Chapter 60
Sixty
She guessed Donnie Drake, the lodger, to be in his late teens. His blond hair framed a face that had still not returned to its natural colour. His pallor only accentuated the red-rimmed eyes.
Someone had thought to give him a glass of some type of alcohol, which seemed to have steadied the trembling somewhat.
Bryant was putting his notebook back in his jacket pocket. She knew he would have got the finer details on timings, so she didn’t need to bother with that.
Kim took a seat at the kitchen table while Bryant faded back to give the boy some space.
‘You doing okay?’ Kim asked.
‘I’m not sure to be honest,’ he replied candidly, and she nodded in acknowledgement before moving on.
‘Donnie, I need to know if you touched anything.’
He shook his head.
‘You didn’t go into the room or try to give her CPR?’
‘Should I have done? Would it have helped?’
‘No, she was long gone,’ Kim reassured him. ‘You did everything right.’
‘I just can’t believe it, even though I saw it with my own eyes. Who could do something like that?’
This kid wasn’t even in his twenties and he’d seen something that he’d never forget.
‘How long have you lived here?’
‘About ten months now. I transferred from Wolverhampton to Dudley Tech and most of the rooms were gone, but I struck lucky here. Cheap and close.’
‘Can you tell us more about Karen?’
‘I never called her that. She was Miss Felton. She changed her name back after her divorce.’
‘Was it recent?’ Kim asked.
‘Couple of years. That’s why she took in lodgers. She needed the money to buy him out.’
‘There are more of you?’
He shook his head. ‘Not at the minute. Amelia moved out a couple of weeks ago. Went back to Kent. Miss Felton had put an advert out.’
‘Where?’ Kim asked.
He shook his head.
‘Did Miss Felton ever have trouble with her boarders?’ Kim asked. The woman was ultimately allowing strangers to live in her home.
‘No, definitely not that I saw. She’s really nice. Asks how we are, leaves leftovers in the fridge if we want them, lets us rent a movie sometimes.’
‘Sounds like you had the run of the house.’
‘She isn’t intrusive. She talks to us if she’s around, but she’s not a pain or anything. She’s got some great stories.’
‘Oh yeah?’
‘Before she got married she travelled a lot, spiritual sh— I mean stuff. She was big on that, always reading about inner lights and auras and that.’
‘Was she seeing anyone?’
‘Not that I saw. I mean she never seemed interested in that kind of thing. Amelia used to joke about getting her on some dating apps, but she insisted she was fine as she was, and she did seem just fine. She was a proper character. One minute she was reading in her book nook, and the next she was dancing around the room to the Rolling Stones. She was unpredictable but always smiling. She was that kind of person, you know?’
‘Can you think of anyone who was unhappy with her?’
‘No one. She went out a few times a week to see friends, but other than that she was working or reading.’
The life she’d led was at complete odds with the way she’d died. She had tried to hang on to existence with every fibre of her being.
‘Any children?’ Kim asked.
He shook his head.
‘What about customers. Any issues?’
‘I don’t think so. Business was booming. She had more clients than she knew what to do with. I don’t think you leave a reiki session pissed off.’
He had a point.
‘Did you see any of the customers?’
‘Sometimes, coming in or going out.’
‘Any new customers recently?’ Kim asked.
He thought for a minute.
‘Actually, she was seeing someone new today. They’d contacted her through Facebook even though she rarely used it. She doesn’t really advertise. Her business mostly came from recommendations.’
Okay, that was something. Someone had specifically sought her out, on the same day she’d been murdered.
‘Did she keep a diary of her appointments?’
‘Yeah, in the treatment room, I think.’
Kim felt a flicker of interest. The new client had communicated with her, and there was a chance they were the person they were after.
They might finally be heading in the right direction.