Chapter 22
To the untrained eye, Detective Inspector Hayley Gibson on an off day looked exactly like Detective Inspector Hayley Gibson on a work day.
Trousers and a button-up shirt, a jacket, flat shoes.
A sharp eye – like the eye of Julia Bird – might notice small telltale differences in her appearance.
Today, for instance, Hayley Gibson’s blue shirt had a pattern of small white dots and her shoes were black sneakers rather than black leather.
She stood for a moment in the doorway of the Buttered Scone and scanned the room.
Her eyes found Julia, and she walked purposefully towards her.
‘Hi,’ she said, sitting down. Julia noted that the white dots on her shirt were in fact small daisies and wondered if that was Saturday’s more casual dress code. Hayley reached down to pat Jake, who had sat up to greet her. ‘What’s up? What’s the big thing you have to tell me?’
‘A lot actually. I’ve got a lot to tell you, Hayley.’
‘Okay then, shoot.’
‘So…’ Julia was about to launch into an account of her Scandinavian adventures when Flo materialised next to her saying, ‘Morning!’
Julia jumped. ‘Gosh, you startled me! Hello, Flo,’ she said.
‘Menus for you,’ Flo said, handing them one each. ‘We’ve got a special today, a spring omelette, lots of lovely spring greens and a local goat’s cheese. Served with our famous sourdough, of course.’
‘I’ll have that and a coffee, please,’ said Hayley, handing her unread menu back to Flo.
‘And the same for me,’ said Julia, handing over hers.
They smiled at each other, pleased with the efficiency of the transaction.
‘Back in a jiffy with two spring omelettes, and a little something for Jake,’ said Flo.
‘Thanks Flo, you’re too kind to that dog. You spoil him rotten,’ said Julia. Jake stared adoringly at Flo. He thought she was the best.
‘Ah, he’s a lovely fellow. He deserves it,’ Flo said, blowing him a kiss.
Julia suspected that if Jake had to save just one of them from a burning building, her own odds were only very slightly better than those of the Queen of Bacon. Neither of their odds were great, to be honest, if they were relying on Jake to save them. He wasn’t cut out for heroic rescues.
‘Okay,’ said Hayley, looking at her expectantly. ‘Tell me what you’ve got to tell me.’
‘Right,’ Julia said, putting the burning building scenario out of her mind. She told Hayley everything that had happened since they last spoke, starting with what she had heard at the choir gathering, which led her to the door of Sven Olafson, aka the Lunatic Dog Walker, aka Husky Man.
‘You went to see him?’ Hayley asked. ‘Alone?’
‘I wanted to go and sign his petition. The meadow should remain undisturbed.’
Hayley looked sceptical. ‘The already destroyed meadow? That one?’ she said sceptically.
Julia ignored the admittedly very valid question and carried on. ‘So, I found out where he lived,’ she said, leaving out the precise mechanisms by which she had done so. ‘And I paid him a visit.’
‘What did you think of him?’
‘He’s very upset about the meadow. He has these big dogs to walk, so it’s a real loss to him.
He mentioned Basil and Esmeralda, said they did a lousy job.
Suggested they might be in the pockets of the property developers.
Quite how far he would go to stop that development, I don’t know.
He’s an angry man, but my instinct was that I wouldn’t have thought him capable of murdering someone.
Or two someones. But there’s something else—’
‘Two coffees,’ said Flo, making them both jump.
Flo had mastered the art of soundless walking – even while carrying trays of drinks – and often appeared as if by magic just as a particularly juicy piece of information was changing hands.
This, it was said, was the secret to her capacious store of gossip.
‘Thank you, Flo,’ they said, inhaling the rich steam.
‘How’s young Walter Farmer?’ she asked, settling in for a bit of a chat. ‘I haven’t seen him about the place for a while. He’ll be a dad soon enough, won’t he?’
‘Three weeks to go, or thereabouts,’ said Hayley. ‘He and Amaryllis are doing well, from what he tells me. He’s looking into the unexplained disappearance of Coral Band’s silver locket.’
‘Gosh, that must have happened right next door to me,’ said Julia, frowning.
‘Crime is rife in Berrywick,’ said Flo decisively, before moving on.
When Flo was a safe distance away, Julia jumped in with a question.
‘Hayley, did you get more information about the blood work?’
