Chapter 7
SEVEN
Gina stepped outside to find a woman standing on the path next to the cat that had slipped past her, only this time it was in a basket meowing to be let out.
‘I’m so glad Gordon came home. I’ve been missing him. I made posters and I even put a few up in the bus stops but no one called. I know Kain took him. That man is horrible. Where is the bastard?’ the woman asked in an accent that told Gina she was originally from the West Country.
‘May we come inside and speak with you?’ Gina asked, not wanting to say much more on the doorstep, especially as a few neighbours were starting to come out of their houses, wondering what was going on.
The woman gasped a few times. She pulled an inhaler from the depths of her thick cardigan pocket and began sucking on it.
‘That’s better. I shouldn’t exert myself really but when I saw Gordon, I almost ran back for the carrier.
He wouldn’t come to me at first but he soon jumped in for a mouthful of treats. Scared stiff, he was.’
‘May we borrow Gordon, so he can have a check over and we can take some swabs? He was trapped in a room next door and we have reason to believe something happened in that room and Gordon might be able to help us with our investigation.’
‘Of course.’ She furrowed her grey wiry brows and allowed one of the PCs to take Gordon. ‘You won’t hurt him, will you?’
‘No,’ Gina replied. ‘We’ll take care of him.’
The woman turned to the PC taking the basket. ‘He’s hungry and scared. Look after him or you’ll have me to deal with.’ She raised her brows.
‘I’ll personally stay with him. I have a cat, too. He’s like family. I’ll make sure Gordon is looked after.’ The PC smiled and gently took the basket.
‘And I want him back soon.’ The woman plodded along the path, swaying from side to side with each step as she led them into the house next door to Maura Pickering’s.
Her oversized nightdress fell to her knees over a pair of jeggings.
The woman’s house was the complete opposite to Maura’s.
It was bursting with decorative items including soft toys, artificial flowers in vases and a whole gallery picture wall up the stairs – rather than just a couple of family photos.
She struggled into her kitchen and fell into the carver chair at the head of the table.
‘Take a seat, both of you. I’d make you a drink, but…
’ She pulled her inhaler out again and wheezed.
Jacob remained standing. ‘Would you like me to make you a drink?’
‘That would be lovely. Everything is on the worktop. Tea, milk and two sugars.’
A moment later the kettle began to boil and Jacob poured them all a drink. Gina wondered if the woman had anyone who helped her or maybe she only seemed so out-of-breath because she’d chased her cat. He brought the drinks to the table and sat.
‘Can I take your name?’ Gina asked. Jacob snatched his pen from his jacket pocket and pulled his notebook from his trouser pocket.
‘It’s Joyce Burton.’
‘How well did you know Kain Pickering?’
‘Not well but I knew enough.’ She tutted and picked her mug of tea up with shaky hands.
With each breath her chest rattled. ‘Sorry about this. I had pneumonia several months ago and it’s lingered like mad.
I can’t shake it. I miss Maura, we used to look out for each other and most days we’d have a coffee and a natter.
I always said, if one of us bangs hard on the bedroom walls, to call an ambulance.
’ She took a moment to wheeze and cough.
‘Neither of us were getting any younger and she had a bad heart.’ Joyce let out a long rattly breath.
‘I loved Maura to bits, I did. She was my best friend. We went on holidays together and on days out, until I got pneumonia. Soon after, that weasel of a son of hers came sniffing by. He lost his house; thought he could just move in with her and he isn’t a good man.
She didn’t even want him to move in but she was a good mother.
She couldn’t say no to him despite him being a whirlwind of chaos.
He caused her no end of stress with his problems. Is all this fuss to do with him?
I wouldn’t be surprised if you lot were after him for something. ’
‘We’re currently investigating an incident so I can’t say much as yet.’ She couldn’t tell Joyce that they had found Kain Pickering’s body, not before speaking to his next-of-kin. ‘Did Maura have any more family members that you know of?’
‘Yes, she had a daughter, Lindy. She’s lovely. Maura loved her to bits.’
