Blossoms in the Wind

by Ross Richdale

  On the top floor of the North Shore Police Centre, twenty or more police and support staff were gathered to face a large whiteboard covered in photographs and felt-tip pen writing with arrows going in several directions.

  Detective Inspector Andy Sullivan coughed and waited for those assembled to stop the small talk and listen to him. He tapped the board and pointed to two larger photographs on opposing sides of the whiteboard.

  "In this investigation into the death of David Sutton we have had many possible suspects," He swung the pointer in a circle around a dozen smaller photographs near the bottom of the board. "In the end we cut the motive for his death down to two, his business transactions that touched the criminals and gangs in the city and his personal life that involved his family, various mistresses and a local brothel that he visited in what appeared to be bursts after one of his affairs fell apart.

  He was not a pleasant man but he was intelligent. He was violent in nearly all encounters with women but had a certain charm that attracted them in the first place. Through thorough investigations we have removed his estranged wife, Chloe Sutton and his son Jeff from the list of suspects. They were both victims of his violence until Jeff finally retaliated and lashed out to beat his father up."

  "Bugger deserved it," one of the detectives muttered.

  "True, but we must put aside our personal feelings in this case." Andy continued on to summarise everything that had been found out and also the scenarios involved about how the body ended up on the remote west coast beach.

  "We are ninety percent sure that his death was because of his personal life rather than through his somewhat devious business interests. Hardened criminals or gangs would not have worried about trying to dispose of the body in remote forest. If they had wanted his body to disappear we would never have found it." He tapped the right hand photo at the top of the whiteboard. "I want us to concentrate on getting concrete evidence a well as circumstantial evidence about this woman who shall become our main suspect. Nicole Wilks was his partner after he left his wife, she had a miscarriage after being violently assaulted by him and more recently has been involved in the abduction of Chloe Knight's baby." He grimaced. "Chloe has recently married Adrian Knight who is the biological father of her newly born baby."

  "Another no hoper?" someone called out.

  Andy frowned. "Far from it. He is a local businessman whose first wife died from cancer a while back. He has two teenage children, a daughter who is eighteen and a thirteen-year-old son. They are all living in the family home along with Chloe's son."

  "Hear she and Jeff are dating," someone else interjected.

  "Convenient," muttered a sarcastic voice.

  Andy glowered. "Unless it breaks the law, what they do is none of our business. You may be interested to know that Ava Knight was one of New Zealand's top five percent of those who passed last year's scholarship examination."

  "Wow!" a female voice muttered.

  "To date, most of our evidence is circumstantial. We need concrete evidence and if there is none, the other evidence we have must be beyond reasonable doubt."

  "And if the person who did it pleads self-defence or temporary insanity?" Sergeant Gloria McKenzie asked.

  "That is for the court to decide. The coroner has referred the case onto us to investigate. That is why you are all here today."

  Andy handed the session over to Gloria who, in turn, assigned the detectives and uniformed staff present onto various aspects of the case that she wanted followed up before dismissing them.

  GLORIA TURNED TO HER assistant, Constable Lois Matene. "I want to visit the scene where the body was probably thrown into the stream," she said. "I'm sure there is more evidence that we can find there."

  "Such as? "

  "Fingerprints on various objects that a tramper may have grabbed and the wheelbarrow that Salty reckoned was used to carry the body."

  "More footprints, too."

  "Possibly but I doubt if there'll be much after all the heavy rain in the area."

  Lois nodded. "The reports on the plaster casts we took came through."

  "And?"

  "One set could match Nicole Wilks's feet but they are not entirely conclusive."

  "Why?"

  "We got a footprint from her place that we knew was hers and made a cast of it. The sneakers she wore were the same shoe size as those on the track but appeared to be squashed down more."

  Gloria stared at Lois. She was a conscientious person who did find out little things that she herself might overlook. "Meaning what?"

