Series -, Episode -: Devious Minds
Date: Saturday 9th/Sunday 10th November 2007
Investigating Officers: DS Stuart Turner, DC Hannah McKay
"Morning, DC McKay." Terry grinned at the harassed looking young woman who rushed into the CID office and almost threw her bag onto her chair.
She grunted at him, barely looking at him before she headed out of the double doors and disappeared. When she reappeared a short while later, she looked far more put together than she had done. Her hair was tied up much more neatly than it had been when she'd arrived and her makeup was applied flawlessly. Dropping into her seat, she turned on her computer and breathed deeply as she gave herself a moment to relax.
"As I said before, morning, DC McKay." Terry repeated, making Hannah jump.
"Oh, hey, Terry. Sorry…"
"You look like you had a heavy night." He teased. "Hitting the clubs of Sun Hill, were you? We didn't get any reports of suspicious females."
"Ha ha." She replied sarcastically, rolling her eyes. "I'm just tired."
She didn't want to go into details about the hectic Friday night she'd had at home; from collecting her overly tipsy daughter and sister from a house party at one in the morning and returning to a wide-awake two-year-old who had refused to go back to sleep until four, to an argument before she'd left for work over who was going to take Theo to his swimming lesson that morning. Instead, she focused her attention on the pile of paperwork that seemed to be steadily growing on her desk.
She worked steadily until lunchtime, glad that nothing urgent came up and she was able to make a sizable dent in her workload. The office was busy, with people going in and out. Hannah was happy that Jo had gone out early to speak to several victims of crime with Phil, because the two women had had yet another run-in the day before and Jack hadn't been best pleased.
"Hannah? Neil wants to see you in his office." Terry called, passing her desk on his way across the room to speak to Kezia about the case they were working on.
Wondering whether it had anything to do with the argument she and Jo had had yesterday, Hannah closed the folder she had been flicking through and walked over to the DI's office, knocking and waiting for him to call her in. She smiled, hoping that she wasn't about to be shouted at again.
"Ah, Hannah. Were just waiting for Stuart to come up and then I'll brief you about a case we just got in." He told her, making no mention of the events of the day before.
While they were waiting, Neil asked her about the fraud case she and Grace had been reviewing over the past week, listening as she explained that they couldn't find anything in the paperwork to contradict the original reports. Neil looked disappointed, but didn't say anything about it, merely nodding along with her as she spoke.
"Guv?" Stuart poked his head around the office door. "You wanted to see me?"
"Yes," Neil nodded and motioned for him to come in and shut the door behind him. "We've had a call from a bespoke jewellers on Reskin Avenue. Apparently they've lost a good amount of their new stock and there's a large amount of money missing from their safe."
Hannah arched an eyebrow. "Any sign of a break-in?"
"That's the thing. The security system wasn't triggered and there's no sign of damage."
"So… inside job?"
"There are three people working there. The owner, Delia Owen lives in the flat above the shop and didn't hear anything." Neil told them, leaning back in his seat. "Emma Kelter arrived at 9 o'clock this morning, fifteen minutes after Ms Owen discovered that there were things missing. The third member of staff, Lucy Thomas, has a week booked off as holiday."
"Coincidence?"
The DI shrugged. "Maybe, but we need to look into it anyway."
"Course, Guv." Hannah nodded, standing up. "We'll go now, right, Sarge?"
Stuart nodded and walked to the door, holding it open for her. They grabbed their coats and phones, before making their way down to the yard. On the stairs, the pair passed Phil and Jo headed in the opposite direction. The two DCs pointedly ignored each other, causing the two Detective Sergeants to exchange an amused look.
"What's the deal with you and Jo?" Stuart asked as they got into the pool car and crawled out of the yard.
"If there's a question that I hear more often than any other, it's probably that." Hannah told him irritably.
"So?"
