oOo
After dispatching Emma and Sally, Stone decided to take the logical next step which was to find out more about their victim. His search of the car had revealed a work ID badge in the name of Rebecca Williams for a place called Orgon Publishing. Stone had never heard of the business and, under other circumstances, he might have wondered of publishing really paid well enough for them to occupy an entire multi-storey office building in one of the nicer business districts of Sun Hill. At the moment, though, his mind was mulling over the events of the morning.
"Are you looking forward to her third book?" Stone turned around. He had been so lost in thought while waiting for the receptionist to deal with a customer that he hadn't noticed a woman walking up to him in the foyer of the publishing house
"Whose book?" he asked, slightly puzzled.
The woman indicated a series of posters behind him, displaying a black and white image of an angel, announcing in big golden letters a book titled Racheengel apparently penned by a person with the unlikely nom-de-plume of Moira Bliss. It was only because of the unusual title that he recalled at all having read something about the book. Apparently it was a pretty big deal, given the column an inch devoted to the subject in the local paper.
"Not exactly," he replied. "I don't really read many thrillers." In fact, he barely recalled what genre the book was. He usually skipped the book reviews in the morning newspaper, but this one had been hard to miss.
"Well, I suppose you get enough of the real thing in your line of work. Is there something I can help you with?" She was one of those women whose real age was very hard to estimate. She could be anywhere between thirty-five and sixty, dressed in a pinstripe business suit with her auburn hair wound into a tight bun.
"As a matter of fact there is. I'm looking to talk to anyone who might have worked with Rebecca Williams recently." It was a shot in the dark, but the victim's work place was as good a place to start as any for making some discreet inquiries. CID and the DPS would certainly pay Orgon Publishing a visit as well, but the sooner they found something that put Will in the clear, the sooner the DPS would be off their backs.
"Rebecca works for me. Why do you ask?" she asked, her tone making it clear that she expected an answer.
"And you are?" He met her question with another question.
"I'm Valery Orgon. I own this company," she introduced herself, shaking his hand firmly. "Now would you kindly tell me why you are here?"
"Sergeant Stone, Sun Hill. I'm sorry to have to tell you that Rebecca Williams was found dead this morning."
"Oh, that can't be…" Valery visibly paled, losing her composure for a moment, but quickly pulling herself together again. "Are you sure it is her?"
Stone nodded. "I'm afraid so. Is there somewhere we could talk?"
"Yes, yes, of course. We can talk in my office."
Stone followed her into the elevator and up to the second floor where a few doors down the corridor they stepped into a spacious office with a view of the river. Valery sank down in the chair behind her desk and started rummaging in one of the drawers. She pulled out a glass bottle of brown-golden liquor and poured a generous amount into a glass. Only when she had downed its contents in one gulp, her attention returned to Stone.
"I must apologize, I normally don't drink this early in the morning. It is just that this news comes at the worst possible time."
"How so?"
"Rebecca was Moira Bliss' literary agent. Moira did all her dealings exclusively through Rebecca. At least that was what I believed until a few days ago. Until she told me the truth. It came as a complete shock to me and now her death... I still can't believe it." Valery poured herself another drink.
"I'm not sure I understand."
"I'm sorry, I'm not making much sense at the moment," she said before downing her second drink. "Rebecca Williams was Moira Bliss. She was scheduled to reveal her identity at a press conference two days from now, coinciding with the launch of her latest book – Racheengel." Valery rested her face in her hands. "I honestly have no idea what we are going to do now without her."
"I see." Now Stone was starting to understand why Valery seemed so completely shattered by the news; she had just lost her most successful author.
"Her death, if you are here…Was she murdered?"
"We don't know for certain, but it looks like it. Do you know anything about her personal life?"
"No, not really. She never talked about herself. That's why I never even suspected that she could be Moira Bliss," Valery said, shaking her head. "I guess she spent most of her time writing," she eventually ventured.
"All right. I think that would be all for now. You'll probably hear from us again in the next few days." He turned to leave, a bit disappointed about having found out nothing substantial about the victim's personal life.
