“Hi, sorry to trouble you. I’m trying to locate your neighbour, Mr. Franks. Is he around?”
“Oh dear, is he in trouble with the police?”
“No. I just want to ask him a few questions. Is he at work?”
“Yes, so is his wife.” The woman appeared to relax a little and came out from behind the door.
“I don’t suppose you know where the couple work?”
“No, dear. I tend not to mix with many people nowadays. Neighbours come and go all the time. Not worth trying to form a relationship any longer. You understand that, don’t you?”
“That’s a shame. I completely understand where you are coming from. One last question before I go. Do you know if the property owners have been carrying out any form of renovations on their home recently?”
The woman shook her head. “Not that I know of, dear. At least, I haven’t heard anything. Next door on the other side have been fixing up their kitchen. It’s been a nightmare for a good few months now. I’m sure I would have heard if the Franks had been doing the same sort of thing. Had to up my intake in painkillers lately due to the headaches I’ve been getting because of the damn noise.”
“Sorry to hear that. I hope they complete their work soon and give you your peace and quiet back. You’ve been such a big help. Thank you.”
“Not at all, dear.”
Lorne skipped back to the car. “Looks like we have one more roll of the dice.”
“I hope this turns out to be the answer. Not sure what we’re going to do if it’s another false alarm,” Roberts said.
“I guess it’s possible AJ might have missed a vehicle off the list. Let’s not draw any conclusions yet until we’ve visited the final house.”
Chapter Ten
The car drew their eye immediately. “Well, at least the owner appears to be at home this time. We should both go, yes?” Lorne suggested.
Sean parked in the nearest available space, and together, they approached the house, which was in a far better area than the previous two addresses. “This part of Islington is supposed to be under redevelopment plans, isn’t it?”
Lorne nodded. She’d heard something along those lines. Anyway, renovations were a totally different prospect from when she had renovated her first house in nearby Highbury, after divorcing Tom—there had been no assistance from the council then. She knocked on the door. A woman in her early fifties greeted them with what could only be described as a cautious smile. “Can I help?”
Lorne showed her ID.
The woman took it and studied it for several seconds before handing it back to Lorne.
“Is it convenient to come in for a chat, Mrs. Platt?”
The woman’s eyes narrowed for a flickering instant when Lorne mentioned her name. “About what exactly? I was on my way out.”
Sean tried to disarm the woman with one of his most dazzling smiles. “We won’t keep you long. It’s regarding an important police matter.”
Reluctantly, the woman stepped aside to let them in. The Victorian house was immaculately decorated. From the lack of tell-tale cobwebs attached to the original cornicing, Lorne could tell the woman took pride in her home. She closed the front door then opened the door to the large lounge. A man of a similar age to the woman’s was sitting in a leather armchair, reading a daily newspaper. “Courtney, this is DS Warner and DCI Roberts. They’ve come to ask us a few questions.”
Lorne didn’t correct the woman on her title. Instead, she watched the couple’s interaction carefully, but she didn’t really pick up on anything out of place. The man folded his newspaper and tucked it down the side of the chair. He stood up and shook each of the detectives’ hands. Lorne almost cried out in pain when the man’s firm grip squeezed her hand.
“What sort of questions?” he asked.
“I told them that we’re just on our way out, love,” Mrs. Platt said quickly—too quickly for Lorne’s liking.
A note of suspicion rippled up her spine.
“We can spare the nice police folks ten minutes, Cathy. Now, what can we do to help?”
There was something insincere about the smile lingering on Mr. Platt’s lips.
“We’d like to know if you’ve carried out any renovations on your property in the last few weeks?” Lorne asked.
The couple glanced at each other, then shook their heads in unison. “No. Why?”
Sean asked, “So, you won’t mind us taking a look around the property then?”
Mr. Platt fidgeted on the spot, but his tight smile never faltered. “If you wish. We have nothing to hide. If you choose not to take our word then, please, go ahead.”
Lorne set off. She could hear Sean asking the couple more questions as she made her way up the stairs, which were carpeted with a floral pattern. She pushed open the first door. A double bed filled the room. The place was a stark contrast to the previous house they had visited. Lorne looked down at the carpet, where she could see the lines from the vacuum, which had probably been made that morning. There wasn’t a piece of clothing on view. She pulled open the wardrobe to find everything neatly lined up in colour order throughout. Shoes still in boxes were wedged onto the top shelf. Lorne opened the door and peeped inside the next robe to see the same organisation skills had been at work there, too.
