Chapter 17
Emma had been trying to find a moment to call Cal all day, but it was only on her way home from work that she finally got round to it.
As usual he answered almost immediately.
“What’s going on?” he asked.
She decided to get straight to the point. “Were you at the Langfords’ place this morning?”
In the silence she envisioned his comically over-the-top grimace that he always wore when he’d been caught out.
“I knew Jamie wouldn’t have cooked that one up all by himself,” she said, undecided as to whether she was annoyed or amused.
“I thought it was probably in Jamie’s best interest to follow up on the offer of work.”
“And get him to ask questions about the Langfords while he was there?”
“Did he?” Cal said, his tone slightly high-pitched. “I wouldn’t know anything about that.”
“Why would you? Not when you were hiding in the car down the road so you wouldn’t get caught.”
“Next time I’ll wait on an entirely different street.”
“No! Cal! You can’t go poking around an investigation.”
“So you are investigating?” He jumped on that quickly. “You don’t think it was an accident?”
“I’m not allowed to discuss this with you.”
“Yeah, I know. You will though, won’t you? All police officers need someone to confide in. It’s hardly your fault you don’t have a husband or a boyfriend.”
“Thanks, Cal,” she said dryly.
“Fine. It is your fault. Maybe if you weren’t so cold . . .”
“Who says I’m cold?” she snapped.
“Not me . . . You might come across as a little frosty sometimes. Maybe that’s something to work on. But whatever. Tell me about the case.”
She hesitated, as though her hesitation made it okay that she told him things she probably shouldn’t. He was right though, about her not having anyone else to speak to outside of work. Cal was like a brother to her, and also her best friend.
“We’re waiting on the post-mortem and the forensic report. Sergeant Brodie wants me to leave well alone until that comes through.”
“You think something’s dodgy though?”
“Yeah. I’m itching to look into it, but the sergeant is watching me like a hawk. I wasn’t even supposed to be at the Langfords’ place this morning.”
“Did you get any new information?”
“Not from the family.” She’d got some strange vibes, but nothing concrete. Those vibes could also be attributed to grief and shock too. “The neighbour is an interesting woman. She had a lot to say. Mostly about arguments she’s overheard.”
“With the physiotherapist?”
She frowned deeply. “No. Between Mr and Mrs Langford. What’s the physio got to do with anything?”
“Nothing. Never mind. What else do you know?”
She debated whether to quiz him further before sighing heavily and moving the conversation on. “The Langfords’ cleaner had apparently been stealing from them.”
“Petra?” Cal said absently. “She seems sketchy to me.”
Emma took a breath but it did nothing to calm her down. “You spoke to the cleaner?”
“Yeah. Did you?”
“Not yet, I’m doing a bit of digging on her first.” Or she intended to – with the sergeant hovering she hadn’t had a chance yet. “Why did you speak to her?”
“Wanted to get her take on things.”
“Cal!”
“What? We only asked a few questions. I’m not convinced she stole anything, but as I say she seemed sketchy so it’s hard to say.”
She was about to have a go at him, but it would only be a waste of breath. “I hope the forensic report doesn’t take long,” she said instead. “From what I saw that banister rail just gave way. The wood wasn’t splintered and there was no obvious damage by screws being ripped out.”
“You’re not still thinking Jamie messed up, are you?”
“No. That’s another thing that doesn’t add up. He told me he put his whole weight against it. And when I mentioned that to the family they agreed. Heather said she tested it herself later. She’s convinced the banister was safe.”
“And the husband? What did he say?”
“Same. He thought it was safe after Jamie worked on it. But he wonders whether the screws were too short or something. Or if she fell into it really heavily. There’d have been evidence of that at the scene though, and I didn’t see anything to suggest it.”
“Jamie lost a job tomorrow because of it,” Cal said. “Not that they said as much, but they cancelled today out of the blue. I can’t imagine it’s a coincidence.”
“Can’t really blame them. I wouldn’t let him work on anything for me until I know for sure what happened.”
“Don’t be like that. He’s a good guy. I have every faith in his handyman skills.”
“What did he do to win you over so easily?” She turned into her driveway and pulled the handbrake on. It was pretty unusual for Cal to take to someone so quickly – a guy anyway.
“I told you,” he said lightly. “He’s got great taste in cereal.”
She rolled her eyes. “Have you spoken to Moira since she left?”
“Only a few messages. How about you?”
“Same.” She unbuckled her seat belt and spotted Tam standing in his front window. He waved and gave her an energetic thumbs up which left her relieved that she wouldn’t need to check on him that evening. “I was going to try calling her tonight. I thought I should fill her in on Marguerite.”
“Really? She’s on holiday.”
“I know but she’ll want to know. It feels weird not telling her.”
“You might be right. It’s a shame, though. She never goes on holiday. It’d be nice if she could actually relax and enjoy it.”
“She goes on holiday,” Emma argued.
“When?”
“She goes to Mull pretty regularly.”
“That’s visiting her dad, it’s not a holiday.”
Emma pondered it. “I think she enjoys it.”
“It’s not a proper holiday.”
“I still think I should tell her.”
“Whatever you think. I guess she should be forewarned that she may not have any customers left when she gets back.”
Emma smiled. “Don’t be so dramatic.”
“Tell her I said hello. I’ll see you in the morning.”
The groan was automatic. Thankfully Cal didn’t take offence and only laughed before he said goodbye.
Tomorrow morning it was then – bright and early for the usual torture session.