Chapter 6
Chapter Six
It was just after seven am and I was on my third coffee, fully caffeinated, slightly jittery, patience at an all-time low.
Someone had done a greasy spoon run and come back with a pile of bacon butties, the smell of which was bringing back memories of fire and charred flesh, so a switch to vegetarianism was on the cards.
Wrigley did not look ready for work. He was the most casual, but ironically, the smartest, I’d ever seen him.
Rather than the shirts that were at least two sizes too small and a tie that looked like it’d been washed on hot rather than dry clean only, he was sporting what I assumed was the gear for afternoon cricket.
“Off somewhere nice, Sir?” We were gathering for our morning briefing. My team was small; Verity, Lachy and a couple of the PC’s from Katie’s team that we’d seconded over.
Wrigley sat on a chair that looked a lot sturdier than others. “Old Trafford for the cricket. I’m in one of the boxes.”
“Nice. Using up your holidays?”
He snorted. “No chance. I think I’m owed at least a month’s worth the amount I’ve cancelled in the past. Anyway, what light can you shine on this case today?”
Lachy posed next to the murder board with a selection of different coloured markers, making him look like a children’s TV presenter. I decided it wasn’t worth mentioning.
“We have an ID and preliminary cause of death for both victims. Amanda Goodhew was discovered upstairs in a bedroom, although she wasn’t dressed for bed.
She died prior to the fire as there’s no sign of smoke in her lungs etc; the pathologist has given strangulation as the likely cause, although this isn’t a hundred percent certain due to the condition of her body.
” I looked at the board where someone had added photos they’d found of Amanda.
“The second victim is the home owner, Micky Mulligan. He lived at the property for twenty-seven years with his wife, up until her death eight years ago. His cause of death was due to the fire. He was found in the cellar and we suspect he was chained to a chair down there and unable to escape.”
“So,” Lachy put down two of the pens, keeping one to use as a pointer. “Was Micky restrained in the cellar while our killer went upstairs to find Amanda? Did the killer know Amanda was going to be there? Or was Amanda killed first?”
“Are we looking at two killers?” Verity had just finished her breakfast. “We need to know why Amanda was at the property.”
Wrigley tapped his finger against one of the desks. “What about Lily Goodhew? Where was she two nights ago?”
“Did you get the CCTV?” I looked at Verity.
She nodded. “I downloaded it from her system yesterday and had a quick look through on fast forward last night. Lily was really helpful and took me around her house so I could see what area the cameras covered. The camera at the back is angled to cover the garden and the alleyway between her house and next door – not the adjoining house. The camera at the front covers the drive and front garden, including the path to her door and the other side of that alleyway. I’ve not seen anything so far to suggest she left the house from the time she got home the night before, to the morning after when she left for work. ”
I looked over at Wrigley, wondering what his reaction would be.
His expression was curious rather than annoyed.
“That doesn’t completely clear her. I can’t but think that it’s too much of a coincidence – she survives a fire that kills her husband and sons and is started by her daughter. We need to look more closely at Lily.”
I was niggled. “Lily maintains she was innocent. She says she didn’t start the fire that killed most of her family.”
“Not all killers confess, Mia. You know that.” Wrigley pinned me with his glare. “That case was open and shut. I spoke to Terry Jones yesterday and he said he’d go through the case with you.”
“Thank you. I’ll try and see him this afternoon if he’s available.
I want to go and look through Amanda Goodhew’s house this morning.
She rents off a neighbour, so we should be able to get the keys.
” I smiled at the PC who’d found this information.
“We need to find out why Amanda was at Micky’s house and who would know she was due to be there.
I also think we need to go back over the original case. ”
Wrigley frowned. “We know it was Lily.”
“The jury convicted her. But if this wasn’t Lily because her cameras are accurate and she didn’t leave the house, then we need to find out who else could be in the picture.
Does anyone think this could be random?” I looked around the small team.
No one spoke. “It is too much of a coincidence that Amanda survived one fire, only to be involved in another. We don’t have any witnesses saying they saw anything, and no camera footage to give us anything circumstantial and we need a starting point, and that needs to be Micky and Amanda.
