by Anita Waller
‘We’re still holding on to her, there’s a lot more investigating to do around Grace Earle. We’ll obviously be charging her with fraud, but I’m hopeful we can pin attempted murder on her for Pam. We are still checking other alibis but if we can throw the whole lot at Grace Earle it would be helpful.’ She laughed. ‘That’s really not going to happen is it? You know what, Beth, it’s my day off and all I can do is sit around in the station, on my own, and try to stop my thoughts. I need an open mind really, I could be so wrong about Earle.’
‘Come for a meal,’ Mouse said. ‘Come and talk your thoughts through with us, we’re good listeners, and we’ve got our secret weapon: Kat. However, and more important than that, Nan is cooking. She’s doing a massive beef joint that will probably feed us all week, roast potatoes, Yorkshire pu–’
‘I’ll be there in half an hour.’
After the totally and brilliantly perfect meal, Doris, Mouse and Tessa waddled through to the lounge, Tessa now claiming she was carrying a full term food baby.
‘Do you eat like this all the time?’
‘Nah.’ Mouse laughed. ‘Only when Nan gets fed up of pizza and Chinese takeaway.’
‘It certainly beat my microwave spag bol,’ Tessa said.
‘You live on your own?’ Mouse asked. It dawned on her she knew nothing about Tessa, other than that she was a DI.
‘I do. What man would put up with the hours I work?’
‘Another policeman, I suppose.’
‘Tried that, didn’t work. We lasted a year. He’s still in London, I’m in Derbyshire, and now we’re divorced we’re good friends.’
Kat pushed the lounge door open with her bum, carefully carrying a tray of coffees to the coffee table. ‘Okay, dishwasher loaded and running, coffees made, does anybody want anything else?’
‘Not for another week,’ Tessa said with a sigh.
They chatted about anything and everything for half an hour, but their talk inevitably led on to the case. ‘I’ve brought some work home with me to go through again tonight. I have a sizeable report from Hannah Granger, and one from Dave Irwin. Hannah checked out Alice Small’s alibi, and Dave checked out the alibis of the five people still left living in the row of six cottages. One of the houses, the last one in the row, is awaiting a new tenant, but the other four are occupied by Keeley Roy, Eric Davies, Philip and Emma Jones, and…’ she searched her notes, ‘Owen Ashton, who is still living with his parents in Bournemouth for another month, then moving up to Hope to start a new job. He will be renting the property, not buying it. We’ve confirmed he was in Bournemouth on the day of the murder.’
‘You think the answer is locked somewhere in the alibis? Somebody is lying?’
‘I’m the sort of old school copper that thinks the answer is nearly always in the alibis. Let’s have a look at Hannah’s report. I’ll fill you in on what we knew before she set out to test Alice’s alibi for truthfulness. Alice said she goes for a run every day, and she checks in with friends on the route who are all with limited mobility. She does a bit of shopping for them, that sort of thing. She’s a lovely lady, but because of her relationship to Judy, we had to check her out. It turns out that this run is one she does at speed, she is over eighty and fitter than we are, and that day she did the run but a little later than usual because she had to wait in for a delivery. We have to check that part, to prove she is telling the truth. Take a look,’ she said, and passed the report across to Mouse.
Mouse read through it at speed and then passed it to her nan. ‘Rosie? The journal entry.’
Tessa nodded. ‘Hannah’s done a good report, missed nothing out. She said Rosie is very credible, and came across as honest. We’re going to be ringing around all parcel delivery companies tomorrow, trying to track this delivery that Alice waited in for. If it’s all above board, we can agree her alibi is good.’
‘And if you can’t find anyone who delivered to her, she moves to the top of the suspect list?’ Doris asked. ‘Maybe the new trainers were the delivery.’
‘We still need to prove the delivery happened at the time she says. I hope she’s telling the truth. I like Alice Small, feisty old lady.’
‘And motive? Why would she want to kill Judy? She’s lost Tom, but that wasn’t Judy’s fault, he had cancer. The will didn’t leave her such a lot; £10,000 and the house where the Bournemouth chap is going to live. Keeley received a lot more, and quite rightly so.’ Doris looked and sounded perplexed.
