Two Wrongs (Detective Inspector Ross Reed Book 1) (12 page)

“At Carmella's murder site.”             

Reed couldn't believe what he had just heard. An earring had been found at the murder site on Thetford Common. As far as he was aware the search of the area had ceased. It had been taped off, so how had something been found now?

“Apparently,” Tyler started, reading his confused face. “A young officer who was keeping watch got a little bored and decided to have a go with the metal detector. It had been left with him because the division that owns it was coming to collect it.”

“Our Scene of Crime department don't have their own metal detector?” Reed butted in.

“They do, but they arranged to borrow this one because it has a much larger detection range and given the terrain and sheer expanse of the Common they thought it would be beneficial.”

“If it’s so good why the hell wasn’t this earring found the first time around?”

“I don’t know. But the officer had a little play with the metal detector on the car park and there it was.” Tyler said.

Surprised by the lack of urgency from Reed she took a couple of steps towards his desk and grabbed his car keys, placed them in his hand and motioned with her head towards the door. Not awake enough to argue, he trundled behind her all the way to the car. The car park had been thoroughly searched. What the hell was going on?

When they got to Thetford Common, Reed hardly had a chance to get out of the car before the gadget loving PC was waving a plastic evidence bag in his face. Looking rather smug, too smug.

“What the hell were you doing playing around with that thing? Do you know how much it would cost to replace if you had broken it? No. Neither do I, but I bet your career it's more than you earn in a month.”

“Sorry, sir.” The PC said, looking like a scorned schoolboy.

“Well, as it is, you've done well, so we'll let it go.” Reed said, taking the evidence bag.

He studied the contents and then he handed it to Tyler without saying anything. That way, she could impartially agree or disagree with his thoughts.

“It's the same style as the ones at Gulliver's.” She agreed.

A Scene of Crimes Officer pulled up in a white van and parked behind Reed's car. Reed had phoned the department and asked them to send someone who had been involved in the initial search. Reed had no idea who he was or what rank he might hold. Treading carefully, he asked for an opinion as to how this could happen. The man, who was unusually tall and had a thick bushy beard, had the demeanor of someone who was happier in the forensics lab rather than in the field. He was twitchy and didn't hold eye contact.

Despite this, he was very logical with his theories and didn't exclude his department from blame. They could have just missed it. Although they had run the search twice, he couldn't guarantee every square inch had been covered. The car park had been part of the critical search area. The main focus of the search had covered a 25 metre radius from where Carmella's blood had been found and should have taken in the spot where a numbered cone was now situated. He rightly pointed out that they weren't even sure there were any earrings to be found at the time of the search. They had found the blood, the weapon and various other fibers to examine, so how long and how far should they have continued was a question he posed to Reed. When his question was left unanswered, he suggested that the earring could have put there by somebody after the search.

For a man who dealt in forensics and scientific facts, he was surprisingly open to unexplainable theories. Reed liked him enough to get his name, DI Joy. Reed's rank in the science world.

Reed was left alone for a couple of minutes as Tyler went to fill in the paperwork to say she had taken possession of the earring. This find had unearthed more questions than answers. How had it got there and when? Why did Gulliver have so many of the same earrings at his flat? Serial killer? What could his connection with Tina Westwood be?

“Why was it so far away from where Carmella's attack took place?” Reed asked Tyler as she came back over to him.

“The back of the earring is still on, so it must have been removed on purpose. It must have been thrown or dropped? Before or after the attack? I don't know.”

“We best pray for some DNA.”

They had planned on hand delivering the earring for forensic tests themselves. While they were there they would see if there was any news on the sets of earrings found at Gulliver's flat. They didn't get very far though. Two minutes after setting off, Tyler took a phone call.

A call had been received from a concerned neighbour of the Westwoods. There had been shouting for the best part of an hour, the crescendo being the smashing of crockery and Alan speeding away from the house. Susan hadn't been seen since and she hadn't answered the door when the neighbour had knocked.

Reed got Tyler to drop him off just up the road from the Westwood's house where he would wait for Allison Mcleary. If Susan would open the door for anyone, it would be Mcleary. Tyler carried on back to the station, which left Reed hoping Mcleary would give him a lift home.

He took a cigarette from the pack and took his time lighting it as though it held some mystical power. It was like welcoming back an old friend. It was nice just standing there taking the time to smoke. Five minutes to himself. Maybe after this case he would take some holiday and have a proper break. That would probably be a holiday for one. Now his five minutes solitude had been interrupted by thoughts of his broken marriage. If it hadn't have been his marriage gatecrashing his peace and quiet, it would have been work. Reed gave in and dropped the butt of his half smoked cigarette on the floor before squashing it out with his foot.

Allison Mcleary pulled up and gave Reed a smile. She was four years his senior and still attractive. She had long blonde hair which came to rest at the small of her back, it was that straight and sleek that he wondered if she ironed it every morning. She was a good six inches shorter than his five foot ten, she was petite but managed to carry herself with a big presence; today she a wore navy blue suit that looked professionally fitted, black shoes. This was all set off with the whitest of white shirts.

“Afternoon.” Reed said.

“Is it? I don't even know what day it is.”

“So this little visit is as welcome for you as it is for me then.”

“You could say that, come on.” Mcleary said, leading the way.

After there was no reply to the doorbell, Mcleary knelt down and spoke through the letterbox, urging Susan to answer. Just as it looked as though Reed would have to break in, the door slowly opened. Behind it, Susan appeared with puffy red eyes and she was blowing her nose.

“Please, you don't have to trouble yourselves with us.”

