‘Anything on here I shouldn’t see?’
‘Fuck off.’
‘Righty-ho.’
He opened her email as Kelly navigated her way around Ullswater. They would be over the Kirkstone Pass soon and she tapped the wheel impatiently. It was moments like this that she felt lucky to do what she did. Having to travel around the Lake District was one of the best aspects of her job. Catching bastards was better.
‘Yep, it’s her. They sent her photo and address.’
‘Well, well. So, now we need to find out what she was doing there at the same time her brother was twenty minutes away at a conference.’
‘So, he flies in from New York, let’s say they haven’t seen one another for a while. They catch up and he deposits her in a hotel in secret.’
Fin referenced the owner of the Old Man Guesthouse telling the police helpline Angelina checked in anonymously at the request of the BMW driver, who handed over a wad of cash for his silence.
They both said what they were thinking at the same time.
‘He gave her something to hide.’
‘Says here she lives in Chapel Stile,’ he said.
‘That’s five minutes from Skelwith Bridge, so why stay in a hotel?’
Kelly reflected on how easy it was working with Fin. He’d made six months of her life more bearable, and they’d had fun. She had no idea how or when she and Johnny had ever lost that, but they had. With Johnny she’d become a woman who worked pretending she wasn’t a mother, and parented pretending she didn’t work.
Kelly’s foot pressed a little harder on the accelerator. Coniston was a beautiful drive, but the lanes were narrow and wound like a spring. The trees were tinder-box dry, and the lake was woefully low, like they’d all been last summer when they’d found the body in Thirlmere, exposed by the drought.
Fin called the SOCO who’d been appointed, and they chatted on speaker; it was the same SOCO who’d processed Heron Hall. The forensic team was already at the guesthouse.
‘I’ve had ID confirmed. The victim is the sister of Jamie Robbins,’ Kelly said on speaker.
‘What? Did I hear you correctly?’ the SOCO asked.
‘Yes, you did.’ Kelly gave the SOCO the details and warned her she might be walking into a murder scene. Angelina could have been abducted or held against her will. The woman’s room could be a treasure trove of evidence. Jamie had wanted her there insecret for a reason, and she’d been found out. Perhaps. Kelly’s mind raced. ‘A squad car should already be there. The owner only reported her missing this morning after the appeal went out so I have no idea who else might have been in her room.’
She ended the call and silence sat between them. Scenarios filled her head, and she was aware of Fin deep in thought too.
‘Just because they were siblings, and he was trying to hide her, didn’t mean they loved or even liked each other.’
She nodded her head. They couldn’t jump to any conclusions.
One image kept coming back to her, though. The sight of Angelina’s body and what Kelly knew she’d been through in her final moments. Life hung across such a delicate balance of minutes and seconds. If only Angelina had gone for a walk. If only she’d taken a lover back to her room. If only…
If only Jamie had stayed with her.
But it didn’t work like that.
Maybe Angelina did take somebody back to her room, and it turned out to be her killer. Then it struck her that Angelina’s body had been found on Monday and Jamie jumped from the second floor of the Heron Hall atrium on Tuesday.
He could have been her murderer. But first, they must discover why he was hiding her.
Chapter 19
The Old Man Guesthouse turned out to be an old water mill sitting abreast a pretty stone bridge over the River Brathay. This part of the Lake District was quieter due in part to its inaccessibility and tiny little narrow roads which led to the Furness Fells. The houses there were built from local slate, which had been mined since the twelfth century. Coniston Old Man still had scars of the mining industry and Honister was a working mine selling about ten million pounds worth each year. It left the surrounding countryside nestled inside a bygone era. Building was difficult because of the protected status of the land and the rugged nature of the surrounding forests and hills.
In short, it was a stunning getaway, and it jarred Kelly to be here for a murder case.
The Langdales were just along the valley, past Chapel Stile, and Angelina would have known this part of the Lakes well.
