She grabbed her yoga mat and gym bag and stormed out the door.
She was going to find out who her husband was sleeping with if it killed her.
SIX
Gina stood at the end of Maura Pickering’s drive, half mulling over the murder and half mulling over her argument with Briggs that morning. Was it more about him than her? She hadn’t imagined him looking out of the window in the strange way that he did. She shook those thoughts away and took in Maura’s house. She owed her full attention to their victim.
Maura’s Victorian semi-detached house stood proud from the road and the box hedge that divided it from the path was about eight feet tall, leaving Gina in its shadow. Every curtain was closed and a gate to the left led to an uneven, slabbed path that led to the front door and alongside the house. She knocked at the door and gazed through the frosted-glass panel to see a fuzzy version of the huge porch and an internal door. No one answered. She glanced down to see letters and pamphlets almost spewing out of the open letter box. ‘That’s a lot of post. It looks like no one has been here for a while.’
Jacob stepped over the moss-covered tiles and nudged the gate with his shoulder, and it opened with a creak. ‘That seems odd.’ He pointed to the damaged lock that now lay on the ground. Nails stuck out of the wood at head height. ‘It looks likesomeone leaned over and wrenched it off the gate to break in. The wood looks rotten. It wouldn’t have taken much effort.’
He led the way and Gina followed him. Ivy carpeted the whole of that side of the house leaving only a small gap for the stair window. A wooden owl peered down at her. She looked away, not wanting to feel unnerved but the closer they got to the back of the house, the more unnerved she felt. As they stepped into the long-overgrown garden she caught sight of a panel of smashed glass in the back door. She stood next to Jacob and peered through. ‘Key left in the door.’ She pulled a pair of latex gloves over her hands and then popped some boot covers on. ‘Can you call it in?’
Jacob pulled his phone out and stood on the patio.
Gina glanced down, checking for footsteps or any other evidence that had been left behind. There was nothing visible to the naked eye. She knew they were standing outside the house where their victim’s murder could have taken place. ‘What if someone else is in there? They might be inside and hurt.’
‘We should definitely check after seeing what happened to Kain Pickering,’ Jacob replied. ‘He might not be the only victim.’
Gina stepped into the kitchen first. ‘Hello. Police. I’m DI Harte,’ she called out. A shiver ran through her. It was possible that the killer could be in the house. She held a hand out and placed a finger to her lips so that they could listen in silence. She heard talking coming from upstairs. ‘There’s someone above us. It sounds odd, maybe they’re on the phone.’ A loud thud shook the ceiling light. ‘Hello. Police,’ she shouted again.
Still on his call to the station, Jacob whispered an update before turning back to Gina. ‘Backup is less than a minute away. There was a car at the supermarket and they’re almost here.’
Gina let out a long breath as she crept between the six-seater wooden dining table on her left and the huge breakfast bar to her right. The Shaker-style kitchen was modern and the Belfastsink full of dirty plates and cups. Another cup sat next to the kettle, dry with a teabag string sticking out of it as if whoever was upstairs had been about to make a cuppa. There was no steam coming from the kettle spout, so maybe they weren’t about to come down anytime soon. Her heart began to bang again.
A slight tapping sound coming from the floor tiles between the breakfast bar and back worktop made Gina flinch.
Drip… drip.Then it stopped for a moment before starting again.Drip.
She crept around the breakfast bar to see a small puddle of water on the floor. ‘There’s a leak coming from upstairs.’ She pointed to the tainted plaster above where another droplet was about to fall.
‘Guv, backup is outside.’ He spoke down the phone to Wyre who was still coordinating the officers outside.
‘Tell them we entered through the back door and to cover the front and back. We need an ambulance, just in case. There’s someone in the house and we don’t know if they’re hurt.’ She tried to listen to what was being said above but the words weren’t clear. It sounded like a man, then she heard the tone change and the man began to mutter. ‘Keep them on the line. We’re going upstairs.’ She pointed to the kitchen door and nudged it with her elbow until it opened. She followed the long, tiled hallway, passing the tall-ceilinged lounge. ‘Police. We’re coming up.’
