Chapter 22
Twenty-Two
By the time Kim got back to the station, she had worked through a checklist in her mind and was still confused. What had started as a simple request from Woody was turning into a puzzle where the pieces didn’t match the picture on the box.
Organic GSR lasted on the skin for twelve to twenty-four hours.
It could remain on clothing for considerably longer, even surviving several washings.
To her understanding, Martha had been detained within an hour of the shot being fired.
She’d been found sitting on an upturned barrel outside the kitchen door with the gun at her feet.
Yes, she could have dashed inside and changed her clothes, but she hadn’t had time to scrub her hands long enough to remove all traces from her skin.
There was even less chance she’d have been able to remove it from her nasal mucous.
Anyway, why would she even try if she was going to make no effort to hide the fact that she’d shot George Hubbard?
Nothing was making sense… which shouldn’t have surprised her with Martha Stout involved, she thought as she and her colleague entered the station.
‘Stand them down, Bryant,’ she said, checking her watch. It was almost seven. ‘Normal time in the morning.’
He nodded his understanding before heading upstairs to the squad room.
There was little more the team could do tonight, and they’d all been at it for twelve hours straight.
After informing her of what he’d learned about the fight between Ashley and her brother, Penn had offered to interview Warren Chance about the heated exchange on his way home, but Kim had told him it could wait.
Daniel had not voiced any suspicion about the man being capable of such an act, though it was still something that needed to be checked out.
His name might make the list once Penn had interviewed him the next day, but there were a few people ahead of him at this point.
Gemma Ross was holding on to her hatred of Ashley like a hot-water bottle on a freezing cold day and had made online threats.
Robbie Steele, a young kid with more mouth than trousers, wasn’t her biggest fan, and Joe Butler blamed Ashley for losing custody of his children.
Even Daniel Reynolds himself was still hovering on the list somewhere.
All solid leads but none of which her team could pursue while running on fumes.
Her own energy levels were depleting rapidly, but she had enough in the tank to try and answer one question that was running around her head.
She’d already called ahead to have Martha ready for interview and she didn’t need to hold her team back for this.
‘Okay, what’s going on?’ she asked, taking a seat in the interview room.
‘Waiting for a decent room. Shit hotel you’re running here. I’ve had a piss. I’ve had my tea. Sarnie was warm, cuppa was cold and there wasn’t enough sugar in—’
‘Tests say you didn’t shoot that gun,’ Kim said, not in the mood for Martha’s stupidity.
The woman was unperturbed. She shrugged. ‘And I say I did.’
‘That’s not good enough, Martha. I’m not sure you’re aware, but in the police force we like a thing called evidence to tie a person to a crime, and there’s no evidence anywhere near you. Your confession isn’t going to be enough.’
‘Gonna have to be. I shot the bastard, and I’d do it again. I’ve told you that. I’d have shot her as well if she’d come past the oak tree. I hate the whole family. I ain’t got a shred of remorse, and I ain’t gonna cry until my brief tells me to.’
‘Martha, I want the truth,’ Kim pushed, trying to hide her frustration. She knew from experience that it only added to the woman’s pleasure.
‘You lot don’t even want the truth when it’s being handed to you on a plate.’
‘Not when the evidence tells us otherwise. Explain that to me.’
‘Faulty test,’ she sniffed. ‘Your equipment is shit. They tested the wrong samples. Doesn’t matter.’
‘You gonna argue with NABIS as well?’
‘Don’t know who he is, but bring him in and I’ll give him the same answer.’
Kim shook her head. Yeah, it would be just like Martha to argue with the National Ballistic Intelligence Service which linked firearms and ammunition to each other and to crimes.
The gun and the recovered bullet would be sent to them for a forensic report, but there was no chance of a result for forty-eight hours and that was if her request for priority was approved.
With a full confession and no immediate threat to the public, it was likely to be denied, meaning her questions wouldn’t be answered for weeks.
‘So, they’re going to tell me that bullet was fired from that gun?’ Kim asked.
‘If they don’t, they’re a bunch of arseholes or the test was wrong.’
‘Lots of faulty tests going on around here, eh?’
‘Yeah, you might wanna look at that,’ Martha said, shoving her finger in her ear and twisting it. She looked almost proud of what she pulled out on her dirty fingernail.
‘Weird how any test that would give evidence of—’
‘I’m your bloody evidence,’ Martha snapped. ‘I shot him, and I’ve got no reason to lie.’
‘What’s wrong with Martin?’ Kim asked, wondering why the man couldn’t make it down the stairs. Or was he hiding away for a reason?
‘Mind your own fucking business.’
Kim met her gaze and held it. Animosity flowed between them, but Kim was not leaving the room until she got an answer.
‘Cancer,’ Martha said at last before her expression revealed she wished she hadn’t. And then her face reflected her sorrow, giving Kim more of the story.
‘What kind?’
‘Pancreatic.’
The worst kind. Most likely terminal.
‘How long?’ Kim asked, feeling a seed of sympathy land in her stomach.
‘Weeks,’ Martha replied.
Kim shook her head in despair. ‘And you’re coming in here with a cock-and-bull story about shooting your neighbour when you should be at home spending precious—’
‘I did it, sow, now just charge me and be done with it,’ Martha spat.
It was impossible to hang on to sympathy for longer than a minute with this woman.
‘Not so fast, Martha. There’s more going on here than you’re telling me. When was the last time you saw Donna?’
‘Donna’s dead,’ she spat again.
‘Well, she isn’t really, is she? She’s alive and well with her boyfriend, Eric Hubbard.’
‘Scum.’
‘I’ve seen the photos. You’ve cut her out of the family, but she’s still in your heart. You must still think about her.’
‘Not at all.’
Kim sat back in her chair. ‘I’ve thought about Donna a bit today.
I couldn’t recall her at first, but then it started to come back to me.
She was never far away from you, was she?
A proper little mummy’s girl. The only two girls in a house full of men.
She followed you everywhere: your shadow.
Are you really that cold that you can throw your child away just because of who she fell in love with? ’
‘Donna who?’ Martha said as her nostrils flared.
Kim sighed heavily. ‘What the hell are you not telling me, Martha?’ she asked, wondering who the woman was trying to protect.
With one son apparently bedridden with cancer that left only William.
Without a shred of evidence against him, she was powerless to act, but she knew she wasn’t getting the whole story of what had taken place.
‘Will you not just tell me the goddamn truth?’ she asked.
Martha regarded her with unabashed hate before the dreaded two words came out of her mouth.
‘No comment.’