The room next door appeared to be a child’s bedroom—a single bed, beautifully made up with pink cushions and a Barbie quilt cover, was pushed up against the wall, giving the child plenty of floor space where she could play with her toys. However, the room was empty, except for the bed, a wardrobe, and a small chest of drawers.
That’s strange! This place is pristine! Do any kids actually live here?
Carrying on with her search, Lorne popped her head around the door to the next room. Again, she found nothing out of place. The room’s furnishings comprised of a set of bunk beds, with not a crease in sight on either of the two beds. She detected the faint smell of furniture polish. Inquisitiveness got the better of her, and she knelt on the floor and peeked under the bed. Again, nothing. No specks of dust. Nothing. Most kids she knew kept something under their beds. Even she had been guilty of that during her rebellious teenage years.
Perhaps I’m doing them an injustice.
Judging by the couple’s age, she thought it possible that the kids had all grown up and flown the nest. Keeping the rooms clean would have been easy if no one used them.
Feeling perplexed, Lorne returned downstairs, where, to her surprise, Sean was laughing and joking with the couple. “I’m good to go when you are, sir,” Lorne said.
Sean shook first the man’s hand then his wife’s. Lorne didn’t, not that the couple offered to shake her hand anyway. In the car, Sean said, “Nice couple.”
“Hmm…” Lorne murmured, glancing out the window.
“What’s that supposed to mean, Sergeant, sorry, Acting Inspector?”
“Just hmm… let’s say the jury is still out for me.”
Sean chuckled. “Oh crap, I forgot about you working a lot on gut instinct as opposed to usual policing methods.”
“It’s always seen me good in the past, Sean. Let’s see if my gut proves me right on this case, eh?”
“Deal. Back to the station now that we’ve exhausted everything out here?”
“Whatever.” Lorne spent the rest of the journey mulling over the houses they’d visited, and more questions than answers filled her mind about the last property. However, she wasn’t prepared to share her concerns with Sean after he’d taken the piss out of her and infuriated her.
As they walked into the station, Sean observed, “You’re quiet.”
“Thinking, that’s all. I tend to do a lot of that form of activity during a case.”
“Still full of sarcasm, I see, Lorne.”
Climbing the stairs ahead of him, she mumbled, “Better than being full of shit, like some I could mention.”
“Did you say something insolent, Sergeant?”
She turned to look at him, wide-eyed, and placed a hand on her breast. “Acting Inspector, actually.
Moi
say something disrespectful? Never.”
At the top of the stairs, Sean announced, “I’ll leave you to it then and get on with some paperwork. I’ll drop by after lunch to see what the team has come up with, okay?”
“Fine.” Lorne issued him a taut smile and pushed open the door to the incident room. “We’re back. Found out anything while we’ve been out and about?”
AJ eyed her suspiciously. “Nothing this end, but it looks like you’ve uncovered something.”
“Has anyone ever told you how astute you are, AJ? How can you tell?”
“By the glint in your eye.”
Lorne winked at him and pointed her finger. “You understand me better than the chief does. Gather around, people. I want to run a few things past you.”
Chairs scraped as the team moved into position. Lorne picked up the marker pen and jotted down the relevant information she and Sean had gleaned from the first two addresses, but she deliberately avoided noting down anything about the third address until she had gained the team’s full attention.
“So, it was a waste of time going out to the addresses I gave you then?” AJ asked.
“Not really, AJ. The first address was pointless. The second address, we need to revisit as the homeowner was out, but the neighbour didn’t think they had carried out any recent renovations, unlike her neighbour on the other side. We’ll still pay the owner a visit, though, just to cross them off the list. However, when we visited the third address—how shall I put this? I suppose the couple sparked more than a little interest in me, but only
me
.”
“You’re saying the chief didn’t share your concerns, boss?” Graham asked, tilting his head and frowning.
“Correct.” She looked over her shoulder at the door to check the coast was clear then whispered, “But then we have to make exceptions for him. He’s been pushing paper for far too long now.” The team laughed. “Anyway, I want proper—by that I mean, thorough—background checks carried out on the Platts. Instinct tells me we’re going to find a lot. Whether it will be of any benefit to our case, only time will tell on that one.”
“Are we looking for anything in particular, boss?”
“Anything and everything, AJ. Their house was immaculate. No sign of any renovations anywhere. That doesn’t mean we’re barking up the wrong tree. They could be renovating another house somewhere. Karen, can you look into that side of things, the financial trail, mortgages, rent-to-buy mortgages. That’s always a good indicator.”
“Okay, sorry to keep mentioning it, but I wondered if we should put out a plea to the media now.”