"Did you find Moira's manuscript?" Valery called after him. He turned around.
"Her manuscript?"
"Yes, she wanted to bring it in today. I was just thinking that maybe you'd found it….wherever Rebecca was found," she fumbled, as if she'd nearly let something slip. Stone was certain she knew more than she was letting on, but her reaction at hearing about Rebecca's death had been very convincing.
"No, so far we haven't found anything. But it's still early days."
"It's just that, Rebecca was very particular about her writing. You might call it old-fashioned, but she only kept the one original copy of her manuscript. Without it, the Zariel series will never be concluded."
"Do you know where she kept it?"
"At home, I suppose, but she never explicitly told me so. Please, you have to find it."
"We'll do our best. Just out of curiosity, how much would such a manuscript be worth?" he asked, the copper in him seeing a potential motive for the murder, as well as the break in into the victim's car. If he was on the right track, Will was almost certainly in the clear.
"I really can't say. It would be pretty much invaluable. It certainly is to us."
"So, she couldn't offer ít to another publishing house, for example?"
Valery hesitated for a moment. "No, no. Not without breaching the terms of her contract with us."
He was about to reply when his mobile rang.
oOo
The call had been from the inspector, telling him to drop whatever he was doing and get back to the station as the DPS wanted to talk to him urgently. As much as he loathed the prospect of being grilled by the DPS, he didn't waste any time returning to the station.
Like most police officers he knew, Sergeant Stone wasn't fond of the DPS. Real world police work wasn't always black and white, like the rule book made it out to be. He had come to realize early on in his career that sometimes justice needed a helping hand.
Just as his luck would have it, DCI Keane was leading the interview. He only knew the man by reputation. Apparently, he had led more than one inquiry involving Sun Hill, but he instantly disliked him.
"Would it surprise you if we told you that in searching PC Fletcher's locker, we found almost five hundred pounds in cash?" After some rather routine questions about the events of the morning, this question came as a surprise, but he wasn't about to let on. Stone hadn't worked at Sun Hill very long, but he knew that Will was a good copper and it would take more than just the usual dirt the DPS was capable of digging up to convince him otherwise.
"I wouldn't know anything about that. I'm not privy to the contents of the lockers of my fellow officers," he answered non-committally. Best to play it cool, he decided.
"PC Fletcher never told you about any financial problems?" The question didn't come entirely unexpected. He knew that it was standard procedure to have a look at the financial situation of an officer under investigation and, given what DCI Keane had just told him, it would have been one of the first things they checked.
"He did mention that he was behind on his rent." It had just been a side remark, not even directed at him. Just something he had overheard Will mentioning to Sally at the pub, but still, he should have pursued it immediately. Instead, he had forgotten about it almost at once.
"When was that?"
"About a week ago. He didn't seem overly concerned, so I didn't pursue it at the time. When I asked him a few days later if things were all right, he said everything was fine. I assumed that he sorted out the problem."
"Sorted out?" Stone didn't like the implication in DCI Keane's tone of voice, but he forced himself to remain calm.
"He didn't mention details and I didn't press," Stone replied, now regretting his lack of action. Things between him and Will had been strained since the incident on the rooftop. What they had done, or rather hadn't done, had been weighing on Will's conscience, he had known that. Will seemed to have pulled together after they'd spoken about it, but now he couldn't help but wonder if Will had been more deeply affected than he'd thought.
"There seems to be a lot you don't want to know about."
"I find it better not to get involved," Stone replied coldly.
"That wouldn't have anything to do with the problems you had at your previous station?" That was exactly the reason he disliked the DPS; they had a way of twisting everything around and putting things together that had nothing to do with each other.
"I left because of a personality clash with my inspector, but I'm sure you know the details already."
"Indeed we do. We've heard that you have a habit for flying solo."
"Can I ask what this has to do with PC Fletcher?" he asked, trying to keep his voice level and his emotions in check. Instead of trying to clear up a vicious murder, all they were doing was digging up dirt and not just on Will. The incident on the rooftop could break both their necks, if the DPS got wind of it. He had to tread carefully.