  Kelston, the civilian computer nerd working with them replied. "By my estimates, the person who was on the track was at least ten kilograms lighter than Nicole. It is all to do with the depth of the footprint though the type of soil can make a difference."

  "But it was a significant amount?" Gloria asked.

  "Yes, we may be looking for somebody with the same shoe size as Nicole but is slimmer or perhaps shorter than her," he replied.

  "So this will make any case against her less likely rather than help us?"

  "Sorry," Lois muttered.

  "Don't be," Gloria said. "We are searching for the truth and if that points to somebody else, it is up to us to follow this new evidence up."

  "And that missing wheelbarrow might be what we need?"

  "If there is one," Gloria said. "The photos we took of the tracks left haven't been analysed by an expert yet. That's another reason why I'd like to go back there."

  GLORIA WAS READY FOR a rest by the time she, Lois and Constable Austin Winters, a police dog handler with Starlight, his Alsatian dog, arrived at the swing bridge on that hot afternoon. Nothing on the track had been found that could help them. The opposite was really the case with the original tracks and footprints long gone. As well, over the summer, numerous trampers had come through and there were new footprints everywhere, as well as signs of people, broken branches, occasional litter tossed aside and, in one place, the signs of a small tent and camp fire site.

  She, therefore, expected to find little new evidence to prove or disprove Kelston's theory. Their luck changed when they walked along to where the body had probably been tossed into the gorge below. In a shady spot were two sets of footprints and the telltale sign of a single narrow wheel and accompanying indents of wheelbarrow legs.

  "Spot on." Lois glanced over the chasm before them. "The shrubs and grass have grown over the wet warm summer. I doubt if we'll see anything of a wheelbarrow even if it was tossed down there."

  "True. We'll make casts of these footprints and wheelbarrow marks, though."

  "A soil sample will help, too," Lois suggested. "It could explain the differences between Nicole's footprints in her backyard and those here."

  "Do it," Gloria ordered.

  The place where they stood was slightly downhill from the track and swing bridge. There was no way that a wheelbarrow could be pushed over the bridge so it was either abandoned here or pushed back down the track to be abandoned later or taken away. There were numerous gullies and slopes on the way and with the recent vegetation growth it would be almost impossible to check everywhere.

  "That's where Starlight will help," Austin said. "She can pick up the wheelbarrow tracks distinct smell?"

  Gloria nodded "Good. "

  "If anyone can find it, she will. Find Girl," he directed after getting Starlight to sniff the wheelbarrow marks in the soil.

  About quarter of the return trip back, Starlight stopped and woofed. They were beside a gully that was steep but not impossible to descend. Waist high grass grew at the top before it disappeared between ferns, creeper and shrubs.

  "She's picked up a trace," Austin said. "Look Girl but go slowly."

  Starlight barked and disappeared through the grass. The trio followed. Moments later Gloria noticed the dog sitting under two trees with her tail wagging.

  "What have you found, Girl?" Austin said.

  They climbed down the remaining few metres and there, upside down a
nd caught between two tree trunks was the wheelbarrow they had been looking for. Beyond it, there was an almost vertical drop to rocks below. If it had gone over she doubted if even Starlight would have found it.

  Gloria grinned. "So there really was a wheelbarrow!" she said. "Don't touch anything. We'll get the tech guys in here to thoroughly examine it and take prints before we shift it out. Starlight is a smart dog, Austin."

  "Sure is," the handler replied. "She's my third dog and is particularly good at sniffing out objects such as this one." He rubbed the dog's ears. "Good Girl, you did well."

  The dog's tongue drooled and her tail pounded the grass. She was obviously pleased with herself and the compliments she received.

  D.I. ANDY SULLIVAN had another murder case and a complicated embezzlement case involving an international company that his squad was investigating so had left most of the Sutton case to Gloria and her team to follow up. She was a thorough and enthusiastic sergeant who had the knack of encouraging staff without that overbearing attitude that many of the uniformed sergeants displayed.

