by Anita Waller
‘You need a list.’
‘A list? Of what?’
‘I know I’m only a lowly pathologist and you’re a top-flight Wonder Woman of a detective, but it seems to me that if you make a list of everybody who has even the slightest of connections to Nicola, then work your way through it eliminating people, sooner or later you’ll end up with a winner. Or a loser, whichever way you look at it.’
‘Done that.’ She sounded gloomy.
‘And?’
‘I eliminated everybody.’
He kissed her. ‘Is this your way of telling me to shut up?’
‘Not at all. I suspect you might be right, actually. It’s likely that there’s somebody who needs to be on the list who we don’t know about yet, or who we consider insignificant. And if this lead that Kat and Mouse think they’ve got does pan out, it could bring Adam Armstrong into the frame, and top of the list.’ Tessa sat up and leaned forward, snagging a small piece of pizza. ‘Maybe this little piece might clear my brain.’
‘I don’t think it’s a medical way of clearing the brain, but go for it. You working all day tomorrow?’
‘I am. Did you want to do something?’
‘I thought I’d take my favourite person out to lunch. I know I’m on call, and you’re actually working, but maybe the gods will smile down on us. Can you keep your lunch break free?’
‘Take that as yes, but if anything crops up to spoil our party, I’ll ring or text you. That okay?’
‘It is.’ He kissed her once again. ‘You want any more wine?’
She shook her head, swallowing the last of the piece of pizza. ‘No thanks. Really I want to sleep. After tonight I’m taking no more medication. I feel drowsy all the time, and I need to make a list which will require a clear head. But now I’m nodding off.’
He got out of bed, moved the pizza box and the wine glasses, and climbed back into bed. Tessa was already asleep.
Hannah had spent half an hour on the phone with her mum and was also feeling tired. She couldn’t use the excuse of medication; the entire blame lay with sleepless nights because of the case.
She was tired, Tessa was tired, and she didn’t doubt that most of the team members were tired.
A glance at the clock told her it was nearly ten, and a smile crossed her face. Friday night, traditionally given over to nightclubbing and debauchery, and she was wondering if it was too early to go to bed.
She checked the door and windows were locked, and climbed the stairs. Her teeth had a full ten seconds of being brushed and she headed for the bedroom. She picked up her journal and filled in her day’s activities, completed her mood tracker which was starting to look like a long row of little green squares showing she was feeling down, and filled in her notes section.
Hannah flicked back through the previous week’s notes and saw the names Adam and Daniel Armstrong highlighted in yellow. She couldn’t for the life of her remember why they were highlighted, but somewhere inside of her she knew that when they found them, alive or dead, everything would be resolved.
They were the shadowy figures in the background, there but not quite there, and she knew she would feel gutted if they proved to be dead. Daniel had been a little boy of five when he disappeared, and it would be a disaster if he had been killed by his mother.
Reading the journal Hannah was meticulous about keeping, had woken her up, and she pulled her eReader towards her. Following on from the visit to the library in Nicola’s house, Hannah had decided to revisit the Sue Grafton books, albeit in electronic form, and this time they would be in the correct order. She was halfway through A is for Alibi, and completely engrossed.
Five minutes later, the eReader hit her on the nose as her body gave in to the exhaustion.
She slept.
Kat wasn’t asleep. Carl wasn’t asleep. Martha wasn’t asleep. Kat and Carl weren’t asleep as a direct result of Martha not being asleep.
Martha wanted to play. Kat and Carl didn’t want to play. Not with Peppa Pig anyway. Their play ideas were completely different to Martha’s.
‘Mamamamamam,’ Martha said, and Kat groaned. ‘Why is she so wide awake? I’m going to teach her to say Dadadadadadad instead. I’m sure it’s you she wants and not me.’
‘Sorry, sweetheart,’ Carl said, trying to keep his face straight. ‘It’s you. She wants her mummy. You want Peppa or George?’
Kat shuddered. ‘Neither, thanks. You think I’d be a bad mother if I stuck her in her cot with two pigs and left her to play?’
