The plan of action was simple. They’d approach and open the garage. They couldn’t be sure it wasn’t locked from the inside so in the first instance they’d try the handle and failing that, use force. It was a question of her officers’ safety that concerned Natalie most. She had no idea what weapons the youths were carrying or how aggressive they would be. To that end, she’d insisted on her team wearing bulletproof vests and had called in extra officers for backup.

With everyone in position, Natalie and Murray converged on the garage. It was the middle lock-up in a line of ten nondescript garages, each with a standard handle that twisted and turned, allowing the up-and-over door to open.

At Natalie’s command, Murray yanked on the door handle while she issued instructions to the suspects inside.

‘Finn Kennedy and Hassan Ali. You are surrounded. Do not attempt to run away.’

The door clattered open loudly and the youths, who’d been sitting on sleeping bags and playing cards, were caught unaware. They leapt to their feet, arms and feet scrabbling in urgency, scattering the cards, and kicking over tins of beans next to a portable gas stove, and as Murray advanced on them they shrank into the wall.

‘Oh fuck,’ said Finn.

‘Hello, Finn. Remember me?’ Murray said, head cocked to one side.

Lucy and Ian appeared behind him.

‘Shit! You led them here, man,’ said Hassan, turning on Finn. ‘I told you to stay put. We were safe. You blew it.’

Finn shrugged an apology.

‘You’ve quite a few questions to answer,’ said Natalie as the boys were dragged from the wall. She indicated the cuffs Murray was clipping onto Finn’s wrists, with a nod. ‘Those are to prevent you from getting it into your heads to scarper again. You’ve already wasted too much of our time, so get a move on and get in the cars.’

As Murray and Lucy led the youths away, Natalie meandered across to several large cartons stacked against the wall and opened the top one. It was filled with unopened boxes containing power drills. She spoke to one of the officers. ‘Check through these, will you? I think they might be stolen goods.’

---

Lucy stood in Adam’s gym. Natalie had asked her to interview him about the boxes in the lock-up and bring him into the station for further questioning if she deemed it necessary. He raised his gloved fists, threw some hefty jabs against the weighty punch bag, speaking all the while.

‘I used to store gym equipment in it when I was first getting this club up and running and when Charlotte and I lived in our first home near the Ashmore Estate. It was a terraced house and we didn’t have a garage or spare room at the time. I took out a five-year lease on the lock-up, but once we moved to the house at Maddison Court, with its massive garage, of course I didn’t need it any more. So, when Lee asked if he could borrow it, I gave him the keys. Told him to knock himself out.’ He stopped hitting the bag and pulled off a glove, swiped at the sweat trickling down his brow.

Lucy could feel waves of warmth emanating from him. ‘Were you aware of what he was storing in it?’ she asked.

‘Sure. It was for stuff he picked up from the recycling centre – old junk other people didn’t want but was still in good condition. He’d take the best bits home and when he had enough of them he’d take them to a car boot sale and make some extra money. It wasn’t illegal. The stuff had been chucked away.’

‘You really believe that?’ She noted the dark brows furrowing.

‘It’s what he told me and I believed him. You have an issue with that?’

‘You never went to check it out? You must have trusted him.’

Adam looked at her steadily. ‘I trusted him. Okay?’

‘The goods we found in your lock-up were stolen.’

He let out a lengthy sigh. ‘The stupid fucker. I had no idea he’d use it for that.’

‘You deny knowing anything about what went on inside the lock-up?’

‘I haven’t visited it for over two years. I gave Lee the keys. I had no reason to check on him. You know I have nothing to do with any stolen goods. I don’t even know what goods you’re talking about. Are my prints on them? No. Do I need the fucking money from selling them on? No. I don’t. Do I want to end up back inside? No, I sure as hell don’t. I had my taste of prison and I didn’t like it. Look around you at this place. I try to keep kids out of prison. I don’t want them involved in petty crimes or worse. This is an outlet for their grievances and gives some of them a chance to escape the crap lives they lead. Now ask yourself why the fuck I’d get involved with some shit Lee’s managed to entangle himself in. Then you check with Lee and find out what he was up to because I know nothing about it. I believed I was doing the motherfucker a favour, letting him use it. I helped him out in loads of ways – let him train here, even gave him money from time to time when he was hard up – and look how he fucking repays me. He mixes me up in stuff I know nothing about. Fucker!’

‘If we find out you were involved in this, you know what will happen to you?’

‘Yeah, I do but I wasn’t involved. You talk to that piece of shit Lee about it.’ He hunched his shoulders and continued throwing punches at speed until sweat flew from his brow and formed a wet pattern of drips on the floor. Then he stopped.

‘I’m not involved in any of that lousy son of a bitch’s business,’ he said calmly. ‘I’m not guilty of receiving stolen goods, or anything else for that matter. I’ve been keeping my nose clean ever since I got out of jail. I turned my fucking life around. Now I have to start again, without my wife. I’ve got a baby son who’s lost his mother to bring up, and I definitely don’t need any more fucking crap hurled at me. You interview him and you get the truth out of him and leave me alone. Now, shouldn’t you be hunting down the bastard who’s responsible for murdering two women?’

‘We are, Mr Brannon. I can assure you we are. Thank you for your time.’

She drew away. Behind her she heard low grunts as he began his routine again.

---

Finn and Hassan had been placed in separate interview rooms and left to wait with an officer keeping an eye on each of them.

