The Winter Killings, page 7
‘Just when I thought there might be an outside chance of getting to bed,’ Rice muttered.
Gardner answered the phone.
Barnett went straight into it. ‘Okay, I got the CCTV footage from St James retail park and the industrial sites on Grimbald Crag.’
Gardner and Rice listened as Barnett confirmed the first part of Sam’s story. Ten past eight. Sam, hood up on his eagle hoodie, bolted out of the McDonald’s, having just assaulted the server. He sprinted right across the wide car park, until he reached the raised cut-through that zig-zagged once before breaking out on to Grimbald Crag Close. Kids often gathered in that cut-through at night. It was a blind spot for CCTV, and so a suitable place for smoking and underage drinking.
‘The camera on the industrial estate picks up the Mercedes that Sam described, turning left off Grimbald Crag Way onto the Close. The car, as claimed, slides up alongside the cut-through.’
Gardner recalled Sam’s confession. ‘At first, we thought it was someone’s mother, but then she just wound down the window. She wasn’t young or old. Around your age. She asked if anyone wanted to earn some money. Easy money. One hundred quid. Obviously, everyone wanted in, but I wasn’t letting that one slide. Jim started arguing with me, but changed his mind when he saw how definite I was. It was mine. And he knew. She told me to get in the back of the car.’
Barnett continued his report. ‘Sam jumps into the back of the Merc. The driver spins the car and turns right back out onto Grimbald Crag Way. I’m still waiting on ANPR to see if we can track the vehicle’s movements.’
If Sam was to be believed, and, so far, she saw no reason to doubt these events, he was driven up York Road, into town, and dropped off at the top of Jockey Lane. There, he’d go on to fulfil his task.
‘She just said, grab the tied plastic bag, and head down to a black BMW parked behind the library. She gave me the registration too, but I only remembered the first half when I got to it. YT24. It was enough. When she started telling me about the treasure chest, I thought she was completely mad, but she’d been waving a hundred quid at me for a while now. So, I thought, why not? She told me to get into the car, find the treasure chest and empty the contents of the bag into it. She only had two other clear instructions. First, I should remove whatever was already inside the treasure chest and chuck it. Second, I shouldn’t look in the plastic bag until the last moment because getting it out in public would be dangerous.’
‘So,’ Barnett continued. ‘I’ve sent someone to retrieve the plastic skull from the bin outside the library, and I also found out who this Mercedes belongs to.’
Gardner looked at Rice who was desperate to know what Barnett was telling her.
One thing was for certain: they weren’t getting home and out of the weather that easily.
15
Rice tried to reverse park in treacherous conditions. It didn’t look like it was going well.
‘I’ll get out and help,’ Gardner said.
‘Behave. I got this.’
‘No need to be a hero on my account. I won’t tell everybody back at the station that Phil needed help with—’
Gardner’s phone vibrated, indicating a message.
Cecile?
She slipped her phone from the inside pocket of her ski jacket.
Lucy.
Her heart sank as she read the message.
I’m sorry for my behaviour tonight. This was all my fault. L x
Gardner inwardly sighed. It’s not your fault, Lucy. I wanted your company. Desperately. Still do. But I’m your boss and older…
She read the message again.
She seemed so young.
Gardner gulped. She typed out a message:
Not your fault… I jumped on your advances like a damn ravenous wolf.
Fortunately, Rice’s cheer at his successful reverse park interrupted her flow, so she didn’t impulsively hit send.
She deleted the message.
‘Everything okay on Planet Boss?’ Rice asked.
‘Just tired.’
‘Alcohol wearing off?’ he asked, smiling.
‘You’re becoming progressively more irritating, so I suspect that’s possible.’
She quickly typed out a less controversial message as Rice exited the car.
Nothing to apologise for. Phone you later. E x
Outside the vehicle, the snowfall remained fierce. Fortunately, both officers threw up their hoods as they closed the short distance to the front door.
They were in Aspin, outside a semi-detached home, which, on appearance anyway, acted as a happy medium between the two residencies they’d visited tonight. Not too garish and spectacular, like the wealthy Thwaites’ residence, but neither was it a run-down scar on an already bleak area like the troubled Midgely home.
