Wiped Out in Wimbledon, page 7
As soon as I grabbed her leash, Sequoia knew what was happening and sprinted to the door, happily hopping up and down in excitement, her tail wagging madly as her tongue flew around in anticipation.
I looked over at Biscuit, but he was curled up in a ball on the couch, dead to the world. I figured if I tried to wake him up to see if he wanted to come, I’d probably get bitten.
“Looks like it’s just you and me then, kiddo,” I said to Sequoia as I clipped her up.
The two of us went out and began our slow meander around the neighborhood. Downtown London apparently had so many little spots to sniff, that was much more interesting than getting any sort of real exercise.
Personally, I enjoyed the fresh night air. It was late, nearly ten o’clock now, and since it was right around the solstice, the days were long. The sun had set, but not all that long ago, and the heat of the day was slowly dissipating into a comfortable coolness.
I took deep breaths, letting the stress and thoughts of the day flow away while my dog roamed. We walked around for about half an hour; I let Sequoia decide where to go. She went straight to Kensington Gardens, as she always did, but unfortunately for her, it was too late to enter. I tried to tell her, but it wasn’t as if she could understand me. Or if she did, she chose to believe I was lying.
When she saw the wrought-iron gates at the entrance were shut, she turned and continued wandering around, and the two of us walked rather aimlessly through the neighborhood. The only time I really held firm was when Sequoia wanted to go down dark alleys. Sorry, doggo. Not in London at night.
After about thirty minutes, we headed back home. I was walking down Eldon Road when I noticed something strange. There was a car parked at the end of the street, and as I walked by, I saw someone sitting in the driver’s seat.
That was a little bit strange by itself. Who would be sitting alone in a car by themselves? But then, when I walked past, the driver seemed to turn away from me, as if they specifically didn’t want me to see them.
Alarm bells immediately began going off in my head. Someone was staking out our street.
I decided to act as if I hadn’t noticed anything. I kept walking then pulled out my phone.
“Hey, Sequoia, aren’t you a good girl,” I said in a happy voice, opening the photo app. “You’re so pretty! What a good dog!”
I took a few pictures, making sure to get the car in the background. Thanks to the streetlights, combined with clear skies and a bit of a moon, it wasn’t nearly as dark as its occupant would probably have wanted it to be, and I was able to get a decent picture that included the license plate.
“You’re such a good dog,” I sang as I led Sequoia back home. I took another couple pictures of her further down the street to look less suspicious and then took her inside. As soon as I did, I locked the door behind me.
“There’s someone in a car at the end of the street,” I said to Jake.
He immediately looked concerned. “Did you see who it was? Are they going after Violet?”
“I didn’t see them, and I don’t know. That’s what I’m worried about though. I should text her.”
I pulled out my phone and had a look at the photo first. Jake looked over my shoulder. “You can make out the person in the car. Who is it?”
I squinted at the screen as I used my fingers to zoom in on the face. When I saw who it was, I gasped.
“That’s DCI Johnson,” Jake said.
“Yeah. What’s he doing here, staking out our street?”
“Do you want me to go out there and ask him?”
I shook my head. “No. I’d rather he not know we’re onto him. That explains why he turned away when I walked past though. I would have recognized him. Okay, we have to let Violet know.”
I sent my friend a text. Just FYI, DCI Johnson is staking out our street. He’s in a black Renault at the western end.
Her reply came through a moment later. Yes, he has been there for just over an hour. Thank you for letting me know.
What are you going to do about it?
I am working on another case at the moment, so, nothing. So long as he does nothing. But I have eyes on him.
I chewed on my lip as I considered my options. I didn’t like that DCI Johnson was stalking Violet. Because let’s face it, he was totally here for Violet and not me.
But more importantly: why? This wasn’t some newbie who wanted to ask her a question and was sitting in his car, trying to build up the courage. If it was, he wouldn’t have tried to hide from me.
“I’m going to see what he’s up to,” I announced to Jake.
“Are you sure?”
I nodded. “Yeah. I want to know what he’s doing. What he’s about. Violet is working on another case right now.”
“Okay. How can I help?”
“I need a car, because when he leaves, I have to be able to follow him. Can I take yours?”
“Of course.”
Jake’s car was parked out front of our place basically all the time. It wasn’t as if it got much use here in downtown London, but he liked to take it instead of the train if we were going out to the country for the weekend.
He tossed me the keys, and I caught them easily, biting my lip.
“Do you want me to come?” he asked.
“I was actually hoping you might be able to distract him for me for a minute so I can get into the car without him noticing me.”
“Sure. Are you going to be okay?”
I nodded. “I don’t plan on doing anything dumb. I just want to follow him, see where he goes.”
“Got it. Okay, let’s do it.”
Chapter 10
Five minutes later, the two of us had made our plan and were ready to go. I was dressed in black, my hair mostly tucked under a baseball cap. I had the car keys in my pocket.
Jake was dressed like he was heading for a night out at the pub. The two of us left together, but when Jake actually went out onto the street, I stayed crouched in the entrance to our basement suite, waiting to hear Jake’s voice.
It came drifting over to me a minute later.
