Chapter 31
THIRTY-ONE
After updating Jacob with what Brodie had told her, they’d swiftly left the station and drove to the scene.
Gina jogged alongside Jacob towards Lindy’s house.
She’d checked her personal phone again but if Briggs was being questioned, there was no way he’d be able to call her from whichever phone he’d been using. She wondered if he’d got rid of it.
A PC had dragged tape around two lamp posts to cordon off the area and another two PCs were knocking on doors opposite. Every house had a long drive and a hedged off perimeter that would easily block camera doorbells. She glanced up and couldn’t see any CCTV either.
‘You can head around the side path, guv,’ the PC guarding the cordon said.
‘Keith in forensics has already put the stepping plates down and the person who called it in is being treated for shock at the minute. She almost fainted so the paramedics are treating her as we speak. Keith also said that Bernard and the rest of the team were still at the flat in Nightingale House which is why he’s here. ’
Gina glanced back to check out the witness but she couldn’t see who was sitting in the back of the ambulance behind all the bushes.
All she could see was the light from the vehicle glowing.
She’d tried to look as they walked past but a paramedic had been blocking the view.
‘Great. I’ll check out the scene and speak to the witness after.
Has the house been searched for people?’ She assumed it had if Keith was in there but she had to check.
‘Yes, and the annexe. There is no one in either.’
The PC passed her a bag containing protective clothing. She pulled the crime scene suit over her clothes and popped everything else on so not to contaminate the scene.
‘Keith said to keep to the plates alongside the edge of the path. We’ve also taken elimination prints and swabs from the witness. She went inside the kitchen.’
‘Great, thank you. Do you have a name?’
‘Pia Yates. The witness said that before she came over Lindy mentioned that she was home and when she arrived, she called us straight away.’
‘Thank you.’ Gina followed Jacob alongside the large house and headed towards the path, while placing the elastic from the face mask behind her ears.
She thought of Craig and Justine, and then Lindy.
Lindy and Pia had to be good friends if Pia was visiting so late at night.
It was a little past midnight now. On reaching the garden, Gina first noticed the huge egg chair and patio sofa set that filled the space.
Leaves from the surrounding trees had gathered in piles along the one side of the tall fence.
A breeze whipped past her neck, sending a shiver down her spine.
On reaching the back door, Gina knew exactly how the intruder entered the premises.
The window had been smashed, just like at Maura’s house.
She stepped in first, her boot clunking on the first stepping plate.
She took in the scene. The key was still in the lock, on the inside.
No doubt it would be taken to the lab. A spray of blood reached up the back wall, thinning out as it got higher.
‘There was definitely a struggle here.’ Jacob stepped inside. ‘Broken plates, a knife on the floor and a smashed empty wine bottle. Upturned chair. No phones here. Blood spatter.’
She took a deep breath, imagining the struggle that must have taken place.
It looked like Lindy fought. The scene was screaming kidnap.
Her biggest fear now was that a double murderer had taken her.
Their main suspect was Craig Crawford and they’d failed to locate him.
She swallowed as she thought of Briggs again.
This must prove them all wrong if they suspect him.
She wondered what motive he’d have for hurting Lindy.
She wasn’t on Zavier’s little list. ‘There’s a fair bit of blood, too.
Lindy is hurt. There isn’t enough blood to show that she bled out.
’ She swallowed. ‘I fear Lindy doesn’t have much time.
We don’t know how long our killer toyed with Kain until he was murdered and the same with Zavier.
How long has she got? Why? This eliminates the theory that the first murder had something to do with Kain being in debt to Craig, and I have to ask why Craig Crawford would want to take Lindy? ’
Her head hurt with the lack of clarity on the case, that and the fact that Briggs was involved.
What else might Brodie not be telling her?
She tried to think about it all rationally.
If Craig had nothing to hide, he wouldn’t be on the run and the rental apartment wouldn’t have been full of those horrible photos.
Briggs would not have done that. The phone call he made to Kain, it had to have been about something else, but what?
Craig and Briggs. Those two names ran through her head over and over again.
Jacob scrunched his brow and poked a gloved finger at a bowl he’d just upturned on the draining board. ‘Guv, look.’
‘Another teddy bear. Pink. What the hell do they mean?’ She had no idea where this was going within the context of the case.