"On this past Monday, PCs Armstrong and Fletcher arrested a man in possession of five tablets of a novel designer drug, known in the clubbing scene as Mercury."
"I'm aware of that. They handed the case over to CID."
"Yes, they did. I've got their report right here. Do you want to read it?"
"No thanks, I'm familiar with the incident. It was a routine arrest and CID was informed. As far as I can tell, everything was done by the book."
"It just happens that there is no report. The incident was never reported to CID. How did you learn about the incident in the first place, if there was no report?" The detective sitting next to the DCI flipped open the folder to show it was empty. Stone had been caught out and he knew it. He didn't want to get Sally into trouble. He was sure she'd had good reasons for not filing a report, but if he lied now he'd put his head on the block along with hers.
"PC Armstrong told me about it this morning. She assured me that CID had been informed. I should have followed up on it."
"You couldn't very well do that. The arrest never happened, at least not on paper. There is no record of it and the drugs PCs Armstrong and Fletcher allegedly confiscated aren't in the evidence vault."
Stone didn't know what to say. He had planned to stick up for his officers, convinced that they might have bent the rules maybe, but not broken them outright, at least not without good reason. Sally had lied to his face at the hospital, about the arrest and the drugs, and although part of him wasn't sure what to believe anymore, he was intent of finding out the truth.
oOo
"...burger?"
"Uhm?" Emma hadn't been paying attention.
"I asked whether you wanted to go for a burger at the van down the street." Sally repeated her question.
Emma shrugged. "I'm not really hungry. But if you want a break..." she trailed off.
"I'm fine. It's you that I'm worried about. Someone could mug an old lady right in front of you today and I don't think you would notice."
"Are you saying I can't do my job?" Emma snapped at her.
"No, that's not what I'm saying at all. You're a good copper, Emma, but your mind's not on the job this morning."
"You're starting to sound like Inspector Gold."
"I'm sorry. I'm just worried about you." Sally put an arm around Emma's back. "I really think you should take the rest of the day off. I'm sure the sergeant will square it with Inspector Gold."
"I'm not so sure about that. Plus, I'd just go crazy sitting around at home. The DPS will want to talk to me anyways, so there is no use going home now."
For a moment, they walked in silence. "Listen, I have an idea. We're just around the corner from Tanner Street."
When Emma regarded her blankly, Sally explained. "Rebecca Williams has a house there."
"So?" Emma wasn't sure she was following what Sally was saying.
"I think we should take a look. I know this is a case for the DPS, but Will would never have hurt that woman, and you know that."
Emma wished she could be certain, but she had seen drugs do all sorts of things to people. Modern designer drugs could be the most unpredictable. Will hadn't been himself when she had found him in that hotel room. He hadn't even remembered that they had spoken on the phone twenty minutes earlier. Anything was possible. Emma didn't even want to think about all the possibilities of what could have happened between Will and this woman, but her mind kept coming back to scenarios, one grizzlier and more damning than the last.
"We'll just take a look, nothing more." Sally had apparently taken her silence for hesitation, when Emma hadn't really given the issue any thought yet. But her instinct was to back-off, leave it to the DPS and CID.
"What if she didn't live alone, what if we have to break the news to some unsuspecting husband? What would you tell him? We don't actually know anything, aside from the fact that she was murdered," Emma protested, but they had already turned into Tanner Avenue.
It was definitely one of the nicer spots of Sun Hill, not an area they were called out to often. Emma followed Sally down the road, stopping in front of number 17. The house was a faint yellow two-story building, slightly set back from the road. Roses were planted to both sides of the path leading up to a modernistic polished steel door. Sally walked up to it, and bent forwards to spy through the triangular window in the door. Unexpectedly the door slid open.
"Lock's been forced," Emma noted as Sally used her elbow to push the door open further. Emma was about to call it in when Sally had already disappeared inside the house. Emma followed her. She had just stepped into the corridor when she heard two male voices coming from the stairwell to her left. Getting out her asp, Emma slipped around the corner, eyes still on the stairwell. A second later, two men in black clothes and balaclavas came running down the stairs.
