On Cold Ground (Detective Karen Hart) Page 19

  ‘Do you think she’ll let you keep working on the case?’

  Karen didn’t know the answer to that. ‘I hope so.’ She desperately wanted to stay on the case and make sure they caught Anthony’s killer, but the super would be cautious. She would want to stop the investigation becoming personal.

  As soon as they got to the station, Karen went to find Superintendent Murray. She needed to get in there first and explain why she needed to stay on this case, before Churchill asked to have her taken off the investigation.

  Pamela was sitting at her desk.

  ‘Is she free?’ Karen asked.

  ‘She is.’ Pamela got to her feet. ‘I was very sorry to hear about DCI Shaw. I worked with him for a while.’

  Karen hadn’t known that. ‘He was a good man.’

  ‘He was.’

  The superintendent’s office door opened. ‘Karen, I thought I heard your voice. Come in.’

  The office smelled of fresh coffee, and there was a collection of Christmas cards lined up on her desk. Murray didn’t sit down but walked over to the large windows and looked out at the patchy fields. The sky was a heavy, greyish white. The fields and sky met in a misty haze.

  ‘I think we’ve got more snow on the way,’ the super said.

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘There’s a small get-together planned this evening. Just a few officers who worked with DCI Shaw over the years, gathering to honour his memory informally.’

  ‘That’s a nice idea.’

  ‘Royal Oak, five p.m.’ The superintendent turned back to face Karen. ‘What happened last night was horrendous, and I can’t imagine how distressing it must have been for you when you found his body.’

  ‘It was incredibly difficult, ma’am, but I need to stay on this case.’

  The super nodded slowly as she sat down, and then indicated for Karen to do the same. ‘I’d be glad to keep you on the case with your knowledge and experience, but I’m not prepared to sacrifice your mental health.’

  ‘I’m fine, ma’am.’

  ‘I don’t see how you can possibly be fine, Karen,’ Murray said gently.

  ‘No.’ Karen looked down at the floor and took a deep breath. ‘I can’t pretend to be unaffected by Anthony’s death. He was my boss for a long time. I had a great deal of respect for him, and we were still close. I’m going to miss him very much. But I need to stay on the case. I need to find the person who did this.’

  Karen tried to judge the super’s mood. Was she softening? Her blank expression made it difficult to tell. Was she taking inscrutability lessons from Morgan?

  Finally, the superintendent said, ‘All right, let’s keep things as they are, if DCI Churchill is happy.’

  Karen doubted that DCI Churchill would be happy, but at least she was still on the team for now.

  ‘Thank you, ma’am.’

  The superintendent smiled. ‘How are things progressing on the case?’

  ‘Haven’t you spoken to DCI Churchill?’

  ‘I have, but I’m asking for your opinion.’ Murray rested her elbows on her desk and settled her direct gaze on Karen.

  ‘Slowly. There was another letter found at the scene last night. Like the others, it contained allegations. In Anthony’s case, I know they’re not true. There’s a pattern developing. Character smears. We’ve not been able to corroborate most of the claims in the letters. It seems as though The Cleanser is making things up.’

  ‘To what purpose?’

  ‘I’m not sure. Maybe to create a smokescreen. To lead us away from the true motive behind the killings. To justify the murders.’

  ‘Interesting theory. The cleansing is simply an excuse to kill?’

  ‘Perhaps The Cleanser truly believes the allegations, but we can’t verify them.’

  ‘You know people will be talking about the allegations against DCI Shaw?’

  Karen tensed. ‘About him taking bribes? Being corrupt?’ She shook her head. ‘It’s ridiculous and untrue.’

  ‘But people will still talk, and you need to be prepared for that.’

  ‘He wasn’t corrupt.’

  ‘That won’t stop people talking about it.’

  The phone beeped on the superintendent’s desk. ‘Sorry, I won’t be a moment,’ she said, and took the call. It was Pamela saying her nine o’clock meeting was scheduled.

  When Murray hung up, Karen said, ‘If that’s all, ma’am, I’ll get back to work.’

  The superintendent nodded, and then, as Karen was leaving the room, said, ‘If things get too difficult, you’ll let me know, won’t you?’

  Karen said she would, though she didn’t see how things could get much more difficult than this.