‘Do you have Lindy’s contact details?’
‘No, but I know she lives in the converted post office house on Thornberry Avenue. You can’t miss it.
It has an old Royal Mail post box attached to the building.
I went there with Maura on a couple of occasions.
’ Gina nodded to Jacob who began to message those details to Wyre and O’Connor back at the station.
The sooner they spoke to the victim’s next-of-kin, the better.
She needed to know more about what had gone on between Maura, Kain and Joyce – maybe she knew of someone who may have wanted Kain dead. ‘Can you tell me more about the relationship between Kain and Maura?’
‘You can ask Lindy all this when you speak to her. She’ll back me up on what I say.
Kain treated his mother badly. Her once calm house suddenly became full of his drama.
She used to get so upset with him, with his drinking, and he’d always try to get her to help him out with money.
She gave him quite a lot, and even paid him twice to fit a security system on her house and he still didn’t do the work. He’d been taking her for a ride.’
‘Is that what he does for a living – security?’
Joyce nodded. ‘I don’t know if he’s on the tools anymore because he kept telling her that one of his team would do it but he has a security firm.
He’s basically an alcoholic and because of that, his company has been going down the pan.
I’m not even sure if he was bankrupt, you know.
I think Maura mentioned something. She said if she asked him to leave, he’d have nowhere to go and what mother wants to see her son out on the streets? ’
Gina started to wonder if Kain could have owed some money to a loan shark. Maybe that was a motive worth exploring. ‘You told our officer that you heard noises and they’d been haunting you.’
Joyce placed her inhaler between her lips and puffed on it again.
‘It was a particular noise. I heard a loud bang like the one Maura and I rehearsed in case we were in trouble. One huge loud bang, repeated again after a few seconds. I heard that last Friday and it freaked me out. It was daytime but I know Kain had been lying in until all hours. It was him and it was like he was taunting me that Maura was no longer there.’
In her mind, Gina pictured a panicking Kain, entangled in sheets while fighting off his attacker.
He did the only thing he could think of, the same thing Maura would do to try to get the attention of her neighbour in an emergency, only that time, Joyce thought she was being taunted. ‘What time was this?’
‘I can’t remember now. Early afternoon. I don’t clock watch these days. It was after one. I have lunch at twelve thirty every day. I’d gone up after my sandwich to iron some clothes. That reminds me, he had the radio on quite loud or maybe it was an audiobook.’
‘Did you see anyone coming or going that day?’
‘Only Kain. I could only see him from the bedroom but he was wearing his baseball cap. He always wears a baseball cap.’
‘Did you see his face?’
‘No, just the top of his hat. He was loading something into Maura’s car, then he drove off.’
‘And when was this?’
‘It was dark. I was going to bed at this time but again, I don’t know the time, but it was after ten. I was closing my curtains. That’s why I looked out.’
‘Are you sure it was Kain Pickering?’
‘Are you saying it couldn’t be? It had to be him; he was wearing Kain’s hat.’ She sipped her tea. ‘You make a good tea.’
‘Thanks,’ Jacob replied with a smile.
‘I only saw the hat and I assumed it was Kain. It might not have been him but if it wasn’t him, who else could it have been and why would they be wearing his hat?’ She shrugged.
‘Did you see any other cars parked outside that aren’t normally parked outside on that day?’
She shook her head. ‘No, only those belonging to the neighbours.’
‘Did Kain have any visitors?’
‘No, I never saw anyone visiting him. Maura said he’d been married but they split up about two years ago. She didn’t mention any friends of his, only that he stays in all the time and drinks.’
‘You mentioned to our officer that Kain threatened you and said that he’d make you wish you were dead.’
Joyce swallowed. ‘He scares me, I won’t lie.
He has these intense blue eyes, really cold and I’m short.
I always feel like he’s towering over me.
I had the nerve to stand up to him, for Maura.
I told him that his behaviour was upsetting her, and stressing her out.
I asked him when he was going to stop drinking.
