Chapter 64
Sixty-Four
‘Nice speech there, guv,’ Bryant observed, pulling out of the car park. ‘Don’t ever go into life coaching, eh.’
‘No plans for a career change yet, and if I did, it would be something with less…’
‘Stress?’ Bryant asked.
‘No.’
‘Conflict?’
‘No. People, Bryant. Less people.’
‘Yeah, and the people would thank you. So, what do we know about Rick Felton?’
‘Rick Harris. Karen took back her maiden name. We don’t know much except that he works as a logistics manager at a haulage company.’
Although they were questioning the homewrecker theory, she wasn’t prepared to rule it out before speaking to Karen’s ex-husband. Had she broken up his previous relationship?
‘Guv, what exactly is a logistics manager?’
‘Hell if I know,’ she said, turning to face the window.
Despite her fatigue, it hadn’t been a restful night. Even with Barney’s comforting warmth beside her, every time she’d closed her eyes, her mind had been assaulted with images of Ava, unhappy and miserable, living with people whose only motivation was financial gain.
No innocent child deserved to grow up on Hollytree, but the ones born there had no other reference.
Ava had been part of a loving family. She’d had parents who doted on her and a normal childhood where she hadn’t been made to feel like a freak because of her disability.
She’d been on the road to becoming a confident, well-adjusted kid with a bright future, and Kim couldn’t help feeling that was in jeopardy.
Hollytree was not a nurturing environment.
At that moment, Kim wasn’t sure she had ever wanted to find a killer more. Yes, she felt for all three of their victims, but it was the seven-year-old girl who’d really affected her.
She just hoped that Stacey could find another relative before she received the inevitable call from Gloria.
She remained lost in her own thoughts until they arrived at a haulage company on the outskirts of Cradley Heath.
She checked her watch. ‘Website says they’re open at eight, so let’s go start his day off well,’ she said, getting out of the car.
The door into the building was unlocked, but the reception desk was empty.
A bell was resting on the front desk with an instruction to ring for attention.
For once, Kim did as she was directed. She pressed the bell four times, unable to hear it sounding anywhere.
‘Inspirational,’ Bryant observed, looking around.
The only decoration on the walls were photos of different-sized trucks.
‘May I help you?’ asked a sharp voice from behind the desk.
She was guessing the bell had been heard loud and clear somewhere and may even have been a bit annoying.
‘May we speak with Rick Harris?’
‘That’s me,’ he said, looking from her to Bryant.
She still wasn’t sure what being a logistics manager entailed, but it seemed to include covering reception until the full-timer arrived.
‘We need to talk to you about your ex-wife,’ Kim said, showing her ID.
He frowned and smiled at the same time. ‘Well, I know she’s not in any trouble, so what’s this about?’
‘Mr Harris, I’m afraid she was murdered yesterday afternoon.’
He stared at her for twenty seconds before he burst out laughing.
It wasn’t the most common response.
‘Good one. You had me going for a minute there. Who put you up to this? Come on – who’s pranking me? Ah, I bet it’s Tony. I got him good last—’
‘We’re not in the habit of pranking, Mr Harris,’ Kim said, fixing her gaze on his.
His brow furrowed, and he swallowed deeply. ‘You can’t be serious. Karen? Murdered?’
‘Very serious. Your ex-wife was stabbed to death yesterday afternoon at her home.’
‘Shiiiiit,’ he said, the colour dropping from his face.
‘I understand it’s a lot to take in, but may we ask you a couple of questions?
’ Kim asked, diving straight in. Former spouses or partners didn’t receive the same sensitivity.
The connection had already been severed.
This news was not going to alter the landscape of his life.
He might be saddened for a while, but ultimately he would continue as before.
‘This is real?’
Kim was done trying to justify her reason for being there. ‘You’ve been divorced how long?’
Rick Harris swallowed and nodded. ‘A couple of years now, but we were having problems way before that.’
‘What kind of problems?’
He sighed heavily. ‘Things change, you know,’ he said with what appeared to be genuine sadness.
‘She changed?’ Kim asked.
‘No, I did. The very reasons I fell in love with her were what ended our marriage.’
‘Go on.’
‘We met in our twenties. I’d never come across anyone like her. She was a free spirit, unconventional, always seeking her inner light. We’d make a date to go out and then she’d call me from Tanzania or Cape Town just because it had called to her.’
He shook his head as a smile formed on his lips. ‘I never knew what she was going to do from one day to the next. I was head over heels. I felt like the luckiest guy alive when she agreed to marry me.’
Kim could hear regret creeping into his tone. ‘So what changed?’
‘I did. I grew up. I got the steady job and waited for us to move on to the next stage. I assumed she’d settle down, keep a job for longer than a week, start a family, but she was always searching for something.
She always felt there was something else she was meant to be doing, and it created a restlessness in her. ’
‘So you divorced her?’ Kim asked.
He nodded.
‘You got that steady wife and kids now?’
He shook his head. ‘Not sure it was all I imagined it might be. I miss her. Life lost a little colour once we were no longer together.’ His eyes reddened. ‘She really gone?’
Kim nodded, realising the news was going to have more of an impact on him than she’d thought. She was beginning to understand why.
‘You still loved her?’
He hesitated before nodding. ‘Not one day passed without me wondering if I’d made the wrong decision. Conventional isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.’
And now any chance to do anything about it had been taken out of his hands.
‘May I ask a personal question?’ she asked. Maybe the homewrecking theory wasn’t dead in the water yet.
He nodded.
‘Were you married or attached when you met Karen?’
He shook his head. ‘No. I hadn’t been in a relationship for a couple of years.’
So, that was that. Short of mistaken identity, any homewrecking motive was dead and gone.
‘I know you probably can’t say, but do you know who the intended victim was?’ he asked.
‘We have no reason at this point to doubt that they meant to kill Karen.’
‘Impossible,’ he stated with finality.
‘You don’t think she could have pissed someone off to that degree?’
‘Karen couldn’t piss anyone off to any degree.
She hated conflict of any kind. You couldn’t drag her into an argument if you lit the way with a hundred scented candles.
She didn’t rage. Her zen and composure were of paramount importance.
She wouldn’t even complain if a restaurant completely messed up her order.
She was never rude or obnoxious or arrogant. ’
‘You’ve been apart for a while. She might have—’
‘We were together for twenty years before that, and she never changed, Inspector. I understand that she’s been murdered, and I trust that you know your job. But I know my wife.’
Kim chose not to correct him.
‘She may have been killed by a robber or even a rapist,’ he continued. ‘She may have been killed by someone who thought she was someone else. I can assure you she was not killed for something she did wrong.’
Kim had always firmly believed that people were murdered because of something they’d done, something they were doing or something they were going to do. They hadn’t found any evidence that Ashley or Karen fit the bill. So why the hell were these women being slaughtered?