by M A Comley
“I’ll do that. It’s looking more and more like an intentional act, isn’t it?” Katy nodded thoughtfully.
“Yep, although it might be better to keep an open mind until I’ve performed the PM.”
“We’ll be off then. Have you jotted down the address, Charlie?”
“I have. I’ll just put the evidence bag back.”
Katy said farewell to Patti and walked to the cordoned off perimeter where she deposited her paper suit in the awaiting black bag. Charlie joined her and did the same.
“Now, for the part we hate the most: telling the relatives. I’ll ring the witness en route, see if he’s up to speaking to us.”
They slipped into the car and Katy dialled Trevor Wardley’s number.
“Hello, who is this?”
“Hello, Mr Wardley, sorry to disturb you. I’m DI Katy Foster. I’m the Senior Investigating Officer on the crime that was committed this morning. The cyclist being knocked off his bike.”
“Ah, yes. Okay. Terrible thing to discover first thing in the morning. My wife and children are still very upset by what they saw.”
“I can imagine. Maybe you can run through how you discovered the victim for me.”
“I’d rather not, not over the phone. I suppose you’ll be needing a statement from me, would it be all right if we left it a few days? Not sure my head is in the right place to consider all the details and I’d hate to miss anything out.”
“As you like. Is there that much to tell, sir? Perhaps you can tell me if you saw anyone else in the vicinity? Either on foot or in a vehicle?”
“No, nothing at all. Wait, you might as well hear what I have to say. Let me take the phone in another room.”
“Thank you.” Katy put the phone on speaker and started the engine. She reversed and trundled down the road taking a right into the lane Patti had mentioned.
“I’m back. Sorry, my kids and wife are really upset, revisiting the incident with them in the room would have brought on another bout of tears.”
“No need to apologise. I totally understand. Can I ask what time you stumbled across the victim?”
“Around ten-to-seven, I believe it was. We were on our way for an early morning swim. The pool opens at seven-thirty on a Saturday for special swimming lessons for kids under the age of eleven. We always go then, so my two can have the freedom to learn without other swimmers cursing them for getting in the way.”
“I see. Going back to the incident, sir… You found the man lying in the road, did you touch him at all? We need to know for DNA purposes.”
“Oh my. Yes, my wife told me off, but by then, it was too late. I felt for a pulse in his neck. I’m sure anyone else in my position would have done the same.”
“I have no doubt that’s correct. Did you recognise the victim?”
“No. I don’t think so. Although, it was hard to tell with the muddy tyre marks covering his face. How could anyone drive over another person like that? I find it utterly barbaric, don’t you?”
“Absolutely, I do, that’s why we’re going to do our very best to punish the person guilty of this atrocious crime.”
“How do you propose doing that? There can’t be any cameras out on that road.”
“We have ways of finding suspects when they least expect it, don’t you worry. Of course, at this time, we’re reliant on what the witnesses tell us.”
“I’ve failed you then because I really can’t tell you much at all.”
“It’s fine. Please don’t be concerned about it. I will need a statement from you, would that be okay?”
“Of course. I’ll do anything I can to help the police. When?”
“I’ll get in touch with the station, they’ll contact you to make the necessary arrangements and take a DNA sample from you.”
“Good. Good. Okay, is that all for now?”
“It is. Thank you for speaking with me. Take care of your family and try to put the incident out of your minds if at all possible.”
“I’ll try. We’ve got a few videos lined up for the day. A bit of Disney will do the trick, I’m sure.”
She smiled. “It always works in my house with my little girl. Thank you again.”
“Goodbye. Oh, and I hope you manage to find the person.”
“We’re going to do our best.”
She ended the call and breathed out a sigh. “I had a feeling it was going to be a waste of time. Whoever did this obviously chose the location on purpose, to avoid witnesses, what do you reckon?”
“I think you’re right, although that doesn’t really help us,” Charlie admitted.