“Is that… oh, hi, mate. DCI Johnson, was it? Emmett? Yeah, Jake here. Nice to see you again. I had no idea you lived in the neighborhood.”
Perfect. As Jake struck up a conversation with my mark, I scurried down to his car as fast as I could. Luckily, he drove a ten-year-old Corolla that didn’t have any of those fancy features like lights that turned on automatically when you got close to it. As soon as I reached the car, I went to the driver’s side and got in.
We had decided the best way to go about things was to stake out DCI Johnson back. After all, he might notice if I drove the car past him. So I sat in the car and waited, grateful that this was happening in June and not January.
Luckily, it didn’t take long for him to get on the move. I spotted Jake heading back to our suite. He didn’t so much as glance at the car on his way back, which I was grateful for. About two, maybe three minutes later, I heard the rumble of an engine coming to life, and I ducked low in the car. Headlights filled the interior as a vehicle passed by. After it moved past me, I turned to check it out; the detective was leaving.
Jake seeing him parked on our street must have spooked him. Perfect.
I turned on the car and made a U-turn, pulling out onto the road and following the detective. I gripped the wheel hard as my heart pounded. I didn’t know where he was going. Didn’t know why he had been watching Violet’s place. But there was no way I was letting him go without finding out.
I kept my distance, staying back as far as I could without losing him completely. Luckily, he was headed for Kensington Road, which was jam-packed with traffic at the best of times, making it much easier for me to stay on his tail without being noticed.
DCI Johnson headed east, eventually parking on a street a few blocks away from St. Paul’s Cathedral. In the interest of not generating too much suspicion, I continued past him then made a U-turn two intersections later.
I drove past the spot to find the detective entering a busy pub, and I made a mental note of the name. Parking my car a block away, I walked back toward it, cursing the fact that I hadn’t worn a better disguise.
The pub was very traditionally British, with an exterior painted a shade of red that would have looked horrendous in any other city. The windows were decorated with bright colors advertising that it was a family-owned business and listing their new menu offerings.
I didn’t want to go inside for fear of being spotted, so I waited about three minutes and then walked casually past the window. I kept my hat on to hide my face at least somewhat and glanced inside to see what DCI Johnson was doing.
What I saw made my blood freeze.
He was seated at a table with a woman. I could see both their profiles, and as soon as I saw hers, I froze.
He was speaking with Violet’s sister, Lily.
Lily was basically what Violet could have been if she was a horrible human being. As Violet put it, her sister was the mastermind behind much of the criminal activity in London, but she was always able to keep herself an arm’s length away so that she was never actually convicted of any crimes.
The fact that DCI Johnson had been watching Violet’s place and was now meeting with Lily gave me hives.
Besides, the woman was smart. If she spotted me, even with the disguise, I knew she’d recognize me. I immediately hightailed it out of there and went back to the car. Could she have seen me?
No. Given the angles involved, it was impossible. She would have to have turned her head, and she hadn’t done so before I left. Lily had no idea. I was sure of that.
I drove back home with adrenaline coursing through my veins. I pulled the car into the same spot it had been in when I left and practically dove back into the suite. It wasn’t until I saw Jake’s concerned face that I realized I must have looked like a crazy person.
“What is it? What’s wrong? Are you okay?”
“It’s Lily,” I said breathlessly. “DCI Johnson is meeting with Lily.”
Jake started. “What? Are you serious? Why?”
“I don’t know. I just figured I had to get out of there. But it means Lily has got people in the Metropolitan Police working for her. Which, I mean, I’m not surprised. Someone as powerful as her, she would have to have people on the inside. But now, with Johnson being on this case and watching Violet? That’s not a coincidence.”
“I agree. Lily must have sent him to keep an eye on her. Especially with him trying to get her attention.”
“And here I thought there might have just finally been another detective who recognized the wisdom in playing on Violet’s team instead of against her,” I said dryly. “I should have known better. Williams really does seem to have been exceptional.”
“Yeah. So now the question is: what are you going to do?”
“I don’t know,” I said slowly. “Violet doesn’t seem concerned. She’s working on another case. She seemed to already know about DCI Johnson, so maybe it’s not as big a thing as I think. Still, I don’t like this at all. I think it could end up being important.”
“Important to this case or important to life in general?” Jake asked.
I frowned as I thought about the answer. “I’d imagine life in general. It’s not that I can’t see Lily getting involved in Jeremy Flagstaff’s murder. Actually, that’s exactly the sort of thing I could imagine her doing. He was a powerful guy, and it might have suited her to get him out of the way. But I don’t know how DCI Johnson could have gotten himself specifically assigned to that case. If he was the senior partner, I could imagine him convincing a higher-up to let him in on it. But he’s not; Fletcher is. So no. I think this is more about life in general. I think Johnson was working for Lily, happened to see Violet at a crime scene, got to know her, and is now spying on her for Lily. But why? I have no idea.”
“All of that makes a lot of sense,” Jake said with a nod. “What are you going to do?”
“I want to know who DCI Johnson really is. Not that I think he’s hiding his identity or anything, but I want to look into him. I need information. The more I know, the better. And I’m going to tell Violet tomorrow. I think she should know if she doesn’t already. Given her reaction, I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s already aware.”