‘Yes.’
‘Will you tell social services?’
‘Certainly not. They wouldn’t want to play with her at this time either.’
‘Fair enough.’ Kat picked up the happy smiling baby and put her in the cot. The two pigs sat at the bottom end. Kat checked the baby monitor was working, dimmed the light until only the faintest of glimmers showed, and crept out to find out what had happened to Carl.
‘Traitor,’ she hissed, when she found him already in bed. She joined him, and he pulled her close. ‘Night, God bless, my love,’ he whispered in her ear. ‘Peace at last.’
‘Mamamamamam,’ echoed through the baby monitor.
Mouse was looking forward to a reasonably early night. Joel was on his way back to Manchester after they had agreed to make the following Saturday moving day. Joel would spend the week packing everything up, organising a tenant for his flat, which he assured her was no problem because his friend craved it, and they would start their new big adventure. Together.
For the first time, Mouse hadn’t felt upset at being parted from him. Her feelings had really escalated over Christmas, and she knew they were making the good decisions at last.
He hadn’t wanted to go, but a Saturday breakfast meeting meant he didn’t really have a choice.
‘I’ll not come over during the week,’ he had said as she leaned into the car to kiss him. ‘There’s a fair amount of stuff to pack up, and I don’t usually get home until about eight. That’s definitely going to stop when I move in here. I want as much time as possible with my girl.’
She had felt a warm glow as she watched his taillights all the way through the village, and briefly her mum and dad flashed into her mind. Would they have liked Joel? Would they have welcomed him into the family?
Nan seemed to get on well with him; it was time for everybody to get to know him better, including herself.
Mouse climbed back up the stairs to the flat, tidied everything away and ran a bath. She soaked for an hour, then ran to answer the phone. She didn’t need to see his name.
‘You’re safe,’ she breathed. ‘I hate it when you leave me to drive all that way.’
‘Hey, stop worrying. I’m a safe driver. You ready for bed now?’
‘I am. I’ve been killing time waiting for you to ring. I’m tired, but it’s a lovely sort of tiredness. Happy tired.’
‘Me too. Sleep tight, my love. I’ll call you tomorrow. Love you.’
‘Love you too.’
She snuggled into her pillow, pulled up the duvet until it encased her shoulders, but the smile on her face prevented sleep. She knew Nan hadn’t been surprised at their announcement; Nan always knew what was going on in her granddaughter’s head. Thoughts cascaded through her brain, and she eventually gave in and pulled a book from the bedside table.
The bookmark fell on to the floor, so she spent some time searching through the book for where she had left it. She read for two minutes, the bookmark fell back to the floor and the book closed, once more hiding the page she had just read.
Mouse slept.
26
Saturday was surprisingly sunny. Lambs had been seen on the hillsides, and that day marked the beginning of the annual influx of lamb spotters.
Doris and Luke had enjoyed their bacon sandwiches, and then the phone call had been made to Keeley, with Luke able to hear both sides of the conversation on loudspeaker. It seemed the name had been correct, so Doris agreed that they would go down to formalise th
ings, and take any other details Keeley might have about him.
The journey was short but this time they went in Doris’s car. The heater worked.
Keeley welcomed them both with a smile. ‘It’s really good to see you again. I’m sorry Henry isn’t here; Pam collected him early, she’s taking him out for the day.’
‘I’m sure he’ll prefer being with his nan to seeing the two of us. Can I introduce Luke? He’s our new operative, still in training, and will be looking after your case. We have to make it formal, as I explained, but there will only be minimal charges. I will be overseeing Luke’s work, although I’m sure he’ll find everything you need to know.’
Keeley turned to smile at Luke. ‘Thank you, Luke. I feel a bit silly asking you to check him out, but I’m really starting to enjoy being with him, and I have such a lot of money… come through to the kitchen and I’ll make us a tea, then we can talk.’
Luke took out the contract, passed it across to Keeley and showed where she needed to sign it, then slipped it back into his bag.
