‘Sorry, boss. I wasn’t looking where I was going.’
‘No harm done. Funny I’ve seen you actually, I’ve just sent one of my lot down to custody to interview a shoplifter who was brought in earlier.’
‘CID for a shoplifter? I don’t understand.’
‘When the cops started interviewing him, he had a meltdown and started to talk about Posner.’
‘Our Posner. The floater we dealt with?’
‘Yup. He reckons he saw someone push Posner into the water while he was out of it. He was too scared and too smacked up on heroin to know what to do about it at the time, but clearly wants to talk to us now.’
Maya’s heart was racing. She’d been right all along. Surely this meant the deaths were connected. ‘So, he was murdered?’
‘We’ll see what our witness has to say before we get too excited. Are you in tomorrow?’
‘Yes.’
‘Right, I’ll let you know the outcome of the interview in the morning. Goodnight.’
Maya was gobsmacked as she processed what Redford had just told her. If someone had rolled the intoxicated Posner into the water, then no wonder there was no sign of foul play. And if Posner had been murdered, then that surely meant that the others could have been too. But who by? And why?
71
Maya had barely slept. She had been so consumed by what DI Redford had told her. Every instinct in her body reinforced that she had been right all along. She was confident that something had been amiss at Gorman’s house, although she still couldn’t think what it was. Likewise, the note at Celeste’s. Ewan had confirmed there was a second set of fingerprints on the note, so someone else must have been there at the time. Plus, they still had no justification for why a narcissist like Celeste would commit suicide.
She had examined that scene with Jack. Now she knew his true colours, could she really trust his judgement? He had been so quick to persuade her it was a suicide. Perhaps he had been covering his own tracks. And then there were the others – an infamous rapist, armed robber, con man, drug dealer… They had all died suddenly, within a matter of weeks. The same few weeks since Jack had transferred to Beech Field. It was all too much of a coincidence.
Maya arrived at Beech Field early that morning and practically sprinted to DI Redford’s office. She was relieved to find him in. She couldn’t stand another moment of not knowing.
‘Boss, how did the interview with the shoplifter go? What did he say?’
‘Good morning, Maya,’ Redford replied pointedly.
‘Sorry, boss. Good morning.’ She hopped from foot to foot waiting eagerly.
‘In a nutshell, not only was he charged for shoplifting, but we’ve also considered charging him for wasting police time.’
‘I’m sorry?’
‘Yes, perhaps you should be. Once we got around to interviewing him, it was a different story. He didn’t want to talk to us. Just wanted to be charged and released. No mention of Posner or the alleged individual he had previously stated had pushed him in the water.’
‘Well, you said yourself he was a heroin addict. Perhaps he was rattling and just wanted to get out of here so he could get a fix. Or maybe he didn’t think he’d be taken seriously…’
Redford eyed her stonily. ‘The bottom line is, he told us that it was all a joke. He thought it would be a good idea to wind us up after your sudden death conspiracy hit the local gutter press. Told us he and his associates had read the article and had a bloody good laugh about it.’
Maya felt her face burning with shame and embarrassment. Her earlier elation and conviction faded quicker than the glow emitted by luminol. ‘Oh,’ was all she could manage.
‘“Oh” indeed. We can only hope that none of our other detainees make similar accusations. God knows the force is strapped enough without having to deploy a detective to every detainee who takes pleasure in winding us up.’
‘Boss, I…’
‘Maya, whatever you’re about to say, please don’t. I’ve got enough of a headache as it is. Now, I haven’t mentioned anything about this latest incident to Kym, but can I suggest you just keep your head down and get on with the job you’re paid to do.’ He waved his hand towards the door to indicate she was dismissed.
Thoroughly chastised and deflated, Maya made a huge effort to plaster a smile on her face as she said good morning to everyone. Kym was already in and complaining about the state of the vans. She had used one the previous evening and was raging about the fact she had discovered a half-eaten chicken burger in the driver’s door pocket. Chris and Connor were the most likely suspects, but both were denying any knowledge.
‘Well, as nobody has had the decency to confess, you can both make sure those vans are spotless by the end of the day. I also want full stock checks done. If you’re going to act like children, I will treat you like children.’
With Kym clearly in a bad mood, Maya decided to follow Redford’s advice and keep her head down and get on with her work.
‘If you two sort the vans out, I’ll go to the garage. There’s a few stolen cars waiting to be examined, so leave them with me.’
She gathered up the paperwork for the vehicles and was about to head out until curiosity got the better of her. Despite what Redford had said, she couldn’t overlook the fact someone had claimed they’d seen Posner being pushed into the canal. What if the shoplifter had been right, but his urge for a fix had been stronger than telling the truth?
Maya began to search the force’s database to research Posner’s background in more detail. She knew she was overstepping the mark, but with everything that was going on she was left with no choice. Knowing her luck, the truth about Naylor could still come out at any time, so she had nothing to lose. She
