“Nope. Why didn’t you say that in the first place, instead of going all around the houses to get to your point, Sean?”
He grinned. “That would be because I’m a man and tend to engage my mouth before my brain.”
Her tension eroded, and Katy finally broke into a smile. “No disrespect intended, but you’re a strange one at times.”
He cocked an eyebrow, but his eyes sparkled with merriment. “In your professional opinion, of course.”
“Of course.”
“Tell me what you’re working on?”
“We’ve spent the morning speaking to the family of a deceased man. He was found early this morning in a burnt-out car. Not pretty, as you can imagine.”
“Ouch! Any idea what happened?”
“It was deliberately torched. Patti suspects the man was bound inside his vehicle before it went up in flames.”
“So he couldn’t have escaped?”
“About sums it up.” Katy sighed. “Speaking to the wife and daughter, it turns out he was a bit of a sex pest. I think the wife has led a tormented life over the years; he abused their daughter and was violent towards her.”
“Could either of them be guilty of killing him?”
“I don’t think so, but I definitely haven’t crossed them off the suspect list, not yet. However, when Charlie and I showed up at the pub he frequented a lot, the barmaid told us that he got talking to, or should I say he was flirting with, a young woman last night and ended up leaving with her. So she has to be our main suspect.”
“Can you ID the woman?”
“We’ve got CCTV footage of her. Plus, we have proof that he gave her a lift in his car. So that definitely puts her in the frame for being the last person to be seen with him.”
“Interesting. Did the barmaid know this woman? Could she put a name to her?”
“Nope. She told me that Jason had an eye for the ladies. Maybe the woman was aware of that and targeted him intentionally.”
“As some kind of payback?”
Katy shrugged. “Who knows? In my experience, it’s rare to find a killer out on the prowl just for the sake of it.”
“Good point. So you think she was against the type of man he was as opposed to him as a person?”
“The honest answer to that is I really don’t know.” She let out a deep sigh. “That’s the huge undertaking we have ahead of us.”
“Press conference?”
“Too soon. The last thing I want to do is drive the woman underground.”
“You think she’s likely to strike again?”
“Your guess is as good as mine on that one.”
He rose from his chair. “I’ll let you get back to your lunch. Keep me informed.”
“Thanks. I’ll do that, as and when I can.”
He left the office. Katy glanced out of the window at the black clouds up above. She watched the speed they were travelling at, momentarily mesmerised by their intensity and movement. “Hey, this isn’t getting any work done, shake a leg, missus!”
She returned to her roll, consumed another third of it and threw the rest in the bin. After downing the remains of her lukewarm coffee, she joined the team in the incident room.
Charlie eyed her with caution. Katy knew what was running through her mind. Her partner was intrigued to know if everything was all right after the chief’s visit. She smiled, putting her partner at ease.
“Okay, now lunch is out of the way, let’s get down to business.” She turned to bring the whiteboard up to date with the name of the victim. “Jason Davis, married to Jane, daughter Sammy. While the wife and daughter were both upset, I sensed there was some form of relief coming from the wife. He abused their daughter when she was ten. Saying that, Sammy idolised her father. Which must have put a strain on the family unit. He spent a minimum of four nights a week at The Fallow Deer Inn. Charlie and I dropped over there and picked up the CCTV footage from last night. It proved that his attention was drawn to a young woman. I don’t wish to cast aspersions, but you’ll be able to see for yourself what I mean, she’s not your run-of-the-mill type of woman out for a drink. In my opinion, she’s ‘dressed to kill’ some might say, pun intended. Stephen, can you run the disc for me?”
He inserted the disc into his computer, and the image appeared on the large screen against the far wall.
“As you can see, they seemed comfortable in each other’s company, so much so that after a while, they left the pub together.” The image changed to outside. “This is the last picture we have of the couple. They drove out of the car park and turned right in the direction of the piece of wasteland where Jason’s body was found, inside his burnt-out vehicle.”
“Would it be worth checking the area for any other cameras?” Graham asked.
“If you wouldn’t mind doing that, Graham, just so we have the necessary backup for when or if this trial goes to court. Of course, before it gets to that point, we’re going to have to catch ourselves a bloody suspect first.”
“I’ll get on it right away, boss,” Graham replied.
“Will it be worth running the woman through the database?” Charlie suggested.
“Definitely, although I have an inkling nothing will show up. I don’t mind admitting that I think this one is going to lead us into places we’d rather not tread.”
“Meaning?” Charlie inclined her head.
“I can’t put my finger on it. Maybe it’s far too early to assume what we’re up against here, but I have a niggling feeling that the motive is revenge.”
“Why?” Charlie asked.
“Intuition and yes, I know I’m not usually a great