“Come on, we'll have a cup of tea and a chat.” Mcleary said, putting a comforting arm around Susan's shoulders.

“Oh I am sorry, how rude of me. Sit yourselves down and I'll put the kettle on.” Breaking free, Susan shot off towards the kitchen. Reed felt guilty for thinking she looked her happiest when she had someone to mother. Probably trying to compensate for all the years she had lost out on after Tina was killed. Mcleary obviously thought the same, suggesting the drink in the first place to give Susan something to do.

“She likes to keep busy.” Mcleary confirmed as they sat down.

“What about Alan, what's he like?”

“They're very chalk and cheese. He's on total shutdown.”

Reed knew exactly what that meant. Felt like it himself sometimes to a lesser extent. Didn't much like the world and didn't much want to be a part of it sometimes, so you just shut it all out. The only problem was that whatever you shut out had a nasty habit of coming back with a vengeance.

Susan came in holding a tray with three cups, a teapot, a milk jug, a sugar bowl and a plate of mixed biscuits. The crockery looked like china and wore the same oriental pattern as the shards that could be mysteriously found in all gardens across England.

After Susan had poured the required milk and stirred the sugars, she offered the biscuits to Reed and he happily took a shortcake and digestive biscuit from the plate. He knew it would be the two women doing most of the talking, so he could kick back and enjoy. As expected, Mcleary declined the biscuits altogether. There was nothing worse than accepting an offer of anything edible, taking a bite, only for the room to then fall silent and everybody looking to you to start the conversation. Forcing the mouthful down, you felt obliged to start talking, which you did. For the rest of the interview, you would be left holding a half-eaten item of food that made you feel as comfortable as if you had a boil on the end of your nose. Everybody could see it. Today though, Reed could just munch away.

“What happened today? Do you want to talk about it?” Mcleary started.

Susan lowered her head a little and whispered, “You shouldn't have troubled yourselves; you've more important things to worry about.”

“We thought it best we came rather than a stranger. One of your neighbours called it in, they were worried about you. They saw Alan speed off and you didn't answer the door.”

“She doesn't miss a thing, that Mrs. Campbell.” Susan said, showing signs of anger. “Alan is a good man. I'm to blame as much as anybody.”

“It must be hard, all this happening around you, a new murder on your doorstep, people comparing it to Tina's.”

“Alan's a deep thinker. I pushed him, trying to make him talk about it; I need to talk about it. He's the only one who really knows what it's like. We lost the same person.” Susan's eyes were a constant source of tears now. She mopped them as she continued. “I asked how he was feeling... He never talks anymore.”

“Did he tell you how he felt?”

“No, he just said... It's embarrassing really,” Susan blew her nose once more before carrying on, “He said it was irrelevant what he felt, it wouldn't bring Tina back. He said the police wouldn't catch the killer anyway. I'm sorry, he didn't mean anything personal, he just needs closure and this has opened it all up again.”

“It is perfectly normal for him to blame the police. It's our job to catch criminals and we didn't do that. Totally understandable. We want to catch who killed Tina as much as we want to catch who killed Carmella, the time that's passed doesn't affect that.”

“That's what I told him, I know it's awful, but, I feel so guilty for saying this; Carmella is dead now, if catching her murderer helps to catch our Tina's, some good can come out of this.” Susan looked for some reassurance from Mcleary that she wasn't as bad as the killers themselves for thinking like this. Her eyes were pleading for forgiveness for saying such a thing.

“I completely agree Mrs. Westwood.” Reed was happy to provide it. “We can't say too much and I would appreciate your discretion. I'm not saying we're dealing with the same killer but there are definite similarities between the two murders. All I'm saying at this stage is that one could help the other in terms of how we investigate, new techniques, that sort of thing.”

Susan gave Reed a smile, it was the first time she had really looked at him. “Thank you.”

“So, what made Alan so angry then?” Mcleary picked up again, offering Reed a half smile herself.

“He just snapped after I said that. He thought that Tina's death would stay unsolved, that you would put all your resources into solving the latest murder. At best, you would hope they were committed by the same person.” Susan dropped her head and started sobbing again. Mcleary moved over to her and gently rubbed her back.

“Then he said the most awful things. Things I thought he would never say. He said that Carmella probably deserved it, out all hours, stopping for a bunk up as he called it. He used some terrible language. Then he was saying that Tina was a good girl, which I agree with, but it doesn't make Carmella bad. Nobody deserves what happened to her. You would think he would understand that.”

Susan admitted it was her who lost her temper then. It was her throwing the plates around and her turn to scream. They started arguing about anything then, just trying to score points to win. Reed and Kate had had a few bust ups too, letting lots of little things build up that were only worth mentioning during an argument already in full flow. Point scoring.

“I've never acted like that before. Alan was shocked. He just stared at me, then without saying a word, he left. Tina was his whole world. I don't think he'll ever get over it.”

“Do you know where he's gone?”

“Work I'd imagine. He's due to start at six, so he probably just went in early. He's left his phone here.”

“Where does he work? Reed asked.

“Thetford. He's a supervisor on the night shift at a company called Gleens.”

Reed tried very hard not to show his surprise. Gleens. The company where Lee Gulliver worked. This could be a link between Gulliver and Tina. “How long has he worked there?” Reed thought he was using his best neutral voice. Obviously failing by the look he was now receiving from Mcleary.

“At least 12 years. He was there when the company started.”

“Likes it there then?”

“Yes. Most of his friends work there. Why?” Susan asked, getting suspicious now.

“Nothing important. I was just wondering if there was someone there he could talk to, you know, because he's upset.” Reed hoped it seemed genuine.