  It appeared that this Nicole Wilks was responsible for the man's killing but several aspects of the case puzzled him. Whether she was very naive or clever was the problem. She had no alibi that fitted in with the time of his death but that in itself, was far from exact with two forensic experts having different opinions about the time-frame involved. Like everything else, it all came down to circumstantial evidence.

  Finding the wheelbarrow gave, at last, a piece of concrete evidence that could tie everything together and give them sufficient evidence to charge the woman. He had decided on a murder charge or the lesser one of manslaughter and leave it to the court to decide which one if any, she was guilty of.

  It had been a long quite exhausting week on Friday afternoon when Gloria came into his office with a frown on her face.

  "Okay, Gloria what is it?"

  "The tests from that wheelbarrow have come back. The good news is that there was evidence that David Sutton had been placed in it. Skin fragments confirm that he was in the wheelbarrow but his fingerprints were not present where one would grip the side of it so the odds are that he was dead or unconscious when pushed along in it." She glanced at him but her expression had not changed.

  "And the bad news?"

  "There were two sets of different fingerprints found on the handles and on several other places on the wheelbarrow. Sets of older ones were also made by someone pushing the wheelbarrow that last time"

  "So isn't that what we were looking for?"

  "None of the fingerprints were those of Nicole Wilks. There is no evidence that she had ever touched the wheelbarrow."

  "Oh hell," Andy swore. "So whose were they?"

  "They came from nobody on our database," Gloria said.

  Andy sighed. "So there is nothing that can connect her to his death?" he said.

  "No but it confirms my theory that the footprints were made by the two people who pushed the wheelbarrow. However, neither of them were made by Nicole Wilks."

  Andy glanced up. "So who was it?"

  "I still believe it was another woman or perhaps two women who had been assaulted by him. It could have been further back than the five years we have concentrated on. Victims of domestic assaults or rape often carry the burden for years before something happens in their lives to make them want revenge."

  "Or it could be one of our women on our original list, there were eight if I remember correctly."

  "Chloe Knight is in the clear. We had her fingerprints on file and they were not her's."

  "Leaving seven. Get onto it, Gloria but don't leave Nicole Wilks entirely out of the equation. She may have had other women who disposed of the body for her."

  "I'll keep that in mind, Andy but would like to re-examine the evidence from the beginning."

  "You have two weeks to find something, Gloria otherwise I'll refer the case back to the coroner stating that we believe it was an accidental death but that the body was illegally disposed of by persons unknown." Andy grinned, "But take the weekend off, Gloria. We've already blown the overtime budget for this month."

  "Okay Andy. I hope you will too."

  "If I'm lucky, I'll be sailing my yacht in the harbour. The weather report is perfect."

  FEBRUARY WAS DIFFERENT for Ava. Logan was back at junior high in Year Eight and her younger friends were also back at school. However, university did not commence until March so she continued to work at Switched on Components for the month.

  She was enrolled at Auckland University for a BSc degree while Jeff also enrolled there for a more general BA degree. The campus was over the Auckland Harbour Bridge in downtown Auckland and they had both considered finding accommodation there to save travelling time. Ava didn't say anything to Jeff, Chloe or her dad but she still felt somewhat embarrassed about living in the family home with Jeff just upstairs.

  He had never broken his promise to have no sex at home but it was difficult, especially on those few occasions when they were home alone. Often she was actually tempted to forget their promise and more than once it was Logan who came to her rescue, if those were the words to describe their somewhat unique situation.

  "You've done well, Ava," Logan said one wet afternoon when she picked him up from Joseph Ward Junior High School after a message from him on her iPhone.

  "How?" she retorted thinking he was criticising her driving after she had passed two cars on the suburban road.

  "Well you and Jeff keep so far apart at home, you'd think you were an old married couple who had had a fight. You even slapped his arm when he had the cheek to give you a brief hug when you were loading the dishwasher last night. I thought he'd be wearing a hole in the carpet heading for your bedroom every night."