Who were they? Who were their contacts and who might’ve had a motive. ”
“Lily?” Verity spoke up. “She might’ve wanted to get the job done once and for all. That house is remote; there’s a way onto the property without being spotted. Maybe she lured her mother round there and Micky just happened to be in the way.”
“A theory, but there’s nothing to substantiate it.” That was Wrigley.
“I don’t think she’d do that.” Lachy folded his arms, still holding one of the markers. “When we met her last night she seemed genuinely shocked – maybe because she hadn’t really thought about her mother and it brought things back.”
“Maybe she’s a good actress.” Verity stood up and walked over to the board, picking up a marker pen and writing Lily’s name on it.
“She has no concrete alibi. I mean, the cameras suggest she was at home as we didn’t see her leave or return, but she could’ve interfered with them.
I need someone from the tech team to give them a proper look. ”
“I’m going to go through the file on the first fire this morning.
Lachy, you can help me. Verity, you find out everything you can on Micky Mulligan and Amanda, search online, check for social media.
We want to know where they both worked, what interests they had – what had Amanda done in the years after the last fire?
I’ll phone Micky’s daughter in Dubai and see if I can find out anything more from her.
” I looked over at Wrigley again, wondering if he’d carry on pushing Lily.
He said nothing, just observed me. I couldn’t read him.
“I suspect we’ll need to interview Lily at some point, if we find anything that ties her to Amanda now. She said yesterday that she hadn’t had anything to do with her since she was fourteen.” This would appease Wrigley and it was the right thing to do; Lily could be involved in this.
Wrigley nodded at this and stood up. “Mia, brief me in the morning where you get up to. You can contact me if there’s an emergency – don’t let there be an emergency.” He wandered off into his office,
I followed, curiosity getting the better of me.
“What is it?” He was checking his phone on his desk.
“Do you know who your replacement’s going to be yet?” I’d heard rumours about who was taking over as our DI. It was a key position, one that I knew a lot of DS’s were interested in, as well as rumours that other current DI’s wanted to move over.
“I do. You’ll find out in a couple of weeks.”
“Why not earlier?”
“They’re finishing up on a case; it wouldn’t help that if it was known they were moving.
” He sat down at his desk and folded his arms. “Mia, Lily Goodhew was trouble. She’d been picked up by local cops a dozen times at least before the fire.
There were charges of shoplifting and vandalism, and she’d been brought home in a police van a couple of times when she’d drank that much alcohol she couldn’t walk. ”
“Had she previously started a fire?”
“No.” He sighed. “But not everyone follows the same pattern. Maybe she had and it just wasn’t picked up.”
“True. Why did she behave that way?” Because it wasn’t just because she was bad or naughty. There was always a reason.
Wrigley shrugged. “They said she was disturbed. Her parents always appeared caring and supportive and they seemed to not know what to do with her. Social care had just gotten involved – I think the school had referred them. The family were well thought of and the boys were no trouble at all. Don’t discount Lily.
I know she came across like she’d been at a finishing school yesterday, but don’t be fooled.
Leopards and spots and all that.” He looked at the door that was now being opened with some force and Vinny rushed in.
“We’ve got Dean Monroe, Sir. You might want to come down to the custody suite.” Vinny was out of breath and flushed.
Wrigley was up and away from his desk, Lily Goodhew forgotten in the midst of one of Manchester’s finest a hair’s breadth from being locked down for some time.
I made the decision to go through the old case notes first, even if it was an initial skim through. Lachy and I sat down with a couple of fancy fresh juices and our laptops, splitting folders between us to digest what we could in a couple of hours before we went to Amanda’s house.
I’d always been a good student. I’d grown up on Anglesey in a small town by the sea, living with two foster parents after my mother was arrested on a variety of charges.
I’d wanted to please them, to not be a bother so I could carry on living there.
I’d figured that love was conditional and they spent time showing me it wasn’t, but I still needed to prove to them and then to me that I was worthwhile, so I’d been an excellent student, flying through exams and making my way to university for my degree and then a masters.
I learned to read quickly and take it in, which left me more time for running and climbing and Muay Thai.
Movement helped me process, staying still for too long made me twitchy and irritable.