Aspley waited until they had drawn level with the boathouse before he slowed down, his gaze drawn to a pair of swans on the lake to the right.
Kay hugged her coat to her chest and squinted against the sharp breeze that lifted her hair from her collar.
‘If you need to tell me something, could you hurry up? It’s bloody freezing out here.’
‘Sorry. I wanted us to talk somewhere where I could be sure we wouldn’t be overheard.’
‘What’s going on?’
‘How well do you know Simon Harrison?’
She shrugged. ‘This is the first time I’ve worked with him. He’s from SOCU, so I haven’t had anything to do with him before. Why?’
Aspley blew his cheeks out before responding.
‘I’ve been investigating Harrison’s method of policing for a while now. When I realised he’d relocated to Kent from the Met three years ago, I applied for a position on the newspaper here so I could follow him.’
Kay gestured to a wooden bench at the lake’s edge. ‘All right. You’ve got my attention.’
They moved across to the seat, and Aspley buttoned up his jacket before continuing.
‘While he was in the Met, Harrison gained a reputation for doing anything to further his career. He put a lot of criminals away, but there’s always been a question mark over his methods.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Before he was transferred out, a detective working with him was murdered by a suspect they’d been pursuing for six months.’
Kay swallowed. ‘That must have been terrible for him, to have that on his conscience.’
‘Harrison doesn’t have a conscience. He used his colleague to set up the suspect, and it went wrong. Sound familiar?’
Kay’s thoughts turned to Gareth Jenkins, and a sickness began in her stomach. ‘If Harrison was responsible for his colleague’s death, there would’ve been a Professional Standards investigation, and he would have been relieved from duty.’
‘He made a deal. He took the transfer, and the file was closed.’
‘What’s this all got to do with me?’
‘That’s my point, Kay. He’s using you to bait Demiri. Why else would he ask you to turn up at the press conference?’
Kay snorted. ‘Don’t be ridiculous. It was my idea to be part of his team.’
‘Was it? Or did he simply give you the impression it was your idea?’
She narrowed her eyes at him, then thought of all the times Harrison had disappeared without a trace during the short time she’d been working with him, and wondered how desperate he was to ensure she and the rest of Sharp’s team would be kept at arm’s length from being the ones to arrest Demiri.
Would he go as far as bribing a journalist to try to frighten her off? Try to make her doubt her own assertions that he’d made her an integral part of his investigation, only to seize any chance he could to undermine her capabilities?
Or, was the journalist attempting to cause paranoia, in the hope that she’d confide in him?
She rose from the bench and glared at Aspley. ‘This conversation is over.’
Kay shoved her hands in her pockets and spun on her heel.
‘Wait!’
She stopped, and glanced over her shoulder. ‘What?’
Aspley stood next to the bench, his expression pained. ‘Look, be careful, all right?’
She pursed her lips, and shook her head. ‘Nice try, Aspley. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got an investigation to get on with.’
She turned and hurried towards the car, not trusting herself to look back again, and her mind working overtime.
Chapter Forty-Six
Kay sat bolt upright in bed, her heart pounding, her thoughts confused as she was pulled from a deep sleep.
‘What the—’
A series of loud squeaks hit a crescendo from the kitchen below, and she reached out blindly for the bedside lamp, shielding her eyes as the lightbulb winked to life.
She held her wrist closer to her face and squinted as she tried to read her watch dial, a moment before her mobile phone began to ring and vibrate across the surface of the dressing table.
She groaned and flipped back the duvet, stumbling across the room to pick up the phone before it went to voicemail.
The alarm hadn’t been due to go off for another ten minutes, and yet here she was with two fur-balls yelling for their breakfast, and no doubt a crisis at work.
‘Hello?’ she mumbled.
‘It’s Sharp.’
‘What’s up?’
‘Reg Powers at the garage near Hythe has been found dead. How long until you can get here?’
Kay did a quick calculation in her head. ‘About an hour and a half?’
‘Make it quicker if you can. Bring Barnes.’
He ended the call without waiting for an answer, and Kay cursed under her breath before hitting the speed dial for Barnes.
‘Ughhh.’
‘Morning.’
‘What time is it?’
‘Quarter to six. Reg Powers has been found dead. Sharp wants us to attend the scene. Can you pick me up as soon as possible?’
‘Okay.’
She flicked through the screen on her phone until she found the alarm, switched it off and tossed the phone onto the bed before making her way through to the en suite. Pulling her t-shirt over her head, she stepped under the warm jets of water and wiped the sleep from her eyes as she processed Sharp’s news.
Hurrying downstairs, she threw food into the guinea pigs’ bowl and then swiped her bag off the worktop.
Unlocking the door, she hurried to the end of the driveway to wait for Barnes.
It was already feeling like it was going to be a long day.
Kay unbuckled her seatbelt as Barnes braked alongside the kerb several metres from the garage, and leapt from the car before he’d switched off the engine.
Her eyes swept over the scene as she approached, and her heart sank.
A television news van was parked opposite the garage forecourt, which had been sectioned off by strips of crime scene tape fluttering in the bitter morning air.
A reporter was risking life and limb by standing in the middle of the road, speaking to the camera trained on her and gesturing excitedly to the white tents that had been