Julia had told Hayley what Sean had said about the forensic report – that the blood work looked strange, as far as the diabetes was concerned. Sean had suggested an endocrinologist look at it.
‘The superintendent has been persuaded that this is worth looking into,’ said Hayley.
‘Not because I said anything, mind. I think it’s because he needed to make Bob Jones stop talking about Ophelia, but the official reason is that her family have been asking questions, Anyhow, the forensic lab has taken more samples and is running some more tests.
If – and, mind you, he was clear that he considers this a big “if” – if the new results look strange, he will access Esmeralda’s full medical records. ’
‘Why doesn’t he just do that off the bat? It seems much easier.’
‘It does, doesn’t it? But doing things that are logical and easier does not seem to be the new superintendent’s way. So we will now all have to pause, while he convinces himself that the insulin might be a lead.’
‘Well, I discovered something that might have a bearing on that.’
The tink tink tink of Hayley’s teaspoon stopped abruptly.
‘Sven is diabetic.’
‘You’re serious?’
‘Yes. He’s on a special diet, and I imagine also on meds. I’m thinking he might have access to insulin. Which means it’s possible…’
‘It’s possible he killed Esmeralda and used the insulin to cover it up.’
‘And another thing. He said—’
‘Your breakfast,’ said Flo, startling the teaspoon out of Hayley’s hand. The dropped spoon created a small tidal wave in her coffee, which resulted in a small lake in the saucer.
‘Ah no, now there’s a mess. My fault. I’ll bring you a refill,’ said Flo obligingly. She put the omelettes down in front of them. Julia’s mouth began to water at the smell of melted butter and cheese. Jake was actually drooling at the sight of the piece of bacon on the side of the plate.
‘Thanks, Flo,’ said Julia.
‘Enjoy!’ Flo said with a wave, moving on to the next table.
Julia gave Jake his bacon, which he swallowed in one gulp, looking left and right as if to see if it was not, in fact, still there to be enjoyed.
‘What’s the other thing?’ Hayley asked, picking up where Julia had left off before the coffee spillage.
‘Sven said he’d been to the river walk recently. In the last few weeks.’
‘I need to go and see this Sven person, immediately. Where does he live?’
‘Not far from the meadow. The side closest to Hayfield,’ said Julia, cutting a golden wedge of omelette and spearing it with her fork.
‘Address?’
‘I don’t have an address exactly, but it’s not hard to find.
’ She popped the wedge of omelette in her mouth.
When she had swallowed, she continued with the directions, as handed down from Ingrid.
‘Coming from the Berrywick side, it’s left after the big oak.
You go past a house with three poodles, and the road curves round to the right…
or is it the left? Anyway, you’ll see a Children crossing sign and it’s just across the road from there. You’ll see a…’
Hayley looked at her as if she’d gone quite mad. ‘I can’t follow those directions, Julia. You’ll have to take me there.’
‘I really don’t want to go,’ said Julia. ‘I was there yesterday to sign a petition. And now I’m going to come back with the police?’
‘You can stay in the car.’
‘I’ve got Jake.’
‘He can stay in the car with you. He’ll be fine.’
‘Can we eat our omelettes first?’ said Julia.
‘Yes. But then we’re on our way.’
Julia drove, with Hayley next to her and Jake sitting upright in the back seat looking out the window like one of the minor royals in an official procession. Julia thought she should teach him to wave a slow paw at the commoners as they drove by. That would be amusing.
As they made their way to Sven’s, Hayley filled Julia in on the investigation.
‘The good news is that Tabitha is no longer in the superintendent’s sights,’ she said.
‘Oh, wonderful! So she’ll make it to Ghana.’
‘Lance Frederick hasn’t okayed that yet.’
‘Seriously? Whyever not?’
‘A combination of New Broom, Stickler for Rules and Showing Hayley Who’s Boss.’
‘Really?’
‘We all know Tabitha did not kill Basil. That was a crime of passion, and of strength. I’m at least ninety per cent sure it was a man that did it, not a woman.
I was pushing him to let Tabitha leave the district, and the country.
And he knows I’m friendly with her, so he thinks I’m playing favourites.
He’s standing his ground to show he’s no pushover. It’s maddening.’
‘He sounds like a right…’ Julia re-evaluated her intended statement and said weakly, ‘That sounds annoying.’
