She shrugged her jacket off her shoulders and untucked her blouse from the waistband of her trousers, before sinking back into the cushions with a sigh. The next morning would bring a mountain of paperwork as the team sifted through the statements uniformed officers had taken from the partygoers, as well as from the parents of both Sophie Whittaker and Josh Hamilton. She couldn’t imagine what the young man was going through, to lose his fiancée.
The American family appeared to be affluent, their clothing expensive. The mother had looked as if she’d had some cosmetic surgery, and Kay couldn’t work out her age. Blake, the father, appeared to be in his mid-fifties.
Intrigued to know how a rich American was linked to a minor aristocratic family, let alone one whose son was marrying into it, she pushed herself off the sofa and made her way back to the kitchen, pulling her mobile phone out of her bag before returning to the living room. She opened up the search app and typed in his name.
It didn’t take long for the search engine to display its results. Hamilton Enterprises filled the first three pages on the screen. She clicked on the website for the company and scrolled through the menu until she found the page that set out the details for the executive management team.
Originally from Connecticut, Blake Hamilton had arrived in the UK three years ago, establishing a consultancy business that seemed to thrive on creating networks and lucrative connections. The business had grown rapidly, leaving its competitors in its wake.
Kay opened up the calendar on her phone and made a note to investigate the website further when she got into work. Intrigued, she then searched for Sophie’s mother’s name.
Lady Griffith generated fewer results, and Kay had to read through several society news articles in order to put a picture together. The woman’s parents had died some years ago, her father being an earl who seemed to enjoy a busy social life, if the number of photographs were anything to go by. Lady Griffith appeared to support local charities and good causes, but the articles revealed little about her character – each one was carefully worded and full of praise.
Sophie’s father, Matthew, ran his own software business. Peering closer at the information she found on the business registry website, Kay surmised that his business wasn’t doing as well as Blake Hamilton’s, but that he was well respected within the industry he worked. He had written several articles for IT magazines over the years, and had been photographed at society events with his wife.
She enlarged one of the photographs showing Sophie with her parents, a huge smile on her face as the photographer’s flash had lit up the room, and Kay felt a familiar pull in her chest at the thought of the young girl’s life being taken from her in such a brutal way.
She yawned and tossed her phone onto the coffee table, realising that if she kept surfing the search engine, she’d never get any sleep. It was tempting to start making notes, but from experience she knew she’d make a better job of it in the morning. As it was, Sharp would probably delegate the task to one of the admin staff or one of the uniformed officers that would be assigned to help the team with the investigation.
She roused herself from the sofa once more, picked up her jacket and switched off the downstairs lights before making her way up the stairs.
She lifted her foot over the fifth tread – it had a tendency to squeak, and she didn’t want to wake up Adam. Chances were that he’d be out the door before her in the morning, and he’d looked exhausted the past three days.
The door to the bedroom was ajar, and she slipped through the gap. He had left her bedside light on, and she set her alarm before quickly undressing and sliding into bed beside him.
‘New murder investigation?’
‘I thought you were asleep,’ she hissed. ‘I crept up those stairs like I was in the bloody SAS or something.’
‘You were doing quite well.’
She rolled over and slapped his arm, trying not to laugh.
‘Go back to sleep.’
Six
Kay glanced up from her work as Sharp entered the room, closely followed by Detective Chief Inspector Angus Larch.
The more senior detective ignored her as he breezed past her desk to stand next to the whiteboard.
His glare passed over the assembled investigation team who quickly ended their conversations and turned their attention to the senior officers, before Sharp spoke to him in a low murmur and the two men began to confer about a document Sharp held out to him.
Snatching it from him, Larch pursed his lips, then glanced up and met Kay’s eyes, and her heart sank. He sneered, then shoved the document back at Sharp and gestured to him to begin.
After the success of her previous investigations, she’d hoped that Larch would finally put the Professional Standards investigation he’d subjected her to behind them, but it seemed he had other plans.
Kay bit her lip.
She had plans of her own, and not ones she was willing to share with anyone else in the room.
Plans that would, hopefully, put the unfairness of her suspension behind her once and for all.
She was jerked from her thoughts by Sharp’s voice cutting across the room.
‘Okay, everyone. Let’s make a start.’
Sharp waited until he had the group’s attention before continuing.
‘Right, to bring you up to speed on events from last night. Our victim is Sophie Whittaker, daughter of Lady Griffith of Crossways Hall,’ he said, pinning a recent photograph of the teenager