Thinking, Lorne tapped the side of her chin with the marker pen. “Maybe now would be an ideal time to do that. Can I leave it with you to sort that out, Karen? Can you do both tasks?”
“Of course I can. Leave it with me. The media attention could throw up some news of possible vehicles we may have missed.”
AJ nodded. “It’s worth a try. Would it be better to mention the car
and
the renovations? It might prompt someone into making a connection.”
“Great idea. If the Platts are involved and they’ve bought a place on the side to do up, someone out there might be able to highlight the property for us.” Lorne clapped her hands in glee. “I have a positive feeling about this, people. Keep up the good work. There’s another thing that concerns me about this couple that I think we should delve into also.”
“What’s that, boss?” Stephen asked as the other team members got back to work.
“The house was immaculate. Not only that, when I nosed around upstairs, it appeared that the couple had children, but there was no sign of any toys or any kind of mess in either of the bedrooms. It just struck me as being very odd.”
Stephen frowned. “Did you ask them if they had kids? What age were the couple?”
“Early fifties, I suppose. No, it was weird—when I came back downstairs, the chief was laughing and joking with the couple. I know I should have interrupted them and asked the question. The thing is, I just wanted to get out of there for some reason ASAP. The chief doesn’t go by gut instinct, so there was no point in me trying to justify how I felt in the couple’s presence. I just wanted to get back here and start digging. So, let’s see if this couple comes up smelling of roses or horseshit.”
Karen raised her hand to speak and dropped the phone back in its cradle on her desk. “We’re on for tomorrow, boss. I tried to get them to slot it in on tonight’s news, but it was too late.”
“Excellent. That’s still quick, Karen. Thanks for that. Okay, I’ll be tackling Katy’s mountain of paperwork if anyone needs me.” Lorne stopped at the vending machine en route to the office and bought a coffee, then she settled behind Katy’s desk to carry out her least favourite chore.
Lorne was only a short way through the pile of letters and files when Karen knocked on the door. She beckoned her colleague in to take a seat.
Karen placed her notebook on the desk in front of her and smiled. “I thought you’d like to know what I’ve found out right away.”
Lorne leaned back in her chair, linked her hands together, and steepled her index fingers against her chin. “Sounds intriguing. Go on.”
“I didn’t find any evidence of any large sums in either of the Platts’ accounts, although I did find notification of a loan they’d taken out in the last few months.”
“A loan? For how much?”
“Twenty thousand.”
“Interesting. I don’t suppose the bank would say what the loan was for?”
Karen shook her head. “No, they wouldn’t divulge that information. It certainly looks like a renovation amount to me. If they haven’t splurged on a new car recently, which is certainly the case, then what else would they spend that amount of money on?”
“A holiday?” Lorne suggested.
“Nope. I took special note of the activity on their account. The loan was in Mr. Platt’s name. Right after the loan was granted, some large amounts started to be withdrawn from the account. The odd thousand here and there.”
“Payments for work carried out on the sly? Cash-in-hand payments, is that what you’re surmising, Karen?”
“Yep. I studied the statements more and also spotted several purchases the couple had made by cheque to B&Q, too.”
“A DIY outlet. Now that is interesting, considering they clearly stated they hadn’t done any work on the house lately. The plot thickens. Has Stephen come up with anything about the kids yet?”
“Not yet. I think he’s on his fifth call. Keeps getting put on hold and forgotten about, I think. Bloody social services!”
“They’re under pressure, just like the rest of us. Okay, let me know when that information is available. Thanks, Karen, great work.”
When Karen left the office, Lorne tried to concentrate on the paperwork but failed wretchedly. Her mind spun off in different directions. Most prominent was the fact that the Platts had tried to dupe them.
Sneaky shits! What are they up to? Did they carry out the work at that property or somewhere else?
Lorne had an inkling the truth would turn out to be the latter, but she had no idea where. What were they missing? More to the point—what was
she
missing?
That afternoon, Stephen finally received the news from social services he’d been impatiently waiting for. Lorne came out of her office just as he answered the call. She perched her backside on the desk next to his and listened to the conversation on speakerphone.
“So the couple are foster parents. Okay, and do they have any children of their own?”
Lorne heard paper rustling on the other end of the line before the woman spoke again. “Yes, they have a grown-up son. At the moment, they are fostering three children.”
Lorne’s eyes grew wide. “Sorry, this is Acting Detective Inspector Lorne Warner here. My colleague has you on speakerphone. Can you tell me what sort of age these children are?”
“Sure, just a second. Here we are. There are two girls. Emily is six, Colette is five, and the little boy, Dwain, is seven. All members of the same family.”