‘It’s a good question, though,’ Kelly said.
Kelly’s mobile phone buzzed and she saw it was a call from Millie. As any mother knows, having a phone available around the clock in reach is a double-edged sword. Millie wouldn’t call for something trivial. She hoped Lizzie was OK. She answered it quickly. At almost two years old, Lizzie was a handful and sometimes Kelly didn’t stop to take a breath until her head hit her pillow at gone midnight. Lizzie had picked up a cold over the weekend and Kelly constantly checked her dress for signs of snot she’d forgotten to wipe up. She did it now, absentmindedly, her hand batting off imaginary pathogens from her clothes.
‘Millie?’
‘Hi, Kelly, just to say Lizzie is struggling to go down after her bath; she’s hot.’
Kelly heard her daughter wailing in the background and her heart was split in two. The detective in her wanted to walk away and let Millie do her job. The mother in her wanted to rush back to make an emergency appointment with the doctor.
‘How hot?’
‘I can’t find a thermometer.’
‘Oh. How hot do you think?’
‘Very. She’s red and squealing.’
‘I can hear her. Calpol?’
‘Yep, done. I’ve got a cold flannel on her head. I rang the doctor and I’m due a call back.’
‘Right, let me know, my phone is on loud. I’m heading to Rydal so it’ll take me a while to get back if you need me.’
They hung up.
Millie was a sensible young woman and wasn’t one to flap.
Neither was Johnny. He was down to earth and a godsend in emergency situations. That was part of the problem. They were no longer together because he was so laid back and she wanted more. Or at least she thought she did.
She felt torn between giving the Rydal job to Kate, and driving home to nurse her daughter. It was Kate who reassured her. ‘Mums work. That’s life. She’s probably teething,’ Kate said. ‘Was Millie worried?’
‘No, it was more of a letting-you-know type call.’
‘Good, let’s go then.’
Rydal Water was serene. They arrived at Heron Hall around 7 p.m. Kelly had never stayed there but she’d heard plenty about it. There was something particularly quaint about this part of the national park, and Kelly sniffed the clean air. It smelt ofleaves, blue sky and deep lakes. It was cool, as if the sun didn’t reach beyond the hills surrounding the rolling fells skirting the two lakes. Wordsworth’s favourite home, Rydal Mount, nestled just off the road, overlooking the tiny lake, and its impeccable gardens gave the impression that he still lived there and might emerge from the grand entrance in a top hat, reciting poetry.
Heron Hall wasn’t a typical Lakeland retreat. It was small, unique and special. Its clientele was in the luxury bracket. The cars parked in the generous spaces outside were Mercedes, Audis, BMWs, the odd Aston Martin and one Bentley. Off to the side, behind a row of bushes, was what she assumed was the staff carpark and there she saw Fiats, Seats, VWs and Minis. The gravel crunched as she rolled hers to a stop and they got out. Ted had been heading over to hers but insisted on accompanying them. He was already waiting for them in the carpark. He got out of his car to greet them and Kelly instantly felt more whole. Kate felt it too.
‘I’m adopting him,’ Kate said.
Kelly wore thin cotton trousers, with a belt, a simple polo top and white pumps today, not knowing she’d be out so late. She’d popped some extra gloves in her pockets, taken from the SOCO at the Faeryland café, unaware she’d need them so soon. She searched for a cardigan in the back seat of her car and threw it around her shoulders. The sun had gone down across the lake and there was a chill in the air. She tied her auburn hair back with a scrunchie and peered up at the accommodation and wondered how a suite cost five hundred pounds per night. Where did all that money go? What type of service did they offer? She and Johnny had stayed in little boutique hotels, getting away for the night on a date, or just for a change of scenery, and they paid ninety pounds, tops. But it was the way of plenty of elite hotels across the national park, and that’s how they made their money. Tourism was worth something in theregion of three billion pounds to Cumbria annually, but Kelly knew that just underneath the surface another economy thrived too. Only last week a hotel had closed in Ambleside, not far from here, because it was trafficking illegal migrant workers.
Ted hugged his two favourite ladies, excepting his granddaughters, of course. They set their game faces and spread out. Kelly assessed the approach to the entrance and looked around. Kate chatted to a uniformed officer who ID’d Jamie Robbins’ top-of-the-range BMW M4 in the carpark for them. Ted stared at the lake. The location was shrouded in trees and shrubs. It was well hidden. This afternoon, the shores of Grasmere and Rydal would have been busy with summer visitors wanting to cool off, and plenty of folks had heard the commotion. But the lakeside here at Heron Hall was private and it was only one local dog walker who’d poked his nose in, who Kelly was keen to speak to. There were no other hotels around the lake.
Kelly studied the outside of the hotel and walked around the back. The staff accommodation was a neat little row of white cottages. Great real estate these days, she thought. It was one of the staff members, the conference and banqueting manager, who was their main witness. Lee Lovett had seen the whole thing, from the moment the bloke hit the floor to the aftermath. He’d also dealt with the logistics of stemming the rising agitation of the other guests. By all accounts, his actions were just what they needed in a terrible situation. Kelly had seen plenty of broken bodies, but the uninitiated could easily panic when faced with blood and gore. Sometimes the people unaffected by it were the ones she looked at closest for that very reason.
From the staff carpark, she could make out the roof lanterns of the atrium. It was a huge tent-like structure that rose up in the middle of the hotel like a wigwam, and it was brightly lit. Suicides were usually private, but that didn’t mean JamieRobbins hadn’t done himself in. Last flurries of exhibitionism weren’t unheard of. Equally, it could have been an accident, but initial inquiries into whether the man had been drinking, or if the floor above was recently made wet by cleaning for example, had returned negative.
Satisfied with her cursory examination of the layout of the building, she went to the main entrance and greeted the uniform guarding the door. The place was a potential crime scene, and Ted had called a forensic team to attend just in case. You never knew when you might need those details further down the line. She spotted him talking to somebody at the reception desk. Those members of staff who were still about were either sitting on sofas waiting their turn to be interviewed or were getting on with perfunctory tasks. All of them looked pale and shocked. Kelly had dealt with trauma victims before, many times. It was going to be a very long and taxing evening.
The copper told her that no one had heard a fight, and nobody was unaccounted for, suggesting that the man had been alone upstairs before he jumped. No witnesses reported seeing or hearing a scuffle. It was an isolated scene, and they had that fact on their side.
However, Kelly was immediately suspicious when the uniform told her there were items of clothing (a ladies’ purple scarf), and a smashed glass inside the man’s room upstairs, which did indicate a struggle.
Inside, Kelly was greeted by the sight of a blue forensic structure at the foot of the stairs and knew that a body lay under there. It was a stark realisation of why she was here. She’d get around to him in good time, but first, she spoke to her father.
Ted nodded in the direction of the restaurant and Kelly followed her nose. She smelt food and supposed even the traumatised had to eat. The hotel was doing a good job of looking after a group of very worried guests. Of course, by noweverybody would have been on their phones, if not social media, sharing their story with the world. Some people were sick in the head. Some handsets had already been requested for evidence. The first responders had requested that names not be posted, to respect the families.