‘I don’t understand it any more than you do, Doris,’ Tessa said. ‘I just know it will become clear, and in the end, we’ll find the right one. Maybe we’re looking in the wrong direction completely.’
Kat picked up the report and skimmed through it. ‘They love her, don’t they? All these people, all vouching for her, all relying on her. Remarkable woman. And fit. I couldn’t do that run, and definitely not every day.’
‘Fit enough to overpower Judy, who is twenty-five years younger?’ Tessa threw the question into the debate.
‘I don’t know. If you take anybody by surprise, you have the advantage.’
‘But we believe Judy had already seen her attacker. Don’t forget she was heard to shout out to somebody in her back garden around seven in the morning.’ Tessa once again had a point to make.
‘Somebody that could have been a cat. Nobody else saw anyone. Let me throw something in here. The untenanted house at the end of the row and the one that Aston… Ashton? … is going to rent, have they been checked over? Could somebody have been in one of them, biding their time until they could drop down into Judy’s house? Maybe hearing Judy out in the garden shouting at whatever, was the start they needed to go up through the loft space and down into Judy’s house.’ Kat shrugged. ‘Just throwing that in as a possible scenario.’
‘Somebody who was fit?’ Tessa countered. ‘And the one at the end has been checked, because that does have loft access, so we went down and had a look around. It’s empty, no signs of anyone having been in there.’
‘Which brings us back to Alice, if the criteria is that they would have to be fit.’
‘We did check through the loft hatch of the Ashton house, but it didn’t have a built in loft ladder like the other five, so we couldn’t get down into the house itself. We also didn’t have a key to get in by the normal route of the front door, but I’m betting the estate agents do.’ Tessa took out her notebook and wrote a brief message to herself. ‘That’s on the list for tomorrow. See, I knew you three would spark something else.’ She grinned. ‘And I promise I’ll let you know if we find anything.’
‘And I promise I’ll let you know when I find out if there really was a parcel delivery,’ Mouse said.
‘How the hell…? No, I won’t ask. When you tell me, you say you rang up with a query about it. Okay?’
‘Tessa, stop worrying.’ Kat smiled. ‘She’ll probably blame me if it all goes pear-shaped anyway. I’m taking Pam Bird out tomorrow, just for the record, not going on any computer.’
‘Anywhere nice?’ Tessa asked.
‘For her, yes. I’m taking her to Tom’s grave. She has an appointment at the bank at twelve thirty, so I’m going to pick her up at ten, and bring her down into Hope. I’ll take her for a coffee afterwards, I think she might need it, then return her to Buxton in time for your man to collect her. She liked him, by the way.’
‘Who wouldn’t? Everybody likes Carl except his ex-wife. She preferred the local butcher. Carl’s a smart man though. A DS who will go higher. He’s not on my team as such, but he’s in my bank of experts I can call on when needed. Until we have all the proof we require for this Grace Earle case, he’s seconded to me.’
‘She still locked up?’
‘Oh, yes. We need to know where the money is, and she has charges of attempted murder hanging over her for Pam’s over-medication. She’s not going anywhere in a hurry.’
Rustling noises came from the baby monitor and Kat stood. ‘Peace over, the fourth Connection is awake and hungry.’
‘Can I feed her, please?’ Tessa asked.
Doris eased herself out of the chair. ‘I’ll get the bottle, you get the baby, Kat, and Tessa gets the honour. Let’s hope she’s not sick down that snazzy silk blouse, Tessa.’ Doris laughed.
Tessa stared down at the baby cradled in her arms, and sighed. One miscarriage had been her only attempt at motherhood, and she knew her rising career would preclude any babies. But it took more than a career to squash maternal feelings;
this was the perfect ending to a perfect afternoon.
An hour later, she reluctantly handed a sleeping Martha back to be placed in her crib, and headed for the door. Kat walked with her.
‘You’re very welcome anytime you want a change from police stuff, Tessa. We’ve all really enjoyed today.’
Tessa pulled her into a hug. ‘Thank you so much. It’s eased me away from all the strain and the stress, and your daughter is so beautiful. I can’t remember the last time I spent such a relaxed Sunday, even though we have talked death and crime.’