‘These are the type of teddies people give to babies. Cheap little bears that are often attached to bunches of flowers or in gift hampers. Pink, blue, girl, boy. Kain wasn’t a father but his ex, Sheena, is pregnant.
We don’t know much about Zavier’s family situation yet.
There was one of these teddies at Justine’s.
Her son is a young adult and she didn’t mention being pregnant.
Lindy – again – I don’t know. I think I’m barking up the wrong tree here.
’ She stared at the scene and sighed. ‘A baby boy and a baby girl.’ She shook her head and shrugged.
She couldn’t help remember the strained moments of her relationship with Briggs.
He had longed for a child so badly at one point that he’d taken up with someone he didn’t love, leaving her heart broken at the time; all because he lived in hope of becoming a father.
She forced those thoughts out of her mind.
They were still too painful to think about.
Yes, she still had deep feelings for Briggs but she knew that she really had to find a way of moving on when the case was over and Briggs was out of trouble.
‘There is something. At the scenes where we found blue bears, the victims are dead. The killer is leaving us clues and I don’t know if finding the pink teddy bear at Justine’s means we need to keep in constant contact with her to make sure she’s okay.
It might be that the bears are Craig’s and the dog got hold of one but we have to cover all angles. We don’t know that yet.’
Jacob nodded.
Nothing was making any sense. ‘Let’s go back to basics.
Kain – he was ex police. Zavier – again, he was ex police.
’ She kept her next thought in her head.
Briggs – police – not ex police. She tried reframing Briggs’s potential involvement and sent a quick message to Brodie.
How could they not have all thought what she was thinking? It seemed obvious.
Could DCI Briggs be a potential victim?
Of course, Brodie hadn’t confirmed or denied anything, only that Briggs was in big trouble.
Her own mind had jumped to the conclusion that he was a suspect for the actual murders.
Maybe he was in trouble for withholding information, but why?
At the very least, she hoped that the man she’d spent so many years loving wasn’t a murderer.
She messaged Brodie again.
We need to look into the professional pasts of Kain, Zavier and DCI Briggs. Lindy seems to be an anomaly, but the past might hold the key to the present. I think we need to contact Wyre and O’Connor, see if they are able to come in early to look into this.
Keith stepped in, all hunched over in his crime scene suit. ‘I’m going to have to make a start.’
‘Sorry, we’ll get out of here now. How’s the back?’ Gina asked, knowing that Keith always appreciated her concern.
‘A bloody nightmare. I’m all dosed up on painkillers so I need to get going here before they wear off and I’m good for nothing. I’ve taken a step back on working the scenes but short-staffing and all that. Don’t think I’ll ever be able to retire.’
‘Well, thank you. Your attendance is much appreciated. I don’t know how we’d have coped without you this week, Keith. Let me know if you come across anything that might help us.’
‘Will do. I’ll call or message if I do.’
With that, Gina followed Jacob out and back alongside the path before discarding their crime scene suits into the box provided. A paramedic stepped out from the back of the ambulance.
‘Is it okay to speak to the witness yet?’ Gina asked.
‘Just give us a moment and then I think she’ll be fine.’
He stepped back into the ambulance, leaving Gina with her thoughts and Jacob annoyingly tapping his foot on the pavement. No amount of thinking was helping.
‘Shall we interview her in the car, guv?’
Gina nodded. A handful of neighbours had come out of their homes to see why the blue-lighted vehicles had turned up. She flagged down the PC as she left one of the houses. She hurried over to Gina. ‘Anything useful from the neighbours?’ Gina asked.
She shook her head. ‘Nothing. This is a really quiet neighbourhood and there is a lot of distance between each house. They were all in bed or watching TV. Three camera doorbells only caught hedges and nothing more. A couple walked their dog an hour ago but didn’t see or hear a thing.
Lindy Pickering seemed to be much-liked but no one knew her that well.
She’s only lived in this house for about three months. ’
‘Lovely. Keep knocking on doors and if you find anything that will help us, let me know.’
The PC hurried off towards another house as a paramedic opened the back door of the ambulance.
A lithe woman stepped out with the help of the paramedic. Her glossy hair fell over her face. Gina walked up to her. ‘Ms Yates. I’m DI Harte. We’re really sorry to hear what you’ve been through tonight and we need to speak to you.’
‘Okay,’ she murmured as she looked up, her hair falling over her shoulders, revealing her face.
That’s when Gina noticed the small mole just above the woman’s lip.