Chapter 33 Carter
CARTER
I head to The Smuggler’s Inn looking for my new boss. I’m guessing she has read the transcript by now. I am greeted at the door by DCI Bird’s wolf, and stand perfectly still while it stares at me. Big dogs make me nervous and I wish she would keep him on a lead.
“Don’t worry, he’s harmless,” she says from a table in the corner.
“If you say so.”
“I was talking to the dog.”
Funny.
She invites me to join her, which I do, and the wolf dog sits down on the floor beside us, watching me. Bird looks up and does the same.
“Sunday.”
“What?”
“You were about to ask his name.”
“Was I?”
“The transcript of your interview with the owner of the art gallery was interesting. What do you make of her?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, she was one of the last people to see Eden Fox before she went missing. Harrison said that he and Eden stayed late at the gallery and had a drink with Diana after everyone else left. The husband was lying about something. Was Diana lying too?”
“Diana Harris has outlived three husbands and might well be on the lookout for a fourth. She’s guilty of having a crush on Harrison, but I don’t think she’s a suspect.”
Bird tilts her head, taps her finger on the top of her laptop like she’s sending Morse code, and stares at me in a way I find super disconcerting.
The laptop is old and battered and covered in childish stickers.
One says KEEP CALM AND FUCK OFF. She smiles and it only makes me feel more discombobulated.
“Everyone is a suspect until they’re not, Carter. That’s rule number two.”
“What was rule number one?”
“Remember to eat. Nothing good is ever achieved on an empty stomach. Do you fancy a cheeseburger? They’re really tasty. My treat,” Bird says, as though I am a child.
I know they’re good. I live in this village and I’ve eaten more burgers in this pub than she has.
I want to say no but I say yes because I am hungry and I never turn down free food.
Especially the best burgers in all of Cornwall.
Bird waves at the barmaid who is behind the bar, and my heart sinks again.
I already know that this is going to be awkward in more ways than one.
Maddy looks up from her book, tucks her long red hair behind her ears, and grins when she sees me sitting at the table.
“Hello, Lulu,” she says to me.
This. Isn’t. Happening.
My name is Luke Carter. I don’t know why Maddy insists on calling me Lulu. Bird’s face lights up like a Christmas tree and I feel my cheeks burn.
“Hello, Maddy,” I reply.
Bird looks from one of us to the other with a smile bigger than I thought her face was capable of. It’s not what she thinks but I can’t be bothered to correct her.
“Can Lulu and I get two of the Smuggler’s Ultimate Burgers, please?
” she asks, but it turns out that’s just the beginning of her food order.
“On one of the burgers, can I have no lettuce, no tomato, and onions, but only if they are fried. Any relish should be on the side and not touching anything else, ideally in individual ramekins. All I want on the plate is the burger, the cheese, which I hope will be melted, and the bun. I’d like the burger cooked medium to well.
I don’t like it overcooked but I don’t want to see any blood.
No salt on my fries either. Thank you. And can I get two milkshakes? One strawberry and one…”
She stares at me expectantly. “Oh, I’m fine with water, thanks.”
“Have a milkshake. They’re good,” she insists.
“Fine. Chocolate.”
“One strawberry and one chocolate,” she says, putting down the menu. Maddy raises an eyebrow before smirking at me then disappearing back behind the bar.
“So … Lulu?” Bird says when she is gone.
“It’s just a nickname. It’s short for Luke,” I say.
“Is it?”
“Why didn’t you give him a harder time?” I ask, trying to change the subject.
“Who?” she says, polishing the cutlery with her napkin as though she thinks it isn’t clean enough.
“Harrison Woolf. If you’re so sure he’s lying, why were you so nice to him?”
“Because sometimes you have to be nice to people to get what you want from them.”
“Even people you suspect committed a crime?”
“Sometimes less is more when questioning a suspect. Wait. Watch. And above all else, listen. People are afraid of silence and will fill it with all sorts of things they didn’t mean to say.
And if they don’t, then what a person doesn’t say can be far more informative than what they do.
Besides, what crime are you suggesting he committed?
We still haven’t found either of the women claiming to be Eden Fox. ”
“Well, there’s gaslighting. Could be something like that. Could he have talked her into harming herself and jumping off a cliff? Maybe she was having an affair and he found out and—”
“Who on earth would she have an affair with here?”
“I’m just saying—”
“It’s good to consider all the options but we need to stick to the facts and not jump to conclusions.”
The term seems inappropriate given the circumstances, and I wish she would stop speaking to me as if I’m an idiot.
Perhaps she has forgotten that Hope Falls has one of the lowest crime rates in the country, unlike London, thanks to me knowing how to do my job.
I’m grateful for the distraction when our food arrives.
I watch as she dismantles her already deconstructed burger to check it is how she ordered it.
