of you to blame. I’m surprised at both of you. DC Prosser, you should know better than to go off on a solo run like that, with your experience. And DC Kerrigan, I thought you were brighter than that.’
I managed not to wince, just. His words stung, as they were meant to. I didn’t dare look over at Sam, though I would have given much to see the expression on his face.
‘The first thing you should have done when the ID came through was call me. What did you think you were going to achieve by coming here on your own?’
‘I just thought we’d get a head start,’ I mumbled, staring at the knot in his tie, afraid to meet his eyes or to look away from him. Behind him stood DI Judd with a little triangular smile on his weaselly face. Behind that was a SOCO dusting surfaces with a fat brush and black powder, searching for prints. A mask hid the smirk that I knew would be there. Everyone loved it when someone else was in trouble.
‘Did you. Well, that’s all right then. What am I complaining about?’ His voice was heavily sarcastic. ‘You fucked up, Maeve.’
‘If we hadn’t got here when we did, we wouldn’t have known that her friend had tidied up,’ I pointed out, unable to stop myself even though I knew it was stupid to argue. ‘We’d just have found the place all neat and tidy and never known what the real story was.’
‘And what is the real story?’
I talked fast, seeing a chance to redeem myself. ‘No sign of a struggle, but according to Louise – her friend – the place was in a chaotic state.’ I ran through what she had described to me. ‘She did think that Rebecca had been here recently. The interesting thing was that she also thought someone had been in the flat with her, more than likely last night.’ I explained about the wine glasses, hoping Godley would be impressed.
He frowned. ‘Doesn’t mean it has anything to do with what happened to her, does it? As far as we know, our killer doesn’t have any contact with the victims beforehand.’
‘Right. But maybe Rebecca went out with her visitor after they’d had a drink. Maybe they went out for a meal or clubbing or something – and on the way home, in the early hours of this morning, she ran across the murderer. Finding out who was here with her is pretty important if we’re going to reconstruct her final hours.’
‘What an original idea,’ Judd said sarcastically. ‘Thank God we’ve got you on the team, DC Kerrigan.’
A frown flickered on the superintendent’s face for a second and I guessed he was irritated by the interruption. I managed not to look pleased. Who’s in trouble now?
‘So how are we going to track down the mystery guest?’ Godley said eventually.
‘According to Louise, it might have been Rebecca’s ex, Gil Maddick. I can follow that up if you like.’
‘I do like.’ Godley sighed. ‘If it isn’t him, we’re stuffed, aren’t we? I presume we won’t get much from the forensics?’
‘Louise was pretty thorough.’ I ticked it off on my fingers. ‘She changed the bedclothes and washed the sheets. She dusted and vacuumed the entire flat. She cleaned the bathroom and the kitchen, and bleached all the surfaces. She put away Rebecca’s clothes and washed up all the dirty dishes.’
‘It’s almost as if she knew we were coming,’ Sam chipped in mordantly. ‘Couldn’t have done a better job if she’d been paid to do it.’
‘What was she, the victim’s slave?’ Godley was back to sounding irritated.
‘She was used to looking after her. That’s how their friendship worked, she said.’
‘So what did Louise get out of it?’
I shrugged. ‘Enough that she felt it was worth her while to spend a couple of hours here tidying up. Like I said, I don’t think it was unusual for her to get stuck into Rebecca’s domestic chores. I don’t get the impression that Rebecca was that focused on the more mundane things in life. From what Louise said, she was more of a party girl.’
‘We’ll
I managed not to wince, just. His words stung, as they were meant to. I didn’t dare look over at Sam, though I would have given much to see the expression on his face.
‘The first thing you should have done when the ID came through was call me. What did you think you were going to achieve by coming here on your own?’
‘I just thought we’d get a head start,’ I mumbled, staring at the knot in his tie, afraid to meet his eyes or to look away from him. Behind him stood DI Judd with a little triangular smile on his weaselly face. Behind that was a SOCO dusting surfaces with a fat brush and black powder, searching for prints. A mask hid the smirk that I knew would be there. Everyone loved it when someone else was in trouble.
‘Did you. Well, that’s all right then. What am I complaining about?’ His voice was heavily sarcastic. ‘You fucked up, Maeve.’
‘If we hadn’t got here when we did, we wouldn’t have known that her friend had tidied up,’ I pointed out, unable to stop myself even though I knew it was stupid to argue. ‘We’d just have found the place all neat and tidy and never known what the real story was.’
‘And what is the real story?’
I talked fast, seeing a chance to redeem myself. ‘No sign of a struggle, but according to Louise – her friend – the place was in a chaotic state.’ I ran through what she had described to me. ‘She did think that Rebecca had been here recently. The interesting thing was that she also thought someone had been in the flat with her, more than likely last night.’ I explained about the wine glasses, hoping Godley would be impressed.
He frowned. ‘Doesn’t mean it has anything to do with what happened to her, does it? As far as we know, our killer doesn’t have any contact with the victims beforehand.’
‘Right. But maybe Rebecca went out with her visitor after they’d had a drink. Maybe they went out for a meal or clubbing or something – and on the way home, in the early hours of this morning, she ran across the murderer. Finding out who was here with her is pretty important if we’re going to reconstruct her final hours.’
‘What an original idea,’ Judd said sarcastically. ‘Thank God we’ve got you on the team, DC Kerrigan.’
A frown flickered on the superintendent’s face for a second and I guessed he was irritated by the interruption. I managed not to look pleased. Who’s in trouble now?
‘So how are we going to track down the mystery guest?’ Godley said eventually.
‘According to Louise, it might have been Rebecca’s ex, Gil Maddick. I can follow that up if you like.’
‘I do like.’ Godley sighed. ‘If it isn’t him, we’re stuffed, aren’t we? I presume we won’t get much from the forensics?’
‘Louise was pretty thorough.’ I ticked it off on my fingers. ‘She changed the bedclothes and washed the sheets. She dusted and vacuumed the entire flat. She cleaned the bathroom and the kitchen, and bleached all the surfaces. She put away Rebecca’s clothes and washed up all the dirty dishes.’
‘It’s almost as if she knew we were coming,’ Sam chipped in mordantly. ‘Couldn’t have done a better job if she’d been paid to do it.’
‘What was she, the victim’s slave?’ Godley was back to sounding irritated.
‘She was used to looking after her. That’s how their friendship worked, she said.’
‘So what did Louise get out of it?’
I shrugged. ‘Enough that she felt it was worth her while to spend a couple of hours here tidying up. Like I said, I don’t think it was unusual for her to get stuck into Rebecca’s domestic chores. I don’t get the impression that Rebecca was that focused on the more mundane things in life. From what Louise said, she was more of a party girl.’
‘We’ll
Similar Books