“True, me either. But I think your plan is a good one.”
“Yeah. Even if it’s just for my own peace of mind. I don’t like knowing that there’s someone out there, working for Lily, spying on Violet. Which, I mean, okay. She’s probably been spied on a lot by her sister. The more I think about it, the more I wonder if this has been going on for ages and I just never knew about it. But now that I do know, I want answers. I want to be prepared.” I grabbed my iPad from the kitchen counter and settled down on the couch. “What did you say to Johnson when you saw him?”
Jake grinned. “I thought I did a pretty good acting job if I may say so myself. I walked by then did a double-take near the car. Knocked on his window, looked surprised to see him. Asked him what he was doing here. Johnson told me he was on his way home when he got a call from his boss, and he pulled over to take some notes. I told him it was nice to see him and continued on.”
“He left a couple minutes after that.”
“I guess I spooked him.”
“Still, it wasn’t super smart of him to go straight to Lily. Though maybe he organized to meet her in advance. Who knows? I don’t think he realized I followed him. Okay, there were no profiles for him on Facebook, but I think I just found his Instagram account. Am I so old now that the kids aren’t using the same social media sites as I am?”
Jake chuckled. “Maybe don’t go booking yourself a room in that nursing home just yet.”
I scrolled through the photos on his Instagram. He didn’t post all that much, usually just a photo every few weeks. The most recent was a selfie taken at a club, so I confirmed that the account actually did belong to him.
“It looks like he boxes in his spare time,” I said. “Oh, and here’s a post where he’s been promoted. Apparently, he’s one of the youngest detectives in the Metropolitan Police. That doesn’t surprise me. He’s probably twenty-three, maybe twenty-four.”
“Yeah, that sounds about right.”
“He has a sister who’s at university up in Scotland. There isn’t much else on here.”
“I mean, he’s not going to be posting pictures with Lily and then captioning exactly what she plans on doing with him to mess with her sister,” Jake pointed out.
“I know. But a girl can dream.”
“And your big dreams are one of the things I love about you. But in this particular case, I don’t think it’s going to become reality.”
“You’re right. Still, it’s good to know. It looks like he didn’t go to college at all. Went right to the police after graduating from high school. Grew up in London, so this is his home turf. I wonder how he got in with Lily.”
“Keep looking. You never know what you’ll find.”
“Okay, I’ll keep going through all this. You’re right. I can’t expect the answers to just jump out at me. There has to be something here. And if not, well, I’m going to keep looking into Johnson. I want to know why he’s spying on Violet for Lily. Ultimately, it’s her I’m worried about.”
“That family has the weirdest dynamics.”
“Are you surprised though? I mean, knowing Violet and all?”
Jake shook his head. “Not in the least.”
I went to bed that night with my thoughts racing. Now I had two cases to think about. There was Jeremy’s murder, of course. But now a police detective was following Violet and reporting back to her sister. This was not good.
Chapter 11
I woke up early the next morning and walked Biscuit and Sequoia together before getting ready for another day of hunting down a killer. I was making coffee when I received a text from Violet.
We have been invited to join Sid and some other important people in his suite at the tennis today. We must leave here by ten. Dress nicely.
Experiencing Wimbledon in one of the fancy suites was certainly going to be an experience. I popped a bagel into the toaster as Jake wandered into the kitchen.
“Coffee?” I offered, grabbing the pot. He nodded as he came over to give me a quick peck on the cheek.
“Sounds great, thanks.”
“Are you working today?”
“Sure am. I’m hoping to get the toxicology report back on your body. I put a rush on it, and I’m hoping when the lab saw the name, they got the overnight shift to do it. Or however it works over there. I’m really not sure. How about you?”
“Well, not to make you jealous as you spend the entire day underground, but Violet texted that we’ve got a spot in one of the suites at Wimbledon today. So I guess I’m going to go watch some tennis and hopefully catch a murderer.”
“Oh, that’s great. That’ll be a lot of fun. Well, not the murder part. But the tennis part.”
“I hope so. I’ve never actually seen a tennis match live before.”
“You’re in for a treat, then. And I bet the seats they give you at the suite will be amazing. It’s still first round, right?”
I nodded. “Yup, the last of the matches. Tomorrow’s the start of the second. I guess that’s why we got the invite. Sid won’t want to have ponied up for us when the real games start.”
“But he sure gets to look innocent by looking like he wants to help you find the killer, doesn’t he?” Jake said wryly.
“Yup. I’ve certainly thought of that as well. If we were cops, it would be a total conflict of interest. But luckily, we can totally accept bribes of suite tickets at the tennis.”
“Lucky you.”
“That said, Sid is still one of our main suspects. And you know Violet. It’s not like she’s going to let this affect her views of the case.”
“No, for sure.”
My bagel popped out of the toaster, and I began spreading jam on it while Jake poured himself a bowl of cereal. I sat down at the kitchen table and unlocked my phone. When I opened the news app and saw the biggest headline of the day, however, I dropped the bagel onto the plate in shock.