“Which is why we’re on the way to his home. Hopefully, the victim’s wife or girlfriend, assuming he has either, will be able to fill in some of the blanks for us.”
She steered the car, narrowly missing a large pothole then pressed her foot on the accelerator and darted down two more roads until they were sitting outside Bobby Simmonds’ semi-detached house. The garden was filled with the green shoots of spring, unopened daffodil heads dancing in the slight breeze.
The concrete path had seen better days and they had to pick their way carefully up, for fear they’d catch their heels in larger than average gaps in some sections.
After tackling the obstacle course of the path, Katy rang the doorbell and waited.
A petite woman in her early forties opened the door slightly and poked her head around it. “Yes? What do you want?”
Katy and Charlie produced their IDs. “DI Katy Foster and DS Charlie Simpkins. Are you Mrs Simmonds?”
“For now. What’s this about?”
“Would you mind letting us in to discuss the matter?”
“If I must. You’ll have to make it snappy, I’ve arranged to meet my friend in town to go on a shopping trip, what with Easter just around the corner and us having to miss out on Christmas last year.”
“It was unfortunate, Christmas being cancelled for everyone, unprecedented times.”
She showed them into a neat lounge, which could be described as minimalistic. The only furniture present were two leather sofas, an oak coffee table and a TV stand with a ginormous telly sitting on top of it. “Take a seat.”
“Thanks.” Katy and Charlie sat opposite the woman. Charlie extracted her notebook and flipped it open. Katy began, “We’re here to tell you some bad news.”
Mrs Simmonds’ hand flew up to cover her mouth. “What? Oh, no, it’s not my father, is it? I’ve told him he should have given up his car years ago. It’s too dangerous for him to still be on the road. He went through a red light when we visited Wisbech together last year. My heart was in my mouth at the time.”
Katy raised a hand to stop the woman. “No, this has nothing to do with your father and everything to do with your husband.”
“Oh, him. What about him?”
“I take it you’re not getting along too well at present. You mentioned you were his wife ‘for now’ at the front door, does that mean you’re in the process of getting a divorce?”
“Yes, we’re just waiting on the decree absolute to come through; we were promised it would be here at the end of last week, they lied to us. I’m desperate to seek my freedom. I’m done with that man. Can’t stand to be in the same room as him now.”
Katy nodded. “I understand. Have you been together long?”
“Ten long years. I would have got less time if I’d committed a bad crime, I suspect. Anyway, I’ve ranted on long enough about that prat, what is it you want to tell me?”
“Unfortunately, your husband’s body was found earlier this morning.”
“Body? You’re not making any sense. What do you…? Oh, God, you’re not telling me he’s dead, are you?”
“Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying.”
Her jaw slackened and her mouth dropped open as she stared at Katy. Her eyes welled up, and she shook her head in disbelief. “I can’t believe what you’re telling me. Where? How did it happen?”
“A few miles away. H
e was cycling. Can you tell me what his movements were yesterday?”
“I don’t understand.”
“He was on his bike, had he gone out for a ride at a particular time?”
“No. I don’t think so.” She wiped away the tears. “He would have been at work until around eight-ten, eight-fifteen. He locks up the store, you see. Oh, shit, does this mean I’ll have to break the news to his mother? She hates me.”
“No, we can send someone to do that. Where did Bobby work?” Katy decided to no longer refer to the victim as her husband, due to their circumstances.
“He’s, I mean, he was the warehouse manager at B&Q. Bobby was also a fitness freak, he cycled the ten miles or so into work every day. Is that what happened? He was cycling home and had an accident?”
“Possibly. His body was found on the road, close to the bike, so we can’t rule it out. I have to ask if you reported him missing last night.”
“No. I was out. I stopped over at a friend’s house. I got back this morning around nine. I didn’t think to check if he’d been home last night or not. He’s his own person, so am I. The lockdown last year revealed our marriage wasn’t as strong as we thought it was. Hence our decision to part ways.”