Again, there was no response. With slightly trembling legs, Gina took the first step and followed that with a few more. ‘Keep to the sides. There are drag marks on the stair carpet.’ The sight of Kain Pickering’s body had unnerved her. She paused midway up to see photos of who she thought had to be Maura in a photo with a man and a woman. She recognised Kain Pickering from his driver’s licence photo but she didn’t recognise the woman. The step near the top creaked. She stopped walking topinpoint which room the tinny muttering was coming from. ‘I think it’s the radio,’ she said to Jacob. ‘The door’s closed.’ A scraping sound came from behind it. Gina could just about hear it over the local weather report that started up. She swallowed, wondering if some desperate victim in a poor state had dropped from the bed to the floor as soon as they heard Gina calling up the stairs and now they were scraping at the door. Running towards it, she grabbed the handle and let out a small scream as a cat darted between her legs and ran downstairs. She stood at the entrance to the room, her mouth slightly open as she took everything in.
‘There’s been a struggle here.’ She imagined their victim all tangled in the white sheets as he was attacked. Brown streaks that were almost certainly red a few days ago had crusted onto the bed but there wasn’t enough blood to have killed a person. ‘Bernard said our victim had defence wounds and looking at what we have here, this scene could easily corroborate that. It looks like the victim had been thrashing. He fought back. Maybe he was asleep when the attack happened. Did the perp put the radio on to disguise the noise? Can you ask Wyre to contact Bernard and send someone to work this scene?’
Gina pulled her top over her nose as she spotted the cat faeces in the corner of the room. ‘Poor cat.’ She spotted a small water bowl under the bay window and next to it was an upturned cat treat box.
Jacob began speaking while Gina stepped further into the room. That’s when she spotted the small pale-blue teddy bear sitting on a smear of blood with its head peering above a crease in the sheets. It had to have been placed there after the thrashing around. Maybe the killer had left them a clue or maybe the teddy was merely coincidence. She didn’t believe in coincidences. She glanced around the rest of the room. It was as ordinary as ordinary got. Painted cream walls, a wooden wardrobe, a set ofdrawers, a big old vanity desk and a king-sized bed. There were no other stuffed toys or signs of anything twee like the bear. It stood out in the neat, clutter-free room. ‘The bathroom.’ She remembered the leak.
Backing out of the doorway to the main bedroom, Gina pointed to the other bedroom door. Jacob opened it. ‘Clear. Looks like a storage and laundry room.’
She then turned to the bathroom and opened the door. Without stepping in, she spoke. ‘I think we now know how Kain Pickering died.’ She knew they’d have to wait for forensics to confirm her theory with water on the lungs but with the shower curtain dragged into the bath full of water and torn, she was ninety-five per cent certain this is where their victim ended up after fighting with his attacker on the bed. The tap still dripped into the full bath, not fast, but fast enough to keep the water spilling slowly over the edges, causing the leak. ‘It’s possible that he was killed here before being dragged down the stairs and straight out of the front door, then bundled into Maura Pickering’s car boot. It looks like the perp then drove Kain Pickering to Tina and Agatha Wild’s house to park the car, taking the body away from the murder scene. Were they hoping to come back and clean up? If so, why didn’t they? Did they get disturbed?’ She had so many questions running through her mind.
‘Guv,’ an officer shouted loudly up the stairs.
She hurried back along the landing and carefully down the stairs, leaving the scene for forensics to handle. ‘Did you see a cat?’ She was kicking herself. The cat had escaped and as far as she knew, it might have evidence under its claws or in its fur and it definitely would have been scared.
‘We saw a tabby. Was that the one?’
Gina nodded.
‘It belongs to the neighbour and it had been missing since last Friday morning.’
‘Damn, we need to borrow the cat. I just hope it isn’t too late. It was trapped in the bedroom and managed to slip through my feet. We need to check it for evidence.’
