James Scott is lying on his bed in a bland hotel room that smells vaguely of disinfectant. His head is pounding and he feels jittery and nauseous when he stands up and makes his way over to the minibar and removes a bottle of water. As he does so, he catches sight of his reflection in the mirror and is shocked to see the hollow-eyed face looking back at him.
Immediately after he had spoken to Detective Inspector Burroughs, he had first called Lisa to tell her he was coming up to London and then he had phoned his mother. When she answered, James had felt a constriction in his throat and for a few seconds had been unable to speak.
‘Hello? Hello? Who’s there?’
‘Mum, it’s me.’
‘What’s the matter, James? You sound terrible.’
‘Something’s happened to Nicky, Mum, and I’m about to go up to London to see the police who want to talk to me. They didn’t say anything, but I think it must be bad.’
‘What do you mean “something’s happened to Nicky”?’
James had briefly described the morning’s events and felt a surge of gratitude when his mother switched into maternal mode.
‘I can come to the police station with you, if you want. Which one is it?’
‘It’s Lavender Hill. Thanks so much, Mum. I’m sorry, not a great birthday present.’
‘Don’t be silly. I’m sure everything’s going to be alright. You get going and I’ll get the next train up and meet you there. Will we still stay at Mikey’s house?’
James had flinched slightly as he pictured his brother’s home and imagined what might be going on there.
‘I don’t know, Mum. Let’s see what happens.’
The throbbing pain in his head brings him back to the present and a cold shower suddenly seems like the perfect solution, but the dark-blue hotel bathrobe with its light, fluffy fabric masquerading as towelling doesn’t dry him at all and makes him feel uncomfortably sticky. He walks across the carpet, trying not to think about the origin of the stains, which are partially disguised by its ugly pattern of beige, brown and green circles. In fact, he is trying not to think about anything at all.
James gets dressed slowly, packs up all his things and a few minutes later is in the lift. Before the doors open onto the ground floor, he pushes his hair out of his face, composes his features and then he makes his way across the lobby to the front desk.
‘Something’s come up and I’ve got to leave immediately,’ he says brusquely to the receptionist. ‘Please could you get my bill ready?’
‘Nothing bad, I hope,’ the girl says.
*
Two hours later, James is waiting in a gloomy interview room in Lavender Hill Police Station, gratefully drinking the milky coffee that had been brought to him by the young policeman who had taken charge of him when he arrived. James had found it hard to look directly at the man whose face was pitted with terrible acne scars. Although this is the first time James has been inside a police station, the small airless space feels familiar to him, maybe because it reminds him of the police dramas he likes to watch on TV.
The room is sparsely furnished. A Formica table stands in the middle with two chairs on either side and, in the corner, another table with some sort of recording device on it. A darkened window takes up the full length of one wall. James finds it slightly unnerving to imagine hidden faces staring at him from the other side. The poor light that dimly illuminates the room comes from a high, barred window on the far wall and an old-fashioned fluorescent strip light on the ceiling full of dead flies. It could hardly be more depressing.
James hears the sound of voices in the passage and is relieved when his mother is shown in. They hug briefly.
‘Any news?’ she asks.
He shakes his head and pulls out a chair for her.
‘Detective Inspector Burroughs is on his way, sir, he’ll be here in a few minutes,’ the policeman says. ‘Can I get you a tea or coffee, madam?’
‘That would be lovely. Just black coffee, please.’
Pat puts her hand over her son’s and squeezes it gently.
‘Poor dear.’
‘I’m okay. It’s just the whole thing is so baffling. Yesterday evening we were on the phone making plans and now she’s disappeared.’
‘I know, I was thinking the same thing on the train. There’s no point me saying that everything is going to be fine, but I do know that, when one imagines the worst, it seldom is. Anyway, whatever happens, we’ll face it together.’
The policeman reappears with her coffee.
‘It won’t be long now. DI Burroughs is here. He’s just getting some things from his office and will be right with you.’
James feels a jab of apprehension and his mother, somehow sensing this, presses his knee reassuringly.
At that moment, a woman enters the room, closely followed by a man James assumes to be Detective Inspector Burroughs. Neither is wearing uniform. The woman has shoulder-length brown hair, slightly messed up as if she has just got out of bed and, when she smiles fleetingly at James, he notices a gap between her front teeth. Although she is of medium height, she is completely dwarfed by Burroughs. By anyone’s standard, he is a large man, tall and broad-chested rather than fat. He instantly reminds James of his sergeant major in Cyprus, even down to his full head of salt-and-pepper hair, cropped very short like a bristle brush. James stands up.
‘Mr Scott,’ the man says, shaking his hand firmly. ‘I’m Detective Inspector Burroughs and this is Detective Sergeant Burton, who is joining us.’
Burroughs then looks towards James’s mother, who has half risen out of her seat. If he is surprised to see someone else there, he doesn’t show it.
‘This is my mother, Pat Scott,’ James says. ‘She wanted to be here as she’s also very concerned about Nicky.’
