Chapter 13
Thirteen
‘Get the coffee on and don’t even think about a lunch break. You took that already,’ Kim said as they reached the second floor of the station. Bryant rolled his eyes in response as she continued up the stairs to the third floor to see her boss.
Despite his instruction to return, she’d taken the time to speak with a few of Ashley’s colleagues even though Ashley’s boss had insisted there was no hostility there.
She had seen for herself the depth of their sadness and grief at the loss and had been satisfied there were no further names for the board.
She knocked on the door and entered. He had to be expecting her so she didn’t bother to wait for his instruction to come in.
He made no comment and beckoned her to sit.
‘I need you to do something,’ he said, resting his chin on steepled fingers.
‘Something that trumps a murder investigation?’ she asked pointedly.
‘You’re an excellent multi-tasker, Stone.’
A compliment. Oh shit, she thought, this was definitely something he wanted her to do and something she was not going to enjoy.
‘I need you to interview Martha Stout.’
‘You are kidding?’
Yep, she’d called that one right.
He shook his head, and she felt every ounce of her earlier smugness drain out of her. She had assumed far too soon that the woman was being dealt with by someone else.
‘Sir, I really think—’
‘Doesn’t matter what you think. This is not negotiable. Martha says that she’ll only speak to Chief Sow, who I assume to be you, and we really need her to talk.’
Kim could feel the groan forming in her stomach. His manner had an inevitable air, but some fights were worth throwing that extra punch even when you were falling to the ground.
‘Sir, I can’t be called off a murder investigation for the next episode in a neighbour dispute.’
For as long as she could recall, the Stouts had hated their neighbours, the Hubbards. Each family owned around twenty acres of land, separated by a metal fence that ran almost a mile in length all the way to the road. The boundary fence had been the subject of many a court battle.
The court had first found in favour of the Stouts, and then on appeal the decision had been given to the Hubbards. The Stouts had planted trees part way along the boundary, and the Hubbards had cut them down.
The Hubbards had accused the Stouts of poisoning some of their pigs, and the Stouts had accused the Hubbards of spraying their rapeseed crops to kill them. The disputes went on and on. Many a police officer had spent a good hour at that boundary fence trying to calm the situation down.
No one knew when the feud had started, but even the most seasoned officers claimed it was before their time.
‘You’re right, it is a neighbourhood dispute,’ Woody admitted.
‘What did Martha do – call Mr Hubbard a raging homosexual again with an interest in kids?’
‘No, she shot him.’
‘She what?’ Kim asked. That was extreme even for Martha.
‘Apparently, Mr Hubbard was walking the fence line, and she shot him.’
‘Why?’ Kim asked, wondering how disputes over pigs and boundaries had escalated to the use of a gun.
‘That’s exactly what we’d like to know, but she’s not saying. Won’t even admit she did it unless she gets to speak to you. Mr Hubbard is currently in hospital fighting for his life.’
‘So, let me get this straight. It’s one interview to get her confession and then we’re done? I can hand it over to someone else and go about my business?’
‘I should think so.’
‘Sir, that wasn’t a firm yes I just heard.’
‘This is Martha Stout,’ he said, opening his hands expressively, indicating anything could happen.
She considered arguing her case given the murder investigation, but it had done her little good in the past.
She left Woody’s office resigned to the fact that she was about to add one more ‘Martha’ to her tally.