They arrived to find a small knot of curious neighbours clustered outside Kenley’s house, attracted by the flashing lights of Bethan’s police car. With a stern warning to Penny to stay where she was, and telling their driver to see to the gathering crowd, Davies got out of the car and walked up the path to the front door where Bethan was waiting for him.
“Forensics are on their way and the pathologist, too,” she said.
“How did you get in?” Davies asked.
“I knocked, but there was no answer, so I went round the back and looked in the kitchen window. Saw him lying on the floor, so I tried the back door and it was unlocked. Went in and there he was. Looks as if he’s been hit on the head. There’s some trauma there but not a lot of blood.”
Davies nodded slowly and tucked his hands in his pocket. “Right, well, let’s not touch anything until the scene- of-crime boys get here.” And then remembering that he had to be mindful of gender and wasn’t allowed to refer to team members as boys or men, he corrected himself. “The scene-of-crime team.”
He looked around the kitchen and then peered down the hall.
“Nothing seems disturbed in here.” He inclined his head toward the back of the bungalow. “Have you had a chance to look down there?”
Bethan nodded.
“I think that’s where our motive is.”
A few minutes later Davies returned to the police car and opened the back door. Penny shifted her bag of sketching materials and put the bag of takeway food on her lap to make room for him as he slid onto the seat.
“What happened to Brian?” Penny asked.
“We don’t know yet. But somebody was after something.”
He reached into his pocket for his notebook. “His computer’s been smashed to smithereens.” He nodded at her. “Yeah. People have figured out that just deleting something doesn’t get rid of it. Anything that’s ever been on a hard drive can easily be recovered.”
Penny thought for a moment and then patted Davies on the arm. “Right,” she said decisively, swinging her legs to one side. “I’m off. You’ll be here for ages, so I’m going to go now.”
“Well, the sergeant here can drive you home,” Davies said.
“I’m not going home,” said Penny. “I’m going to Victoria’s.” She gestured toward the bag of takeaway dinner containers. “If she hasn’t eaten, we’ll just heat this up. You don’t mind, do you? By the time you get around to it, it’ll be well past it. And I don’t need a ride, thanks. It’s not far and I want to walk.”
Davies got out of the car and reached back to take a couple of bags from Penny.
He looked longingly at the bag of takeaway. “I was so looking forward to that,” he said, “but you’re right, it looks as if we’re going to be here for a good while. I don’t know how long we’ll be.”
“Well, let me know what you find out.” She looked past him to where Bethan stood on the front steps making a waving, summoning gesture.
“DCI Davies, I think you’re needed.”
He bent over and gave her a brief kiss and pulled her closer to him for a moment. Then, releasing her, he returned to the bungalow. Penny pulled on her gloves and, as she did so, felt the memory stick Kenley had given her yesterday in her pocket. She wrapped her fingers around it and was about to call out to Davies but changed her mind. He wouldn’t be able to deal with this right now. She stood for a moment watching as Davies reentered the house and then, gathering up her bags, headed off in the direction of the bridge.
Skeletal trees with boney, bare branches stood starkly silhouetted against the night sky, as the River Conwy flowed darkly by. She heard it splashing beneath the bridge as she hurried across. A few moments later she was on Victoria’s doorstep, ringing the bell to be let in and shifting from one foot to the other as she waited for the sound of approaching footsteps as her friend came to let her in.
Twenty-one
A few moments later the door opened, casting a pool of pale light onto the front step. Penny handed Victoria the bags of takeaway food and stepped inside. “I’ve just left Brian Kenley’s place,” she said. “He’s dead and it looks suspicious. His computer’s been all smashed up. We were just starting our meal when Gareth got called out, and we didn’t have time to eat, so I thought I’d bring the dinner over here.”
“What?” exclaimed Victoria. “Slow down. This is terrible. Brian Kenley’s dead? But you just saw him, when, yesterday, wasn’t it?”
She hung up Penny’s coat. “You haven’t eaten yet, have you?” Penny asked. Victoria shook her head. “Right, well, let’s heat that lot up, and while that’s happening, we can check out these photos.”
She reached round Victoria and into her coat pocket, producing the memory stick containing the photos that Brian Kenley had taken at Conwy Castle on the afternoon of the art group’s outing.
“He loaded some photos on here yesterday, and I know you’ll find this hard to believe, but I haven’t looked at them yet. It didn’t seem urgent before, but now it does.”
“Let’s get upstairs to the flat,” Victoria said
They reached the top of the stairs and entered Victoria’s sitting room. Victoria disappeared into the kitchen and returned a few minutes later.
“That food looks delicious, Penny. I’m glad you brought it. I’ll bet Gareth was disappointed, though.”
“Disappointed and hungry, that’s for sure. Anyway, let’s get these photos on your laptop and see what we’ve got.” Victoria pointed to her computer on the coffee table, and Penny switched it on and inserted the memory stick while Victoria cleared a few books and papers off her dining table. She laid out two placemats, set a couple of dinner plates on them, added some cutlery and napkins, and then joined Penny on the sofa. She leaned in to her slightly. Penny turned the computer screen toward her so they could both see. They stared at a series of carefully framed images.
“This is so sad,” said Victoria, “I can hardly bear to look at them. It’s hard to believe that the man who took these photographs has just died.”
Penny nodded as she leaned forward to get a closer look.
“Who’s that?” she said, pointing at a blurry figure disappearing through an entranceway to one of the staircases that led to the wall walk. “It could be anybody, and I can’t really tell which stair set this is.”
She sat back and gestured at the computer. “It probably doesn’t matter, anyway. The stairs all lead upto the wall walk, and we know who was up there at the time. I can’t see how these photos are going to help.”
“When did Brian give them to you?” Victoria asked.
“Yesterday. Why?”
“Well, maybe somebody else thinks there’s something in the photos that could help solve Harry Saunders’s murder. After all, you said Kenley’s computer was all smashed up.”
“Hmm.” Penny opened a new file and began copying all the images from the memory stick onto the computer’s hard drive.
“Just to be on the safe side, we’ll copy the pictures onto your computer, and then I’ll make sure Gareth knows about them.” She looked up. “That food’s starting to smell really good. Do you think it’s hot enough?”
Victoria stood up. “Should be. I’ll see to it.”
Penny followed her and stood in the doorway to the kitchen. “Why don’t we go over our notes for the window display competition while we’re eating and do the judging tomorrow so we can call in the results to the newspaper tomorrow evening? The shop owners will want that extra bit of publicity while there are still a few shopping days left.”
“Good idea,” said Victoria, handing her a pair of oven mitts. “You put the food on the table and I’ll get the notes we’ve made so far.”
Half an hour later, Penny set down her pen. “So we have our criteria?”
Victoria nodded. “Most creative, most beautiful, and best in show.”
“Not everyone will be happy with our decisions,” said Penny, “but I think we’ll make the right choices.”
Victoria picked up Penny’s plate and put it on top of hers. “Tea?”