They walked out to the car, and Tessa wound down the window, reaching for Kat’s hand. ‘Leon went to Canada yesterday,’ she said. ‘Now start to live again.’
32
Kat laid the huge bouquet of flowers on the back seat, and helped Pam into the front. ‘Have you already been out buying flowers?’ Kat smiled at her passenger.
‘No, I won’t be doing any driving until I’m sure these drugs are out of my system and back to normal levels. I had Waitrose deliver them at seven this morning. I’d almost forgotten I could do things like that. That awful woman has taken over my life to such an extent, I did nothing for myself.’
‘Today is just for you. We’ll go visit Tom, then head for a coffee shop and have coffee and a big fat cream bun. I’ve booked us a table for two for eleven thirty, and we’ll be back here in time for your date with Carl. How does that sound?’
‘It sounds perfect. I’ve done nothing like this for years, not since William’s first stroke.’
Kat drove carefully; despite Pam’s brave and upbeat words, she could tell how frail she was. She parked the car as close as she could get to church, and then helped Pam out. ‘Shall I carry the flowers for you?’
‘Would you mind? In my head I’m getting stronger, but my legs don’t always agree.’ Pam smiled at her companion.
‘Not at all.’ They walked through the gate of the churchyard, and slowly headed towards Tom’s final resting place. Pam reached out a hand, and tucked it into Kat’s arm.
‘You’re okay to carry on?’ Kat asked. ‘It’s about another twenty-five yards, that’s all.’
‘I’m fine. I can just feel… oh, I don’t know what I can feel, Kat. This is my son, the baby boy I loved so much. And he died before me.’
They moved slowly onwards, and then Pam gave a huge sigh as she saw the name Carpenter.
‘Oh, Tom,’ and tears leaked from her eyes. ‘Oh, my Tom.’ She touched the headstone, and Kat stepped back, allowing her the moment to herself.
Keeley looked around the tidy kitchen, the one she had cleaned after Henry’s temper tantrum surrounding cornflakes versus Coco Pops, and picked up the roses she had gathered in the garden. She wanted to take them to Tom, to say thank you for everything, and to simply have time with him.
It didn’t take long to walk to the church, and as she walked up the central driveway leading to Tom’s grave, she could see two people in close proximity to where she was heading. She hesitated; she didn’t want to disturb their time with their loved ones. Her steps slowed but as she drew nearer she realised that one of the two people was familiar: Kat Rowe. Logical conclusion led her to realise the other person had to be Tom’s birth mother, and she turned around to walk away.
At the same time Kat moved, and saw Keeley heading off in the opposite direction. She touched Pam on the arm, and said, ‘I’ll leave you for a minute. There’s someone I’d like you to meet.’
She ran down towards Keeley, who spun around when she heard Kat’s footsteps.
‘Is that…?’ Keeley said, glancing towards the lady standing by Tom’s graveside.
‘It is. Are you brave enough to meet her? I’ll be with you. I can simply introduce you as Tom’s friend and neighbour, you don’t have to say anything beyond that. She knows nothing of Henry at the moment, but one day you will want her to meet him, I’m sure. What do you say?’
Keeley’s brain spun. This almost seemed like fate and she nodded. ‘Yes, if you think it’s right to meet her, then let’s do it.’
They walked back towards Tom’s grave, where his mother was kneeling and placing the flowers she had brought, taking care not to squash the blooms that had been there before her and Kat had arrived.
Pam stood and watched as the two women walked towards her.
Kat put her arm around a hesitant Keeley. ‘Pam Bird, this is a good friend and next door neighbour of Tom, Keeley Roy.’
‘Keeley, I’m delighted to meet you.’ Pam held out her hand and Keeley shook it. ‘You knew Tom was adopted?’
‘I did,’ Keeley replied, ‘and I knew how much he wanted to trace you. In the end he just didn’t have the time. Pam, I have to say it’s obvious he was your son. He had your eyes, your chin…’ but she couldn’t add ‘and so does your grandson’. Not yet, it was too early.
‘You don’t know how much it pleases me to hear that, Keeley. I have a picture of him as an adult, but not as a child; I missed so much.’
