‘We’ve taken hair samples, clothing, footprint casts, the lot,’ Harriet continued. ‘It’s going to take us a while to work through all of it.’
Kay knew there was no sense in grumbling – Harriet’s department had been affected by ongoing government budget cuts, and the woman could only demand so much from her team. If they rushed, there was more likelihood they’d miss something.
Instead, she flipped the pages until she came to Harriet’s copy of the post mortem report. A sequence of photographs depicting the blow to Sophie’s face had been included, and her lips thinned.
‘Any more thoughts about this?’
Harriet sighed and leaned back in her chair. ‘We’re still working through the evidence Lucas passed to us. It appears the weapon was wooden in nature; at least, the part that impacted with Sophie’s skull was. You saw he found splinters in the wound?’
‘Yeah.’
‘We’re going through the contents of what was left in the braziers at the moment, in case our murderer tried to burn the evidence. We’ve got the added problem of some of the partygoers treating the fires as rubbish bins, so each brazier is being processed separately to ensure we don’t miss anything. It’s a mess, Kay – not to mention the problems caused by the mud at the bottom of that slope.’
Kay spun the photos back to face Harriet, who leaned forward and traced her fingers over the images.
‘This was driven by hate, wasn’t it?’ she said.
Kay leaned down and picked up her bag. ‘I think so, yes.’
‘That was one strike to the face. Poor kid didn’t stand a chance.’ Harriet raised her gaze to meet Kay’s. ‘I’m short-staffed, Kay, but I’ll do everything I can to help you bring her killer to justice.’
‘Thanks, Harriet. I know you will.’
Twenty-Three
‘What’s the angle we’re going with here?’
Kay glanced up from her notebook as Barnes slowed the car to a standstill on the driveway outside the Hamiltons’ extensive property and turned to face her.
They hadn’t spoken during the drive over from Maidstone. Kay had returned from Harriet’s office mid-morning and studiously ignored the atmosphere in the incident room around her while checking her emails and phone messages.
Carys had passed her desk a couple of times, but hadn’t raised her head and had scuttled past, her face red.
Eventually, Kay was satisfied she’d caught up with her workload enough to keep any impending emergencies at bay and had asked Barnes to accompany her to the Hamiltons’. She’d stalked from the room, ignoring the hurt expression on Carys’s face.
‘The paternity results have come back inconclusive,’ she said now. ‘So, we don’t know for sure yet that Peter Evans was the father of Sophie’s baby.’
‘Well, he obviously thinks he is – that’s why he tried to kill himself, right?’
‘Maybe. Or, maybe he realised he wasn’t and that someone else is.’
She followed Barnes to the front door and hovered on the step while he rang the bell, the peals sounding through the house.
She rubbed at her right eye. She hadn’t told Barnes or Sharp what she intended to discuss with the Hamiltons. Barnes, to his credit, hadn’t asked.
At least one member of the team still trusted her.
She hoped.
Blake Hamilton answered the door, his eyes failing to mask his displeasure at seeing them again.
‘Detectives. What do you want?’
‘A quick word with Josh, please,’ said Kay, stepping over the threshold before he had time to react.
‘He’s studying.’
‘This won’t take long.’
Blake sighed, slammed the door behind Barnes, and then led the way through to the living room. ‘I’ll go get him.’
The teenager appeared moments later, closely followed by Blake and his wife.
Kay waited until Courtney had stopped fussing over who should sit where, and then leaned forward. She wasn’t in the mood to waste time with niceties.
‘Josh, I have to ask a very personal question. Were you and Sophie having sex?’
‘What the hell?’ Blake leapt from his armchair. ‘What sort of question is that? How dare you!’
Kay ignored him, and kept her eyes on Josh. ‘Answer the question, please.’
‘I— er, no. I didn’t. I mean— we weren’t, no.’
The teenager blushed.
Kay waited a heartbeat. ‘If there’s something you need to tell me, we can discuss this in private,’ she said.
‘No you damn well won’t.’
Hamilton strode across the carpet towards her, and Barnes raised himself from the sofa, putting his bulk between Hamilton and Kay.
‘Mr Hamilton, sit down please. This isn’t helping.’
‘Get out of my way.’
‘Sit down, Mr Hamilton.’ Barnes’s voice was low, but Kay could hear the unspoken threat. ‘If you continue to act unreasonably, then we’ll have no choice but to question Josh at the station. Without you. Is that what you want?’
Out the corner of her eye, Kay could see Hamilton clench his fists, and held her breath, waiting for the explosion.
It didn’t happen.
He swore under his breath and spun away from Barnes, muttering as he stalked away.
She waited until he reached the window, then turned her attention back to Josh. ‘Is there anything you’d like to tell me?’
The teenager blinked, and then dropped his gaze to his hands. ‘No. No, there isn’t,’ he said. ‘I never had sex with Sophie.’
‘What’s going on?’ asked Courtney. ‘What’s this all about?’
Kay stood, straightened out an imaginary crease in her jacket, and lowered her gaze to where Josh sat, his eyes wide.
‘Sophie Whittaker was pregnant when she was murdered,’ she said.
Josh paled.
Courtney gasped and clamped a hand over her mouth.
‘Like I said, Josh, if there’s something you need to tell me in private, you can call me any time.’
Kay held out one of her business cards, and wasn’t surprised when Blake snatched it from her before Josh had a chance to take it.
She glared at him, and then stood. ‘Come on, Barnes. I think we’re done here.’
‘Damn right, you are.’
Blake stormed across the room and