Emma surged forwards, blocking their way. "Oi, stop! Police!" The figures looked at each other. Emma tried to gauge their reaction when one of them already delivered a blow to her stomach. Doubling over, Emma cried out in pain. One of the men shoved her aside, sending her tumbling into a small table. She could only watch as they ran down the hallway and escaped out of the front door.
"Emma, are you all right?" Sally was suddenly standing over her, obviously having seen what happened. She was starting to help her up but Emma waved her off.
"Go, go after them," she gasped, instinctively curling an arm around her midsection.
Emma pulled herself up by the edge of the table, still panting slightly, when her gaze fell on a neat pile of envelopes stacked on it. Curiously the top envelope wasn't addressed to Rebecca Williams, but to a person called Moira Bliss.
Putting on her gloves, Emma had a look through the rest of the pile. The return addresses varied, but none of them was addressed to Rebecca Williams. The addressee on all of them was Moira Bliss. Curious to find out what their murder victim had been doing with someone else's mail, Emma turned over the first envelope, much to her disappointment finding it still sealed. In fact, none of the letters had been opened, even though they dated back several weeks.
But before she could give the mystery more thought, Sally came back running inside, her face reddened from running. "Sorry, I lost them. But they dropped this." She held up a duffle bag. The letters forgotten, Emma unzipped it. Inside was a laptop computer.
"You all right? You don't look so well," Sally asked, while Emma turned the computer over in her hands.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," she replied, her thoughts elsewhere. It was tempting to try and have a closer look around, maybe even try and see what was on the laptop.
"It's not your typical burglary, though," Sally remarked from the other room. Emma put the laptop back into the bag and followed her.
"Look, the stereo, the plasma TV, all still here," Sally pointed out. Indeed, the room didn't even look like it had been searched. Either it was a case of very tidy burglars, or they had known exactly what they were looking for.
"They were here about that laptop," Emma agreed.
"You know we need to call..."
"Shush." Emma put a finger to her lips. She'd just heard a car pull up outside.
"You think they are coming back," Sally whispered, not sounding her usual confident self.
"I don't think so, they were on foot," Emma reminded her. Outside, a car door slammed, then another. Emma and Sally waited in silence.
A few moment later, they could hear a voice coming from outside. "See that? Lock's been picked. We need the CSE here from the looks of it."
Emma recognized the voice at once - it was that of Mickey Webb. They should have figured that CID would turn up sooner rather than later, but this soon? Emma cast a desperate look around, searching for a point of escape. She heard the front door being pushed open, and footfalls in the hallway.
"I'll check upstairs, you take downstairs." Another voice, Sam Nixon's, came from the hallway.
"The patio," Sally mouthed, pointing towards a set of glass doors, leading out to the patio and the back garden. Emma nodded. Still wearing gloves she pressed the handle and slid open the door. They ran outside, crossing the patio as quickly as possible, praying that the detectives hadn't seen them. A rose garden stretched out behind the building, bordered by a fence at the back end. Sally scaled it with ease, while Emma had some trouble following her, her gut still sore from where she'd been punched earlier. They dropped to the ground on the other side in an overgrown garden.
"Do you think they saw us?" Emma asked, bending over with her hands braced on her knees as she tried to catch her breath.
"I don't think so, but we have to tell someone." Sally looked around nervously.
"What do you mean?"
Sally gave her a severe look and held up the duffle bag. Emma had forgotten all about the laptop.
"Damn. You're right; we need to let the sergeant know. He is going to go mental," Emma said, not relishing the idea. "We better get back to the station as soon as possible, get it over with."
Emma's mobile rang at that moment. It was Inspector Gold on the other end of the line. "Emma, DPS wants to talk to you as soon as possible. Sergeant Stone told me that you're partnered up with Sally today? They want to talk to her too, so you better come back to the station as soon as possible."
"Yes, ma'am," Emma said and hung up. "DPS wants to talk to us," she told Sally in response to her questioning look.
TBC