  "So," she snapped as her cheeks burned. "What business is it of yours, anyway?"

  Logan shrugged. "None, I guess. Just an observation. It ain't natural, you know."

  "And since when have you become an expert on someone's love life?"

  It was Logan's turn to flush. "Sorry," he muttered. "Only thinking of you both. I'd hate to see you spit up because you're scared of what someone might say."

  "Okay, Little Brother, what would you do if say Vanessa Johnson came to live with us."

  Logan's already flushed face turned red. "How did you know about her?" he gasped.

  Ava glanced across at him. "One would have to be blind not to notice you with her most of the weekends. Aren't you taking her to the Junior Classes Easter dance next month?"

  "We'll both be there," Logan muttered. "I'm not actually taking her."

  Ava laughed. "Fair enough but back to my original question."

  For several seconds Logan watched the windscreen wipers trying to cope with a downpour before replying. "You need to get a flat or apartment together somewhere over the bridge. Hasn't Jeff inherited several from his old man's estate?"

  "It was that family court ruling before he died but go on."

  Logan shrugged. "That's it really. With both of you going to Uni next month it's a good time to do it. Dad and Chloe think so too but are too polite to suggest it."

  Ava screeched to a stop at a red traffic light and glowered over at her brother. "How do you know?"

  "They forget I have ears even when I'm on my iPad, you know."

  "Thanks," Ava said as she accelerated forward after the light turned green. "I'll have a chat to Jeff."

  "Just tell him, don't ask," Logan replied. "He's worse than you when it comes to making a decision about something."

  "So you're a philosopher now?" Ava whispered.

  Logan laughed. "Can I borrow fifty bucks over the weekend, you earning all that big money now?"

  "To take Vanessa out?"

  "Something like that," Logan muttered.

  Ava smiled. "Okay but I'm keeping tabs on everything I loan you."

  "Thanks Ava," Logan replied with a grin. "Oh, by the way, did I tell you about Terri Cox?"

  "The woman who rents Je
ff's Mount Albert house?"

  "That's her. Well, she's moving out. Going to a job down in Hamilton, I gather."

  Ava scowled. "And how did you find that out?" she muttered.

  Hacked into Jeff's messages on his iPad.

  "What?"

  "Good opportunity wouldn't you say?"

  "So you planned this whole conversation? Have you had a similar one with Jeff?"

  "Me! Now why would I do that?"

  "Because you're a scheming little brat. I reckon you just want Jeff's or my bedroom."

  Logan rolled his eyes. "Never thought of that. Reckon that loft bedroom wouldn't be too bad, though."

  THAT NIGHT AVA CORNERED Jeff as soon as he arrived home from the car dealer's yard. "And when were you going to tell me that Terri Cox was shifting out?" she said in a cold voice.

  Jeff grimaced. "Your little brother can be a pain in the butt at times."

  Her voice softened. "And how do you know he told me?"

  "Message on my iPhone," he muttered and laughed after she told about the conversation on the way home from Logan's school. "And I was all ready to take you for a drive on Saturday for a surprise visit to the Mount Albert house. Terri will have shifted out by the weekend. It's even furnished for apparently the old man rented it to her fully furnished."

  "So I guess everyone except me knew about it?"

  "Mum did and probably Adrian, too."

  "Well that's everyone," Ava retorted. "When are we shifting in?"

  Jeff stared at her. "Who said anything about us shifting in?"

  Ava flushed when Jeff grabbed her in a massive hug and kissed her on the lips. They walked inside to where Chloe was cooking a meal in the kitchen.

  "So what's new?" Chloe said in an innocent sounding voice.

  Ava attempted to sound serious. "As if you didn't know!" she said and brushed past on the way to her bedroom. "I think the whole family is ganging up on me."

  CHAPTER 14

  "Did you see the paper?' Jeff asked as he ran into Ava's bedroom.