She frowned. "I don't know, Stuart. Jo finds fault in everything I do. She undermines me and she automatically assumes that I've messed up or made stupid decisions. All I want is for her to treat me with the same respect that she treats everyone else."
Stuart glanced sideways at her. "That doesn't sound like Jo. She judges people on their actions, not by preconceived opinions of them. You're a good copper, she's a good copper. The pair of you should get on fine."
"Yeah? Well we don't, do we, Sarge."
"Maybe you should make an effort to get to know her properly. Away from the station, I mean."
She sent him a hard, calculating look. "Are you telling me to ask Jo out on a date?"
He grinned. "Well, if that's–"
"No, Sarge." Hannah told him, rolling her eyes. "I will not be doing that."
"Your loss." Stuart told her with a cheeky grin.
"I think it's your loss, judging by the stupid expression on your face." She said, frowning at him.
Stuart laughed, shaking his head and turning onto Reskin Avenue. They parked up on the opposite side of the road from the jewellers and got out. Before going in, they did a quick check of the area, seeing that it was respectable enough. The other businesses were also independently owned, apart from the Estate Agent three doors down.
Fishing out their warrant cards, Hannah followed Stuart into the jewellers, looking around interestedly at the custom made pieces on offer. The security seemed to be adequate, with locks on the glass-fronted cabinets that held most of the more expensive items and a motion sensor in the corner of the room.
"Morning." Stuart smiled at the pretty blonde woman behind the counter and Hannah only just managed to stop herself rolling her eyes at the smarmy tone he had employed. "Ms Owen? DS Turner, DC McKay, Sun Hill. I hear you've had an incident here?"
"Yes, call me Del." The blonde smiled warmly, rounding the counter to talk to them properly.
"Can you tell us what happened?" Hannah arched an eyebrow at Stuart, who frowned at her, before turning away and looking around as the woman spoke.
"I locked up as usual last night. The alarm was definitely set and the metal grate was secured." She told them, indicating the gate that was rolled up close to the ceiling above the doorway. "When I came down this morning, I didn't realise that there was anything wrong until I went to change the display in the large cabinet over here," she led them over to one of the glass-fronted cabinets and they saw that there was stock missing at once, "so I checked and there are other items missing too."
"Have you got a record of what's missing?"
"Of course." Delia hunted under the counter and brought out a large ledger containing a list of items and prices. "We keep detailed records of what items we get in and how much they're on sale for." She explained, pointing out the pieces that were missing. "We have lots of different contributors to the shop, so it's important we keep track of who sells what."
"What about the money that was missing from the safe?" Hannah asked as Stuart got a closer look at the book.
"Over here." The blonde showed her the safe, opening it quickly. "There was four and a half grand in there yesterday. It's this week's takings and I was going to pay it into the bank this morning."
"Is that average for a week?" Hannah asked, making a note of the amount.
"Pretty average." Delia told her, folding her arms and leaning against the counter. "We pay the lump sum into the bank and then go through to see how much each individual contributor has earned."
Hannah nodded, scribbling down the information in her notebook. "Does anyone else have the code to the safe?"
"Just Em and Luce. Emma Kelter and Lucy Thomas. They work with me."
"Would either of them have told anyone else?"
"No." The woman told her firmly. "They're just as invested in this business as I am."
"Does anyone else have keys to the shop? Or the code for the alarm system?"
"Just me and the girls."
"D'you mind if we take this?" Stuart asked, indicating towards the ledger. When she shook her head, he smiled. "Oh and we'll need contact details for Emma and Lucy."
"Of course." She nodded and scribbled their numbers down on a piece of paper.
"We'll have to send the Crime Scene Examiners round to check for prints and look for any signs of a break in that you might have missed. I'm afraid you'll have to shut the shop until we're finished."
"OK." She agreed readily. "I just want to sort this. I can't pay anyone until we get the money back; either from you or the insurance."
"If you're worried about anything or suddenly remember something that might be helpful you can give me a ring." Stuart told her, handing over his card. "Here's my number, don't hesitate to call at any time."