He pressed record, and asked Keeley to tell him as much as she knew about Vincent Sanders.
‘He seems fairly well off,’ she said, ‘which is why I think I might be being silly, but I have to protect my money, I’m really only the custodian of it for Henry. The money came from Henry’s father. Vince has a pretty swish car, a Saab, which I know wouldn’t have been cheap, and he seems to enjoy nice holidays. He has a house in Hathersage, up by the church where Little John’s grave is, and he was talking about having some work done on his kitchen, so I’m presuming he owns it. He’s forty-one, enjoys football, golf, the usual manly things, but he’s quite a gentle person. Oh, I don’t know, maybe it was just a throwaway remark. He’s seen my car, my home, he must realise I can afford them. Perhaps I’m reading more into what he said than I should.’
Luke spoke calmly. ‘Let’s find out for you. I hope he is kosher, that everything checks out, and you can get on with the rest of your life. Keep your money securely in your own bank, and not in anyone else’s.’ He smiled at Keeley. ‘Does he have family?’
‘No parents, but I understand he has a brother living down south, somewhere just outside of London. He has friends, particularly at the golf club, which again speaks of him having his own money. I’m being daft, aren’t I?’
‘No you’re not. If I need anything else from you, it will be me ringing. Thank you for trusting me with it, Miss Roy.’
‘It’s Keeley. And thank you. I don’t feel as though I’m wasting your time now I know you’re taking me seriously. And thank you, Mrs Lester, for making me wake up about it. I seriously thought I could just have a little chat with you, you would reassure me, and that would be it. But you’re right, I do need you to look into it properly, and I’m delighted to be Luke’s guinea pig. Do you need a retainer?’
Doris shook her head. ‘No, we know you’re good for it. It will just be a bill at the end of the investigation. And it shouldn’t take long. We should have answers for you by Wednesday or Thursday. Luke and I have something on for Sunday, Monday and potentially Tuesday, but we’ll get around to yours as a priority after that. Is that okay?’
‘Of course. There’s no rush, I don’t think Vince is going anywhere. I just need to know he’s with me for the wrong reasons.’
Doris laughed. ‘Keeley, I think you’ll find he’s with you because you’re a very attractive young woman. Does he get on well with Henry?’
‘He does. I think that’s really why I need to know Vince’s who he says he is, no side to him, because Henry looks forward to him coming, and it would be awful if things were to go pear-shaped sometime in the future, and Henry got hurt.’
Doris stood, and Luke switched off the recorder and put it in his pocket. He held out his hand, and Keeley shook it. ‘It was good to meet you, Keeley. I’ll be in touch mid-week.’
‘Smart arse,’ Doris said, once they were back in the car.
Luke grinned at her. ‘What do you mean, elderly lady?’
‘Shaking her hand. Good to meet you. You went all polite and nice on me. Just warn me if you’re going to behave like an adult and not a teenager. I need time to adjust.’
She drove back up the hill to her cottage, and Luke handed her the recorder. ‘We really going to leave this until next week?’
‘We are. Let’s concentrate on Adam and Danny now. Go and enjoy your evening with Imogen and…?’
‘Kerryn.’
‘Pretty names. Yes, as I said, enjoy your evening. Be here for around two tomorrow, and we’ll set off for Cromer.’
‘Will do. We going in yours?’
‘We are. I like to be warm, and clunk and bang free.’
He shook his head, as if in despair at her cruel words directed at his car. He waved and headed down the hill.
Tessa and Hannah checked in at Chatsworth, took a walk to Nicola’s murder site, and decided to go see Paula and Neil Ireland. Statements were required.
The primary murder site had been cleared of all tape, and looked as if nothing had ever happened there.
‘Why,’ Tessa said. ‘Why would anybody come here at that time of night, on one of the worst nights of the winter? What prompted her to do that? She didn’t have a dog to walk. I can understand her wanting to burn some of that alcohol off, but in the grounds of Chatsworth? And why would the killer be here? He or she had to have followed Nicola, because nobody would be in the grounds at that time of night, simply on a whim. Did they lure Nicola to that specific spot? Or could Nicola have died anywhere, because the killer was determined she would die that night. If that was the case, Nicola turning into the blackness of Chatsworth would have been an absolute bonus.’
