Did you have to bring that up?”
Dave shrugged. “Sorry, just stating the obvious.”
CHAPTER THREE
Kayli was surprised, but grateful, to see Graeme sitting at his desk when she marched into the incident room, carrying two pizzas. “Gosh, I must have had a premonition you’d be here. Dave’s hobbling up the stairs, so he shouldn’t be long. Do you both want a coffee?”
“Yes, please, boss. Donna rang me. I was at the gym with my mate, dropped that, and came straight in,” Graeme replied. “I’ll get the coffees,” he added, jumping out of his seat before she could refuse.
Kayli winked at Donna. “You’re a treasure. Thanks for ringing him.”
“No problem. It would be strange starting the investigation without him on board. I took the liberty of looking up the victim’s Facebook page, boss.”
Kayli perched on the desk beside her. “And? Find anything interesting?”
“The usual. I didn’t find any form of malicious comments. I went back a couple of months on her wall. That’s not to say she hasn’t received an unwanted personal message. However, obviously, I can’t access that sensitive information without her password.”
“Okay, that narrows it down a little anyway. Good thinking, Donna. She has an ex-boyfriend whom we should count as a person of interest. Gary Young. He’s in the navy, based in Plymouth. After we’ve eaten, can you look into that for me? See if he’s still on the base down there? He came home on leave a few weeks ago. I can’t see him coming home so soon, but it’s worth a shot, even to omit him from our enquiries.”
Dave barged through the doors and hobbled towards his seat, panting a little. “That’s the worst part of having these damn things, walking up the bloody stairs.” He collapsed into his chair.
Graeme handed the drinks around while Kayli tore apart the pizza. “Dig in, guys.”
Dave took one look at the pizza and screwed up his nose. “Hawaiian, looks the colour of...”
“Don’t you dare say it. You’ll put everyone off—in fact, you’ve already done it to me,” she said, cottoning on to his suggestion that it was the same colour as the vomit they had witnessed at the victim’s address.
“What’s this?” Graeme enquired.
“We’re not going there. Just enjoy the pizza.” She nibbled at the edge of a triangle, trying to block out the image of the victim at the scene. She managed to eat half a slice before her stomach registered it was full.
“That’s barely enough to keep a field mouse going... no wonder you’re losing weight,” Dave said through a mouthful of dough.
“Like I said, you’ve put me off. Don’t let me stop you from eating yours. I’m going to start marking up the board with the details we have so far.”
She left her seat, taking her coffee with her, and leaving the other three to munch on their pizza. At the top of the board, she wrote the victim’s name and noted down her boyfriend’s name. Alongside that, she added the victim’s place of work and the fact that she’d had a recent tussle with one of the DJs there. She also noted down Jane Gaunt, the flatmate’s name, just for reference. Moments later, Donna joined her at the board.
“I’ve left them to it, boss. There’s only so much pizza a girl can shove down her neck, right? I’m going to try and track down the ex now. Anything specific you want me to ask?”
Kayli smiled at the constable. “The usual, Donna. See if he has any kind of record at the base, that type of thing. They might not tell you, but it’s worth a try. The main thing is we find out where he is right now.”
“I’m on it.” Donna swiftly zigzagged her way through Dave’s and Graeme’s chairs and desks, back to her seat.
“Come on, guys, how long does it take to eat a couple of pizzas?” Kayli shouted impatiently.
“Usually not long, when people do their bit and share the damn thing with you,” Dave yelled back, wiping grease from his chin.
“Graeme, I’d like you to get hold of any CCTV footage in the area. There must be something.”
“Yes, boss.”
“I also need you to look at CCTV footage around her place of work, the radio station. Maybe someone picked her up from work and gave her a lift home.”
Graeme nodded.
“Anything specific you want me to look into, boss?” Dave asked.
“We need to get hold of her phone and financial records, Dave. Plus, I want to start checking into her colleagues’ backgrounds. Not liking what I’m hearing on that side of things, either.”
“Okey-dokey.”
“I’ll be in my office if anyone wants me.” Carrying her cup, she entered her office and closed the door behind her. She breathed out a heavy sigh and stopped to look out the window at the Bristol city centre skyline, lit up like Blackpool Illuminations. Her gaze rose to the twinkling stars in the dark sky above, as her thoughts travelled the continents to where Mark was being held against his will.
Shaking her head in despair, she sat behind her cluttered desk and extracted her mobile from her jacket pocket. She punched in the number two and waited for her call to connect. “Hey, Giles, it’s me.”
“Hi, sis. I was going to ring you in a while.”
She sat forward in her chair, excited by his words. “You were? Have you heard anything?”
“Sorry to mislead you. No, not heard a dickie bird. Keep your chin up, love. I’m sure we’ll hear something positive from the guys over there soon.”
She slumped back in her chair again and shook her head as tears formed in her tired eyes. “Really? You think? It’s been a couple of weeks, and we haven’t heard anything positive so far, Giles. I’m struggling here. Losing my grip on reality at times.”
“Don’t let it affect your job, love. You’re too good for that.”
“Easier said than done. Are you telling me that Mark isn’t in
your thoughts twenty-four-seven? I’d feel heartless if I blocked him out.”
“I know it’s difficult, Kayli. You just have to dig deep.”
“I’m trying. It doesn’t help that I have a new case to deal with—a nasty one, at that. I’m in my office now, hiding while my team do all the necessary digging to get the case underway. That’s not the way I like to do things, Giles. I’ve already made a few mistakes on the case this evening. It’s a good job I have an excellent partner who turned up at the crime scene. He dug me out of a hole.”
“Sorry to hear that, love. Maybe it would be better to put in a request for time off, if that’s how this is affecting you.”
“And do what? Sit at home, staring at the four walls and hope these evil monsters will eventually free him?”
Giles remained silent, and Kayli suspected that was because he had no further wise words on the subject. “What’s taking your guys so long to find out where he is?”
“Crikey, Kayli. They’re doing their best. It’s a vast country, and they could be holding him anywhere. The intel is that the Taliban prefer to hide out in caves. The terrain is riddled with them. It’s not like you tracking down a suspect in this country with the aid of CCTV. This is still regarded as a primitive country, once you get away from the major towns.”
“I know. It’s just all so frustrating. Makes me wonder if I would do better over there.”
Giles laughed. “You might think that from the safety of your office, but being stuck out there in the middle of nowhere, amidst sandstorms and under enemy fire, would soon change your mind, I can assure you.”
Kayli picked up a pen and threw it across her desk. “I know you’re right.” She sighed heavily as her words dried up.
“Stay strong, girl. Why don’t you come round for dinner tomorrow? Annabelle and Bobby would love to see you.”
“Hmm... not so sure about that. I’m as miserable as sin at present. I’d hate to take my foul mood out on either of them. Plus, there’s no telling what hours I’ll be putting in over the next few days not with a killer on the loose.”