  Sophie sat at her desk, preparing for the morning briefing. She was dreading it.

  After everything Karen had been through, she really didn’t deserve this. Sophie knew how close Karen had been to DCI Anthony Shaw, and the fact that he’d been targeted because he was a police officer . . . Sophie shivered. The idea of a killer targeting officers made her skin crawl. She’d already told her mum and dad to be extra careful, make sure they double-locked the door even during the day, and she planned to stay at their house tonight. She’d had a brilliant time with Harinder last night, before she’d heard what had happened to Anthony.

  She lifted her head as Karen walked into the open-plan office area. The DS looked tired.

  ‘Sarge?’ Sophie got up from her desk and walked over. ‘Everything okay?’

  ‘I’ve just been to see the super. We’re still on the case.’

  Sophie wasn’t sure how she felt about that. Was it a good idea to stay on the investigation when Karen was so emotionally involved? If one of her friends had been killed, Sophie wasn’t sure she’d be able to work the case – but she didn’t voice her concerns. Karen needed her support right now, not her doubts.

  ‘The superintendent said there’s going to be drinks for DCI Shaw at a local pub this evening. The Royal Oak, five p.m. if you want to go. That goes for you too.’ Karen raised her voice and looked at Rick, who was tapping away at his keyboard.

  Sophie glanced at Karen’s handbag. Had she forgotten they were supposed to be going to see the FBI expert from America tonight? Dr Michaels’s talk started at seven, so maybe they’d have a drink for DCI Shaw and still have time to get to the presentation.

  But then Karen would hardly be in the mood for a night out after what had just happened. Of course their plans had slipped her mind. It wasn’t important in the big scheme of things, was it?

  Sophie would go to the drinks for DCI Shaw and forget about going to see Dr Michaels. She could go another time. Okay, so the tickets weren’t cheap, and he probably wouldn’t be back in the UK for years, but . . .

  ‘Are you okay, Sophie?’ Karen asked, cutting through her thoughts.

  ‘Yes, I’m fine. Five o’clock, drinks for DCI Shaw. I think that’s a great idea. Maybe some of his old colleagues can share their memories of him.’

  Karen smiled.

  ‘DS Hart.’ Churchill’s voice carried across the room.

  Sophie turned as he approached. He was an unappealing man. He was always smart, and Sophie generally admired that, but there was something smarmy about Churchill. And he always gave the best work to the men on his team, ignoring her and Karen.

  Luckily, Leo and Arnie were easy to get along with.

  Leo had always been considerate and polite to Sophie, and while no one would describe Arnie as polite, he had a kindness about him. He was an interesting person to work alongside, and the more Sophie got to know him, the more she liked him.

  ‘I was told you were too upset to stick around and give a statement last night,’ Churchill said, looking down on Karen. ‘You seem to be holding up pretty well today.’

  Sophie narrowed her eyes. That was an unfeeling thing to say. How could anyone blame Karen for not wanting to talk to him last night? She certainly couldn’t.

  ‘I’m all right, but it was a shock finding him like tha
t last night,’ Karen said.

  ‘Let’s go to my office now. You can talk me through it.’

  Karen nodded.

  Churchill turned to Sophie, surprising her by saying, ‘You come too, DC Jones. Bring your notebook.’

  She met Karen’s gaze and gave her what she hoped was a supportive smile. They walked up to Churchill’s office in silence.

  He had to know he wasn’t popular. Why didn’t he make more of an effort? They all knew DI Morgan wasn’t exactly a people person, but he was likeable. He was honest and trustworthy, and most of all, he was kind – pretty much the complete opposite of DCI Churchill.

  ‘All right then, let’s get started,’ Churchill said, sitting down beside his desk. ‘What happened when you got there?’

  Karen and Sophie took seats on the other side of his desk.

  ‘I received a voice message from Anthony last night. When I listened to the message, I was concerned. He wanted to talk to me. He said it concerned something we’d discussed on Monday. He didn’t answer when I called him back, so I went to his house.’

  ‘What had you discussed on Monday?’ Churchill asked.