They walked up the slight incline into the heart of the small group of trees and looked around. ‘I’m just trying to get a feel of what went off here that night, now it is back to being how it was.’
‘And what are you feeling?’ Hannah asked.
‘Nothing. It’s such an ordinary place. It’s not near anything, it’s just a small copse of trees. Nicola, what the hell were you doing? Meeting someone? Who would you want to meet so desperately that you came out on the coldest night of the year, only to walk straight into a trap.’
‘Adam and Danny, that’s who she would want to meet,’ Hannah said. ‘But that doesn’t mean the communication drawing her here came from either of them. It could be someone using their knowledge of her circumstances who contacted her, pretending to be Adam.’
Tessa looked at Hannah. ‘Clever clogs. Why haven’t I seen that?’
‘You’ve been out of it for at least three days, boss. Don’t beat yourself up about it. We’ve got there now, but we still don’t have any answers. In fact, I’m starting to think Kat probably knows more than we do, and they’re not even investigating this aspect of the damn case.’
They took a last look around the copse, and stood for a moment in front of the tree trunk that had supported the dead body of Nicola Armstrong. Everything looked so normal, and Tessa shivered. ‘I don’t usually feel for victims, because it would affect my ability to find their killers if I did, but there’s something different about this one. Her anger issues caused her life to spiral out of control, but sometimes there’s nothing you can do to change things. How do you stop being angry, murderously angry? Maybe if she had sought some help for her problems, but we’ve come across nothing that suggests she did. As a result, she ends up dead, covered in nearly a foot of snow. I want her to know I care, and I kind of understand.’
Hannah nodded. This was something rare for Tessa to open up about feelings and thoughts so in depth, as these were. ‘Then let’s get the bastard who did it. Maybe by Monday night we’ll know who Adam Armstrong is now, and where he lives. Even knowing that may not give us any answers, because I still can’t get my head around him coming back here. He’s been missing for ten years, and it was through choice. Protection of his son, protection of himself, they were his primary reasons for going. Why on earth woul
d he consider a return visit to Baslow? He wouldn’t. But what could potentially tempt him back? Nicola’s death.’
‘And who would benefit from Adam coming back? Debbie Carter? Simon Vicars? Maybe even Neil Ireland if he couldn’t think of any other way of getting out of such a controlling and abusive relationship.’ Tessa felt she was almost on the edge of a breakthrough… something they had just discussed that had gone as fleetingly as it had arrived, and she couldn’t pinpoint it.
Tessa touched the tree trunk for a moment. ‘Tell us what we’re missing, Nicola. Why did you come here?’
Neil Ireland stared out of his hotel room window and wondered how to put things right. Then he wondered if he wanted to put things right.
He couldn’t help but consider that Nicola’s death had been fortuitous; her attacks, sometimes verbal, sometimes physical, had increased, and he had known they were reaching the end. He had been scared of what she would do when that end came.
Neil hadn’t foreseen what his life would become, how it would change instantly. Paula had packed his bags within two hours of DI Marsden’s visit. Since then he had been stuck in a bloody Travelodge, unable to work because of his arm, and ever hopeful Paula would ring and say come home.
His decision to not notify the police he no longer lived at home had been arrived at because he believed Paula would take pity on him and make the call.
The strange number on his phone screen baffled him. Nobody had rung for four days, and he almost didn’t answer. He knew it couldn’t be Paula.
‘Yes,’ he growled.
‘DI Marsden, Mr Ireland. Where the bloody hell are you, and why didn’t you keep Chesterfield or me notified?’
‘Sorry… I didn’t think,’ he mumbled.
‘Well, think now. I want you at Chesterfield headquarters within half an hour. They are aware you’re heading in, and they will be waiting to take your statement.’
‘Can’t I give it to you?’ he gasped. She sounded furious.