She was eighty when he moved in. That’s too old to be putting up with his problems. Maura had such a big heart but it was a broken one.
It was like he wanted her to have a heart attack so he could have her house.
I’d hear him shouting at her when the windows were open.
She was my friend and I saw her becoming a shadow of herself the longer he stayed.
That’s why I said something and it really got to him.
He did say he’d make me wish I was dead.
I don’t know what he had planned for me but I knew to keep my mouth shut from then on when it came to him.
’ She paused. ‘Lindy came one day; I caught her before she knocked and I told her all this.’
‘And what did she say?’
‘She said she’d deal with him.’
‘And how was she planning to do that?’
Joyce pressed her lips together and raised both hands. ‘I have no idea.’
‘When did you last see Lindy?’
‘At Maura’s funeral. That was three weeks ago, at the crem. It was a beautiful service. Maura would have been proud of Lindy. I didn’t go to the wake. Kain kept staring at me. I felt uneasy, so I left them and came home instead.’ Joyce’s eyes started to water up.
‘I’m really sorry for your loss. It sounds like you were really close to Maura.’
‘I was. I think it’s only just hitting me that she’s gone.
She didn’t deserve all she’d been through over the last few months.
If Kain has done something and that’s why you’re here, bear all what I’ve said in mind.
I think Maura would still be here if it wasn’t for him.
’ Joyce took a deep breath and continued.
‘Maura used to love Gordon, too. I think that’s why Gordon was trapped in her house.
We used to joke that some people did car shares, but we did a cat share, and I was happy to share Gordon with her because she loved him as much as I did.
I wasn’t happy when Kain kept letting Gordon in.
Gordon vanished last Friday and on Saturday, I knocked on Maura’s door.
I really didn’t want to confront Kain and have to accuse him of taking Gordon to upset me, so in a way I was relieved when he didn’t answer.
It’s been quiet there ever since but I did have some odd dreams. I kept thinking I heard Gordon crying sometimes in the early hours, but then I just thought it was the music that Kain always had on, day and night. ’
Gina knew that the cat had probably been meowing for help once it realised it was trapped, but the radio would have masked its cries. ‘I’m glad he’s okay now. I know this sounds like an odd question but did Maura have a small blue teddy bear?’
‘No, Maura was one of these people that hated any clutter. I have some teddies and she used to joke that I was a soppy softie for having them.’
‘Did you have a small blue teddy bear?’
‘No. Why?’
‘I’m so sorry, I can’t say much about the investigation, only that it’s relevant to the case.’
‘I understand.’
‘I’m going to get a PC to come over and formally interview you in a short while. Will that be okay?’
‘Err, yes. It’d be nice to know what has happened? Can you tell me anything?’
‘I will get someone to explain everything to you very soon. I’m sorry we’re being vague. I can tell you that a serious crime has taken place and you’ve been really helpful.’
Jacob closed his notepad.
Just as Gina went to get out of the chair, her phone rang. ‘Excuse me one moment.’ She answered her phone, leaving Jacob to finish up with Joyce. It was one of the PCs.
‘Guv, the CSIs have started working the scene and they’ve found a couple of things.’
She headed to the door and opened it, stepping out onto Joyce’s drive before ending the call and speaking to the PC in person. ‘What have they found?’
‘A business card in the pocket of a torn blue hoodie. There are small pieces of glass caught in the hoodie. It looks like it could have been used to punch the glass out of the back windowpane.’
‘What’s written on the business card?’
‘“Justine Crawford. For all your commercial videography needs.” There is a number on it. I took the number down.’ He passed the handwritten number to Gina.
She grabbed her own phone and began typing in the number. ‘The number’s not connected. What size is the hoodie?’
‘Large. It looks like a man’s hoodie but it might not be.’
Gina called Wyre at the station. ‘Can you please look up the contact details for someone called Justine Crawford who is a commercial videographer? Her business card has been found at Maura Pickering’s house.
In the meantime, we’re going to head to the victim’s sister’s house.
She said she was going to deal with her brother.
We need to know exactly what she meant by that statement. ’