The door opened and a woman wearing a Star Wars T-shirt and baggy, comfortable joggers stood there. Her tangled hair was loosely tied back. She wore thick, black-framed glasses. At first, her eyes darted between her two visitors as if filled with panic, before averting themselves downward.
Showing their IDs, Gardner introduced themselves. ‘Are you Ms Jessica Beaumont?’
‘Uh-huh, yeah… that’s right.’ Gardner already knew her to be thirty-five, but she looked much younger.
‘Have you got a minute?’
‘Yes… sure…’ She kept her eyes downward. ‘About the car? I’m sorry about that.’
‘What’re you sorry about?’ Rice asked.
He wasn’t being his usual aggressive self; the question was genuine. Why was she blaming herself for having her car stolen?
‘It’s my fault,’ Jessica said, still not making eye contact. ‘Sometimes I just lose concentration. Lose focus. Mum used to say I’d gone off into the Twilight Zone.’ She blinked and wrung her hands together. ‘I must have gone there. And the car was stolen. It’s the only thing that must have happened. But it hasn’t happened for a good while. So, I’m sorry.’
Gardner and Rice exchanged a confused glance.
‘Yes, it’s about the stolen car, Ms Beaumont. It was taken yesterday, I believe.’
‘Yes.’ Her eyes flicked up and down again. Just once. ‘But as Joe says at work, I practically gift-wrapped it! I cried a bit when he said it. He felt bad, but he shouldn’t sweat it. Told him that. I cry a lot.’
‘What do you mean gift-wrapped it, Jessica?’ She nearly always used their surnames unless requested to do otherwise, or unless the person she was talking to seemed in great need of reassurance. Ann Midgely had, earlier. And now, it seemed, Jessica was the same. She believed you could never inject enough warmth into a cold context.
There was the sound of someone shouting upstairs.
Gardner looked upwards. Is that why you’re on edge? ‘Who’s here with you, Jessica?’
‘Jess. Just Jess. My father calls me Jessica. It makes me feel that I’m getting things wrong, you know.’
‘Jess, please, tell me who that was… upstairs?’
‘My father.’ She offered another quick glance up, but then quickly returned to default eyes down.
‘We didn’t know he lived here… with you,’ Gardner said.
‘He doesn’t. Or, at least, he didn’t. But he does now. His Alzheimer’s is bad. He refuses to go into a home. He told me straight out. It’s there with you, in the house I paid for, or I go out by falling down the stairs in this one. That house is four floors, there are a lot of stairs… I thought this for the best.’
‘But are you in any danger?’ Rice asked.
‘Oh no…’ She chanced another look and a smile. ‘No… nothing like that. He’s nice. Usually. He used to be nice all the time. Now, he kind of forgets a lot of things. Sometimes he forgets he’s nice, I guess… Sometimes he swears, and sometimes he drops things, but he’d never hurt me.’
‘You look tired?’ Gardner asked.
‘Oh no, I’m fine… sometimes I come across as a little awkward, you know?’
‘Can we please come in, Jess?’ Gardner said.
Jess nodded. ‘Please take your shoes and coats off.’
‘Of course.’
Gardner noticed the sunflower lanyard hanging from the coat pegs as she hung her jacket up. It certainly explained her anxiety and reluctance to make eye contact.
While Jess was walking into her lounge, Gardner caught Rice’s eyes and pointed at the lanyard. She tried not to stifle her assistant SIO too much, as sometimes his abrupt nature came in useful, but in this instance, she expected him to remain well and truly stifled.
Rice and Gardner followed Jess into the lounge. It was immaculately tidy and comfortably furnished. It was also boiling hot.
Jess was over at the sofa, righting the cushions. ‘Sorry it’s so hot. My father. He can’t handle the chill any more. I know it’s expensive… I told him that. Countless times. But he doesn’t care about paying. He pays for everything. Always has. He paid for this house. I think I told you that.’ She pointed at a two-seater sofa. ‘Please sit. He’s always cared for me and now I care for him. Does that make sense?’