  ‘Numerous things,’ Karen said. ‘We talked about Christmas, more specifically him spending Christmas with my family and me. And . . .’ Karen paused, then fixed Churchill with a direct stare. ‘We talked about the ongoing corruption case against DI Freeman.’ Karen’s gaze didn’t leave Churchill’s face as she spoke. Sophie noticed Churchill shift in his seat and look away.

  ‘Do you think he wanted to tell you something about corruption?’ Churchill asked.

  ‘I think so. It sounded very serious, so I doubt he wanted to talk to me about Christmas.’

  ‘Do you have any idea what he was going to tell you?’

  ‘No, but it has crossed my mind that perhaps he was killed because he was going to tell me something.’

  Churchill frowned. ‘Are you linking his death to the corruption case? Suggesting our killer has done DI Freeman a favour by killing DCI Shaw before he could tell you something incriminating?’

  ‘I’m simply considering all possibilities.’

  ‘Right,’ Churchill said, turning to look at Sophie. ‘Are you taking all this down? I want your notes on this.’

  Sophie wanted to ask why. But she decided she didn’t fancy getting her head bitten off this early in the morning. If he wanted Karen’s written statement, why didn’t he ask her to write one? Sophie suspected he just liked to throw his weight around. He really was a piece of work.

  ‘So, you turned up at his house. Then what?’

  ‘The door was open, which made me think something had happened.’

  ‘Why didn’t you call for backup?’

  ‘My phone wasn’t working. I did consider going to a neighbour’s house first, but thought I’d check to see if he was incapacitated. At the time, I thought he might have had a heart attack or a stroke and need medical assistance. I didn’t even consider the possibility he’d been targeted like this.’

  Churchill’s face was blank. ‘Then what happened?’

  ‘I walked into the house and called out his name. He didn’t reply, so I went into the lounge. At first, I didn’t notice anything wrong, but then I saw him behind the sofa.’

  ‘And you tried to resuscitate him. In your opinion, was he still alive at that point?’

  Karen looked uncomfortable. She took a moment then said, ‘Looking back, no, I don’t think it was possible to save him at that point.’

  ‘Did you detect a pulse? Was he breathing?’

  ‘No, but I had to try. I couldn’t just walk away.’

  Sophie pressed her pen hard against the notebook. Was he being purposefully unkind?

  ‘I didn’t expect you to walk away, DS Hart. I expected you to follow procedure. But instead, you needlessly contaminated a crime scene.’

  Sophie put down her pen and notebook and glared at DCI Churchill. He would never dare say any of this in front of the superintendent.

  ‘Looking back,’ Karen said again, ‘I could have been more careful. Perhaps I shouldn’t have tried to resuscitate him, but it was my first instinct.’

  ‘And what happened to your phone? Why wasn’t it working?’ Churchill asked.

  ‘It was frozen. It’s been playing up for a while. I tossed it aside and reached for the landline to call for assistance.’

  ‘And your phone is still at the scene.’

  ‘Well, I suspect it’s been collected and processed as evidence, but yes, I did leave it at the scene last night,’ Karen said.

  ‘Was there anything out of place when you arrived?’

  ‘Everything looked as it always did.’

  ‘And the allegations in the letter,’ DCI Churchill said, leaning forward and narrowing his eyes. ‘Do you believe any of them were true?’

  ‘No, I do not,’ Karen said. ‘Anthony was a proud officer with an exemplary career. He was not corrupt, and he was not an alcoholic.’

  Churchill turned, looked at Sophie. ‘Did you get all that down?’

  Sophie finished scrawling the last sentence. ‘Yes.’

  ‘I guess we’ll soon find out whether or not DCI Shaw was corrupt, won’t we?’ Churchill looked directly at Karen. ‘We’ll go over his finances with a fine-tooth comb.’

  Karen met his gaze steadily, refusing to look away. ‘Of course. But you won’t find anything.’

  After a few more questions, Sophie and Karen left Churchill’s office.

  ‘Are you okay, Sarge?’ Sophie asked as they headed along the corridor. ‘He’s awful, isn’t he?’

  ‘It wasn’t the easiest thing I’ve ever done, but compared to last night, it was a cakewalk. We need to regroup, get the briefing done and start making some headway. I feel like we’re stuck.’

  ‘Leo was going over some CCTV footage this morning. Maybe something’s turned up.’