Keeley smiled. ‘I’m happy to tell you as much as I know. I only live across the road from here, so if you would like to come and have a cup of tea when you’ve finished here, you’d be very welcome.’
‘Great minds think alike.’ Kat smiled. ‘We’ve booked a table for coffee and cake – please join us Keeley, we’d love it if you could.’
It didn’t take long for Mouse to track down the delivery Alice had used for her excuse for being late doing her run; it was exactly at the time Alice had said, just a day earlier.
‘Shit,’ she said, under her breath.
Doris was engrossed in a document she was checking, red pen poised to make suggested amendments. ‘What’s wrong?’
‘Everything, I think.’
‘Alice? She lied?’
Mouse nodded. ‘The delivery was timed at 9.32, except it was a day earlier, the day before Judy was murdered. In other words, she had no alibi for the day in question, and she certainly did her run later than normal. I have to tell Tessa.’
‘Do you? Is it our job to keep her informed?’
‘It is if we want to keep the channels open that are already open. It would be a shame to lose Tessa’s trust, and to be honest, if Alice is connected to this murder, she’ll have to pay for that. It doesn’t matter how much we like her, I have to give this information to the police.’
‘How are you going to explain having got the information? You can’t tell Tessa you hacked into Yodel’s or DPD’s computer system, or, heaven forbid, the Royal Mail one, you just can’t.’
‘I know. I’m going to wait until this time tomorrow, and then ring Tessa and see if they’ve managed to trace the delivery. I’m hoping they find it on their own, then I don’t need to say anything. But in the meantime, we’ve got the facts… how do we use them?’
‘Pre-warn Alice?’ Doris said.
‘Should we?’ Mouse frowned and looked at her nan.
‘No we shouldn’t! I was only joking. If Alice is connected to this murder, then… I’m struggling to see how she could be, she would have nothing to gain from Judy’s death. I know she didn’t like her, but I don’t think she hated her enough to kill her. And the one thing we’re ignoring here is that, like our Kat, she is a practising Christian. She’s a person who doesn’t just pay lip service to her God, she actually walks the walk. She cares enough for her friends that she checks in with them every day, gets shopping in for them, and that’s just the bits we know she does. Something’s out of kilter here, but I’m buggered if I know what it i
s.’
‘Buggered?’ Mouse covered her lips to hide the bubble of laughter that threatened to escape. ‘I’m too young to listen to that sort of language.’
Doris threw her red pen at her granddaughter. ‘Go and make us a coffee, and break out the biscuits, sassy one. And stop being cheeky to your elders.’
The coffee and cakes went down a treat, and Keeley told Pam of Tom’s childhood, all the little bits he had mentioned to her as they lay satiated and drowsy after their lovemaking. She thought it expedient not to mention the circumstances leading up to her gaining the knowledge about him, but it was clear Pam was enthralled, listening to the stories.
‘This is so much more than I expected from today. Thank you, you two, you’ve made an elderly lady very happy. I only ever had Tom. I didn’t meet William until I was forty, so we decided not to have children, we reckoned we were both too old – he was a few years older than me. I know you have a tiny baby, Kat. Do you have children, Keeley?’
Keeley’s eyes flashed to Kat, and Kat shrugged. The inference was it’s your call, you decide whether to tell her about Henry now or in the future.
‘I have a little boy, Henry, six years old. We’re in the middle of a spat at the moment.’ She hesitated. ‘I asked what he wanted for breakfast and he said cornflakes. I placed the bowl in front of him and he’d changed his mind, he wanted Coco Pops. I argued about it, he slammed his hand down, catching the edge of the cornflakes dish and it catapulted into the air. Milk and cornflakes everywhere. We were running a bit late, so I threw some Coco Pops into a bowl, he ate them at top speed, knowing I wasn’t happy, and we had to run to get to school on time. I came back to a kitchen that looked like a war zone.’
‘Oops. He’ll have recovered by the time he comes home from school?’ Pam smiled.
‘I’m sure he will, he’s not the sort of kid who bears grudges. And he’s normally very protective of me, doesn’t like me to be upset. Recently he’s seen me upset a couple of times, and when that happens he doesn’t leave my side.’