‘Yes,’ Gardner said, sitting.
Rice didn’t sit. With it being a two-seater, he was doing the gracious thing for once and leaving it unoccupied for Jess.
Jess didn’t take the option, though, and simply hovered in front of Gardner.
‘Again, I’m sorry about the car,’ Jess said.
‘Yes, maybe, you could… aren’t you going to sit too, Jess?’ Gardner asked.
‘I’m fine,’ she said. ‘Sitting still can be harder work. Always had a lot of energy.’ She pointed at Rice. ‘You can sit down if you like.’
‘No… I’m fine,’ Rice said. ‘Please sit, Jess, we’ve some questions.’
She nodded and perched on the edge of the sofa awkwardly. ‘I should have known a small sofa was probably a bad idea but it looked nice, and no one ever seemed to visit… only my father, every now and again, before the Alzheimer’s got bad and he moved in. I’d buy a one-seater, or even a two-seater, to match this two-seater, but they don’t make them any more, and I just can’t handle a mismatch.’ She looked down as if addressing the floor.
‘I know exactly what you mean,’ Gardner said. ‘And thank you for having us in, Jess. I understand it’s past two, and I hope we haven’t woken your father. Can I ask you what happened regarding your Mercedes?’
‘It’s not mine. It’s my father’s.’
‘I see,’ Gardner said, taking her notebook out. ‘But it’s in your name?’
‘Yes… he doesn’t drive any more.’
‘Okay. Technically, it’s registered to you, even though your father paid.’
‘Ah… yes… I understand.’
‘Now, you said it was your fault it was stolen?’
‘Yes, I left the key in there. At least, I must have done. These new cars are hard to steal… apparently. You need the key, really. So, I must have left the key in there. Sugar. I’m sorry.’ She tapped her forehead. ‘Idiot.’ She kept on tapping it. ‘Idiot… idiot…’
Gardner looked up at Rice, concerned he might step in and restrain her. Jess was stimming and it wouldn’t be appropriate to stop her. Fortunately, Rice didn’t make a move.
After Jess had stopped tapping her forehead, Rice said, ‘It’s hard to steal without the key… but not impossible… could you talk us through how you think you left the key in there?’
‘Idiocy. The day before yesterday, I drove to work, because it was raining heavily and wasn’t snowing for once. Yesterday, I didn’t drive to work because it was snowing again. I walked and when I walked home at the end of the day, then, well, my car was gone. So, I must have left the key in the ignition, and the door to the car unlocked. Gift-wrapped, Joe said… and, now I see how he was just trying to be funny. But I don’t always get that. And at the time, I was anxious… and felt like a fool… but I am a fool. I guess, it’s true. Gift-wrapped. I practically gave it away.’
Jess was a car insurer’s best friend.
She imagined them rubbing their hands as she made a report; it made Gardner feel sick to the stomach.
‘But can you remember, for absolute certain, that you left the key in the vehicle?’ Rice asked.
‘It’s not in my bag or on the key rack.’
‘Where’s the key rack?’ Gardner asked.
‘By the front door.’
‘Were there any signs of forced entry when you returned home from work?’
Jess shook her head. ‘The door was locked.’
‘Are you certain?’
‘Definitely… I think…’
‘You don’t sound too convinced, Jess,’ Gardner said.
‘Unless I went into the Twilight Zone… but… no… I’m convinced. My front door was locked. I locked it when I went out and unlocked it when I came back.’
‘The back door?’ Rice suggested.
‘No… same… I check the back door every night before I go to bed. It was locked last night. And is still locked, because I’ve already been to bed tonight, you see, before you phoned ahead to say you were coming. That door hasn’t been used.’
‘How about your father?’ Gardner asked. ‘He must have been in. Could he have popped out and left the door unlocked?’
‘He doesn’t go out. He’s past that stage.’
‘Could he have opened the door for someone?’
‘He doesn’t get out of bed.’
‘Do you have a nurse?’
‘No… no… he…’ She dropped her head. ‘He won’t have one.’
‘So, if the key hasn’t been taken from the house,’ Rice said, ‘then, maybe you took it out with you.’