‘Please sit down,’ Burroughs says, gesturing to them both. ‘I assume you’re happy for us to talk openly in front of your mother, Mr Scott?’
‘Yes, absolutely,’ James replies, glancing at his mother who nods in agreement.
The officer walks round to the other side of the table and sits down next to the woman, who is now fiddling with a notepad and pen. He clears his throat.
‘Right,’ he says, looking from one to the other, ‘I’m afraid there’s no easy way to tell you this. It’s very bad news.’
James has a strange feeling of being suspended in time while he waits for Burroughs to continue. He stares straight ahead, hardly blinking.
‘We were able to get into your brother’s house using the key Irene Hall gave us and we found the body of a woman, which we believe to be your wife.’
His mother gasps and James closes his eyes briefly. The shock of actually hearing these words runs like an electric current through his body. It feels as if all the air has been sucked out of the room and he struggles to breath.
When Burroughs continues, the sound of his voice seems to be coming to James from some distant place.
‘Although I can’t confirm anything until the pathologist has had a look at the body, we are treating her death as suspicious. I’m very sorry to have to break it to you like this.’
James grips his head in his hands and when his mother puts her arm round him, he can feel her shaking. Ghastly images start to flood his mind.
‘Oh my God, I can’t believe this. How did she…?’ But he can’t go on and his upper body begins heaving violently as he starts sobbing.
It seems as though many minutes have passed before the woman opposite speaks again, but the noise in his head is so loud, he can hardly hear her.
‘I know this is a lot to absorb and it might be a good idea to have a bit of time to yourselves. Are you okay with that? I’ll be right outside the door if you need anything.’
James looks up. He finds it an effort to speak.
‘Yes, a few minutes by ourselves. I just need a while to collect my thoughts.’
The door closes behind the two officers and his mother envelops him in her arms and holds him tight.
*
Out in the corridor, Lucy wipes the corner of her eyes on her sleeve.
‘I know, I know,’ says John. ‘It always gets to you. Why don’t you get hold of Linda and give her the heads-up? They might want to talk to someone later. And maybe organise tea for everyone,’ he adds as he walks away.
When John strides purposefully through the operations room to his own office, he is aware of a curious glance from Matt Harvey, but avoids talking to him as he doesn’t want to lose his train of thought. He sits down heavily in his chair, tapping his fingers on the desk, and then scribbles down some notes on his pad. A few minutes later, he emerges and walks back down the corridor towards the interview room. Lucy is waiting for him halfway down and they talk in hushed tones.
‘Tea’s on its way,’ Lucy says, ‘and Linda’s on standby.’
‘Okay, great, let’s go in. You do the talking.’
John often asks Lucy to take over at times like this as, unlike him, she has a special way with people and her soothing voice seems to reassure them. He also finds it useful to sit and watch closely when someone is being interviewed.
‘I’m sorry,’ James Scott says as they sit down again. ‘I never imagined it would be something like this. It’s completely overwhelming.’
Scott runs his hand through his hair, pushing it back from his face, and for the first time John notices a faded jagged scar that runs above his right eyebrow and wonders how he got it.
‘It’s absolutely normal for you to feel that,’ Lucy says. ‘It’s a massive shock and it will take a while to sink in.’
‘Can you tell me what happened?’ he says quietly. ‘How Nicky died.’
When Lucy replies, she also speaks softly, just to him, as if he is the only person in the room.
‘We don’t know exactly what happened, but she had sustained a serious head injury and that appears to be the cause of death. We’ll know more once the pathology reports come in.’
James Scott shakes his head and squeezes his eyes shut. When he opens them again, Lucy waits a moment to see if he wants to ask any more questions but he remains silent. John is not particularly surprised. He has been in this situation many times and everybody reacts differently. Some want to know all the details straight away but, with others, the questions come much later and sometimes not at all.
‘Does anyone else need to be informed?’ Lucy asks. ‘We can help with that if it is too much for you to cope with just now.’
Pat Scott looks at her son and then speaks up.
‘Nicky’s mother, Maria,’ she says. ‘She lost her husband last year so this is going to be devastating for her. It’s unimaginable. She lives in Devon and her son Colin lives nearby, so maybe he can be with her when she’s told.’
‘Of course,’ Lucy says. ‘We just need their names and numbers, if possible. It will be handled very sensitively.’
The woman opens her bag and rustles around, pulling out a well-thumbed address book. John hands her a piece of paper and a pen.
‘And Lisa,’ James Scott speaks at last. ‘She’s Nicky’s best friend and she’s been involved in all of this. She has to be told.’
‘Don’t worry, I’ll handle that,’ says Lucy. ‘I met Lisa this morning.’
‘Oh, right. Well, she will definitely need some support,’ he says.
‘She had a friend with her earlier; maybe she’s still there. I’ll make sure Lisa is okay.’
A light tapping noise causes them all to look up and John moves quickly to the door to check who it is. Linda Jenkins, the station counsellor, is standing there holding a tray. He steps aside to let her pass.
