‘Err, Sparkling Pearls on Caywood Road.’ Gina waited for Jacob to message that information back to the station.
‘Can you tell me where you were on Friday the fourteenth of November after one in the afternoon?’ That was when Joyce heard the commotion coming from Maura Pickering’s house.
She shrugged. ‘I’m normally at home on Fridays. I was here, probably cleaning up the house.’
‘Was anyone with you?’
‘No, I was sweeping the drive at one point so someone might have seen me. Am I seriously a suspect?’ She started to clench her teeth.
‘The questions are routine. All we want to do is find out who killed your brother.’
‘Of course. What happens next?’
‘We will need to formally interview you at the station. Would you be able to come in later?’
‘Yes. There is something you should know about Kain?’
Gina tilted her head, wondering what Lindy was about to tell them. Her phone beeped. It was a message from O’Connor. She glanced at the message while Lindy was taking a couple of deep breaths and Gina almost gasped out loud. Her hands began to shake so she placed them in her lap.
Lindy continued speaking, unaware of the message. ‘He used to be in the police. He was a PC in his youth but he didn’t stay in the police for long. I don’t remember the year.’
Could the policing link be relevant? ‘Why did he leave the force?’
Lindy looked away. ‘He never said.’
Kain wasn’t the person they thought he was. Gina had to find out what changed in his life. What made Kain the PC turn into a man that steals money from his customers and pushes his mother over?
TEN
On arriving back at the station, Gina and Jacob jogged until they reached the incident room. The message from O’Connor kept going through her mind.
Guv. Briggs has just been taken off the case and no one is telling us why. A new acting DCI is being sent from Gloucester. You both have to get back, fast!
At the far end, she could see where Briggs had been writing up all their information on the board with O’Connor and Wyre. Stuck in the centre of the largest board was a blown-up photo of Kain Pickering taken from his driving licence. Underneath were a few crime scene photos that had come from Bernard’s team. She checked her emails and saw that he’d sent them through about an hour ago. She could clearly see the stretched-out Sheena tattoo on Kain’s mottled, bloated arm. It was definitely Kain.
O’Connor sat at the far end rubbing his hand over his shiny head, the cake sat in the centre of the table, that Mrs O had more than likely made, remained untouched. Wyre leaned back, biting her bottom lip and clipping back her straight black fringe.Trainee Detective Constable Jhanvi Kapoor drank water from a bottle before doing up the buttons on her grey suit jacket.
‘Why have they taken DCI Briggs off the case? Have you heard anything yet?’ Gina asked O’Connor.
‘Only that the new DCI will be here any minute. We don’t know any more.’
Gina sat near the head of the table, her stomach churning with worry. Yes, they’d argued earlier but that didn’t mean she’d stopped caring about him, even if that was just as a friend. Whatever he was going through, she was going to be there for him, just like he had for her in the past. She owed him that much.
Throat clearing echoed through the corridor. Everyone waited silently for whoever was fast approaching to enter. Gina almost gasped out loud when she saw Brodie Fraser. She’d only known him for a year and that year had been her first-year training on the job. She took his features in. He still had his slightly round chin and the same hazel eyes. His once all-brown thick hair was now thinner and greying at the sides, but still he looked like the Brodie she knew back then.
He began speaking in his Glaswegian accent. ‘I know you’re probably all wondering what’s going on so I won’t keep you all in suspense for much longer. DCI Briggs is a part of the case now which is why he’s not with us at the moment.’
Gina itched to interrupt and ask why Briggs had been sent off the premises but she knew it was best to sit back and wait. She didn’t want to be taken off the case, too.
Brodie continued. ‘I will be acting DCI and I’ll be working out of the office next to Briggs’s. Any press releases will be handled by me. I’ve been going through what we have so far and I know it’s early doors when it comes to the case, but can anyone talk me through what we have so far. The clock is ticking and we want this murderer caught.’
Gina popped a hand up and stood. Brodie scrunched his brow and focused on her as if taking her features in. She wondered if he still recognised her. They’d almost had drunken sex as rookies in a pub toilet, not something she was proud of. They’d been on a night out with the team. She remembered falling off the sink unit and then they’d landed in a heap, laughing on the floor of a filthy pub toilet. Terry had been dead for over two years and Brodie had been the first man to get her attention since his death. His wit and sense of fun had seduced her with ease.
‘Gina?’ He looked down at his notebook. ‘DI Harte?’
He remembered her and a part of her wished he hadn’t. ‘Yes, that’s me.’
His smile widened. ‘Come to the front and tell me what you have. You’ve been out all morning at the scene speaking to witnesses.’
