FIFTEEN
Friday, 21 November
Jacob indicated to turn into a road while Gina sat in the car, mulling everything over.
Gina had messaged Brodie through the night, reminiscing about the early days in their careers, partly because she’d struggled to sleep. She had waited in hope that Briggs would try to call again. She knew deep down that he was being interviewed or held and she hated that no one was telling her anything. What had he done all those years ago that was so bad? She pictured him in standard issue clothes waiting in a cell and she wanted to reach in and pull him away from it all. She had no idea what he was going to ask her to do or if she could even do it.
A tiny hint of light began to breach the heaviness of the night sky as morning broke. While Jacob continued driving, she glanced at a photo that Brodie had sent. They both looked happy all those years ago and Gina couldn’t believe how youthful she looked back then. After her traumas with Terry, she had been wary of her future but policing had given her a new beginning. In the photo, they’d been out for a department Christmas meal andwere all dressed up. Gina had danced the night away, clinging to a bottle of Hooch in one hand while dressed up in her sparkling bootcut jeans and an almost backless black top. Brodie had danced next to her, his reindeer antlers almost getting caught in the tacky tinsel that dangled from the ceiling of the old labour club. She hated that the years had passed in what felt like a flash. Without Terry in her life, things were so much simpler then.
‘Any updates, guv?’ Jacob pulled into Justine’s road.
She put her personal phone away and glanced at her work phone. ‘Not yet. I updated the system when I got home last night so we’re all working off the same page. Ah, looks like Justine Crawford is home. There’s a car on the drive, and she failed to call us when she returned.’
Someone in the Crawford household dropped an upstairs curtain. A neighbour began wheeling her bin onto the road while staring at them as they stepped out of the car and knocked on Justine’s front door. She answered, her sandy-coloured hair sticking out at the sides. Gina suspected that she’d been thrashing around in bed all night thinking about their visit. The woman pulled her white dressing gown around her and tied the belt to cover her pyjamas. Gina didn’t relish knocking doors at seven in the morning but they had a murder case to solve, and she hoped to catch the post-mortem later. ‘Justine Crawford?’
The woman nodded. ‘DI Harte?’
Gina nodded. ‘We came by last night and your son was in.’
‘Yes, I saw a card on the side but it was really late so I thought I’d call this morning. How can I help you?’
‘May we come in?’
Justine stared at them both for what felt like a very long minute. ‘I suppose. What’s this about?’
‘Yesterday, we discovered a man’s body and we need to speak to you in connection with that.’
Justine grimaced and opened the door wide. Gina noticed that the envelope on the console table had gone. Justine led them into a huge kitchen with an arch that framed an eight-seater dining table. French doors led to a long-landscaped garden with a modern glass-fronted garden room at the end.
‘Have a seat.’ She pointed at the table. ‘I need coffee. Do you want coffee?’ Justine yawned and placed a pod into a machine. It started to spew out liquid at the other end.
‘Yes, that would be lovely,’ Gina replied after smelling it. ‘Black, no sugar.’
‘White, two sugars, thank you,’ Jacob said.
She took the first cup and began making the next drink. ‘So, how can I help?’
Over the spluttering, Gina spoke while Jacob started taking notes. ‘The body of a man called Kain Pickering was discovered yesterday. We also found that the house he’d been living in had been broken into recently.’
‘I heard. Lindy messaged me. It’s such sad news. Was he attacked by a burglar?’
‘Actually, your business card was found at the scene.’
‘Kain is my friend’s brother. I didn’t even know him. Why would my card be at the scene?’
‘That’s what we’re trying to establish. How well did you or your family know Kain Pickering?’
She passed Gina and Jacob their drinks and sat at the table. ‘We didn’t. I’m friends with his sister, Lindy. I know that Lindy had lots of issues with Kain. Lindy probably had my card. Maybe she left it there when she visited.’
‘Did Lindy ever discuss her brother with you?’
Justine tried to flatten her kinked hair with her hands. ‘Now and again. Kain was having a hard time. He’d made their mum’s life hell and his ex-wife wasn’t happy with him either but it was the drink, not him.’
‘Can you tell us more?’
She looked at them both suspiciously before continuing. ‘I know they argued about money. Kain had taken a lot from Maura and it had resulted in some big family confrontation just before Maura died. Lindy still puts the stress of it all down to Maura dying. As for his ex, he started some trouble a couple of weeks ago. I don’t know the details. Maybe you should speak to Lindy about it.’
‘Can you tell me where you were between one and ten p.m. on Friday the fourteenth of November?’