‘This is Linda,’ Lucy says to the mother and son as Linda places the tray carefully on the table. ‘She’s going to stay with you while DI Burroughs and I go and sort these things out. We’ll need to ask you some questions later, but only when you feel ready.’
James Scott stares vacantly into space and his mother speaks for them both: ‘We’ll do whatever we can to help. We also want to find out what happened to Nicky.’
*
‘You deal with Lisa Meyer,’ John says once they are back in his office, ‘and I’ll call Exeter and ask them to contact Nicky Scott’s brother. Once we’ve got all this out of the way we can get on with tracking down the bastard who did this.’
‘I’ll go and see Lisa now,’ Lucy says, ‘then I’ll call Nicky’s editor and see if she knows anything.’
‘Good, and don’t forget that we need to check Lisa’s phone records, so you’ll have to get her consent.’
Lucy feels slightly nauseous as she walks up the front path to Lisa’s house. She hates this aspect of her job, but the huge satisfaction she gets from her detective work, solving complicated puzzles, more than makes up for it.
Lisa looks surprised to see her again so soon and Lucy is relieved to find that Jo Shepherd is still there. This will make her task much easier. They all sit at the kitchen table while Lucy tells them about Nicky and what they have discovered so far. Their reaction is much as she expected – shock and tears followed by disbelief. Lucy answers their questions the best she can. Once they seem calmer, she voices what she has been thinking for the last few hours.
‘A man was seen going into Michael Scott’s house when Nicky was supposed to be there yesterday evening. Are you absolutely sure she didn’t mention anything, Lisa? I would completely understand if you were covering up for her earlier, but now it’s a very different story.’
Both women react with what seems like genuine surprise at this revelation, but Lucy sees Lisa shoot a quick glance at Jo.
‘No, no, I promise. It was exactly as I told you,’ Lisa says. ‘She said she was going round to clean the house. She didn’t say she was meeting anyone or doing anything other than that.’
‘Did you believe her?’
‘Yes, I did at the time, but when James rang last night he seemed very surprised that she had gone out. Apparently, when she had spoken to him earlier, she told him she was staying in for the evening.’
‘Did that seem strange to you, that she’d lied to James?’
‘Yes, I suppose it did a bit, but I didn’t think much more about it. James and Nicky have had a difficult time recently so maybe she wanted some time to herself without having to tell him about her every movement.’
‘How do you mean, difficult?’
‘Well, nothing major. It’s just that he left the army last year and hasn’t settled that well into normal life and I think that’s been hard for both of them.’
‘You have no idea who she might have been meeting?’ Lucy is once again aware of a quick look passing between the two women.
‘No, not at all. Look, if she had been cheating on James, or even thinking of it, I’m sure she would have told me. We go back a long way and she knew I was no great fan of her husband.’
Lucy raises her eyebrows at Lisa’s comment. ‘Why’s that?’
‘Because he’s a controlling bastard, among other things.’
‘Really? We will definitely have to discuss that further, but for now I’m just trying to piece together her movements. You said earlier that she had a meeting with her publishers – Howden Cooper?’ Lucy says, checking her notes. ‘And then lunch with her editor. Do you know her editor’s name?’
‘Yes, she’s called Rachel Stein.’
‘Do you know if they’re friends, or is it just a professional relationship?’
‘Well, they’ve been working together for a long time, so I would guess they are friends. I don’t really know, to be honest.’
‘Thank you, Lisa, you’ve been really helpful. I had to ask the questions and I appreciate your honesty. Just one more thing, though. The note you left at the top of the stairs – why did you want Nicky to call you so urgently?’
This time Lisa answers without hesitation.
‘Because I wanted to warn her that James knew she had lied about what she was doing last night.’
‘Okay, that makes sense. The other thing is, we are going to have to check your phone records to see if Nicky made or received any other calls that you weren’t aware of. Can I have your consent to do that?’ Lucy opens her bag and takes out a sheet of paper.
‘Of course,’ Lisa says as Lucy slides the form over to her.
‘Are you going to be okay?’ Lucy goes on, looking from one to the other. ‘We have a wonderful counsellor at Lavender Hill if either of you feel the need to speak to someone.’
Lisa and Jo shake their heads simultaneously.
‘Lisa can come and stay with me,’ Jo says, turning to her friend. ‘It’s not a good idea for you to be on your own.’
A look of relief passes across Lisa’s face. ‘Thanks so much, that would be great.’
Lucy stands up and hands a small card to Lisa.
‘This is my direct line if you need to speak to me. Please don’t discuss this with anyone until all the family have been informed and don’t forget about the counsellor. Once all this sinks in, it will be hard. And one more thing: two guys from forensics are outside. Can they come in and collect Nicky’s bits and pieces from the bedroom? It won’t take long.’
Fifteen minutes later, as the front door closes behind her, Lucy breathes a huge sigh of relief. Now to work, she thinks.