‘Yes… it’s possible. But it would’ve been in my bag. And it certainly isn’t in my bag right now.’
‘Can you think of a time that you left your bag unattended?’ Gardner asked.
‘No… no… I just went to work. I work at Oxfam in town. The bag is in the room where we store donations. No one has access to that room apart from me and Joe.’
‘Joe?’
‘Yes, Joe Harris.’
Gardner wrote his name down.
‘But he’s over seventy and doesn’t drive. He has epilepsy.’
Gardner circled his name. If he’d access to those keys, he’d need to be ruled out.
‘So, as you can see,’ Jess said, looking at Gardner for the first time in a long while. ‘I had to have left them in the car. I’m an idiot. What if it’s one of those joyriders? What if someone gets hurt?’
‘We don’t know that for certain,’ Gardner said. ‘Jess, where were you earlier tonight between eight and nine?’
‘Here, of course.’
‘What were you doing? Can anyone verify that?’
‘Of course… I was online with Madeline Sharp. On Zoom. She’s my best friend. In fact, we were on there for a good couple of hours tonight.’ Gardner wrote this down, too, hoping the alibi checked out. She didn’t want to go in any harder on this vulnerable woman.
There was another loud, incomprehensible shout from upstairs.
‘I’m sorry,’ she said, leaning forward onto her knees. ‘I’m sorry… I’m sorry…’ She bounced her heels up and down.
Another shout.
‘He’s a good man… He was a good man.’
‘Are you safe here, Jess?’ Gardner asked.
‘Yes… I’m sure… he’s never hurt me. Never will.’
‘Has he ever hurt anyone?’ Rice asked.
‘No… no…’ She continued to bounce, looking down at the floor. ‘He says nasty things sometimes, but not so much to me. To people that come around. Nurses and doctors. Unfamiliar faces. That’s why I can’t have a nurse. I couldn’t risk it.’
‘Who’ve you spoken to about all of this?’ Gardner asked.
‘I’ve spoken to people. I’ve been warned that he’ll stop recognising me… and, well, then, he should go into a home. For my safety. But he’s still okay… I promise. And my job has been kind. Oxfam are understanding. There are always people to take my shift if he has a dreadful night. I don’t need money. I’ve access to my father’s money for living expenses.’
Gardner heard more shouting.
‘Is he shouting for Daisy?’ Gardner asked.
‘Yes… he’s confused,’ Jess said, rising to her feet.
‘Daisy!’
‘Who’s Daisy?’ Rice asked.
‘Daisy was my mother. She died a long time ago… he’s so confused.’
Gardner followed Jess out of the lounge door and to the foot of the stairs. She could sense Rice following just behind her.
‘Daisy… I need you now!’ Her father shouted.
Jess turned to Gardner and Rice. ‘Please… you can’t come up. If he sees you, it’ll make him worse. If he sees me, it’ll calm him down—’
If he still recognises you, Gardner thought.
‘Best we come,’ Rice said.
‘Please,’ Jess said. She had tears in her eyes. She looked at Gardner and Rice for the longest period she’d managed since they’d arrived.
‘We’ll stay here until you give us a signal that he’s calm,’ Gardner said.
‘Okay… thanks…’ Jess disappeared up the stairs.
Rice came around Gardner and looked at her with an eyebrow raised. ‘And when he hits her?’
‘It’s on me,’ she snapped back.
From the foot of the stairs, they watched Jess disappear into a bedroom.
There was no more shouting, just hushed whispers. What was actually said was difficult to hear. A minute later, she appeared at the top of the stairs again and looked down. ‘He’s calm… I need to stay with him for a while… until he’s resting again…’
Gardner held her hand up. ‘Okay, Jess, we’ll be in touch.’
Outside, the snow was such that they didn’t communicate until they were back in Rice’s car.
‘My father was a bastard when he had his mind; thank God, he didn’t hang around long enough to lose it,’ Rice said.
Gardner didn’t really have a response. It sounded cold, but Rice’s relationship with his father, who’d once been a DCI, was a sensitive area, and not one she’d like to get into right now.