Then she cuts it into precise quarters before taking an enormous bite.
“I don’t understand why we aren’t speaking to the daughter,” I say, before eating my burger like a normal person. “Harrison has made it clear that he doesn’t want us to, which I think is strange and suspicious.”
“Not really,” she says, taking another bite.
“Why isn’t it?”
“A simple Google search of the number Mr. Woolf gave you yesterday is why.” She hastily taps something into her laptop with one hand—the fingers on her other covered in grease and ketchup—then turns the screen to face me before popping some fries in her mouth.
For someone so small she seems to have a huge appetite.
I see a website for something called The Manor.
“What is it? A luxury hotel?” I ask.
“Not quite. The Manor is where Gabriella Woolf lives. It’s a very expensive and exclusive residential care facility for young adults who cannot take care of themselves. Either due to illness, serious injury, learning difficulties, or mental health issues.”
“Which category does the daughter fall into?”
“She was in an accident. Hasn’t spoken a word for ten years. They say she is basically a child trapped inside a young woman’s body. I don’t think she can be a suspect, and I don’t want you to give Harrison Woolf any more excuses to file a complaint.”
“I think we should at least find out if the daughter is still there.”
“I think you should quit while you’re behind,” she says, popping a final bite of burger into her mouth.
“You think you don’t need me, but Hope Falls is not the same as London.”
“Well, there’s something we can agree on—”
“I know the area. I know the people. The locals here respect me and that counts for something even if you don’t think so.”
She doesn’t answer. Instead she sucks each of her sticky fingers in turn, then takes what looks like a wet wipe from her bag and thoroughly cleans her hands.
I’ve barely touched my food yet but she has cleared her whole plate.
Even the dollop of ketchup is gone, as though she squeezed out the perfect amount.
I take another bite but the wolf dog keeps staring in my direction and drooling as though he’d like to eat my burger, or possibly me.
“You do know it’s illegal for a dog not to wear a collar?” I say, wishing he was tied to something. Preferably outside. Far away.
“He doesn’t like wearing one. You can arrest me if you like.”
“What if he got lost?”
“He won’t, but if he did I’d find him. Sunday is smarter than most people.”
She gives me a look that suggests she thinks the dog is smarter than me too, then she sucks the straw in her milkshake, and returns her attention to her laptop as though I’m not here. I put down my burger; I’m not sure I can eat any more. I seem to have lost my appetite.
The barmaid comes to collect our plates and frowns when she sees that I barely touched my food.
“What’s wrong, Lulu?” she asks, placing a hand on my shoulder.
“Not like you to leave food on your plate. He normally inhales it,” she says, smiling at Bird, who suddenly seems more interested in me than whatever she was reading on the screen.
“We’re trying to work if you don’t mind, Maddy,” I say.
“It’s fine, tell me more about Sergeant Lulu,” Bird says, closing the laptop.
Maddy laughs. “Sergeant, I still can’t get used to people calling him that.”
I glare up at her. “Thank you, Maddy. Always so good to see you. We really do need to get back to work now,” I add, desperate to shut this down.
“Don’t you be getting all high-and-mighty with me, Luke Carter. I’ve seen you naked,” Maddy says, then she ruffles my hair. “Sorry, pet. Didn’t mean to embarrass you. Luke is a man of many talents,” she says to Bird.
“Thank you—”
“All of them unproven.” Maddy chuckles to herself and walks away.
Bird laughs too. “You’re right, the locals definitely respect you. You never mentioned that you had a girlfriend.”
“She’s not my girlfriend.”
“She said she’s seen you naked—”
“She means when we were kids. She’s my big sister, not my girlfriend. She used to change my nappies, for god’s sake.”
I look up and it’s the first time I’ve ever seen Bird look confused.
“Your sister?”
“Our parents used to be the landlords of this pub and it was our home when we were kids. Our folks never owned it, just ran the place, so when the brewery bought the freehold during the tourist boom a couple of years ago, Mum and Dad lost their home as well as their livelihood. Maddy still likes working here. I think it’s her way of staying close to them. ”
“What happened to them?”
“They left. Couldn’t afford to stay. The price of properties in Cornwall has gone through the roof because of people buying holiday homes. Mum and Dad couldn’t afford to live in the village they were born in. The stress of it all was too much for them. They’re gone.”
“They died?”
“Worse. They moved to Spain.”
Bird smiles, so I don’t ruin the moment by telling her that Mum has been diagnosed with cancer or that I think the stress of losing the pub is what caused it. I’m sure she doesn’t need to know my whole sorry life story.
“Carter, I know we might not have got off to the best start. And I’m sorry if this is strange, me being here; I know how badly you wanted this job. I probably haven’t been very sensitive about that, but I do respect you. And, just to prove it, I have something very important that I need you to do.”