“I see. Do either of you have different partners, or significant others now?”
“No. We decided it would be better if we respected each other and waited until the divorce came through.”
“And yet you’re coming across as though you were sick of the sight of him,” Charlie added.
She sighed. “I was. We might have agreed for the split to be amicable, but just lately he’s pissed me off. Sorry, I know I shouldn’t speak ill of the dead. You know when you go down one route and someone tries everything they can to drive you in another direction? Well, that sums up our life. We’ve been fighting about the proceeds of the house in the past few weeks. He wanted to keep the house, I told him I wanted two hundred grand and the house could be his. He argued it wasn’t worth that much and the estate agent more or less agreed. We’ve been at each other’s throats for a couple of weeks over that. Nothing had been sorted and now… now he’s dead.”
Hmm… could she be responsible for his death in order to gain financially? “And you say you were at a friend’s last night?”
Mrs Simmonds nodded.
“We’ll need to speak to your friend to verify your account.”
The woman’s gaze darted between Katy and Charlie. She gasped and shouted, “No! You don’t think I could be capable of doing this?”
“No, that’s not what I said, Mrs Simmonds. As with any facts, such as an alibi, that surface during an investigation, we need to check them, ensure their accuracy.”
“Okay, but why am I getting the impression that I’m a suspect here?”
Guilty conscience perhaps? Katy offered a smile. “I don’t know, is there any reason for us to believe you had anything to do with your soon to be ex-husband’s accident?”
“No, absolutely not. I can’t believe you would think such a thing. Bloody hell, I had nothing to do with this.” Her voice became high-pitched as she protested her innocence.
“Okay, let’s leave that there for now. We’ll still need your friend’s name and address.”
Mrs Simmonds surveyed the room and then rose from her seat to collect her handbag from the corner. She returned, withdrew her phone and scrolled through her contacts. “Jenna Brown, fifty-eight Cheshire Drive. Will that do?” She also gave them Jenna’s phone number as well.
“Thanks. We’ll get in touch with Jenna later. Going back to Bobby, were you still speaking to each other?”
“Off and on. That doesn’t mean that I would set out to hurt him. I’m horrified you should suggest I would.”
“I don’t recall ever suggesting that, Mrs Simmonds. What I’m trying to ascertain is whether your husb… Bobby mentioned that he’d fallen out with anyone recently.”
She contemplated this for a second or two. “No, not that he told me about. Look, what are you saying? This wasn’t an accident? Is that why it sounds like you’re accusing me of something I wouldn’t do? Is that what you’re getting at, if I didn’t do it, which I didn’t, then someone else is responsible?”
“I’m going to lay it on the line for you. The pathologist believes your husband died in suspicious circumstances, and I’m inclined to think along the same lines. Therefore, it’s imperative for us to find out what was going on in Bobby’s life in the past few weeks and that if something he’d been involved in might have led to him losing his life. That’s not to say I’m accusing you of anything, I’m not.”
“Well, it bloody sounds like you are to me. And no, Bobby didn’t confide in me, not recently. Not ever, really. He was a very secretive individual. Drove me to distraction most of the time. Our marriage had always been a one-sided affair, in my eyes anyway. We rarely shared what we wanted out of life. Initially, I thought he was just shy and a bit reserved and hoped he would come out of his shell once he got to know me better, that never happened.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. You hinted at him possibly having a secret, any idea about what?”
“If I knew that, it wouldn’t be a secret, would it? I didn’t actually say that, I told you he was secretive, in general. Not really about one thing in particular. I know I’m not making any sense, I’m sorry. I know what I want to say, but I don’t think I’m expressing myself very well.”
“It’s a tough situation to get your head around, I completely understand.”
“I’m glad you’re being reasonable. Take my word for it, as much as I hated Bobby, come the end, I would never dream of hurting him physically. Blimey, have you seen the size of me compared to him?”
“Okay, I think we’re done here. I’m going to leave you my card, if you should think of anything you might wish to add, call me.”
