“Did Tina have a partner or was she single?”
“I’m not sure. I’ve always presumed she was single. She chased Ray as much as he chased her, if you get my drift?”
“I do. Would you mind getting her personnel file for us, if you possess one?”
“Sure. It’s in the other office. I’ll be right back.” He wheeled back his chair and dived out of the room only to return a few minutes later with a manila folder which he handed to Katy.
“Take this address down, DC Simpkins, will you? Seventeen Cheadle Road. According to this she isn’t married. Her next of kin is listed as her mother, Margaret Lascombe. Her phone number is…” She showed Charlie the number to jot down. “We’ll try and contact her after we leave here. There’s no address for her on file. We’ll ring and see where she’s located.” Katy placed the file on the desk and slid it back to Dan. “Thanks, it’s a start anyway. Are you sure you don’t want to divulge more about your business, sir? It’ll save a lot of hassle in the long run.”
“I’m sure. As far as I’m concerned, everything is above board around here. You can still earn a lot of money through a legitimate business, you know, Inspector.”
Katy smiled. “Okay, we’ll still need to seek a warrant, all the same. Right, if there’s nothing else you wish to add, we’ll get going.” She rose from her seat, and Charlie followed her to the door. “We’ll let you know when we obtain the warrant.”
“You do that.” He smiled tautly and dismissed her by reaching for the phone on his desk.
On the way down in the lift, Katy expelled a breath. “Well, that proved pretty pointless.”
Charlie stared up at the lights as they descended. “At least we found out who the woman was and we can do something about that.”
“Yeah, another trip to a bloody relative. Joy of joys. I wish I could fob off this part of the job onto someone else.”
“I can understand your reluctance. Maybe the mother will be able to fill in some gaps for us.”
“Possibly.” Katy called the woman and obtained her address. “It’s going to take us around twenty minutes to get there. Can you ring Thames Valley Police for me, see what the story is there?”
“Sure.” Charlie fished out her phone and looked up the number. “Shall I put it on speaker?”
“Yep, beats listening to Take That on Smooth all the time.” Katy grinned.
They ended up getting all the information they needed from Sergeant Davidson who took the call.
“So, they were called to the scene because of a disturbance?” Katy summarised.
“That’s correct,” Davidson said. “There were four people on board the boat when they received the call.”
“Four? How strange. Well, it is in one respect, however, it certainly clears things up. We were struggling to make sense of who killed whom. Thanks for taking the time to speak to us, sending our condolences to your colleagues’ families.”
“Thanks, I’ll pass that on. Give me a shout if you need any further information.”
“We’ll do that.”
Charlie ended the call. “How the hell did the other two get off the boat then?”
“Maybe it didn’t go up in flames until they’d left the boat.”
Charlie’s nod gained momentum. “You could be right. They set the fire in the hope it would cover their tracks. They nearly succeeded as well. Surely someone saw something down there. Do you think we should ask for help from the general public?”
“It might be an idea. Let’s get this onerous task out of the way first and then reassess things.”
The house they were after was situated in the middle of a snug row of terraced houses with dozens of cars littering the road. Katy parked in the only slot available at the end of a block of vehicles, and they walked back to the house.
Katy rang the bell. It was answered almost instantaneously by a smartly dressed woman in her late fifties, who was chatting to someone on her mobile.
“All right, Nadine, I’ve gotta go, there’s someone standing on my doorstep. We’ll meet up for lunch as soon as I have a spare five minutes, I promise. Love you lots.” She pushed the button to end the call and smiled. “Hello, sorry about that. Can I help?”
Katy and Charlie produced their IDs, and Katy introduced them, “Mrs Lascombe. I called earlier. Is it all right if we come in to speak with you for a few minutes?”
“You did, you hung up before I got the chance to ask you what this is all about?” She glanced over Katy’s shoulder and waved at a passerby.
“Your daughter, Tina.”
“What? She’s not home right now. She’s away for a few days.”
“It would be better inside,” Katy pressed, already feeling agitated about how she would tell the woman the heartbreaking news.
“Very well, I haven’t got long, though. I have an appointment with my gynaecologist in an hour and I’ll need to get public transport to the hospital, and we all know how unreliable that can be.”
“It’s fine. We won’t keep you long.”
Mrs Lascombe led them into an immaculately presented lounge. No clutter and nothing out of place from what Katy could tell, a stark contrast to her own home which was littered with Georgina’s toys, despite AJ’s best efforts to keep the place tidy.
“Take a seat. Now, what’s this about Tina?”
Katy and Charlie sat on the couch while the woman lowered herself into a tartan-covered armchair by the window.
“When was the last time you heard from your daughter?”
“I last spoke and saw her the day before yesterday. She packed a bag and told me she was spending a few days with her fella. I didn’t ask where, she’s a grown woman. Why? Has she done something wrong?”
“Can you tell us what you know