Julia indicated left and turned after the big oak. ‘There are the poodles,’ she said, and indeed they were sitting, three black poodles in a row, at the gate. Their three black heads bobbed like dahlias. ‘Nearly there.’
She had butterflies in her stomach again.
‘If Sven might have killed Esmeralda, could he have killed Basil, too?’
‘I’m not at all convinced he could have killed either,’ said Hayley.
‘But even for the sake of argument, they are two very different crimes. The first, as I said, was a crime of passion. Of anger. There was a confrontation, words were had, some pushing and shoving, and the killer lost his temper and whacked Basil with the nearest hard object.’
‘Yes. And, by contrast, Esmeralda’s death would have been planned and prepared for. It was not a spur-of-the-moment crime; it was calculated.’
‘It was. Someone sourced the insulin. Made sure she was at the river – lured her there, maybe? They injected her and then – I suspect – drowned her.’
‘But was it the same person?’ Julia asked, drawing up next to the Beware of the dogs sign.
‘It could have been. It’s possible that after the first angry crime, the perpetrator was emboldened to kill again. Or they felt they had no option but to commit a more calculated murder to cover their tracks, or to silence her… Honestly, I don’t know.’
While Hayley walked up and rang the bell, Julia slouched down in the passenger seat to avoid being seen.
Unable to stand the suspense, she inched herself up, angling her head so that one eye could peer out of the window.
Sven Olafson appeared in the doorway. Hayley must be speaking, although Julia could only see the back of her head.
Whatever she said angered Sven. His face darkened and it was his turn to speak.
She couldn’t hear him, but his mouth moved in a harsh staccato open-closed movement.
A pause, in which presumably Hayley spoke again, and he stepped back to let her into the house. The door closed behind them.
Julia straightened up to release her stiff neck.
She gazed out the window, wondering what was going on on the other side of that front door.
Jake sighed, to indicate his dissatisfaction with this outing, and flopped down on the back seat.
Julia took out her phone and started to scroll through random newsfeeds.
Her attention was caught by a noise and then a shout.
Forgetting for a moment her wish to be unseen, she looked through the slats of the fence to see the front door of the house flung open.
Hayley appeared in the doorway with Sven behind her, his hands in tight fists, his body tense and his face thunderous.
Hayley walked out briskly with him behind her, shouting angry words that Julia couldn’t make out.
Jake sat up looking worried. He hated all conflict, raised voices especially.
Casper came out behind Sven, long-limbed and languid, as if strolling out the door for some fresh air.
He said a few words. It seemed he was trying to mollify his cousin, but Sven was not to be mollified.
Hayley seemed to be explaining, making calming motions, while walking towards the road.
More angry words from Sven, as he unlocked the gate and wrenched it open.
The anger was too much for Jake. He let out three sharp barks.
All eyes turned towards the car, where Julia had failed to slink down in time.
‘You!’ cried Sven, shaking his fist at her. ‘You brought the police to my front door with this false accusation!’
Hayley strode to the car, reaching for the door.
Sven’s dogs had escaped, and Julia noticed that the three huskies – sorry, Malamutes – were gambolling after Hayley.
The smallest, which looked half grown, jumped up at her and nearly knocked her to the ground.
Hayley managed to stay on her feet, hurling herself into the passenger seat and slamming the door just as the dogs reached it.
The noise was intense. Jake joined in with his own hysterical barking.
‘Go!’ said Hayley, hands over her ears.
Julia put her foot down.
Hayley sank back into the seat, panting. ‘Well, that went well…’ she said when she’d got her breath back. Angrily, she brushed pale dog fur from her black trousers.
‘What happened?’ asked Julia.
Hayley’s explanation was interrupted immediately by the ringing of her mobile phone.
‘What fresh hell is this?’ she asked. ‘I suppose some good news would be too much to ask for.’ She drew the phone from her pocket. ‘Oh, it’s Walter,’ she said, taking the call and putting the phone to her ear.
She listened for a minute, Walter’s voice coming indistinctly to Julia.
‘Right,’ Hayley said, into a pause. ‘Right. Whatever you need, Walter. I’m here for it. Good luck!’
The call wasn’t more than a minute long. She hit the red button and held the phone in her hand, looking at it in wonder.
‘Amaryllis has gone into labour. The baby is coming, three weeks early.’