Natalie spread her hands on the desk and spoke to Murray. ‘I don’t want them to clam up. It’s imperative they tell us what they heard or saw, so don’t go in too hard. If they refuse to help us, we’ll have to work out other ways to coax the information from them. Lucy just called in and Adam claims he knows nothing about what’s been going on at the garage. I would surmise these kids either got the keys from Lee or stole them from him. You clear about everything?’

‘Got it.’

‘Okay. I’ll take Finn and you speak to Hassan.’

A bruise had appeared under Murray’s left eye, its colour deepening by the hour, and the angry gash across the bridge of his nose had crusted over. She studied him closely. ‘You seen the medical officer like I told you?’

‘Straight after we brought in that pair. She gave me the all-clear.’

Natalie wasn’t convinced but if Murray said he was fit for duty, then that would be enough for her. She didn’t want to be a man down. She picked up the necessary paperwork.

Ian stood up. ‘Natalie, before you go, you should know that Phoebe Hill was taken off the Emirates flight from Doha. She was a last-minute substitute for a flight from Kuwait that landed in London at two thirty p.m. on Friday.’

‘More sodding lies. How long would it take her to get from London to Samford?’

‘By car? Three hours tops.’

‘That’d give her ample time to reach Samford and be in Eastborough around the time Charlotte was murdered. Run her car registration. See if it passed any ANPR points on the motorway.’

‘She could have used other transport – friend’s car, taxi.’

‘True, but what have we got to lose? We’ll talk to her when we’ve finished with this pair.’ She left Ian tapping at his computer and joined Murray.

‘That’s an interesting development,’ he said.

‘Looks like we’re back on course,’ she replied. ‘I prefer it when we have something to work with. I was getting majorly hacked off with all the dead ends.’ She separated from him outside the first interview room and, drawing a breath, steeled herself to do battle with a recalcitrant teenager.

Finn looked rough and smelt sour.

‘You want a drink or something? I don’t suppose you’ve had a lot to eat the last few days.’

His reaction was one of hostility. ‘Why are you being so nice? Is this one of those cop routines where suddenly that ape who chased me earlier comes in and smacks me about?’

‘Nothing like that. I thought you’d be hungry.’

‘I’m fine,’ he said.

‘Please yourself. I’m going to record the interview.’

He hunched further into his seat. ‘Whatever.’

Natalie set the machine into action, made the necessary introductions of who was present in the room, then opened her file and sat back in her chair, tips of her fingers together. ‘I’ll get straight to the point. You’re in trouble.’

He barked a laugh. ‘I know that.’

‘Maybe you don’t realise how much trouble. You assaulted one of my officers, hindered a murder investigation, broke into property and might even be charged with being an accessory to murder.’

A sneer wiped itself across his face. ‘Yeah, right.’

‘On Friday night, you were spotted in the vicinity of the Brannons’ house, carrying a length of steel piping.’ She waited but he said nothing, just observed her through pale-blue eyes. ‘You make this as hard or as easy as you want. The easiest thing would be to tell me what you were doing there and what you saw or heard. The hardest thing would be to sit there saying nothing.’

The sneer was back. He picked some dirt from under a filthy nail and flicked it onto the floor.

She kept her voice gentle. ‘A young woman, battered to death.’ She deliberately neglected to tell him Charlotte had been hit with a bat and allowed this news to sink in. For a split second she thought he’d crack and tell her the truth, but he regained his composure and sat back, arms folded, head down.

‘And you’d be happy for me to charge you rather than tell me what threw you into such a panic that you and Hassan fled? At the moment, you’re my only suspects. You and Hassan ran away from a crime scene. The way I see it, I might have to charge you with murder.’

He dropped his guard for a moment, partly opened his mouth and shut it again.

‘I tell you what. I’ll come back in a short while. You sit here, have a Coke and a sandwich, and think about what I’ve said. Enjoy it because I hear prison food isn’t very good.’ She stood up slowly and left him. It wasn’t progress but she hoped she’d sown sufficient doubt in his mind for him to speak to her on her return.

She slipped into the second room where Murray was interviewing Hassan. The youth was exhibiting the same belligerent attitude as Finn and was refusing to cooperate. Murray announced her arrival for the benefit of the recorder.

‘Hello, Hassan,’ she said. ‘I’ve just been talking to your friend Finn about what happened on Friday night. He said you were frightened off by screaming coming from the Brannons’ house.’ It was a white lie. Finn had told Inge that’s what had happened. She hoped he hadn’t been lying to his ex-girlfriend or it would blow her ruse.

‘He’s been talking to you? He said he wouldn’t. He promised me he wouldn’t say anything.’

His face and words confirmed one suspicion. Hassan had been the other person seen running away from the house by the neighbour, Margaret Callaghan.

Natalie kept up her act. ‘It might be advisable if you give us your version of events.’

‘No. I don’t believe you. You’re playing us off against each other.’

‘If you think that’s the case, then you keep quiet. I don’t have a problem with that,’ answered Natalie smoothly. ‘I’ll leave you with DS Anderson. I have to ring your mother.’

‘Why?’

‘I ought to inform her where you are. She must be worried about you taking off like that. She’ll need to be told about the charges so she can arrange a lawyer for you.’

‘What charges?’ Hassan’s brow wrinkled in confusion.

‘We’ll discuss those once you’ve got a lawyer.’

She left them to it and waited in the corridor for Murray to appear. ‘Did it work?’ she asked.

‘Yes. He wants to talk but only if I can stop you from ringing his mother.’

‘Good. I thought we’d sailed too close to the wind with that one. I couldn’t help but notice his interaction with his mother back at their flat. He obviously respects and listens to her and that gave me the idea. You extract what information you can. I’ll see how Finn is enjoying his sandwich.’