They thanked her and left the shop, pausing outside so that Stuart could phone the DI and Hannah could put a call in to get the CSEs down to the scene. When they had both hung up, she turned to look at him, thinking hard.
"Do you think Miss Owen's being completely straight with us, Sarge?" She asked. "I mean, she's adamant that only the three of them know the codes and have keys, but she's also convinced that neither of the others would have told anyone. There's no sign of forced entry; this has to be an inside job."
"That doesn't mean that Delia's lying, though, does it?"
Hannah narrowed her eyes for a moment, before twisting her lips into a smirk. "You fancy her."
"I do not."
"Oh, come on, Stuart. She's hot and I know you well enough to know that a pretty face is all it takes. I don't blame you; I mean, you have eyes, right?" She teased.
"She's attractive, I'll give you that." He admitted, leading the way over to the car and unlocking it. "But my mind is totally on the case."
Hannah grinned. "Yeah, OK, Sarge."
They bickered good-naturedly all the way back to the station. Walking up to CID, Hannah shook her head, laughing at Stuart's continued denial that he fancied Delia Owen. Neil stopped them for information just inside the door, so they explained what they were doing. He glanced at the ledger, nodding as the DC said that she was going to start ringing the people listed there.
Once Neil had gone, Hannah turned to Phil, who was lounging on his desk chair watching them interestedly. She glanced sideways at Stuart, unable to keep the smirk off her face.
"Stuart fancies the owner of the shop." She announced, earning herself a scowl from the Sergeant.
Phil sat up, grinning. "Is he doing the over friendly, happy to be of service, thing?"
"Yeah."
"I'm not!"
"You totally are."
"I'm not." He said firmly, holding up his hands.
The red-head arched an eyebrow. "If you're worried about anything feel free to give me a ring. Don't hesitate to call at any time." She quoted him.
"What's this?" Jo asked, dropping into her chair and swivelling to join in the conversation.
"Stuart fancies the victim in the robbery he and Hannah are investigating."
"I do not!"
"You do." Hannah repeated.
The Sergeant glared it her. "It was you who said she was hot and that you didn't blame me."
"Oi!" Hannah smacked him with the back of her hand as she realised he was sending surreptitious looks in Jo's direction. She knew exactly what he was doing. "Don't turn this around on me."
"Just… ring some of those numbers and find out if they know anything." Stuart ordered, jabbing his finger into the cover of the ledger. "I'm going to call the security company and see if they can tell us anything."
"Yes, Sarge." Hannah agreed, smirking at Phil as she turned her chair and pulled the phone towards her.
She was half-way through the list of numbers when Neil came to sit on the edge of her desk, glancing down at what she was scribbling. Pushing the paper towards him, Hannah ended the call and twisted to face him properly.
"Guv?"
"Any new information?"
"Not really, Sir. Most of these people just make the jewellery, take it in and then get cheques when their items get sold. They have nothing to do with the business apart from that." She told him. "I spoke to Emma Kelter and I don't think she knows much."
"You don't think she was involved?"
"No. Well, no I don't, but I really don't think she knows much, Guv." Hannah repeated. "She's one of those arty types… kept talking about karma and the philosophy of their shop. But I genuinely don't think she'd do anything to endanger it being able to stay open."
"Karma?"
"Oh, yeah. She was saying that with everything Delia does she didn't deserve this. She said Delia should have good karma, not bad."
Neil looked unconvinced, but nodded. "Right..."
"Exactly."
"Did you manage to speak to the other girl who works there?"
"Lucy Thomas? No, not yet Guv, I haven't got that far through the list of numbers in here." The DC admitted. "But I think the fact she's off this week is a coincidence – it's been booked in since August."
"It's either a coincidence, or incredibly forward planning."
"True."
Neil rubbed his jaw and then nodded. "Alright. Have you got an address for her? I think you should go round and have a word."