“And that’s it? You’re going? What about his parents, are you going to visit them now?”
“If you’ll be kind enough to give us their details, yes, we’ll go and visit them next. Maybe you can tell me if they’ve got any underlying health problems we should be aware of?”
“His father has a heart problem and diabetes, other than that, they’re both in good health.”
“Thanks, that helps a lot.” Katy and Charlie stood and Mrs Simmonds showed them to the front door.
“I’m sorry he’s dead. You have to believe me. I would never set out to hurt him, not when we’d agreed to go our separate ways.”
“We’ll be in touch soon, if we find anything out.”
She closed the door behind them, and Katy and Charlie walked back to the car.
“What did you make of her?” Katy asked. She wanted to compare Charlie’s idea of the woman to her own.
“I’m not sure. To me, her reactions seemed a little false, or was that me reading something into it that simply wasn’t there?”
“No, I agree with you. Putting myself in her shoes, I totally get her reaction. Maybe I came across too aggressive back there.”
They got in the car and Charlie continued the conversation. “That’s nuts! You did not. If you didn’t probe, then you wouldn’t receive the answers needed to crack the case, would you?”
“There is that. Okay, I’ll drive to the parents’ house, can’t say I’m looking forward to sharing the news with them. Can you call Jenna for me, see if Mrs Simmonds’ story is true?”
“We didn’t get her first name, did we? Makes it a little awkward.”
“Yeah, do your best.”
Katy listened to Charlie’s end of the conversation. Her partner handled the enquiry well and Jenna furnished her with the facts that Anne Simmonds stayed at Jenna’s house and didn’t return home until nine that morning.
Katy drummed her fingers on the steering wheel as she drove. “If she didn’t do it, then who did? We need to visit the parents first and then head over to B&Q. Maybe someone there can tell us something of use.”
The Simmonds’ seniors lived in
a large bungalow at the end of a quiet cul-de-sac, not far from their son’s house. It had a few raised beds in one corner of the front garden, which appeared to have just been planted.
“Can’t say I’m looking forward to this,” Katy mumbled and rang the bell.
A few moments later, a grey-haired gentleman, sporting a goatee beard and a moustache, opened the door. “Hello? If this is about one of those charities, you’re wasting your time. My wife and I only give to reputable dog charities, they need the funds more, in our opinion.”
“It’s not, Mr Simmonds.” Katy flashed her ID. “I’m DI Katy Foster and this is my partner, DS Charlie Simpkins. Would it be all right if we came in and spoke to you and your wife for a moment?”
“The police? Why? What’s this all about? We’ve always kept on the right side of the law over the years. Can’t recall us doing anything we shouldn’t have done. I’m perplexed as to why you should be standing on our doorstep.”
Katy smiled. “It would be better if we told you inside, sir.”
He stepped behind the door and gestured for them to enter the hallway. Stripped oak floorboards and magnolia walls greeted them.
He brushed past them and led the way up the long narrow hallway into a large kitchen at the rear. The kitchen formed part of an extension which included a large conservatory. Katy admired her surroundings, her envy gene on full alert.
This room is amazing!
“Darling, this is, sorry, my mind isn’t what it used to be, DI Simpkins and DS Foster, was it?”
“The other way around but we’ll answer to anything,” Katy replied with a smile to put the couple at ease.
“Oh dear, have we done something wrong?” Mrs Simmonds asked. She wiped her hands on a tea towel and hung it over the handle of the oven.
“Why don’t we take a seat?” Katy suggested.
The four of them moved to the dark coloured wood dining table in the conservatory. Mr Simmonds reached for his wife’s hand and clutched it tightly. A lump appeared in Katy’s throat. She was about to tell this nice couple that their world had been torn apart.
“Unfortunately, there’s no easy way to tell you this, believe me, I’ve tried different ways over the years to break the unwanted news to relatives.” Charlie nudged her knee under the table.