Chapter 30
THIRTY
Gina left the kitchen with a hot cup of tea and headed to the incident room.
O’Connor and Wyre were putting their coats on and O’Connor swiped his car keys off the main table.
‘Sorry,’ she said. ‘I haven’t been around all day and Jacob and I missed the afternoon briefing. How did the post-mortem go?’
‘I emailed you the details, guv, but I know you’ve been busy. It put me off my Bakewell tart. I ended up giving it to Garth,’ O’Connor replied. ‘It basically confirmed what Bernard had deduced at the scene. Kain died by drowning. He did put up a defence which you’ll see when you read the report.’
‘That ties in with the murder scene at Maura Pickering’s house.’
‘Did he definitely die there?’
‘We found photos at the apartment that Craig Crawford was renting. There is a photo of Kain lying dead in Maura’s bath.’
Wyre glanced at O’Connor as she wrapped her scarf around her neck. ‘We were just going to check in with Garth before heading home, just in case Kain or Craig’s tech has produced anymore leads.’
‘Thanks. If you find anything out, will you please let me know before you leave. I’ll be in my office.
’ She headed out of the incident room with her drink, yawning and glad to be free of the stab vest. It played on her mind that Craig Crawford had not been in the apartment but she’d taken photos before leaving forensics to work the scene.
A quick search of Craig’s personal items in the apartment hadn’t added anything else that was relevant to the case and there had been no visible clues as to who his affair partner was.
Nevertheless, she needed to log on to the system and start updating it.
‘Nothing to report from tech as yet. Garth said his team are ploughing on,’ Wyre said, calling through Gina’s office door before leaving.
Jacob peered through. ‘I’m in the main office, guv.
I’ll do my updates and head off home. I’ve just checked in with the team at the Nightingale House scene.
Officers are conducting door-to-doors and, obviously, all units are on alert looking out for Craig and his car.
PC Smith has arranged for around-the-clock sentry duty outside Justine and Craig Crawford’s house now that we’ve finished up there for tonight.
Justine came for her dog apparently, but she left again and is staying with her mother.
It goes without saying, if an emergency crops up call me and I’ll come back here straight away. ’
There was so much happening in the pipeline. Gina picked up her phone and was about to call DI Kempsey to see if he had any information on the murder of the man they only knew as Zed, then Brodie knocked and smiled as he stood at her door. ‘Can I come in?’ He held up a takeaway bag.
‘Of course. I was just about to see where we were with the Kidderminster scene.’
He pulled out two paper bags and placed them down on her desk. ‘You must be hungry. Help yourself.’
She slid a tuna sub on multigrain bread out. It had been a long time since she’d eaten. ‘Thank you.’ Her stomach growled with anticipation as she took a bite.
He took the other sub and sat opposite her. ‘I already have an update from the team at Kidderminster. I was hoping I’d get to catch up with you before you left.’
‘I rarely leave early,’ she said with a smile as she took another bite of sandwich. ‘Actually, I rarely ever leave here except to follow up on leads.’ She let out a small laugh.
‘I’ve kept DI Kempsey updated with everything you’ve been feeding back to me. We’ve managed to identify the victim.’
Gina sat up straight in her swivel chair. ‘Who is he?’
‘Zavier Sellers, also known as Zed, fifty-nine years old. He was ex police years ago. He went missing two years ago while struggling with alcoholism.’
‘That’s the link between him and Kain Pickering?’
‘Yes.’
‘Is there more?’ She swallowed a bit more sandwich and placed the rest down on the wrapper.
‘Only what you already know. Both of them knew DCI Briggs. We know that because Zed had written down two names, Kain’s and DCI Briggs’s. What we now know is that the DCI had called Kain’s phone a day before he was murdered.’
No, how could this be happening? Briggs would never kill Kain and Zed; she was sure of it but that seemed to be where the investigation was leading.
A lump of bread stuck in her throat. She grabbed a napkin and coughed hard, while going red in the face.
However hard she tried, she could not dislodge the bread.
‘Gina.’ Brodie ran around her and began hitting her on the back. Then he grabbed her from behind and thrust his fist into the base of her ribs, shifting the bread.
The bolus of stodge freed itself and she spat it into the paper bag. She took a deep breath. ‘I am so sorry about that.’ She felt her cheeks burning up at the embarrassment, then her mind went straight back to Briggs.
‘Gina, it’s okay. Are you alright?’ He let out a long breath.
Her hands were shaking. She’d nearly choked to death. Swallowing a huge mouthful while receiving bad news wasn’t recommended. ‘I, err; it was just such a shock.’
He nodded. ‘Hopefully I’ll be able to share more with you soon. Please don’t mention what I’ve just told you to the rest of the team but it’s not looking good for the DCI.’ Brodie looked down.
Gina knew then it was serious. What had Briggs got himself into?
Her mind instantly flashed back to the time he threatened to plant evidence on her ex-brother-in-law, Stephen.
Admittedly it was to save her skin but the deception had come to him with ease.
She was no saint but this was all becoming too much to take in.
Briggs had been her rock, the order amongst the chaos that had been her life.
‘You’re shaking.’
She snapped out of her thoughts, scared that if Brodie looked at her too long he’d be able to read them.
His gaze met hers and for a moment she felt like that young woman again, looking into the eyes of the rookie who made her smile, who was so much fun.
She trusted Brodie then and she trusted him now, but she’d never trust anyone with the secret of her and Briggs’s past relationship and that of her ex-husband’s death.
Brodie waited for her to say something… anything, and she was struggling to fill the silent void.
After opening and closing her mouth a couple of times, she spoke.
‘Sorry, almost choking does that to a person.’ She inhaled and exhaled slowly. ‘Can you tell me anything else?’
Brodie swallowed. ‘I’d love to but I can’t. We go back a long way but my hands are tied here. It would be more than my job is worth if I was to go into the details of that side of the investigation. All you need to do is keep following evidence.’
‘But what about Craig Crawford? It can’t be anything to do with DCI Briggs?’
‘We can’t afford to follow only one lead at the moment.’
‘And what about all the photos at the rental flat?’
‘Again, I can’t say anything.’
Gina knew what was going on now. Did they suspect that Briggs had set Craig up? Briggs would know exactly how to frame a person. She wanted to shake her head but refrained. ‘I shouldn’t have asked. I understand.’
‘It’s late and I am parched and tired. The press haven’t stopped calling and asking questions all day.
They were flooding the car park up until about eight this evening.
’ He glanced at his chunky wristwatch. ‘I tell you what, would you like to grab a drink? Maybe we can clock off and catch up on all the missed years.’
A heaviness spread across her chest What she needed right now was to crack the case and prove that Briggs wasn’t the person they thought he was.
So, what if he knew the victims. What did that prove?
She looked up at Brodie again. There was so much more and he wasn’t going to let her in.
He couldn’t. ‘I, err… I’d really like to take you up on that drink but I’m so tired. Maybe when things calm down.’
‘No worries. I’d love to know how life has treated you over the past few years and I’ve got a few tales of my own.’
‘Guv.’ Jacob stood panting in her doorway.
‘What is it?’
‘Lindy Pickering is missing. It looks like someone broke into her house, took her and there’s blood everywhere. We have to go.’
‘Damn, I’m on my way.’
Jacob left her and Brodie alone again. ‘Where is the DCI at the moment?’
‘He’s currently waiting to be questioned again at Birmingham as we speak and it’s not looking good. I shouldn’t have told you this so I’m relying on your discretion. The Birmingham team aren’t ruling out him working with someone else. He’s in big trouble.’