“Shit! I think we need some backup here…”
* * *
“DCI Jarvis… Oh, John, it’s you. It may have escaped your attention but it is eleven o’clock at night and my shift ended hours ago. What do you want?”
“Kelly, it’s fine. You don’t want details of a potential second homicide at that stable where the girl was buried in the crap, I’ll find someone who is on duty.”
I was suddenly totally awake. “What the hell did you say?”
I was in my car in minutes and at the stables within another twenty, there were several patrol cars parked up. John was waiting for me at the door to the farmhouse.
“Here she is! Timely as usual.”
“Thanks’ John, what the hell is going on? You said another murder?”
“Possibly. Look come in. This is Miss Wessington’s house. She was the rider; her staff member was one who was topped.”
“Yes, I do remember.”
“Well, you had that tip-off to do a welfare call, so control sent some plod over to have a look and they found this.”
We had reached the office room, I could see the overturned chair, John pointed out the stain on the carpet and, beneath the desk the bottle.
“It’s not been dusted for prints yet, but by all accounts, SOCO confirms that there is blood both on the floor and the bottle. It looks like whoever was in this chair was struck pretty bloody hard with the bottle. And they fell just there.” He pointed, rather obviously as the dark patch on the carpet.
“Shit!”
“Shit indeed. Not least as we are missing two things.”
“What?”
“Well, we don’t have a murderer yet, naturally.”
“And the second?”
“Well, we don’t have a body either… Cheer up Kelly, at least there’s no dirty great pile of crap for you to dig through! Although, you know, I think you sort of found your place there. Quite fitting for you really Kelly.”
22
Loose Ends
“Dan Anderson.”
“Dan, it’s Kelly Jarvis from Yorkshire Constabulary.”
“Oh, hi Kelly, how are you?”
“Good… Look Dan, I’ll come straight to the point. That welfare check you requested. What prompted it?”
“Why? Have you found something?”
“You know I can’t tell you.”
“Okay, sorry. I understand. My wife asked me to look into what had happened to Hilary as she was worried about her. I told you, she was visiting her husband in HMP Frankland, with his sister Amanda.”
“Okay, but why were they going to see her?”
“Kate had been left a voicemail by Miss Wessington. She’d said she wanted to speak to her about the CCTV, the call cut off with some sort of noise, Amanda, my wife said it sounded as if she had been hit with something and then hit the ground. Then she couldn’t get hold of her for days. Every time she called the phone went to voicemail. So, they went to visit her. Her groom was there, she said Hilary had left to go to Germany for work.”
“The noise, you say it sounded like she had been hit? What do you mean?”
“Well, when I listened to the message, it sounded like she had been hit with a heavy object. There was an impact and her crying out.”
“Shit! But the groom said she’d left the country? Surely that’s that. She’s moved on, I can’t say I would blame her?”
“Yes. However, that was when they noticed the lights were on in the farmhouse. Look, she just thought it was weird and when they looked through the windows it looked as if everything had been left. Surely you would take most of your personal belongings if you were leaving the country. I understand the house is about to be repossessed, so you might leave some things behind, but my wife said it looked like she had left everything. She was just naturally concerned. I’m sure you understand.”
“Okay Dan, I think I’ll need to speak with your wife, not least to hear this voicemail.”
“Of course, I’ll give you, her details.”
* * *
It seemed easier to drive across to Cumbria, not least as the atmosphere in the office was becoming toxic with John throwing his weight around more than ever and a slew of complaints about another case. There seemed to have been some vital evidence lost and he was pretty much telling anyone who would listen that I was incompetent, whereas I had my, so far unfounded, suspicions that he was more involved than he was letting on.
To be honest, an afternoon away from the station was a great relief. My sat-nav told me I had arrived at the riding school just as I pulled up onto the driveway. I gasped as I saw the view across the river, it was beautiful. I shook my head. I needed to remember the reason why I was here. I stepped from my car and was approached by two women; the redhead was dressed for riding in blue breeches and boots.
“Mrs Bishop? DCI Jarvis.” I held out my warrant card.
“Hello, yes I’m Kate Bishop and this is Amanda Bishop,” I did a double-take. “Yes, she’s, my sister-in-law.”
“Right, and your husband?”
“Adam. Yes, you put him in prison for murder.” She left the words hanging. I’m sure if I hadn’t been a police officer she would have added ‘you bitch’ or worse. I understood her distaste, but I had a job to do.
“Yes… Look, I need to understand what’s going on as this is all becoming somewhat confusing. You visited Miss Wessington but her groom said she had left the country is that correct?”
“Yes…”
“Why did you go to see her?”
“I’d been there before, trying to
