Chapter 14
Fourteen
‘What’s the chief want?’ Stacey asked as Bryant walked in the door.
‘Dunno, but the guv wanted coffee,’ he said, heading straight for the pot.
‘Glad you’re back anyway. You can give me some guidance on which of these names take priority.’
Since the boss had left the office a few hours ago, she’d been texting names through like bullets.
‘I’ve assumed Gemma Ross is right at the top, given the messages, but who comes next?’
‘Who’s next on the list?’
‘Harriet Wilkins,’ Stacey said.
‘Netball player who wasn’t keen on Ashley,’ Bryant replied.
‘You’re joking?’ Stacey asked. On the scale of one to ten for motive for murder, that sounded like a definite two. Maybe one point five.
‘Nope. Apparently, Harriet doesn’t like being questioned on the netball pitch.’
‘Court,’ she corrected. Most men who enjoyed football tended to call everything a pitch.
‘Guv wants us to check the players out,’ he said with a shrug. ‘The other one, Diana Grant, didn’t have a particular beef with Ashley, but she is a bit of a pain.’
‘Wheee, right to the bottom of the list she goes,’ Stacey said, feeling that one was a stretch by anyone’s standards. ‘What about Robbie Steele? What’s his crime – he queue jumped her three years ago?’
‘A more promising lead in my opinion,’ Bryant said, ignoring her sarcasm. ‘He’s a young man with every reason to be angry with Ashley. Looks like she caught him with his fingers in his grandmother’s purse and maybe getting a bit physical with her.’
‘Little bastard,’ Stacey said, putting his name just below Gemma’s.
‘And Joe Butler,’ Bryant continued, ‘is another unsatisfied customer. Doesn’t feel Ashley worked hard enough to ensure he kept custody of his two boys.’
She placed his name alongside that of Robbie Steele.
‘Okay, gives me something to work on once I’m done with Gemma,’ she said, tapping her pen on the pad. ‘What are your thoughts on that?’
Bryant shrugged. ‘She definitely hates Ashley enough to do her harm. She wasn’t the least bit sorry the woman was dead and made no secret of the fact that she’s as full of rage now as she was the day Daniel left her. Any luck on the Uber guy?’
‘Not yet. They can narrow it down to one of five guys and they’re checking with them. Should have an answer by the end of the day. Though if he just left the food on the step…’
‘Anything else on Gemma?’ Bryant asked.
‘Nothing yet,’ she answered, before changing the subject. ‘Did you get Penn’s message?’
Bryant rolled his eyes, not unkindly, but she got his point as to the quality of the intelligence.
‘An elderly lady who can barely see five feet in front of her and can’t even tell if the runner was male or female wants us to believe there were two people involved?’
‘Yeah, I thought the same,’ she said, turning towards her computer.
Her colleague reached into his top drawer and took out his sandwich box.
‘Boss sent another text as well, Bryant. She said to remind you that you already had your lunch break.’ She hid her smile as he sighed and put his lunch back in the drawer.
Her fingers were itching to get going. Finally she had a little more to work with.