  Karen raised an eyebrow. ‘Footage from where?’

  ‘Outside Laurel Monroe’s apartment building. I don’t think he’s got an ID yet, but it looks promising.’

  They stopped in the corridor when Morgan approached, holding out a mobile phone. ‘I thought you could do with this,’ he said. ‘It’s a spare. My old phone. Pay-as-you-go, and it’s still got some credit. You can use it until you get your phone back.’

  ‘Thanks,’ Karen said. ‘I have ordered a new one, but it still hasn’t arrived.’

  ‘I’ve entered my number into the contacts,’ Morgan said. ‘Perhaps Sophie can do the same. Hopefully, you won’t need it for long.’

  ‘How old is it? Must be ancient. It’s got actual buttons!’ Sophie looked at the phone in amazement.

  ‘About ten years. It’s outlasted all my smartphones.’

  Karen thanked him again and handed the phone to Sophie so that she could input her number. Sophie did so, and then dialled her own phone so she’d have Karen’s temporary number.

  ‘Any progress on the Sam Pickett case?’ Karen asked.

  Morgan sighed. ‘Not yet. I’m heading to the superintendent’s office to give her an update, but there’s nothing to say. A twelve-year-old boy was knocked off his bike, and no one saw or heard anything.’

  ‘It’s hard to understand how anyone could cause an accident like that and then drive off,’ Karen said.

  Sophie agreed. How could a person live with that on their conscience? ‘I can’t believe anyone could be so heartless.’

  They left Morgan and walked on to the office.

  Arnie looked up from his desk near the coffee machine and waved Karen over. ‘Come and have a look at this,’ he said.

  Sophie walked towards her desk, passing Leo. ‘Found anything on the CCTV yet?’

  ‘Yeah, and it looks good. We’ve got an ID. Going to bring him in later,’ Leo said with a wide grin. Catching Sophie’s expression, his smile lessened. ‘Everything all right? You look a bit down.’

  ‘I’m fine. It’s just all this stuff with DCI Shaw. It’s so sad.’

  Leo no
dded soberly. ‘Yes, very sad and shocking. I wonder what made The Cleanser target him in particular.’

  ‘It mentioned bribes and corruption in the letter,’ Sophie said quietly, glancing across the room to make sure Karen hadn’t heard. ‘But Karen is adamant DCI Shaw was not corrupt.’

  ‘It must be hard for her. No one wants to hear that sort of thing about a friend.’

  ‘Especially when it isn’t true.’

  ‘Right,’ Leo said. He turned away, then looked back. ‘Anything else bothering you?’

  ‘Well, not really. It’s just I had plans tonight. I was going to listen to Dr Michaels. He’s doing a presentation at the university.’

  ‘Oh, and you can’t go anymore?’

  ‘There are drinks at The Royal Oak for DCI Shaw.’

  ‘Did you know him?’

  ‘No, I’d never worked with him, but I should be there to show support for Karen.’

  ‘She’d understand if you couldn’t make it, wouldn’t she?’

  Sophie thought for a moment. ‘I’m sure she would, but some things are more important, aren’t they.’

  Then she shrugged, put her handbag in her desk drawer and locked it. Yes, it was disappointing, but she’d get over it.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  Sparrow smiled. The new development had put a cat amongst the pigeons. It was exciting to see it all kicking off around him. They were oblivious to the fact they had a viper in the nest.

  Last night, claiming the life of DCI Anthony Shaw had been harder than he’d expected. The others had been hard too, but they weren’t innocent. He’d gritted his teeth and doled out their punishments.

  But last night . . . He’d done the job, of course, and despatched the DCI as ordered, like a good little foot soldier. But he hadn’t stopped shaking for hours afterwards.

  Even if he hadn’t enjoyed the act itself, he had to admit the result should keep Eagle off his back for a while. DS Hart had stumbled across his handiwork last night. He couldn’t have planned it better.

  The fact Karen had discovered the body had earned Sparrow a grunt of approval from Eagle. When he’d called the boss to tell him the job was done, there had been an edge to Eagle’s voice, a grudging respect maybe? He’d been very quiet. Perhaps it wasn’t respect. Perhaps it was fear.